36 replies to this topic

[Dave Schmidt]

Hello Everybody,
I just finished building up my new computer, got windows XP installed on it, and my drivers and software boxed with the hardware I bought... I even was able to play a little with my Battlefields...

One piece of software that came with my motherboard told me there was a new version of my BIOS available, and that I could FLASH it... I did.

When I did, it all went good, it then restarted my computer and the trouble...

At the Windows XP logo, the screen went black and nothing would happen for 2-3 minutes, then my computer restarted.. I tried starting again, same problem, tried to restore my system and the problem happened while I was restoring... I tried to repair my windows installation then the same problem occured while it was repairing......

I took the BIOS safety floppy that was created before the installation of my new BIOS and followed the steps of the BIOS reinstallation process, all seemed good, but I did not hear the 4 beeps it was supposed to do before restarting my system... tryed to restore and repair, crash, double crash.......

I formatted, reinstalled windows XP, my drivers, and on the Video card driver, it crashed.
I re-formatted, reinstalled windows XP, my drivers, and on the Video card driver, it crashed....
I re-reFormatted, reinstalled windows XP, it crashed........

I now am on my 3rd - 4th - 5th... (damn I lost the count) formatting... I installed my network card drivers and all windows XP updates... I will not install anything (drivers or software) before I know what to do in order to make this thing work...

Can someone please help me, I am ready to bang my head on a train rail until a train passes by...
Or to:

I'm ready to learn chinese, japanese, russian, and Turkey (copyright Evil Len) in order to solve my problem, I'll be really thankful for the person that helps me sort this out.

[pest control]

it looks like BIOS flashing didnt go right, can you access BIOS?
check the jumpers in your motherboard, my old mobo needed jumper on specific way to flash it. I havnt done it though since than (socket A)
what motherboard are u using?

[Monkey]

Try installing your network drivers and download the newest drivers for everything else. Also could be a conflict within the system that can cause this. Sounds like it could be a driver conflict. What board do you have and model? I could use something to do for a bit and will gladly search for you if you post soon enough if not I can do it later for you.


Also go into your BIOS and reset to defaults. This is often over looked when flashing.

[Dave Schmidt]

it looks like BIOS flashing didnt go right, can you access BIOS?
check the jumpers in your motherboard, my old mobo needed jumper on specific way to flash it. I havnt done it though since than (socket A)
what motherboard are u using?

I can access my BIOS, never had been disabled from this... at least.

My motherboard does not seem to have jumpers, it's a MSI p965 platinum for intel dual core and pci express, I don't think motherboards come with jumpers anymore, not sure tho... maybe i'm too noob to have recognized them LOL...

Thx for the reply.

[Dave Schmidt]

Try installing your network drivers and download the newest drivers for everything else. Also could be a conflict within the system that can cause this. Sounds like it could be a driver conflict. What board do you have and model? I could use something to do for a bit and will gladly search for you if you post soon enough if not I can do it later for you.


Also go into your BIOS and reset to defaults. This is often over looked when flashing.

Here is the monster:

Intel Core 2 Duo e6400 2.13G/1066/2M/S775
Sata2 160.0 Gig Seagate 7200.9 8M ST3160811AS
P4 S775 MSI P965 Platinum 965P PCIE
DVD+/-RW LG GSAH22N DL 18/18/+10
2x DDR2 1Gig 667MHZ Kingston
PCIE Forsa 7300GT 256M
Windows XP Home SP2

[Monkey]

Found a memory isue on this board:
Main Memory • Supports 4 unbuffered DIMM of 1.8 Volt DDR2 SDRAM • Supports up to 8GB 533/667 memory size (with DDR2 800, memory only up to 4GB) • Support Dual Channel DDR2 533/677/800MHz and up Due to the High Performance Memory design, motherboards or system configurations may or may not operate smoothly at the JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) standard settings (BIOS Default on the motherboard) such as DDR2 voltage, memory speeds and memory timing. Please confirm and adjust your memory setting in the BIOS accordingly for better system stability.
Example: Kingston HyperX DDR2-800 PC6400 operates at 2.0V, 4-4-4-12.
For more information about specification of high performance memory modules, please check with your Memory Manufactures for more details.

[Monkey]

Just in case you have to adjust your memory voltages here is the spec list:

http://www.kingston....ts/khx_ddr2.asp

This could be the cause or may not be.

[Dave Schmidt]

Found a memory isue on this board:
Main Memory • Supports 4 unbuffered DIMM of 1.8 Volt DDR2 SDRAM • Supports up to 8GB 533/667 memory size (with DDR2 800, memory only up to 4GB) • Support Dual Channel DDR2 533/677/800MHz and up Due to the High Performance Memory design, motherboards or system configurations may or may not operate smoothly at the JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) standard settings (BIOS Default on the motherboard) such as DDR2 voltage, memory speeds and memory timing. Please confirm and adjust your memory setting in the BIOS accordingly for better system stability.
Example: Kingston HyperX DDR2-800 PC6400 operates at 2.0V, 4-4-4-12.
For more information about specification of high performance memory modules, please check with your Memory Manufactures for more details.

Oh, you're the second person to ask me about memory, I ran Memtest86+ yesterday and it passed once without errors, is that a good sign?

see my PM for my RAM code, thx again mate!

[Dave Schmidt]

Looking that link you gave me, it said my RAM is compatible with my Mboard,
does not talk about voltage tho.

[Dave Schmidt]

Ok guys, ima try to install the drivers from NVidia.com if this does not work, I'll be disabled a few hours... if it works, i'll advise. Thx

[Dave Schmidt]

..... Failed.
I'm running in failsafe mode right now.
Video drivers from NVidia seem to be my problem.
I guess i'll just change my video card if I can't find the solution, it's been 110 CDN$ only, and I guess it might cost the same to have my PC repaired by a techie... while I'd prefer to fix my problem myself, and learn.

[Dave Schmidt]

NEW:
When I tried uninstalling my V-Card driver from failsafe, it worked, then booted back to normal windows, and I filled the error report, which suggested me some steps as installing the latest driver from the Nvidia website (which I just did and failed)
OR
To disable graphical acceleration on my v-card settings, which I tried, before reinstalling the v-card drivers from nvidia... which crashed and put me back on failsafe mode.....

will uninstall again and look further into this...

[Monkey]

As well as things are made it still happens.
See about a return for another card unless you got it used. Than you might not have any luck.


But good to see you found it. It's hard to troubleshoot with out seeing exactly what it does in person . So I started at the basics and was working up.

[Dave Schmidt]

As well as things are made it still happens.
See about a return for another card unless you got it used. Than you might not have any luck.

What do you mean by return? returning it to my vendor and asking for another card? I had it brand new, will prolly try that as a last resort..

But good to see you found it. It's hard to troubleshoot with out seeing exactly what it does in person . So I started at the basics and was working up.

Well, that's my thoughts on the problem, but again, it only occured after flashing my BIOS... I really think I should not have done this, and now regret... as I read yesterday (after the problems occured):

Never upgrade something that runs great unless there is a known security / performance reason.

Still looking for the solution to avoid chaning graphic card...

[Monkey]

Most vendors will chnge you new not working right card for another. It does happen and it is simpler to do as soon as you can as some have a time limit as for returns. If you have your card from your old computer around you could use it for the time until your new one gets in if you got it from online. Unless it was AGP in your old computer then its not good. If you got your card from a retail outlet then you could have new card in hand in a matter of minutes and out the door. In all my years of this I have had a few various cards that were bad out of the box and never had troubles returning it for the same card and had things running in a short time after taking the card out of the computer. Just tell them the card doesnt work right and is not letting you put drivers on.

[Dave Schmidt]

Well, I guess you are right, I'll try this, if this does not work, I guess that's some other problem, I'll advise.

[Leeham]

So I take it without the drivers you can run windows in a somewhat stable manner?

[Monkey]

Yes he runs fine in safe mode and with windows installed drivers.

[Leeham]

Ok, in this case it sounds like the video card is not recieving sufficient power to run. What power supply do you have? It's obvious that you need a pretty big PSU for those specs, so it's most likely a problem with the video card itself, likely to have faulty connections on the board.

Try and get it replaced and hope for the best. If it isn't the card then it could be the motherboards PCI-E socket, these things are prone to minute defects that are just too difficult for a quick fix.

[Dave Schmidt]

Guys, you are an amazing bunch of friends!

This really means a lot to me, I'm so proud to get all this help I'm feeling tears coming up my eyes!

Seeing all the help that's provided here, I'll try some of those suggestions you are giving me before I go return my card, I am of the "can do" generation, and I don't want to say I've not tried everything possible before I surrender and return to the store.

Thank you very much, I'll advise again.