[kgturner]

I have a weird problem that I'm trying to diagnose. My computer is constantly dropping the drivers for onboard video and audio. I usually just uninstall the driver, scan for new hardware, and reinstall the drivers from the Device Manager. This works 99% of the time. Until the other day when my video drivers went out again. I uninstalled, reinstalled, and restarted my computer. The bios screen loaded fine as did the Windows XP splash screen, but when windows loaded, the screen went black. I could hear the system load through my speakers, but there was no video.

I figured fine, I'll pop in a video card and be done with it so I went down to Best Buy and bought a video card (making sure it was spec'ed to my system). Put it in, turned on the computer, and again, the bios screen loaded fine as did the Windows XP splash screen, but still nothing after that.

Using my iPhone, I was able to search the internet and find out that this wasn't all that uncommon of a problem. One guy even had a tutorial how to re-enable drivers by turning on Windows Narrator using keyboard commands. So I was able to open up the Device Manager and lo and behold, the Display Adapter was completely missing from Device Manager. Luckily, I had just backed up all my music, photos, and important documents less than a month ago. 

I called a local tech guy who spent about a day with it, but he was unable to fix the problem either. He didn't charge me anything, but I gave him $20 for his trouble nonetheless.

I decide to just flush it all. So I install Windows XP on the newly formatted drive and it fails to load. I try several other times, re-formating every time, and some get further than others. At one time I was getting a Blue Screen with some PAGE_FAULT error warning. I figure maybe my hard drive (500GB WD Sata) is toast so I use an old 160GB hard drive (Maxtor IDE). I'm able to load Windows XP onto it fine. Then I start to load up my motherboard (Biostar) drivers only to start having display issues. Upon restarts my 24" LCD montior will go from 1920x1080 @ 32-bit to 640x480 @ 4-bit. I have to reinstall my onboard video drivers again, but every other time I restart, it's a 50/50 chance my monitors resolution will work right.

I then decide just to try loading XP on the 500GB WD drive again. This time it finally works and when I try to load my mobo drivers, it won't install the LAN drivers or the Audio drivers. Since I can't get the LAN drivers to work, I can't get on the internet to get updated drivers from Biostar. I power down and pop the IDE HD back in, download the updated drivers from Biostar, power down, pop the 500GB WD drive back in, power up, install the updated drivers, and now it works (mostly). I still get dropped video and audio drivers from time to time. And now, when I try to update the Chipset drivers, it tells me I can't because I don't have adminstrator rights even though I'm logged in as administrator.

I have no idea how to fix this because I'm not certain where the problem lies. I thought it was a hard drive issue, but both drives are buggy. I'm thinking the problem is the motherboard. Anybody got any ideas?

Kevin T

[flintstone]

Did you disable onboard video in BIOS when you installed the video card (sometimes you have to do that) ?

I'm no expert......why don't you download something like (Linux Mint) and burn the ISO to disc. Put the disc in and boot it to "live".

If it boots up, and everything works, you will know that it's not your BIOS or motherboard causing the problems........again, I'm no expert (-:

[WGH]

I'm thinking the problem is the motherboard.

Yup, sounds motherboard or memory problems. I have never had memory go bad so I would guess some of the motherboard caps have started to get weak, I have seen it before.

How old is everything? I built my XP computer in Feb. '05.

Wayne

[WGH]

If it boots up, and everything works, you will know that it's not your BIOS or motherboard causing the problems........again, I'm no expert (-:

Not necessarily, a wonky motherboard will work fine for a while and then have random errors, usually when parts are stressed hard like start-up and any operation that takes some computational horsepower just like a video card driver installation.

You could try replacing the battery, a couple of bucks might fix it (but I doubt it).

[flintstone]

Also, you can take the memory out, and then reinstall it.....this is what fixed my sisters pc problems not long age (you can also test the memory with the linux disc). Also.....you can download a hard drive test program from one of the hard drive makers (free).

[Jon L]

Hate to say it, but once things have reached this level in computerdom, it really saves one tons of anguish and time to just get a new computer (mobo, RAM, etc) as they can be very cheap. 

Also would hate to say it, but Win7 is about a gazillion times better than XP when it comes to automatically finding and installing the correct drivers(when hooked up to web) and installing them so that everything just works after the install.   

[flintstone]

Not necessarily, a wonky motherboard will work fine for a while and then have random errors, usually when parts are stressed hard like start-up and any operation that takes some computational horsepower just like a video card driver installation.

You could try replacing the battery, a couple of bucks might fix it (but I doubt it).

It's not going to run fine with linux, and not with windows...trust me. A bad motherboard is a bad motherboard. (of course I expect he would run linux for a while.....and not an hour).

[skunark]

Guessing it's motherboard firmware issue with Biostar and the Video card.  If they don't offer a firmware update perhaps it's time to check out a different brand.  Your tech guy should have checked that though.   Also doesn't hurt to google your motherboard model number with model number of the video card.   If nothing pans out I would replace the motherboard with a stronger brand that will accept your CPU, memory and video card.

[flintstone]

I buy refurbished and de-branded computers all the time (very cheap)....I would not even bother with a motherboard replacement unless it is a really nice computer (and I doubt that, if you are running windows xp)

Shoot me an email if you need a link.......(I just bought and sold a dual core refurb for $130 from these guys with free shipping to my home). I buy one or two a month from these guys.

[kgturner]

The hardware I have isn't old technically since I bought the mobo/ram from Newegg in December of last year. The motherboard is a Biostar 945GC-M4 with 4GB of PNY Optima DDR2 667 RAM. The processor is a Pentium 4 3.06, so yeah, it's a bit of a dated system. I originally had Windows 7 (from an upgrade disc) loaded on the machine, but I could never get SP1 to update and the system became buggy so I ended up formatting, loading XP, and I tried to put Windows 7 back on top, but it wouldn't work. Oddly enough, after this most recent format/XP load, I've now been able to install Windows 7 again. However, I'm still stuck at not being able to update it to SP1. This computer is really only supposed to be a data backup/music server for my Transporter. I intend to build a better computer for everyday use and this old slug will go into a closet and connect to my network as the data backup/music server. I guess I could try to contact Biostar and see if they'll replace my mobo under warranty. Problem is, I don't know if it's the mobo, ram, or something else entirely. Something tells me that when I call them about the problem, they'll say it's something else.

Kevin T

[wilbert-vanbakel]

I suggest to verify that the bios settings are configured for 'fail safe' as opposed to 'optimized'Also try to lower the CPU speed in the bios and see if that has any effect.
It sounds like a bad motherboard to me, though.

[flintstone]

The hardware I have isn't old technically since I bought the mobo/ram from Newegg in December of last year. The motherboard is a Biostar 945GC-M4 with 4GB of PNY Optima DDR2 667 RAM. The processor is a Pentium 4 3.06, so yeah, it's a bit of a dated system. I originally had Windows 7 (from an upgrade disc) loaded on the machine, but I could never get SP1 to update and the system became buggy so I ended up formatting, loading XP, and I tried to put Windows 7 back on top, but it wouldn't work. Oddly enough, after this most recent format/XP load, I've now been able to install Windows 7 again. However, I'm still stuck at not being able to update it to SP1. This computer is really only supposed to be a data backup/music server for my Transporter. I intend to build a better computer for everyday use and this old slug will go into a closet and connect to my network as the data backup/music server. I guess I could try to contact Biostar and see if they'll replace my mobo under warranty. Problem is, I don't know if it's the mobo, ram, or something else entirely. Something tells me that when I call them about the problem, they'll say it's something else.

Kevin T

Your problems may be caused by your memory install of 4gb.......and your motherboard only supports 2gb of memory. Some motherboards will have problems with this and may crash, and some will still boot fine, and run ok .......but only see 2gigs (or maybe 3gigs) out of the 4gb installed.

So, it depends on the motherboard. Pull the memory and install a 1gb stick in each slot (you could even just try just one 1gb stick at first).

[kgturner]

Your problems may be caused by your memory install of 4gb.......and your motherboard only supports 2gb of memory. Some motherboards will have problems with this and may crash, and some will still boot fine, and run ok .......but only see 2gigs (or maybe 3gigs) out of the 4gb installed.

So, it depends on the motherboard. Pull the memory and install a 1gb stick in each slot (you could even just try just one 1gb stick at first).

I might give this a try, but the reviews on Newegg stated that it will accept/recognize 2GB per slot. The computer recognizes 3.49GB which is about right since it's a 32-bit system.

Kevin T

Edit: I just downloaded the manual from Biostar and it clearly states that each DIMM can handle 2GB for a max of 4GB.

[flintstone]

I might give this a try, but the reviews on Newegg stated that it will accept/recognize 2GB per slot. The computer recognizes 3.49GB which is about right since it's a 32-bit system.

Kevin T

Edit: I just downloaded the manual from Biostar and it clearly states that each DIMM can handle 2GB for a max of 4GB.

I looked at this?

http://206.108.48.60/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=440&tab=3

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138174

[kgturner]

Well there's a discrepancy between what the websites say and what the actual manual says. I called Biostar and the tech support department said it will support 4GB. I described the problem to them and they said it "might" be that the Realtek chip needs replacement so I'll fill out an RMA and send it off to them. I have about 5 weeks left on my warranty so I'll try to handle this asap.

Kevin T

[kgturner]

Just to give an update. After installing Windows 7, all my driver issues were resolved. However, I still wasn't able to upgrade to SP1. On a lark, I decide to format and try to reinstall Windows 7 again. This time, I couldn't get it to install. I kept getting all kinds of IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL and PFN_LIST_CORRUPT errors/BSOD. I decide to pull my RAM and I install just one stick in DIMM slot 1. Everything loads fine and installs smooth like butter. After I get Windows 7 up and running again, I download Memtest +86 and sure enough, one of my sticks is bad. Luckily it was the first stick I pulled. Guess I won't RMA the mobo after all, but it looks like this PNY stick is going back home for a replacement. I don't know how the RAM went bad, but it appears to have done so.

Kevin T

[chip]

Glad it was just the ram.

A few years back I had a similiar issue and of course the last thing I checked was the ram  .

Now it is usually one of the 1st things I check...why because it doesn't take much to run memtest86 and usually if a stick is back it will show up within a couple minutes of the test from my experience.

[toddbagwell]

RAM is often difficult to pin down when it is the culprit, glad to hear you got things worked out!

I'll give a +1 to the Memtest86 program, it is a great little utility.

for those interested, here's a link:

http://www.memtest86.com/