ACK!!!! I broke it!!!!!

[DarrylLicke]

I hate my POS computer!!!!

Ok, so I have been having booting troubles along with HD troubles (75GXP). Last Sunday I sat down and took to "fixing" my computer.

Did I make it better? Not sure yet. It still has problems booting properly. In reading the manual if I get one long beep followed three short ones there is a problem the vid card. Oddly enough the first time I booted after cleaning it out (it was really dusty in there) I got nothing. No activity whatsoever. So I figured that the power cord were a bit flimsy (my fault in taking it apart) so I switched a few of them. Bingo!!! Its up and running. But I still have the problems of it apparently not recognizing the processor speed. This even after I popped out the battery thinking the bios had gone bad.

I put my new harddrive in as well as my old. DVD-ROM and new HD are on primary IDE with HD as master. Old HD is on secondary as Master. Everything seems to be recognized by the bios (dvd-rom, both HDs, and ISA NIC card) except the PCI SoundBlaster Live! card (praying this thing still works as I had troubles with it the first time I installed).


So what did I learn:
-Apparently my Voodoo5 is going bad...maybe...probably.....either way its reason enough for me to upgrade but I am broke
-There was no need, I think, to reset the board by popping out the battery
-This is a small freaking case. Either I need to move stuff around, take stuff out, or go bigger next time.
-I still have a lot to learn about hardware.

What do I need to know:

Is the Win98se boot disk sufficient to format, fdisk, etc?

Can I upgrade motherboard ?firmware? (bios, VIA 4-n-1, system time settings etc) after I have installed Windows?

Why when I try to run DFT on the new drive in order to format and partition (granted I probably can't do both) it tells me there is a missing RAMdrive?

The secondary IDE Master is the old HD. It is partitioned into 3 segments. The new HD is Master on the primary IDE. If I say format C: will it format the right drive i.e. the new drive?

When I partition the new drive, will the partition drives on the old HD be renamed?

Was I correct in assuming that the vidcard is the source of my problems? Or is the fact that the old HD(75gxp) is still there the source of the problems with the problems posting?

If at any point during the POST something goes wrong, will the computer assign blame to whatever it sees fit if it can't correctly identify the source of the error?

 

[BreakApart]

<< <1>I still have the problems of it apparently not recognizing the processor speed. This even after I popped out the battery thinking the bios had gone bad.

So what did I learn:
<2>-This is a small freaking case. Either I need to move stuff around, take stuff out, or go bigger next time.

<3>Is the Win98se boot disk sufficient to format, fdisk, etc?

<4>Can I upgrade motherboard ?firmware? (bios, VIA 4-n-1, system time settings etc) after I have installed Windows?

<5>The secondary IDE Master is the old HD. It is partitioned into 3 segments. The new HD is Master on the primary IDE. If I say format C: will it format the right drive i.e. the new drive?

<6>When I partition the new drive, will the partition drives on the old HD be renamed?

<7>Was I correct in assuming that the vidcard is the source of my problems? Or is the fact that the old HD(75gxp) is still there the source of the problems with the problems posting?

<8>If at any point during the POST something goes wrong, will the computer assign blame to whatever it sees fit if it can't correctly identify the source of the error? >>




Holy smokes lots of questions... Lets take them one-at-a-time.
(I numbered your questions so this doesn't get confusing)

<1> To answer this we need more info: Did you upgrade the CPU or is this the one you have used for a few months now? What motherboard and CPU are you using?
<2> Everyone learns this lesson, the more you mess around the more space you want inside the case. All my home systems are inside Antec 830/840, and Q500 cases i just have to have room to move my fat hands inside.
<3> Personally i would use a boot disk created inside Windows, then add the files you will likely use-fdisk, format, edit, scandisk, etc...
I have seen Win95 boot disks that included everything you are likely to use. I have also seen an OEM Win98 boot disk that didn't contain anything except the CD drivers and format. It would only be a guess to say if your disk contains the required files or not. Create your own them you'll know.
<4> Yes you can, updating the BIOS won't make your system crash or anything. It may add some config changes but usually this is nothign that will ruin your current setup.
<5> Your best bet is to remove the cable going to the OLD drive just to be safe, before you fdisk and format.
<6> Renamed? No... They will have the drive letters changed inside Windows though, this is common. But if you NAMED each partition the name will still be there.
<7> If your system was/is as dirty as you say clean it out with compressed air, then reseat ALL your devices in their slots. Good chance the video card just needs to be reseated tightly.
<8> During the post there are many things that can go wrong. If you hear beeps then the system has detected a problem, though the problem may be as simple as a loose card in the PCI/ISA/AGP slot.

Good Luck

 

[DarrylLicke]

Holy smokes lots of questions... Lets take them one-at-a-time.
(I numbered your questions so this doesn't get confusing)

<1> To answer this we need more info: Did you upgrade the CPU or is this the one you have used for a few months now? What motherboard and CPU are you using?

No I did not. It is the same Asus P3V4X and Intel 733 I got last summer.


<3> Personally i would use a boot disk created inside Windows, then add the files you will likely use-fdisk, format, edit, scandisk, etc...
I have seen Win95 boot disks that included everything you are likely to use. I have also seen an OEM Win98 boot disk that didn't contain anything except the CD drivers and format. It would only be a guess to say if your disk contains the required files or not. Create your own them you'll know.

Well I have tried to format and if I didn't cancel I am assuming it would of ran since I was prompted.

Help file said something about an .edb file or maybe a .cab file decompressing these pertinent files to the Ramdrive.

<5> Your best bet is to remove the cable going to the OLD drive just to be safe, before you fdisk and format.

If I remove the cable will bios settings change? I do see the logic though and it is simple enough. Remove cable, change bios settings, format, fdisk, reconnect cable, install windows, no worries (I'd hope)

<6> Renamed? No... They will have the drive letters changed inside Windows though, this is common. But if you NAMED each partition the name will still be there.

Thats what I meant.

<7> If your system was/is as dirty as you say clean it out with compressed air, then reseat ALL your devices in their slots. Good chance the video card just needs to be reseated tightly.

I removed everything from the box and used compressed air. Each device is firmly sitting in its respective slots. I made sure this time as last time that was a problem with the Soundblaster.

<8> During the post there are many things that can go wrong. If you hear beeps then the system has detected a problem, though the problem may be as simple as a loose card in the PCI/ISA/AGP slot.

Why are computers so much like women....just tell me exactly what the freaking problem is!!!! (no offense to the women on the board)

Well if I have time tonight I'll fiddle with it and pray.

 

[sandorski]

I saw IBM 75GXP and stopped reading, run IBM's diagnostic on that drive first. It's probably toasted, hence your troubles.