ECS k7s5a and pci installation

[PUfreak13]

I bought one of these boards and it is working fine. Unfortunately, I found out last week that whenever I try to install a pci card it gives me the error "the data is invalid" when it should say, "installation was successful" or whatever it usually says. I've tried installing a modem, scsi card, and a 4-port usb card. I've tried installing them all seperately and in different slots. Same error message every time. I am running windows 2000 with an XP 1.6GHz and 192 mb of PC133 memory.

Has anyone else had any similar problems? Any suggestions?

 

[lsman]

what os you are using?

 

[lsman]

did you install the siside.exe ?
Text

 

[Peter]

Please check whether you have one of the broken BIOSes that gave weird results with PCI cards. February and June 2002 BIOSes are no-no, the current one (10/29/2002) or any other one is OK. Don't go too far back, else you might be losing support for your XP CPU.

 

[PUfreak13]

I'll have to check on the date of my bios when I get home. Are there instructions anywhere on how to update the bios when running Windows 2000? Just curious. Thanks for the help

 

[PUfreak13]

Yep, the bios is dated 6/26/02. So I should update the bios then, eh? Is that easy to do with 2000? I've done it with a 98 machine but never windows 2000. Can someone tell me the best way?

 

[Peter]

You need to have a boot disk that gets you into plain DOS. BIOS updater's disk from www.bootdisk.com does that for you.

 

[bigtimmn2]

Over on OCWorbench, you can download everything to burn to CD that allows you to flash all the diff bios as well as some modified OC bios as well..

makes it nice and simple to do. I have changed bios 5 times in the last few days in trying to stabilize my system, and its nice to not have to hassle with stuff.

 

[PUfreak13]

Well, I updated the bios to the 10/29/02 one and the same stuff happens. Whenever I try to install a pci card it tells me the data is invalid. Should I have newegg replace it or does anyone have any other suggestions?

 

[dpm]

I've had problems with pci cards too. Well, pci modems. PCI Video cards work fine, but if i tried to install a PCI modem then the pc won't post at all, or will post with problems. I tried three, without getting one to work, so I ended up buying an external one. Bright side? Downloads are slightly faster

And i'm using the 29/04/02 BIOS.

Another question : people say only to update your bios if you have a problem that the new bios willl solve - does "Adjust timing for stability and compatibility" count as that?

 

[Peter]

Originally posted by: PUfreak13
Well, I updated the bios to the 10/29/02 one and the same stuff happens. Whenever I try to install a pci card it tells me the data is invalid. Should I have newegg replace it or does anyone have any other suggestions?

hmmm ... "data invalid" ... that rings a faint bell. It happened to a number of people ... research M$ knowledge base, and maybe download the appropriate update/fix, and/or google globally for comments. As far as I remember, this wasn't a mainboard related problem at all.

 

[AnandtechViolator]

Originally posted by: Peter
You need to have a boot disk that gets you into plain DOS. BIOS updater's disk from www.bootdisk.com does that for you.

agreed, this should be the first step.

 

[PUfreak13]

Well, I figured it out. In case anyone ever has the same problem, here is the site I found a good explanation: this site

And for the even lazier, here are the instructions:

Go to START, then RUN, and type "REGEDT32" (not "REGEDIT"). In the REGEDT32 program, find the window titled "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" and maximize it. Open the following folders by double-clicking on them:

SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\ENUM\PCI

You will see a lot of folders ('keys', in this case) named "VEN_xxxxxxx..." where "xxxxxx" are strings like "1102&DEV_0004&SUBSYS_00011103&REV_04". Inside each of these folders will be a folder(s) with a long numerical name. Click on each folder and look for an entry named "DeviceDesc" that has a description containing the name of the device you are having trouble installing. When you find the correct folder, click "SECURITY" then "PERMISSIONS" from the REGEDT32 menu bar. In the window that opens select "ALLOW" next to the "Full Control" option. Close REGEDT32 and reinstall your drivers - they should install just fine, now.

Peace out...