"general protection fault"

[archiloco]

basically running dell precision 650 on win 2k and when starting up it gives me this error right after bios screen, it checks the hard drives and then says this, does not go into windows boot screen or anything.....F8 into windows safe mode won't do a thing

(4 hard drives all scsi) do not know if this helps....

any thoughts???? kinda desperate right now, cuz i don't want to use the windows cd to wipe out the operating system....have not tired this option...should it???

Thanks for reading and hopefully replying.

 

[wpshooter]

When did this start happening ??? Have you had the computer up and running ???

 

[archiloco]

just now....computer running perfectly before...right now still doing that.

 

[wpshooter]

Have you tried unhooking all of the SCSI drives except the boot drive to see if it will boot ? Make sure you terminate properly if you do this.

Edit: You did mean SCSI drives didn't you ?

 

[archiloco]

have not tried that...will try that now.....seems logical....thanks alot!

 

[archiloco]

yeah meant that..hehe..edited it on my original message already too

 

[archiloco]

what do you mean by terminate them properly????

 

[wpshooter]

If you can get it booted the very first thing you should do is get the diagnostic software from the drive manufacturer and test the integrity of that first drive. If it comes up clean, I would reconnect the drive one at a time and see if the problem recurred at a certain drive and then you have found your problem. You might want to test all drive eventually.

 

[archiloco]

will do

 

[wpshooter]

Originally posted by: archiloco
what do you mean by terminate them properly????

Some older drives used to have a termination on the last drive in the string. This may not be applicable to your drives or the termination may be handled by either your motherboard controller or by a BIOS setting.

Edit: You should do some research on SCSI termination just in case it applies to either this case or something you might get into in the future.

 

[archiloco]

it does not apply to these i know that much hehe

 

[archiloco]

no that was not it.....any other suggestions other than trying to reinstall windows???

 

[wpshooter]

Have you tried resetting the CMOS via the motherboard jumper.

If you do this make sure you closely follow the instructions for doing so that are found in the motherboard user manual.

Make sure you reset the BIOS settings back to the way you had them (before you boot back into windows) if you attempt to reset CMOS.

 

[wpshooter]

If that does not work you might read

[*]linkhttp://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000224.htm

I am almost wondering if you aren't going to have to re-install.

Before you do reinstall I would make sure that you get the DOS/floppy version of the hard drive diagnostic software & test your boot drive first. Because if you re-install to a bad drive, it is probably not going to be long before you will be having the same or similar problems.

Good luck.

 

[archiloco]

not brave enough to reset the cmos thru the jumpers, but i will have to look into the other options..thanks and wish me luck!

 

[wpshooter]

Originally posted by: archiloco
not brave enough to reset the cmos thru the jumpers, but i will have to look into the other options..thanks and wish me luck!

This is really no big deal as long as you follow the motherboard manufacturers instructions. If you don't feel comfortable give Dell a call, they are usually very good about helping with problems like these.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: archiloco
basically running dell precision 650 on win 2k and when starting up it gives me this error right after bios screen, it checks the hard drives and then says this, does not go into windows boot screen or anything.....F8 into windows safe mode won't do a thing

(4 hard drives all scsi) do not know if this helps....

any thoughts???? kinda desperate right now, cuz i don't want to use the windows cd to wipe out the operating system....have not tired this option...should it???

Thanks for reading and hopefully replying.

I'm still not clear -- you hit F8 and do Windows Safe Mode or Last Known Good and *exactly* what happens? Spell it out, please.

 

[archiloco]

Update:

so basically i did everything wp shooter told me to do (except the cmos) and i just bit the bullet and reinstalled windows....that did the trick....thank Goodness that i had everything back. what i meant was that i could not get into windows safemode or any sort of boot screen.....thanks for all the help!!! i guess windows got corrupted somehow.