my comp is being a bitch

tbonesin2000 · Apr 7, 2003

yesterday i started having problems getting into windows. everyonce in a while i can actually log in to windows, it i imediatly freezes or i get bsod. the msg on the bsod wasn't constistant so i decided to try a variety of things. i booted into safe mode and that worked ok. so i reinstalled my video and sound drivers, which worked ok too. but i still have the problem that when i try to boot windows normally it freezes. no more bsod though, which i think is a good sign. i tried pulling the sound card (sound blaster Live! 5.1) to see if it would work with integrated sound, but it still froze. oh yeah, i almost forgot, when it was in safe mode, the screen was really messed up. there were columns of images, but they weren't in the right order. i don't know if i'm explaining that very well, but it's the best i can come up with for now. anybody have a clue what could be wrong?

here are my specs:

AMD Athlon XP +1900
Gigabyte GA-7VRXP mobo
SoundBlaster Live! 5.1
LightOn DVD and burner
80GB HD x2 (RAID)
420W PSU

i need to get this thing working, and i have like $10 to my name, so if it would be possible to fix it without buying new parts it would be nice.

Malladine · Apr 7, 2003

Hmm, tried chipset drivers?

Electric Amish · Apr 7, 2003

While booting press F8. That gets you to the boot menu. Choose Step-by-Step and see if there's a driver that loads just before the freeze.

Also, have you recently updated drivers or installed any new programs?

amish

DannyLove · Apr 7, 2003

are you on Windows XP/2000? if so, have you tried the "Last Known Good Configuration" yet? any luck on that?

danny~!

tbonesin2000 · Apr 7, 2003

i've been using F8 to get to the boot menu to go into safe mode, and i don't see and option of step-by-step boot mode. the list includes:

Safe Mode
Safe Mode with networking
Safe Mode with Command Prompt

Enable Boot Logging
Enable VGA Mode
Last Known good configuration
Directory Services Restore Mode
Debugging Mode

Start Windows Normally
Reboot
Return to OS Choices Menu

i don't know if what you were talking about is in that list and i'm just stupid, or if you were talking about the boot menu on a different OS, or what. i should have said before that i'm running Windows XP Home, but i forgot.

tbonesin2000 · Apr 7, 2003

oh and btw, i installed Diablo 2 last week and it's been running fine, and i haven't updated drivers in a few weeks, so i don't think that was the problem.

Malladine · Apr 7, 2003

Sorry it's off topic, but:

Electric Amish: 12817 posts = Elite member
DannyLove: 10294 posts = Lifer

Why that?

tbonesin2000 · Apr 7, 2003

i just tried the last known working config, and it looked really funky again. i am installing video drivers again to see if that helps.

it didn't help, and now it froze again. it's starting up in 800x600 with 4bit color and i can't change it. wtf

Malladine · Apr 7, 2003

A long shot, but open the box up and clean out all the dust in there...

tbonesin2000 · Apr 7, 2003

i've had the box open for a couple of weeks now, and it's pretty clean, but i'll pull out any dust i can find.

Electric Amish · Apr 7, 2003

Originally posted by: Malladine
Sorry it's off topic, but:

Electric Amish: 12817 posts = Elite member
DannyLove: 10294 posts = Lifer

Why that?

"Elite" is an honorary title that is not based on # of posts.

i've been using F8 to get to the boot menu to go into safe mode, and i don't see and option of step-by-step boot mode. the list includes:
Safe Mode
Safe Mode with networking
Safe Mode with Command Prompt

Enable Boot Logging
Enable VGA Mode
Last Known good configuration
Directory Services Restore Mode
Debugging Mode

Start Windows Normally
Reboot
Return to OS Choices Menu

i don't know if what you were talking about is in that list and i'm just stupid, or if you were talking about the boot menu on a different OS, or what. i should have said before that i'm running Windows XP Home, but i forgot.

Hrmmm.... It must be different on XP. I've never tried that on XP I just assumed it was there since it's on 98 and (I thought) 2K.

Maybe the "Boot Logging" is something similar...

I'd try running "Boot logging" or the "Last known good configuration".

Also, if you get into Safe Mode, can you look at the Event logs? Maybe there's some info there.

amish

Electric Amish · Apr 7, 2003

Originally posted by: tbonesin2000
i just tried the last known working config, and it looked really funky again. i am installing video drivers again to see if that helps.

it didn't help, and now it froze again. it's starting up in 800x600 with 4bit color and i can't change it. wtf

Maybe try UN-installing all the drivers and then reinstall them.

amish

Malladine · Apr 7, 2003

It isn't there on win2kpro...

tbonesin2000 · Apr 7, 2003

the PSU i'm using is a 420W Turbolink PSU that came with the case, could that be the problem? i'm not sure if it being dead could cause this, but this doesn't seem like the type of thing that would be caused by the PSU since i can get it into Safe Mode.

tbonesin2000 · Apr 7, 2003

just out of curiosity, should sound work in safe mode? because it doesn't for me.

also, after un-and-re-installing my chipset drivers, it booted into windows fine, but when i changed the video settings it started going haywire again. this is really starting to piss me off.

Robor · Apr 7, 2003

If it's working in safe mode it sounds like it could be a driver or software issue. I'd make sure you're not loading any unnecessary proggies on bootup as well. Disable anything loading in your registry or startup folder as well as any unnecessary services (antivirus, zone alarm, etc).

BmXStuD · Apr 7, 2003

Originally posted by: tbonesin2000
just out of curiosity, should sound work in safe mode? because it doesn't for me.

also, after un-and-re-installing my chipset drivers, it booted into windows fine, but when i changed the video settings it started going haywire again. this is really starting to piss me off.

no sound dont work in safe mode. That driver isn;t loaded.

tbonesin2000 · Apr 7, 2003

i got it to boot once just fine, but when i tried to uninstall norton, it froze half way through. i'm trying to put a new version on because something got really f'ed up with the old one and it doesn't think i have the subscription service installed. anywho, it won't boot into windows anymore again. sometimes i want to just throw this piece of s*** out the window!! thank you office space for that wonderful quote.

tbonesin2000 · Apr 8, 2003

day 3 of trying to get this thing to work, and i'm not having much luck. i'm thinking about reinstalling windows, but i don't want to lose all of my stuff and none of the people on my floor (i'm at college) have enough room to store my DL'ed stuff. is there anything else i should try? i need help with this one.

gregor7777 · Apr 8, 2003

Try pulling out the RAID card and going with one HD on IDE 1. Also, if you have two sticks of RAm try swapping them and runnng on only one stick. Also, make sure Command Rate in the BIOS is not on 1T.

Just try to eliminate things from the equation.

JSA2 · Apr 8, 2003

I have the perfect solution to your problem....take the amd, throw it in the trash, and buy urself an Intel based PC.... PROBLEM SOLVED.

Sorry, just had to say that.....especially since everyone posting in with problems always seem to have an AMD based machine.

LOL....Joe

Let me in, let me in....Let me out, let me out.......

tbonesin2000 · Apr 8, 2003

Originally posted by: gregor7777
Try pulling out the RAID card and going with one HD on IDE 1. Also, if you have two sticks of RAm try swapping them and runnng on only one stick. Also, make sure Command Rate in the BIOS is not on 1T.

Just try to eliminate things from the equation.

first, the RAID is on the mobo, so there is no card, but i'll try turning that off and running one HD, i'll also try the RAM. I checked the BIOS and it is set on 1T, but i can't change it, what does this setting do and if 1T is wrong, why have i not had problems before?

tbonesin2000 · Apr 8, 2003

Originally posted by: JSA2
I have the perfect solution to your problem....take the amd, throw it in the trash, and buy urself an Intel based PC.... PROBLEM SOLVED.

Sorry, just had to say that.....especially since everyone posting in with problems always seem to have an AMD based machine.

LOL....Joe

Let me in, let me in....Let me out, let me out.......

i would, but i love AMD too much, and i'm a poor college student who doesn't have te money to throw into a new computer, especially considering the fact that if i were to go P4, it would cost more just to pay for the Intel name.

snidy1 · Apr 8, 2003

Originally posted by: tbonesin2000
the PSU i'm using is a 420W Turbolink PSU that came with the case, could that be the problem? i'm not sure if it being dead could cause this, but this doesn't seem like the type of thing that would be caused by the PSU since i can get it into Safe Mode.

It could if the power good signal isn't working

Vonkhan · Apr 8, 2003

I had the EXACT problem on my old 1.1GHz celery ... turned out to the frikkin cpu fan

my comp is being a bitch

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