Noob questions

[Marble]

Ok, so I just got my first rig built and working and everything is running pretty slow, so I guess I need to install drivers right? What drivers do I need to install? I have an AMD 2400+, do I need to get drivers for that? All that is installed so far is Windows XP and the chipset for my mobo that came on a disk. Also, how do I get my CMOS BIOS to stop running at startup? I always have to like hit f1 for windows to boot up. Thank you

 

[Demo24]

well drivers may or may not be your prob. no drivers for the cpu. drivers for vid card and some other things. as for BIOS it runs everytime you turn it on. you dont turn it off thats what keeps your computer running

 

[Marble]

Well then whats make it run so slow? I've like reformatted my dell before and had this happen, I just installed all the drivers on the disc they gave me and the problem went away... Any ideas?

 

[DaveSimmons]

Also, how do I get my CMOS BIOS to stop running at startup? I always have to like hit f1 for windows to boot up. is the BIOS trying to tell you about some problem, like dead fan, CPU settings wrong, etc.? If there's no problem the BIOS should not be stopping and waiting for a keypress.

 

[Marble]

Ok, I got the problem fixed, just needed video card drivers. The BIOS problem, it tells my chipset, CPU speed, shows harddrive and CD-RW and says Floppy Disk Failed. I don't have a floppy disk installed.

 

[Marble]

one more thing.. what drivers do i need to install? I installed the video card and mobo drivers, and everything works fine except that BIOS screen at startup.. anything else I need?

 

[Sonic587]

We need specs here.

 

[Marble]

AN35N Ultra, AMD Barton 2500+, 1 gig (2x512) Mushkin PC-3200, 120GB Hitachi SATA Drive, 7200 RPM with 8mb cache, Sapphire Radeon 9200 64MB

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: Marble
one more thing.. what drivers do i need to install? I installed the video card and mobo drivers, and everything works fine except that BIOS screen at startup.. anything else I need?

You probably need to go into the BIOS and change the floppy drive to none and/or disable a "check at startup" option.

 

[Marble]

Ok thanks dave

 

[Sonic587]

You'll need to install drivers for your card. Head on over to http://www.ati.com and grab the latest cats.

You mention it being "slow". What do you mean by this exactly? In games? Windows? Doing what?

 

[Sunset1]

Originally posted by: Marble
one more thing.. what drivers do i need to install? I installed the video card and mobo drivers, and everything works fine except that BIOS screen at startup.. anything else I need?

The most important thing to do is find out what chipset your motherboard uses. Look in the motherboard book or better yet on the two large chips (not the cpu) on the motherboard. (I am assuming this is not a brand new Nvidia chipset.) At least find the Make ... Asus, Abit, etc and the model # and revision # of the motherboard. You will need to look closely on the system board itself.

VIA and Certian AMD chipsets need drivers installed to correctly install AGP video, udma Ide drivers, and sound. Your system is dragging possibly because of AGP drivers and IDE UDMA drivers. Make sure you set the IDE for DMA.

There used to be a 4 in one driver available but now I belive you have to install the drivers seperatly.
While you should find the drivers you need on your motherboard installation disk, you can also find them at either the motherboard manufacture's web site or AMD. Like I said tho you can't install drivers until you know what chipset you have.

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871_2336,00.html

Windows® 2000/XP AGP Driver -

Windows® 2000/ME/XP AC?97 Audio Driver

Windows® 2000 and Windows XP IDE Bus Master Driver

AGP miniport Driver

DMA utility

Etc.

That should help things out a bit. :>

Sunset1

 

[Marble]

I got the problem fixed, it was being slow and what I mean by that is like IE windows lagging, etc, but once I installed my video card drivers which came on a CD, it went away. I already have the chipset drivers installed. Thanks to all, it's working now