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Problem Solved!! (my feeble attempt at humor) - Computer locks up trying to install gameport - driving me nuts!!

J

John P

Platinum Member
Computers never cease to amaze me in the infinite amount of ways they can drive me insane.

I am trying to set up a system with the following specs

Abit KG7
Duron 1.1Ghz
256MB DDR Ram
Geforce2 GTS-V
Netgear FA310TX NIC
Sound card
Win98 SE

Every time the computer trys to load the gameport the system locks up. It does it both with a CMI8738 based sound card and an Aureal Vortex1 AU8820B2 based card - I couldn't believe it when it locked up at the same point with the 2nd card!! After I reboot from the lockup the gameport appears in the system properties with a yellow exclamation point. When I try to update the driver it locks up. Aaaaargh Matey!! I try removing the gameport in Safe Mode then reinstall and it still locks up. There are no IRQ conflicts. I have tried several different slots on the mb. My next step will be to uninstall Sidewinder software and then try it again, then reinstall the Sidewinder software..............

Anyone have any ideas??
 
Still no luck. The last thing to try is the new VIA 4 in 1's and AMD miniport drivers for the motherboard. Egads, why do I always get the problems nobody's ever seen before?
 
Updated the motherboard drivers, no go. Tried removing everything in device manager I could and then just reloading the gameport, no go. It locks up as soon as it tries to load the gameport drivers every single time. The last thing I can think of trying is swapping out a SBLive from another machine. The only thing left after that is reloading Win98.
 
Ok, I've tried everything. Stripped the puter down, etc... The only person to help me out has been this John P. character and all he doesn't appear to be too bright.

This will be my last bump, I promise really.

What exactly is the computer doing when it loads the gameport driver, looking for a file somewhere I presume? I wonder why it only locks up when it goes looking for that file?? Hmmm..

Ok, even if you don't know can at least one person reply to bump their message count up? Thanks,
 
Hmm can you trie it in another computer?

Also have you tried every PCI slot? I had a NIC that would only work in one slot. I think the mobo was going bad but its still up and running today.

Try an manualy install the drivers. 😛 Get the inf file it is using right now and then rename the correct one to it then switch them out. I really don't know what will happen but it would be fun. 🙂

 
You know the simple answer,use USB for your joystick,joypad devices ,this does mean you will have to go USB but it`s better then reformatting and you can have more connected then any gameport device 🙂.Btw is the gameport stand alone or one on your sound card? The only other thing you could try is upgrade your OS to 2K or XP,not much help in this post but at least it bumps your thread.

🙂
 
Tried the CMI card in every PCI slot - no go

Tried the Sound Blaster Live Value Card - locks up as soon as the Creative Gameport Driver begins to load.

Quite bizarre!! Locks up at the same point with 3 different sound cards. Getting ready to reload Win 98..........

 
Tried re-extracting joystick.inf file - no go

Tried reinstalling Win98 - won't let me (don't even bother asking)

There is basically nothing left to do except maybe try a different video card, can't see how that could affect it though. Crap.
 
didn't you hear the man? install winXP for god's sake!!! what the hell are you doing with win98se anyways???
 
Maby he likes 98se. Who knows maby he doesnt have the money right now to buy XP or 2k. Maby he is saving for a new Mac. It doesnt matter, he has a problem and we should help him fix it. 🙂
 
Ok, just in case anybody cares, I brutally slayed this problem by following these easy steps:

I didn't want to reload all the cajillion games, demos, etc... that are cluttering my kids computer's hard drives so I did not want to do a fresh format/OS install.

I reformatted hard drive and tried copying the HD from my other kids computer.

The whole thing became unbelievably fouled up, had to run the pcrestor function on the Win98 CD and then reinstall Win98 SE and then all the updates (good thing I have DSL).

Believe it or not the gameport DID NOT WORK from this new install, would not recognize a MS Sidewinder 3D Pro.

I saw the $4.99 after MIR Logitech USB joystick at CompUSA, went and bought it.

Installed Logitech joystick software. The system recognized both the USB Wingman and a gameort Wingman Digital Extreme 3D joystick and I was able to calibrate them. I thought I had the problem licked!! Tried Monster Truck Madness 2 and CART Precision racing - joysticks did not work!!

Aaaaargh Matey!!

Tried the MS Sidewinder 3D Pro again - showed up as "Not Connected".

Searched the internet - found a bunch of people who have the same problem.

Contemplated tossing computer under a large moving truck.

Says to myself - "Why have I wasted a week messing with this stupid freaking thing when I have a copy of Win XP Home sitting here doing nothing?"

Installed Win XP over the top of the junk on this HD. I was very surprised that the installation went very smoothly. All my kids games seem to work - even a DOS based shareware scrolling shooter(Raptor). And the joystick even works!! Yippity Skippity. Problem solved - time to go create a new one, errrrr, I mean play some games......
 
Mem,
Yup, Saw your post in the midst of my battle. Only wanted to do that as a last resort, it got personal for a while - but I came to my senses. Now I'm kinda happy that it came to that. Thanks,
 
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