PC MESSED UP :( Help Pleased

[old.Rail]

Hi

I have resently brought isdn. i know why it isnt working. it is not working because my pc is messed up. whenever i start up my pc it beeps 4 ages then if i press a key it trys to start up windows 98 se but it fails and comes to a dos screen and says Windows Protection error and i cant get into windows unless i use my boot disk and when i do that it crashes all the time anyway. A m8 told me that it was a problem with windows so i formated my hard disk and installd windows again but the error screen still comes up. so i thought maby its just my windows cd do i whent and brought windows ME this still hasnt sorted the problem out. I can't use the internet atm and im using a scholl comp.

PLEASE IF ANYBODY KNOWS HOW I CAN GET MY PC SORTED CAN U
HELP ME

[THG]RailWizard

 

[Chameleon]

It sounds like a hardware problem tbh. If you've done clean installs and it still doesnt work with JUST windows on it, then it seems likely to be hardware.
If you havent already, take all your cards out, reformat and install windows. If it boots like this, it may be add in card drivers. Dos it boot in safe mode?
The only other thing you could try would be to reformat with the fdisk /mbr command, which will replace the master boot record. This should clear any virus that might be residing there.
When you install windows it runs scandisk. Did it come up with any errors on the disk? You could try running a full surface scan to see if there are any physical disk errors.

Pah! PC's !!!!

Ch@m

 

[old.Rail]

Hi

Thanx i have done scan disk when i am in widows the surface scan thing but it still dosn't detect any errors. I also get the message error USER ERROR and Kernal332 lodsa stuff like that. O and please can u tell me how i do the fdisk /mbr command do i just do everything like im going to format my hard drive and installe windows again and instead of typing format u/C: after deleating the partitions i type /mbr.Thanx 4 Ya help

[THG]RailWizard

 

[Chameleon]

Your windows startup disk will have the fdisk program on it.
You should just be able to type fdisk /mbr from the A:\ prompt with your startup disk in the floppy drive.
Do ya partitions and formatting as usual.

Ch@m

 

[stu]

OK. If I'm interpreting this right. Your PC worked. Then you put your ISDN card in. And now it won't boot properly?

So (and I know this is going out on a limb here), Dr Stu diagnoses a faulty ISDN card.

 

[old.SUp3rFM]

Dr. SUp3rFM agrees with Dr. Stu. Your ISDN could have gone to the land of the dead ISDN cards.

One of my clanmates had one "similar" problem. Remove the card. Test your system and try the card in another computer.

 

[old.Rail]

Hi

No sorry i have had 2 types of isdn pci cards. One of them was a tipa- p Tornado isdn card but then that didn't work so i took that one back and got a better 1 for £50 this one also dosn't work. I also had the boot up problem b4 i got the isdn card. SORRY i didn't mention this in the first post. And it also dosn't boot up properly without the isdn card in.Thanx for trying to help tho.When i do this fdisk /mb it will be like restarting my computer compleatly from scatch and i'll be able to install windows as usual... Yeah?

Thanx 4 helping.

[THG]RailWizard

 

[old.MeddlE]

Originally posted by Rail
whenever i start up my pc it beeps 4 ages then if i press a key it trys to start up

This is the important part of the post. There will be a series of beeps, maybe long/short or high/low, if you could post the sequence of beeps then we might have a better idea what is wrong. It is definitely hardware though.

 

[old.Rail]

LO

Well im at collage atm but i think i can give u a rough description of the beeps b4 the beeps it dose like a clicking or i could describe it as a poping kinda sound this has about 30 pops or cicks whatever u want to call them. These happen when the windows ME screen comes up then onnce theses poping sounds have finished it gose onto continuos beep beep beep ect until i press any key then it comes up with the error screen, that i have been talking about. If i dont press a key it evensurly ends up at the error screen anyway.

Thanx 4 helping me i really aprecieat this

[THG]RailWizard

 

[Chameleon]

Try pressing F8 when it starts to boot and then opt to go through the autoexec and config, etc 'step-by-step'. Answer (Y)es to each line and note the response to each command. This should narrow the problem down. Saying that though, if its a clean system, with no addin cards (gfx, sound, dialup adapters, etc) it shouldn't have any probs. But PC's are weird creatures
The clicking (rather than beeping) could indicate a knackered harddisk drive ...

Ch@m

 

[stu]

Originally posted by Rail
b4 the beeps it dose like a clicking or i could describe it as a poping kinda sound this has about 30 pops or cicks whatever u want to call them. These happen when the windows ME screen comes up then onnce theses poping sounds have finished it gose onto continuos beep beep beep ect until i press any key then it comes up with the error screen, that i have been talking about. If i dont press a key it evensurly ends up at the error screen anyway.

The clicking is probably your hard disk spinning up/accessing. I thought at first from your "beep" description that it sounded like a RAM/CPU problem... but the machine wouldn't post at all, let alone boot into ME, if this was the case. So it looks like you've got a problem with some "secondary" hardware (ie hardware that is not required to boot your machine). If you can see the Windows ME screen, then it's not your graphics card, so my guess would be that it's your sound card or network card if you have one. Take them out and try to boot, see what happens.

It definitely sounds like it's something being picked up at the O/S level (which would reaffirm something like a soundcard), rather than something that is picked up during the normal post/boot routine, as Windows is GPF'ing (rather than your entire machine just refusing to boot). So I guess the only other thing it could be is something like a USB device? If you've got REALLY b0rked USB drivers, then after the Windows screen would be EXACTLY when they go wrong, because that's when it initialises everything.

 

[Embattle]

Whats all the bits of the PC?

 

[old.Rail]

LO Stu

i'll tell you what i have in my PC i have a Voodoo3 3000 pci and a soundblaster pro ISA and i have the ISND pci card
my pc is a AMD K6 III 450 64 megs of ram i dont know if that helps at all but there it is. Thanx for everyones help i will let u all know tommrow or tonight hopefully if my pc is sorted.

Thanx so much

[THG]RailWizard

 

[old.Rail]

I also dont have any usb ports um... thats all the bits i have in my pc. the post i did b4 this 1 was b4 i saw embattles post

[THG]RailWizard

 

[stu]

Pull your soundcard out. That's the most likely cause.

Incidentally, just removing it might not fix it. As I mentioned before, it's Windows actually crashing, rather than your machine refusing to boot, so it could be a problem with the device driver or the hardware itself. Sooo...

When your machine boots up, and says "Starting Windows" (I dunno if it does this in ME, it does in 98 and 95), hit F8. You'll get a menu. Choose "start in Safe Mode". Your machine will take a LOT longer to boot up, but if it boots properly into Windows, it means some of your drivers are knackered (Safe Mode doesn't use them, hence the conflict won't arise).

To be honest, you could get a new SB Live for £35 or so.

 

[old.TUG]

heat heat heat. I replied to your other post somewhere on this BB so have a look.

 

[old.Rail]

I took my sound card out and uninstalled it but when i tried to resrted windows me it still did the same this i did the step by step boot up thig that ch@m told me todo and it failed to load my VXD drivers and thats what it says when i tried to load windows. Unable to inisiate Device drivers VXD.

Thanx 4 the Help

[THG]RailWizard

 

[stu]

Rail

OK, as I suspected, it's the drivers for something that is causing the problem, rather than the hardware itself. An "easy" way to solve it would just be to nuke Windows and reformat. If you've got stuff you'd like to save, boot into safe mode, go to Control Panel, System, delete your sound card and graphics card (hoping that it's them, and not some integral hardware on your motherboard). Reboot into normal mode windows, it will auto-detect your graphics card and sound card and give you the option to install the drivers again. Install your original drivers, and it should all work nicely.

 

[old.Rail]

I have reinstalled everything but error keeps coming up but i can still boot up using a boot disk tho.Please Help

Thanx so much everyone

[THG]RailWizard

 

[Chameleon]

Blimey mate! I hate these kinda things. You must be going mad!!
I would do the following;

Take all cards out of your machine (sound, gfx, etc), leaving just your modem (or whatever connex your on)

Format C:

Install windows

You should now have a clean install with no extra drivers other than your modem (if it doesnt work at this stage, its the modem drivers, or hardware imo)

Setup a dialup and go get the most recent drivers for all your cards

Put your cards in one-by-one and use the drivers you have downlaoded, not the drivers windows comes with, or any you have on disk/cd

If things go pear shaped again at any stage, repeat from the top, but dont install the device that is causing problems.

Take said device and apply a heavy stamping motion to it with the sole of your shoe .......... then go buy a better one and install that

Ch@m

 

[old.MeddlE]

Originally posted by Ch@meleon
Take all cards out of your machine (sound, gfx, etc), leaving just your modem (or whatever connex your on)

Wow, interesting idea, but how's he going to see what he's doing with no gfx card?

 

[Chameleon]

Good point! Leave the gfx You knew what I meant
Maybe you could d/load the gfx drivers from work, or a mates house beforehand?

 

[old.YaYa]

OK, this may sound stupid, unplug your keyboard and plug another one in, sounds daft but i have seen this a few times before, esp. with all that clicking.

 

[old.Inshala]

Cant sleep again eh John??

 

[old.Rail]

Thanx
everybody .Havent been able to reply in the past few days but i will try eveything new that u all have said. Ch@m i will try what u just said my m8 said i could use his graphics card. I'll even try the keyboard thing. I have 2 b a lpb by thursday cus im entering the q2 ffa lpb league.Or i will have a ping of 230...YAY

Thanx so much 4 helping

[THG]RailWizard

 

[HangTime]

im inclined to think this is probably a serious hardware problem rather than anything driver related. the errors u describe (windows protection errors, vxd initialisation failure, windows GPF'ing on the rare occasions it boots) and the fact that errors occur in different places/situations sound very much like problems ive had when pushing my hardware too hard.

If u r overlocking your system, set it back to default speed (cpu/ram/gfx etc). If not, try and check for excess heat production - run with the case off and observe the psu and especially cpu fans. sometimes they can get clogged up with dirt and not spin properly... i had this happen with an old socket7 fan once. If its possible, try underclocking your cpu - if this restores system stability it could tell you this is where the problem lies (i once had to clock a *spit*cyrix back to boot windows after it got weak due to said fan failing ). also use the 'reset to defaults' option in bios in case uve inadvertently enabled some feature your hardware cant handle.

I know from experience that having a non-booting pc which cant be solved by a reformat is very frustrating, the main thing is to work thru things systematically, often simple things can be causing the problem. try running a bare bones setup (cpu, ram, video card, keyboard and harddrive only) and see if this improves things. if u have more than one ram chip try testing them individually, maybe one of them is faulty and bringing the whole system down. re-seat the gfx card in its slot (in fact try another pci slot), make sure all power/ide connectors are fully in place. im still inclined to think it could be a cpu/heat problem but u never know. if the cpu/gfx card are close together heat could be causing the problems, as they both generate a lot of it. try increasing the cpu voltage if your motherboard allows it also.

 

[kameleon]

i Had this problem 2 days ago

it would get to the starting win ME screen then beep a few times then go blank when i pressed a key, the win me screen came back on, but with the screen jumping. I was tearing my hair out but i finally sorted it by loading bios defaults. I think its something to do with irqs. try it yourself.
My PC now works with no problems