Posts by Chaky

You should enter the BIOS (press Del when booting) and disable the boot screen logo. Also disable the quick POST. That will make your PC to do more checks on POST and you will see some progress instead of the logo. Post here any new info you collect.

400 W seems bit low. My suggestion would be get 500 W minimum.

You should check your BIOS settings for the HD. Make sure it's set on LBA. In the on-board chip settings turn off all the enhancements and set data transfer on PIO. Also check the jumper settings on the HD. Especially ones referring to no. of cylinders/heads/sector to see if different settings are required for your IDE controller.

Also disable the "Quick POST". It will make your BIOS to do more checks of things when it powers up.

Some BIOS-es have low level formatting utility. If you have one, use it to format the drive. It will also report any bad sectors (I doubt there would be any on the new drive)

You would have to be more specific:

What do you notice when you try to turn it on? (as opposed to when it's off, like HD spins, fans spins, beeps, led lights, video feedback...)

If it is COMPLETELY dead you should try it with another power supply unit.

Hi.

From what you described, I would say thet the power isn't getting through. Make sure that all of the power supply chords are plugged in all the way.

You say thet you PSU has a shorting protection. I'm sceptic if it would protect your bit from frying. Might just aswell give you the problems you've described. Nevertheless, you should check the fans if they are damaged in any way, and take a look at the USB ports. Remove any usb devices you have (including mouse and keyboard) and make sure that those 4 connections are not shorted. If you're not sure, you can allways unplugg them from the motherboard.

Try removing CMOS battery to se if you'll get the POST. If it's dead, it could make a short that would turn on the PSU prottection.

You should try to turn it on with bare essentials only (PSU, mobo and CPU - no graphic, memory, drives, cards nor unnecessary fans) to see if ti will give any lifesigns. Having a beeper would give some indications of what's wrong.

p.s. be sure to ground your self before you start ripping things out.

p.p.s. you can jerk the cables with the mains plugged in, as long as you dint touch any electronic parts.

The faulty "motherboard" battery (CMOS battery to be technical) would cause cmos corruption. That's the BIOS settings and configuration. Once you "save the BIOS settings and exit" some of that corruption is gone. Some BIOSes even have the option to clear the CMOS. That would be the first aid your laptop needs. You can run the PC WITHOUT the CMOS battery, but you wouldn't be able to save any BIOS settings and your PC would boot with default setting. It usualy means that all of the enhnces your laptop is capable of would be turned off. As far as my knowledge of laptops go, most of them don't use the CMOS battery at all. They rely on the main battery, but I can be wrong there.

Try this:

Remove the battery and plug the power chord it in and try to power it up. It would rule out battery and the battery charger. I hear that some laptops with faulty charger would function only that way. Some batteries have the circuitry that controlled the cherginig installed in them. One series was recalled (HP's laptops) because of that fauty circuitry. Made the laptops go BOOM.

From what you've described I would say the power supply/battery charging is to blame. It probbably killed your last battery undercharging it (or made it look dead).

For the Mobo installation, check if you have connected "on/off" switch correctly. Some older systems switch on and of directly from PSU, while today's systems switch is connected to the motherboard. It usualy means shorting 2 pins.
For troubleshooting the newborn custom made machine, the prudent thing to do is to install the beeper. It can "tell" you why it won't turn on.
Also having a IDE HD cable plugged in upside-down would result in such behaviour.
I suggest that you start with PSU-CPU-MOBO only (no drives, cards VGA or memory) to see if it would move from square 1.

For the monitor:
Monitors usualy have 3-5 year warranty, so tf it is 2 yrs old than the warranty should cover it. And I'm 100% certain that it is faulty. That burning smell you described is comming from your monitior. A broken solder would make sparks that produce smell.

If the warranty is gone I suggest that, if you feel brave enough, to openup the birthday gift (I mean monitor) and look for the burn-marks. My bet is that you'll find cracked solder with brownish surroundings. You might need a magnifying glass if the solder is small.
You'll need soldetron. Just touch the cracked solder till it melts a little and you're done. I did that to my ex monitor couple of times and prolonget it's life for couple more years. And I'm not a crafty electritian.
BE SURE TO UNPLUGG THE MONITOR …

It is obvious that the problem is with memory timings.

I have found a formula to set the timings completly, and not just first 4.

Here it goes:
(this goes only if your BIOS have these settings for the memory)

First 5 settings the ones that are usualy on the label or box of the memory sticks:

Memory Index Value (MHz) = read the label
CAS# latency = Tcl
Min RAS# active time = Tras
RAS# to CAS# delay = Trcd
Row precharge Time = Trp

Row cycle time (Trc) = Tras + Trp
Row refresh cyc time (Trfc) = Trc + 4
Read-to-Write time (Trwt) = 3 (more stable) or 2 (bit faster)
Write Recovery time (Twr) = 3 (more stable) or 2 (bit faster)
1T/2T Memory Timing = 2 (more stable) or 1 (bit faster)

S/W DRAM Over 4 G Remapping [disable]
H/W DRAM Over 4 G Remapping [disable]

This formula I've stubled on somwhere on the net. I can say that I had alot od trouble with my sicks, because BIOS reads only first 4 timings. Others, when on [auto] in my case were way off. My stability improved with this formula.

Last 2 settings set on [enable] only if you have 4 Gb of memory installed.

If this doesn't work for you, and the other hardware is in good shape, use the warranty for the memory, because the memory MUST work with these settings.

If the monitor driver is the cause (I seriously doubt that) try NOT installing the monitor diver. The system works just fine without specific monitor driver. You can install the driver AFTER you installed the windows 98 SE. Here's the link for the driver package you need in case you don't have the monitor driver for Windows 98:

http://members.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php?driverid=61789

You will need to register there. It's free of charge.

P.S.

You can set you system to "apply changes without restart" at display properties/settings/advanced/monitor (or was it /adapter, can't remeber). That applies to the resolution/refresh rate/colour depth changes. I think a monitor driver change results in some of those changes, therefore making your system reboot.

That was for the monitor driver.

Now, the safe mode only situation....

Looks to me that the monitor driver is the least of your troubles.
You will have to post to me what you see in device manager.

Rightclick my computer, select properties, and click on device manager tab.

All the problem device's (read: lack of needed drivers) will have yellow triangle with exclamation mark in it.

Please, take note of :

- device(s) type (ex. "display")
- device name (ex. "ATI Radeon 1600")
- error code (that you will see if you select the problem device you see and click on properties button)

From what I remeber about W95, there isn't such possibility to set the whole drive to "read-only".

My best guess is that the File Allocation Table is busted on your D drive and the system CAN'T read or write (Actually it can read first cluster of a file or folder). You should run any scan disk you have. Doesn't really matter if it is Norton DiscDoctor or windows scandisk. They work the same. Be sure to do a surface scan (system area). And expect heavy losses.

Also find some freeware or trial anti virus-spy-adware to cleanup the system.

Did you try any registry fixing software? Like norton utilities or registry mechanic? Those will fix, clean and defragmet the registry.

I say:

Metallica

Apocaliptica

Iron Maden (with Bruce Dickinson as vocal only)

Queen's Reich

Stratovarious

Accept

Winger

Running Wild

Extreme II

(the list goes on...)

You need to check the CPU fan to see if it is running. that is in case you have the fan.

Also check if the heat-sink is properly fitted. It has to be tight on the CPU + very thin layer of thermal paste must be on it.

BTW, For ~ $50 you can get some real CPU cooling. Zelman or something. CPU's retail cooling is (I'll be gentle) low-end.
It's, kind of, ironic to pay $500 for the CPU and get some puny $5 worth heat-sink and fan. I didn't even bother with mine.

P.S. If it shuts down immediately after switching on, I say your heat-sink is detached or not even there. Other possibility is the temp. diode is faulty, sending a higher temp. readings than it really is and, therefore, making the CPU shut down.
And opening the casing is the solution for the long run. That doesn't help with your case.

AMD is cheaper and gives better gaming performance.
Intel is has better overheating protection.

With proper cooling solution you don't need to worry about the temp's.

AMD Athlon64 +3800 is dual core. Full name is AMD Athlon64 X2 +3800. (socket 939)

Talk about the donkeys....

OOPS! There I go again.

I must be a criminal or something.

An ass-kisser can be somone who goes around kissing donkeys.

And a "tight-ass" is a medical condititon. Or a tough donkey.

Ah, good old Monty....

crap1 (krăp)
n.

1. Excrement.
2. An act of defecating.
3. Foolish, deceitful, or boastful language.
4. Cheap or shoddy material.
5. Miscellaneous or disorganized items
6. Insolent talk or behavior.

Now since I am a MOD and its my duty to follow the forum rules, you can very well understand which option given above, describes what I was trying to convey.

I hope you get the point.

You forgot "crap = sh**"

No. He said 'utter crap.'

You said "crap" too.

Hmm.. hey benobi1 and cosmoe, just to let you know that even though this is geeks lounge, it doesnt mean that you start posting utter crap.

You said "crap".

That's one god thing about getting old. You forget things. You forget why somethings bother you. Then you forget WHAT bothers you. Then you can forget about it all.

I know that some women forget that they are older than 40. It's kind of a lifespawn limit. It's like driving a car at max speed. It can't go faster, but it's going.

You missed the forum, dude.

Anyway, looks like a memory thing. Maybe the BIOS settings are wrong. I had my memory setings wrong and I had similar errors (random numbers and not triggered by the same application every time).

Or is it just a Warcraft bug.
You should look for patches.

http://www.blizzard.com/support/?id=mwr0642p

This too can help:

http://www.nocrash.com/ncbbs/msgs/3357.shtml

Happy birthday Dani!

Finally, someone remebered what this thread is about.

Thanks for the info.

Why don't you delete all of my posts too.

---------------------

no need, I'll just remove the insults.

You sound like one of the pacifists I've referred to.

But, this is coffee house.

The "topics" here should be motivation for the conversation. Just a starting theme.

Honestly, did you ever went to a drink with couple of ppl and talk about SINGLE TOPIC?

Damn ppl, don't be such tight-a**. (See? I didn't say it.)

I'm updating my BitDefender regularly.
Number of signatures went up to ~530000.
After last update it's 338694!!!!!!!

I think there are alot of pacifists at BD's home.

:idea: I have an IDEA:!:

Why don't we get notification if someone added to the rep.?

I must comment this...

What is this? An inquisition?

No, don't DELETE them. Try searching the windows directory for more instances of that dll. If there is a backup copy in "WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386" folder, compare the dll's version. Higher one is the better one.
Ignore the "WINDOWS\System32\dllcache" instances.

If you happend to find some old dll(s) and if you have newer version that came with SP2, make backup copy of the old one and COPY over it one in SP2 folder (be careful not to MOVE/CUT the one in SP2 folder).

Drive works in a hardware way. It reads DVD-R and RW's and burns them in Nero.
When I go in device manager and look at the properities of the drive, there is a "Volumes" tab. When I click "populate" this is what I get:

Disk: CD-ROM 3
Type: DVD
Status: No Media
Partition style: Not Applicable
Capacity: 0 MB
Unallocated space: 0 MB
Reserved space: 0 MB

+ the volumes table is empty allthough there is DVD-RW inserted.

I have CD-ROM alongside, and the same thing is happening with it. Can't be both at same time going crazy.

There's no driver that came with it, so the windows are equipped with the generic one that should cover all the basis.

It is most probably that my NAV screwed things up here (read my latest thread). I'm now in a proccess of reading the threads ppl wrote regarding this problem with nForce4 chipset.

Other possibility is conflicting low and high filters (redbook and imapi in my case - used to be more, but I've deleted the registy values). I must say that the filters are not my brightest side.
I did try Forcesapi v1.7 to no avail.

I must add that I've found in registry (HKLM/system/currentcontrollset/services) there are couple of INITSTARTFAILED dwords with a value "1":

- CDAudio (related to redbook)
- kbdhid (keyboard HID driver, all OK in device …

First of all, cookies are not in temporary internet files. They are in "C:\Windows\cookies" folder.

And for the Temp.internet files, you'll need to know the full path to the file (I advise that you use 8.3 names). Should be something like this:

"C:\WINDOWS\Tempor~1\Content.IE5\4NMSCF1J\file.ext"

Tricky part is to get that "4NMSCF1J" folder name. Don't know the location where it's stored. Probably somewhere in C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat

There's always a manual peek via command prompt.

BTW, only files you would be denied access to are :

C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat
(Unless you are in safe mode without network support)

"C:\Windows\cookies\index.dat", (it has System attribute on by default)

and

"C:\Windows\History\History.IE5\index.dat" (unless you haven't turned on internet explorer yet in current session)

(I know my Win98)

Here's my Hijack log. I'll post more info (like regiistry) on request.

By the way, I've downloaded UPHClean from microsoft. Does anyone has a clue what this (the numbers) mean?

Event Type: Information
Event Source: UPHClean
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1401
Date: 2.11.2006
Time: 8:06:45
User: ZVERKA\Chaky
Computer: ZVERKA
Description:
The following handles in user profile hive ZVERKA\Chaky (S-1-5-21-1060284298-308236825-682003330-1003) have been remapped because they were preventing the profile from unloading successfully:

svchost.exe (1028)
HKCU (0x374)

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

"svchost.exe (1028)" and "HK(ey)C(urrent)U(ser) (0x347)" don't make much sence to me.

This tool I've downloaded is for killing roaming profiles when shutting down.
I understand that something that has something to do with svchost.exe hangs my pc.

Would appritiate if someone explained to me those numbers.

I think my PC is suffering from AIDS. Or leukaemia. Or both. Either there's not enough protection agains nasties or there's WAY TOO MUCH. So much it does more damage than any nasty code ever.

For the future reference, BitDefender is the AIDS and NVIDIA's firewall is the leukaemia (they like to call it "Network Access Manager").

Let's just say that I have to put my PC out of the misery soon. There's too much damage.

It all started one sunny day when I decided to put some more protection on my PC. (From now on, this is purely my subjective opinion). If the hijackthis is telling the truth (Log squeeky clean), and other ppl complaining about their FW corrupts files on HD, I must say that I've asked for it.

First, I loose the DVD. I think I've figured it out what happend with my DVD. I didn't actually loose the drive. It stopped to be recognised as DVD. It was "CD-ROM" later on (and still is). It burns in NERO anything it is soposed to. When I insert DVD in it, OS thinks it's 4.5 Gb CD. All the autoplay (audio cd, dvd movies) are gone.

My last thread was about trojan that rendered my recovery service dead. Well, it's not just that. There are haf-dosen services that fail to start. Including CdAudio and IMAPI, which are responsable for the lack od autoplay. And the whole concept of autoplaying anything on my opticals.

1st - use protection (anti-virus software)
2nd - update her windows to SP2
3rd - use spy cleaner or similar software to wipe the nasties.

I have a little story for the ppl thet can't turm on System Restore service:

I've disabled this service in the begining. A long time ago. Yesterday I wanted to enable it and I've hit the wall. Whenever I tried to uncheck that "turn off system restore on all drives" I get the error message saying that system restore encountered error on one or more drives, and telling me to reboot and try again.
I've tried to manualy start the service via computer managment, but there was none listed. So, I browsed the registry. There was no "SRService" key in the "services" branch, yet, there was a "SR" key with one flaw:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\sr] "ImagePath" = \SystemRoot\System32\DRIVERS\sr.sys

I know that is not a valid path. Should be "%SystemRoot%\System32".
So I Googled "\SystemRoot\System32\DRIVERS\sr.sys" and I've stumbled across some real info (quote):

General Information about Prorat 1.9 SE from megasecurity:

Server:
dropped files:
c:\WINDOWS\services.exe size: 350,764 bytes
c:\WINDOWS\system\sservice.exe Size: 350,764 bytes
c:\WINDOWS\system32\fservice.exe size: 350,764 bytes
c:\WINDOWS\system32\reginv.dll size: 20,992 bytes
c:\WINDOWS\system32\winkey.dll size: 16,896 bytes

port: 5110, 5112, 51100 TCP

added to registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{5Y99AE78-58TT-11dW-BE53-Y67078979Y} "StubPath"
data: C:\WINDOWS\system\sservice.exe

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer\Run "DirectX For Microsoft® Windows"
data: C:\WINDOWS\system32\fservice.exe

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon "Shell"
old data: Explorer.exe
new data: Explorer.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\fservice.exe

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore "DisableSR"
old data: 00, 00, 00, 00
new data: 01, 00, 00, 00

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\sr "ImagePath"
old data: System32\DRIVERS\sr.sys
new data: \SystemRoot\System32\DRIVERS\sr.sys

Download this:

http://download.hijackthis.eu/hijackthis_199.zip

Run it and post the log here.

First of all: Fried mobo won't have actual burn-marks. Finger-touch is sometimes enough to render your mobo dead.

Those burn-marks you see can be nothing more than dust and oxidation. If there were power discharges that can make visible burn-marks, believe me, you wouldn't be posting a Q here. You would KNOW it's dead.

From what I can see, you don't get any POST or beeps.

Could be couple of things:

- VGA (you didn't say if you tested it on another machine)
- Memory (can make system not post - try removing it)
- PSU (try another machine's PSU on yours)
- and (off course) dead mobo

For the HDD... Check the jumpers on it. Most HDD's have jumpers to set it on different modes (no. of cylinders, CHS, normal, LBA...). LBA is the standard. All other mods are out-dated. Also mind the master - slave configuration.
There are BIOS settings that can be modified to suite the HD's capabilities. If they were set manually incorrect, the HD won't work. Best choice is to set all on "auto". If that fails, try disabling the all the enhanced stuff regarding data transfer (set it on PIO 0 mode). It's sort of "safe mode". If all that fails, it's not evil.... it's dead.

Q's:
Is the HD being reported in BIOS at all?
Did you test the memory on another machine?

Note:
If you have …

Hi ppl.

I have been struggling with this one for couple of days now.
It appears that my Windows XP think that my Pioneer DVR 110 D is a CD-ROM drive. I've learned how to make windows think it is a burner, but I can't make it recognize it as DVD/RW drive. I had daemon tools installed + alcohol 120% + powerISO. I've uninstalled daemon tools and disabled all the virtual drives to no avail. It's still a CD-ROM. Some functions are gone (like auto-play DVD movies). When I check the volume properties and click "populate" button (while DVD movie inserted) all the values are the same as if the drive is empty.
The drive reads and burns like before, but with the windows thinking it's a CD-ROM, some of the perks of a DVD/RW are gone.

I've tried uninstalling the driver via device manager, reinstalling the chipset drivers, manually installing the CD driver... next step will be flushing the device info from the registry, but I'm hesitating...

Reinstalling windows is out of the question. It is up-to-date now and reinstalling it would mean downloading all of the updates again via modem. No way.

For the record:

Nero works with it like it worked before it became CD-ROM.

I can't play DVD movies in media player 10. Says "Windows Media Player cannot play the DVD because a problem occurred with digital copyright protection."

PowerDVD says "Copy protection …

8 ppl, baby and the dog + signature.

If you are using mobo with nForce4 chipset, you'll need f6 drivers. Also disableing the HD in BIOS might do the trick.

You say that at first it worked fine, now it won't turn off nor turn on.

I'm afraid that the source is either CPU, mobo or both. I hope it is still under the warranty.

All you can do is find out which is fryed (try another mobo or CPU) and return the faulty piece back to the store.

I guess your last hope would be reflashing the bios. You could also reduce the transfer rate (UDMA, MDMA) to a lower level, but it would be only dealing with sypthoms, and not the cause.

Looks like dying mobo. IDE controller to be precise. Either that or HD and optical dying at the same time (highly unlikely).

If ti gets shorted.... I guess you can fry the mobo.

Fastest way to find it is explore the System32 folder with "show hidden files" cecked and "hide protected operating system files" unchecked in your folder options. Most of the dlls would date "23.8.2001 14:00"

Older than that means older than windows XP. But Windows XP has protective mechanism that automaticly restores crucial dlls that are overwritten, so older ones you see are the ones that were not protected in such manor.

You can also assume that some old software requires old system dlls. Most software make backup of files that are overwritten. You can browse the folders of those suspect softwares with same option above to see if there are some "backup" folder there.

You can see version of the dll by rightclicking it and selecting the properities.

I've damaged my PC's in a various numbers of ways (plugging the BIOS chip upside-down, plugging the video card half way in, etc), but never by an USB plug. I guess I'm not THAT clumsy.