# I'm having major problems!



## jimnyc (Sep 30, 2003)

I'll be scarce here until I can get my PC problem fixed! I'm on my wireless laptop now. I'm "reposting" my problem here that I outlined in another forum seeking assistance. I'm ready to throw the damn thing out the window! Any advice/tips would be greatly appreciated at this point.

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My system specs are outlined at the bottom of this post.

I had no problems with my computer until last night. I went to login to a message board, and after entering my username and password my machine froze solid with no errors. My only option was to power off. The system came back up ok, but then started to reboot randomly for no reason at all. It got worse this morning when it would run the POST test and then reboot again just after it listed all the currently installed devices. I assumed it was memory, so I went and bought a new chip and swapped it. No luck. I then tried swapping my hard drive and the same problem existed. 

I then tried to re-format my XP machine using the bootable CD. It boots on CD, loads all the drivers, then just as it starts to get to the main screen where you hit enter to install XP I get the following error: "DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL". I booted on a diskette and used fdisk /mbr, fdisked the entire partition and reformatted. It seems as long as I was on diskette, no problems ocurred. I then tried to load XP again and then same error keeps popping up.

I swapped out the cooling fan and power supply next, and it didn't help at all.

Here is what I have done so far in a nutshell:
1- swapped out memory AND tried different slots
2- swapped hard drive
3- formatted and *attempted* to load XP
4- removed video card and used onboard video
5- swapped NIC card
6- removed sound card (leaving no cards installed)
7- swapped power supply
8- reset bios to factory (also cleared with jumper on MB)

Here is the best I can do with my specs:

Motherboard make & model - All I know is Asus
Bios - AMI bios rev 1.21.06 dated 2/26/2002
Cpu speed - 1.8ghz
Ram - PNY 512 SDRAM PC133
Disk drive - Western Digital 800 80gig
Video card - Nvidia Geforce 2
Sound card - Creative SB Audigy
NIC manafacturer - 3Com
Power supply - 300W ATX


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## janeeng (Sep 30, 2003)

You want the one you built for me back? $500.00 hahahahahaha! you can always try calling the hotline you told me to call
1800-g0-f*ck-yourself! 

Ok, just kidding! sucks to be you!


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## eric (Sep 30, 2003)

Jim, memory was an excellent assumption, this is what normally causes this error. In fact we usually see it when the memory is bad or not compatible with the chipset.  Now since your system was working fine compatiblity can be ruled out.  What bothers me is when you said it keeps rebooting after the post.  This is the time when the bios enumerates the devices in the system and sets up the Interrupt tables and vectors.

Step one would be to clear the NVRAM, which I believe you did with a motherboard jumper.  Also you might want to run the bios setup and make sure "Plug and Play Os" is set to yes or enabled.
I have seen this sneaky little setting cause major problems.

I think a good way to start would be to take every board that is not absoulutely necessary out of the system (Nic,sound,etc) and try again, this has worked many times in the past.  Also check the memory timing in the bios as well as the bus multiplier, defaults are not allways correct.

Another idea would be to reflash the bios. Just be careful not to cycle the power during the flash. 

I will look into it a little more and get back to you.


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## eric (Sep 30, 2003)

Jim, one more question.  You said it happen just when you get to the screen where it says hit enter to intall xp. Does it actually display this or do you get the error before this.  Could you give a little more detail on the error message itself.  There should be more than just :

DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

There should be a stop error code and memory dump listed along with this message.

Oh, I forgot one more thing, make sure NO usb devices are plugged in. I have had major problems with them.

Let me know what happens.


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## eric (Sep 30, 2003)

Jim, sorry to throw more crap at you, but I called one of my hardware engineers, and he said we are on the right track.  Normally these errors are cause by device drivers, even when you boot from the CD rom windows still needs to load a basic set of drivers.  One question he asked, was the video card installed after the current xp installation that worked ? Some video cards cause problem with the basic driver set.  He reiterated the importance of removing the SOUND, NIC, and any other cards not ABSOULETLY necessary.  He said this is first thing that should be done.

If this does not work the other error information I requested is crucial for futher diagnosis.


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## jimnyc (Sep 30, 2003)

Eric, thanks for all the great info!

Her's the exact stop code I was receiving:

Stop: 0X0000007E (0XC0000005, 0X807D9E5F, 0XF89F9934, 0XF89F9634)

That was all I got. Here's the *good* news though, I think I have my machine up and running.

I tried turning off and on every setting in my bios and kept having the same results. I have a category called "CPU PNP" it was set to 1800mhz (I have a 1.8ghz AMD Athlon). I changed this to the default which is 1100mhz and it appears to have fixed the issue.

No errors on bootup, no freezing yet, no reboots yet. I'll keep monitoring it and utilizing it as much as I can.

You think it's most likely the CPU going on its way out, and it can handle running at a lower speed?

Thanks again for the help, Eric, much appreciated!


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## eric (Sep 30, 2003)

Anytime my friend. I'm glad you got it going !


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## jimnyc (Sep 30, 2003)

Been 2 hours since the system came up, and so far no problems. I've been hitting it hard and using as many resources as possible. Hopefully thats the end of it.

You think maybe the CPU is dying, and thats why lowering the speed helped? Just strange that would happen as it's been pretty much the same configuration for well over a year now.


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## eric (Sep 30, 2003)

Of course that is a possibility. Before I jump to that conclusion let me ask you a couple of questions:

Did you ever check this config before? The reason I ask is sometimes these speeds are not directly related to processor speed, but rather to base clock speed, and a multiplier is used. This can be very tricky to figure out.

As stupid as this may sound, when is the last time the motherboard battery was changed ?  I have seen a bad battery cause systems to lose their IDE config data, amongst others, and you get messages like "No operating system found".  Like I say allways start simple.

It's funny we had to reinstall an OS on a medical records scanning system. After the reinstallation of the OS and all programs, we could not get the scanner to operate from the multidocument feeder, only the flat bed. We dug for hours into the driver, we even downloaded older drivers thinking they made some crazy change in the latest one. Man we went thru everything low-level we could think of. Long story short we called the manufacturer and to our surprise the setting was right on the first window that comes up after you click scan. One of our guys just overlooked it. Instead of someone else just rechecking we went right into techie mode. Costly lesson for us.

Just thought I'd throw that in.


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## jimnyc (Sep 30, 2003)

I've seen the config before, but never really thought much about it. It doesn't have an explanation near it, so I just assumed it was directly related to the actual processor speed.

The Battery has never been changed before. It's been in the system since I got it new between 12-16 months ago. FWIW - My system is usually up and running 24/7/365!

Think I should change it? There's really know good way to test it that I know of.

Also, I can't find the literature on my motherboard, and I'm not sure of the exact make and model. Do you know of any utilities that when ran will tell me this info? Should I end up replacing this CPU, I just want to know what the max is that my system can handle. The AMD Athlon is fairly cheap. The chip I have is 64.99 and I can get a 2.4 for 84.99!

Thanks again!


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## eric (Sep 30, 2003)

That sucks ! Jim I just typed quite a bit and hit the ESC key by accident. It wiped the whole post out. Ah shit happens.

Anyway, I would change the battery. It most likely is a CR2025, radio shack and even some drug stores sell it between $3 and $6 bucks.

Yes I do have some motherboard ID utilities in my office. I can grab them tommorrow. In the meantime see if when you turn it on there is a set of data at the lower left corner of the screen.  If you do not see any, try turning the system on again and hitting the ESC key.

Most Ami motherboards display an ID string there.  If you can see the code post it.  From that string we can get most of the info we need.


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## jimnyc (Sep 30, 2003)

Ok, took me a few reboots, but here it is:

62-0226-001131-00101111-071595-SiS730S-M810LR-H


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## eric (Sep 30, 2003)

I found one of the utilities I have here, give it a try and post the results. Check for a file called results.txt. How can I get it to you?


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## jimnyc (Sep 30, 2003)

I'm starting to think I was scammed! I think this MB is the 810LR, and if so, I found the manual for it online. Sure as hell looks like the one I have anyway. It says in there it supports:

Athlon: 650 MHz~1.2 GHz, FSB: 200 MHz

Yet they advertise the CPU as 1800

Pretty deceiving if this turns out to be the case.

I'm going to PM you my email address!


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## janeeng (Oct 1, 2003)

Glad to see you back Jim! eric, your a good person! I am sure Jim is quite thankful for your help.  Can you send me a better computer, I will give you my address too?  hahahahahaha!

j/k!


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## Jackass (Oct 1, 2003)

Ahhh overclocking..its great isnt it?? LOL


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## jimnyc (Oct 1, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Jackass _
> *Ahhh overclocking..its great isnt it?? LOL *



No, it's not!

I would never had done that purposely. It'll eventually overheat your processors and kill them. Now it seems the max my MB can handle is 1.2GHz. Anyone want to buy me a new motherboard that can handle Athlon processors?


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## janeeng (Oct 1, 2003)

How much????


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## jimnyc (Oct 1, 2003)

Here's the one I want, it's $149

http://motherboards.bizrate.com/mar..._cat_id--402,prod_id--6786983,rf--mot003.html


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## eric (Oct 1, 2003)

Jim, check you email !

Jackass, be careful with overclocking. It can greatly shorten the life of a processor. With the pricing today it just does not pay !


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## jimnyc (Oct 1, 2003)

> _Originally posted by eric _
> *Jim, check you email !
> 
> Jackass, be careful with overclocking. It can greatly shorten the life of a processor. With the pricing today it just does not pay ! *



Eric, got the utilities and replied. Thanks!

I agree 300% about the overclocking. 

Know of any great places for good deals on MB's and Processors?

I'm looking at http://www.motherboards.org for ratings, and the one I outlined above is highly rated, but many others very close.


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## eric (Oct 1, 2003)

I'll talk to my tech's see where they order MB' from !  Probable have to get back to you when I'm back from Jersey tonight.


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## jimnyc (Oct 1, 2003)

> _Originally posted by eric _
> *I'll talk to my tech's see where they order MB' from !  Probable have to get back to you when I'm back from Jersey tonight. *



No problem, I probably won't make the purchase for awhile anyway.

Have a safe trip!


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## janeeng (Oct 1, 2003)

Jim,

Might have help for you in one week! I owe you! don't ask, just let me see!!!!!


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## janeeng (Oct 1, 2003)

Forgot, should I be able to help, then it will cost you later on!! building that's all!


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## eric (Oct 1, 2003)

Jim, My ride is running late. One of my guys said to check :

http://www.atacom.com/program/ataco...MBA6_MBA7_MBA8_MBK7_MBP5_MBAC&ADV=MOTHERBOARD


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## Jackass (Oct 1, 2003)

I was kidding about the overclocking!!


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## eric (Oct 1, 2003)

Still in Jersey, long day, this blows, tired, want to go home!


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## janeeng (Oct 1, 2003)

Long day in Jersey ha eric? where in NJ do you go? I live in this great State! hehehe! and Jim did once too! Jim would love to be in Iselin! haha!


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## infernus2004 (Oct 24, 2003)

seriously, your best would would have been to sell the laptop for a high price, buy a cheap desktop computer, and use the rest of the money on new parts too enhance the computer. i did that too my neighbors computer recently, now it runs extremely well. sadly, all i did was take him from a 4 gb hardrive to a 10 gb. ehhh, you might even just try that. only $60 chip at best buy. but that's just my suggestion.


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## jimnyc (Oct 24, 2003)

> _Originally posted by infernus2004 _
> *seriously, your best would would have been to sell the laptop for a high price, buy a cheap desktop computer, and use the rest of the money on new parts too enhance the computer. i did that too my neighbors computer recently, now it runs extremely well. sadly, all i did was take him from a 4 gb hardrive to a 10 gb. ehhh, you might even just try that. only $60 chip at best buy. but that's just my suggestion. *



It is a desktop, built by yours truly! (maybe that explains the problems?)

Seriously, every computer I have was bought in pieces and built by myself. I usually buy the motherboard, power supply & floppy in one deal. Buy memory and a HDD from another cheap wholesaler. In fact, everything in my computer was bought at discount prices from wholesalers around the internet. The only thing I bought from a regular store was my optical mouse, cause I had to have it that day! 

When my computer was new it would have sold for $15-1800 at any retail store, I built it for less than $400.

Tiger has a few outstanding deals going on now for "bare bones" systems. You can get a case, PS, MB (Asus), 256ddr ram, 40gig HDD... Everything but the OS for $329. The price will fluctuate a bit with the processor you choose, anywhere from a Celeron 1.2Ghz to a P4 2.2Ghz.


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