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W98 fails to set-up hardware - help request please


Jonssen

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Following on from what Jumper + submix8c suggested,

(video card only as remaining card...also disconnect data &

power cables from that unused 5¼ floppy drive..)

also try & determine if whilst pressing down on mobo,

if it now lays tooo close to metal or unused metal screw-posts

underneath the mobo (an electrical short)...

Also remove RAM DIMMs, aiming for ONLY a single RAM DIMM needed, of

not more than 128MB.

.

In the BIOS,

for DATE, tell us if date is current - cmos not cleared if date current - right?

(This not a reliable indication of battery voltage state, however...)

.

Then write down all bios screens settings, (so record of what you started with),

now

for PnP OS, tell us what setting is.

for POST ['quick'] try setting of 'disabled'

for IDE ULTRA DMA Mode try setting of 'disabled' [this should force both HD's

to use PIO4 (on this mobo only)...]

for USB IRQ try setting 'disabled' (can reenable later if everything

gets back to working)

after reboot & hang, listen if HD is seeking, or is doing nothing. Leave for

half an Hr anyway...maybe its seeking but taking a looonngg time to do it..

.

if still staying hung, then,

Referring to this webpage;

http://www.anandtech.com/show/113

In BIOS,

Place all the RAM timings to slowest (safe),(but don't

change 'PCI 2.1', or 'Memory Hole').

On next power on, press&hold F8, choose Logged, then if it eventually hangs,

leave it for a long time before restart.. then do F8 again, choose command prompt,

navigate to C:/WINDOWS/COMMAND/edit.com , and tell us by

opening edit.com & viewing C:/bootlog.txt , if it lists any problems...

.

If still hanging now ..well.. shouldn't be IRQ conflict (plenty of IRQ),

shouldn't be DMA conflict (virtually few used), maybe power problem

but EOL there (unless you substitute the PSU)...so time to replace with

more recent mobo/PSU/ & PCI SCSI Card, as current system is

simply borderline obsolescent...Maybe give it the heave-ho at next UK

riot/Range Rover motorcade/Starbucks protest ?

(with a grin) Cheers

Edited by buyerninety
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>ISA Sound card stopped functioning (no sound) - device manager suggested a problem - reinstall driver.

Some possible causes (and actions to take) for this root problem:

  1. CMOS battery died / BIOS IRQ settings changed
    + Voltage should be at least 2v else replace battery; reset BIOS; set IRQs as needed
  2. Registry / drivers corrupted
    + scandisk HDD to ensure it's not a wider issue
    + In DOS, "Regedit /restore" last saved registry prior to failure
    + "Regedit /fix" current registry only if no viable backup
  3. Sound card died
    + shutdown and pull the card
    + if detection problems for other devices persist, remove ALL hardware (especially mainboard!) drivers in Safe mode
    + optionally: reinstall sound card once everything else is working and backed-up (if you dare)
  4. Mainboard failure: dust in other sockets fried ISA bus; something got zapped; etc.
    + short term: clean thoroughly; you might be able to run with reduced functionality
    + long term: replace mainboard

I strongly suspect a battery failure, BIOS change, or addition/removal of cards that would change IRQ settings. Most devices are plug-and-play and Windows would adjust, but non-PNP devices such as ISA cards would need redetection.

If you did anything in the BIOS or anything inside or outside the case (plugging in or out cards or cables) prior to the sound card failure, please report.

Hi, Thanks for replying.

Battery good 3v - have checked BIOS - all ok - reset it anyway - BIOS Virus protection turned off.

scandisk HDD - done

In DOS, registry restore - tried previously - failed, no more original copies available

"Regedit /fix" - scanreg /fix - done in Windows and in DOS

Soundcard is faulty hardware I believe - removed

Mainboard is good I believe - checked all connections - runs fine (Also all other adaptors [cards] believed good.)

+ if detection problems for other devices persist, remove ALL hardware (especially mainboard!) drivers in Safe mode - ok this is the bit I haven't done for fear of not being able to get it back up. I can do it, but I just need to pull (back-up) some data off the HDD before I try (which means removing the HDD and taking it to another machine as there's no external access to this PC HDD at the moment - no Ethernet, no SCSI, no USB)

If you did anything in the BIOS or anything inside or outside the case (plugging in or out cards or cables) prior to the sound card failure, please report. - No, not at all, it just went quiet (no sound).

Tks.

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...hence the suggestion BOOT TO SAFE, DELETE ALL, REBOOT, FORCE "ADD NEW HARDWARE"...

This is the generally accepted Tried and True method. I'd bet $0.10 to a doughnut that you have MULTIPLE occurrences of Devices for any given TYPE in the Registry that WILL "hork up" proper detection.

BTW, are you aware that you can RENAME "C:\WINDOWS\WIN.COM" (from a DOS floppy or "Safe Mode Command Prompt Only" - PURE DOS) and force a Reinstall of Win98, keeping all REG settings and Post-Initial-OS-Install installed Software (etc.) as well? Here is a reference point for this - be SURE that the WINDOWS folder is selected as noted. And NO it doesn't matter what "type" (i.e. OEM, Retail, or Upgrade - NOT a "Stepup/Update"). Windows 98 on First HDD and First Partition REQUIRED. You'll naturally have to apply ANY/ALL Updates to Win98 (they get overlayed during Reinstall) and "potentially" some Drivers (due to older versions that MAY be installed). This method is similar in nature to an "over-the top Reinstall" of XP.

Your choices, dude. Be obstinate or follow the instructions. ;)

OK, noted, with thanks! :-)

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Hi,

Following on from...

All done, all checked, BIOS set/reset, Clock working (thanks)

viewing C:/bootlog.txt , if it lists any problems...

No 'problems' listed anywhere, in any of the files, except Printer driver (which is nonsense as the printer function / LPT1 is all working perfectly) but this is a legacy issue AFAIR 'cos of a couple of printer driver options exist (blame that on HP) and isn't actually a fault or problem in reality. Of course, the hardware that is 'lost' is missing from the relevent files too.

If still hanging now ...

Not hanging at all at any time - only issue is 'lost' adaptors

well.. as current system is simply borderline obsolescent...Maybe give it the heave-ho at next UK

riot/Range Rover motorcade/Starbucks protest ?

(with a grin) Cheers

Ha, boarderline obsolete it may be, but it's the fastest gun in town! (normally) ;-)

(Sorry, no inference to the news reports from across the pond this evening intended.)

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Asus P2B, Bios Rev. 1012 (Award Bios V4.54PG)

Real bizarre stuff for a post-1994 board.

Remove the CR2032 battery, clear the CMOS, get a new CR2032 battery, then when prompted to load defaults, load the defaults, save, reboot, re-enter the BIOS setup and make your needed changes and save.

Edited by RJARRRPCGP
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+ if detection problems for other devices persist, remove ALL hardware (especially mainboard!) drivers in Safe mode - ok this is the bit I haven't done for fear of not being able to get it back up. I can do it, but I just need to pull (back-up) some data off the HDD before I try (which means removing the HDD and taking it to another machine as there's no external access to this PC HDD at the moment - no Ethernet, no SCSI, no USB)

This step should also be preceded by backing up the registry (so it can be restore later if things get worse rather than better) and the BIOS reset to defaults per RJARRRPCGP's post (first writing down the current settings per buyerninety's post).

Then to state it more clearly:

+ if detection problems for other devices persist, cold boot into Safe Mode and remove ALL hardware drivers (especially for the mainboard!)

Followed by a cold system restart / normal boot with hardware autodetect.

Control Panel->Add new hardware can be invoked if anything doesn't autodetect.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Try a thorough HDD scan (and repair) using HDAT2, HDD Regenerator or any other similar tool out there (if any). There may be bad sectors in critical system files that just break hardware detection and/or other important functions of the OS.

Using MSConfig or any other similar tool (I use CodeStuff Starter), check if there's any unknown/suspect file(s) running at boot time. Disable everything that doesn't look critical for a normal operation (post the list of applications and services here, when in doubt). There could be either malware or a bad driver messing with your system.

If you can borrow a small test HDD from someone, disconnect your current HDD, connect the new one, perform a OS install from scratch with all other hardware connected and if detection works OK and you get everything in Device Manager (you may install required drivers if you want, to make sure), then you can rule out a hardware failure (except maybe for your original HDD that you have previously removed). On the other hand, if you can take your original HDD to another machine (careful not to boot from it!), then you may use that system's tools to check drive integrity and any possible software intrusions.

I believe everything else has been covered in the previous posts. Good luck!

EDIT:

Random browsing through the 9x section brought me to a topic that just might be of help here: ifsmgr.vxd and zero-byte .inf files

Edited by Drugwash
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  • 2 weeks later...

...hence the suggestion BOOT TO SAFE, DELETE ALL, REBOOT, FORCE "ADD NEW HARDWARE"...

OK, back to this today after some travels and a break...

A combination of this, repeatedly, plus repeated registry re-sets to re-run hardware detection http://support.microsoft.com/kb/317187 and a multitude of re-boots eventually seems to have got things back in order (touch wood). Took about six hours!

Tested most functions and it seems to be all working without needing to do a Jaz restore. And still so much faster than my more current PCs which seem to take an age to perform a simple task! I think I'll upgrade the second HDD to something bigger as when backing up I found that the email archieve now runs to over 6Gb!

So, thanks to all for the input and hopefully it'll be good for a while. :-)

:thumbup

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