Resolved What is giveio.sys and how to get rid of problems with it

Here is a fresh thread so as not to get others too long.

The problem came after a faulty interrupted clone job.

I recently saw that the file that is shown to load in XP Safe Mode called giveio.sys is actually some third party routine originally coming from Delphi. Other users have said that the program called Speed Fan uses this and deleting Speed Fan fixes the problem of giveio.sys halting and then doing a reset of the computer in a loop which repeats at any startup. Another tip was to reset system clock to before the event.

XP stops loading at giveio.sys trying to pass on whatever it has to.

I'm about out of ideas on how to get past this and delete program files
since the computer auto reboots a short time after displaying giveio.sys in Safe Mode.

Is there any way to edit content from program files in such a dilemma using a command line option Safe Mode for instance? I've never done that.

 

If you Google giveio.sys you will get your answer.
All XP users experiencing this problem are advised to use their XP CD and choose R for repair. Have you followed this course yet? Neil.

 

I will give it another whirl. Repaair routines have not gone well for me lately
but I will start fresh and report anything that happens.

 

I remember now....

Setup runs and XP attempts to start and freezes at the welcome screen-- actually it just says Windows or something and doesn't budge. I'm redoing it to see if it repeats.

 

As it progresses to install components Setup gives the error:

The file nvgts.sys not found
The file nvgts.sys on SRDATA is needed
type the path where the file is located

I tried my Biostar motherboard disk and an NVidia driver on a cd
with no success.

Cancelling that, installing components continues a bit with many 'screen clicks'
and a change in resolution. This was my reason for inferring that nv was for nvidia
like their other drivers. But it may be an acronym for navigate. My bad interpretation.

The install continues...

 

Down at 'registering components' the command box popped up for a moment which I don't recall happening in other installs. BTW my old LiteOn CD drive makes a racket. I have another Asus to try instead which would work because I have minimal components installed.

I will also see if the error reported has any google referents.

nvgts.sys might be found on a search of the cd. I don't know. But since I had recently done a BIOS upgrade I have been focusing on what might have changed from Biostar.

 

Install went into the Safe Mode option screen after one of the restarts of the Setup disk
and that's the story for today. The shutdown loop happens from then on. I attempted to 'start from the last known good configuration' and got the same result.

This is why I had questions about using command like editing to get rid of the pesky giveio.sys which is seen in regular start in Safe Mode and quits.

 

giveio.sys was written by Dale Roberts in conjunction with a May 1996 Dr Dobbs Journal article titled "Direct Port I/O and Windows NT - Undocumented features for direct control of hardware devices "

The article says "Dale works with data acquisition and control software at the Vestibular Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "

It is a device driver which has an associated service, and has been used by a lot of software besides speedfan, things like chip programmers and card readers. I saw a reference to something to do with music and even a digital control device for model railroads.

Here is a working link to the original article:

http://collaboration.cmc.ec.gc.ca/s...ebsite/articles/DDJ/1996/9605/9605a/9605a.htm

Author: Dale Roberts
Date: 8/30/95
Program: GIVEIO.SYS
Compile: Use DDK BUILD facility

Purpose: Give direct port I/O access to a user mode process.

I have a version on my system in C:\WINDOWS\system32
giveio.sys
5,248 bytes
Wednesday, April 03, 1996, 12:33:26 PM (creation date)

The solution to your problem lies in discovering what program or device is calling for the driver and/or trying to start the service. If you can boot in safe mode, you should be able to uninstall speedfan, disable startup items and services, etc.

The articles that suggest renaming or removing the driver will only lead to an error, as the associated device or program will call for it and not find it.

You would be wise to strip the computer of accessory devices, including video card if there is onboard video, sound card, add-in cards for usb ports, card readers and the like. All you need is the motherboard, hard drive, optical drive, monitor, mouse and keyboard.

 

Make sure the Mouse and Keyboard are PS2 - (NOT USB type). I have a feeling that the BIOS upgrade you did might be the start point for your problem.

Usually a BIOS upgrade is the last thing to worry about. Neil.

 

This seems to be some progress anyway. I did have Speedfan on some HDs.

As noted booting in Safe Mode does not work either-- stops at the line giveio.sys.

I will look for the backup BIOS made during the process but even that is a problem with all these HD boot problems. If/when I find that I'll report back. Else perhaps the drive is not recoverable.

 

First set you BIOS back to it's default settings. Do you have an Win XP install disk? If you do use your Asus to try to get into the command console once in the console then type disable giveio.sys then hit enter. Here is an explanation of the console http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058

 

Ok. Sounds like a big adventure. I did find my origianl bios file and noted the
installed version. One other time when I attempted this many years ago it said to do any upgrades in steps. Therefore I stepped the two BIOS upgrades available doing the newest highest numbered one last. I should be able to rever the order.

I have already done one set-the-BIOS-to-defaults. The .exe is on my Win 7 practice disk. Should it matter if I run this from that HD? It is going to be in there at BIOS level regardless, right?

I should go shopping for some more used HD's.

 

I have saved to cd the original BIOS file now. Plus I have the two upgrades.

Not sure or convinced this will solve the giveio.sys problem.

Has anyone actually had this problem with a solution? That seems very hard to find.

 

On my desktop I continually hit F2 to get into my BIOS and at the bottom of the BIOS screen is an informational bar. I hit a Function key for Default Settings and Save then hit enter. I've never tried to restore BIOS defaults using any type of file. Can you get into the event viewer on the HDD with the issues. Maybe you can see what's going on as far as to what types of errors are listed.

 

You misunderstood.

The BIOS screen at Del or whatever it is is the way I _ reset_ the default. However this thread topic has turned toward resetting the BIOS itself using the Biostar Bios Updater program. There a three known BIOS files for this machine: original and then two updates made a few months apart in 2010 about a year after the 'original.'

Talk has been that my upgrade to the latest using the tools above somehow caused the giveio.sys error. I have not heard or seen that this is a real cure but only speculation, as other opinion about giveio.sys is all that seems available. IOW no one has specified a solution who has had this problem.

Since changing BIOS is dangerous and since both an XP HD and my Win & HD
both boot up ok, I have to be convinced to change this to fix one malfunctioning HD.

 

What version of XP are you using?

Were you having problems with the OS before you "cloned" it?

I've just completed an absolute trouble free installation of Windows XP Home Edition to a 160GB HDD. I had to install SP2 from a CD I originally requested from Microsoft in 2004. I'm just installing SP3 and will let you know if I have any problems. Neil.

 

I had no problems before this clone job.

I am looking for other methods to correct the problem than playing with a repair disk any longer. I'm seeking help on extracting my data and then simply wiping the disk and starting over.

 

If you have a comp working OK - just "Slave" your HDD and get your Data/Files off your faulty drive. Neil.

 

If it is possible to 'see' the content with a program such as Parted Magic loaded from CD I may be able separate out the boot sector from the content. This is all new territory for me.

When I tried to look at one any of these problem drives all that shows up is
any content in the root. But the drive is not apparently wiped-- it shows nearly full with room left.

I am trying to correct two problems on two drives as a result of, in the first case, a Setup routine stopping while trying to inject drivers with F6 and second,
this error that stops at the giveio.sys line of safe mode during a different repair install which , from previous posts stops at a windows 'welcome' blue screen.

These may all be hardware communication problems.

...and I'll get back to the fact that one or both (I'm not living this exercise all the time) shows the boot drive as D:. If Setup is running and restarting, I do not know if it is looking for a drive letter (D: normally is the CDrom drive) it cannot find.

The trace of this is pretty complicated. I do not know for instance if assigning a drive letter can be changed.

 

Does hitting Del get you into the actual BIOS.