Floppy and other Trouble

I'm having a couple of issues, not sure if they're related.

I'm running Windows XP SP2 on an eMachine. eMachines don't come with a Windows XP CD, just a RESTORE CD (Ghosted image of the original configuration), so I have no option to use WinXP CD to help with fixes.

First is an issue with my floppy. I'm not sure how long this has been going on, as my wife just let me know. When I open Windows Explorer, the floppy isn't listed. When I go to Device Manager, it shows my floppy with an error code. When I go to "Properties ", the error shown is "This device cannot start. (Code 10) ". I also have CheckIt Diagnostics on my PC, and it shows there's no floppy installed.

I've tried rebooting, uninstalling and reinstalling, and have looked for updated drivers, but nothing seems to work. Any ideas?

Second, and I'm not sure this is a problem or not, last night Microsoft Update let me know there was an update available, and I have Microsoft Update configured to run automatically, so let it install the update. I'm not sure what it was. This morning I got the floppy error, and the shortcut to Picassa was missing from my wife's desktop and the Start program (only shortcut was to Uninstall).

I went to Microsoft Update this morning to see what the update last night was about, and now Microsoft Update isn't working for me.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Hello Shortimer,

You can try going back prior to the updates with System Restore or going into Add/Remove to uninistall the updates. In both cases, only criticals will create Restore Points and Add/Remove entries.

One critical that has created problems is KB908531 patches a Windows Explorer vulnerabilty http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=53475

http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=53440 is a list of updates for April.

Whether this caused your problem remains to be seen.


And now a homily

The way to handle MS Updates - on autopilot is not a good idea:

Turn on AU's "Notify me but don't download/install" option. That way you can pick and choose which to download/install and most important, make sure you have a system restore point prior to the install. As a general rule, only "critical" MS updates create SR points automatically. If the update is not labeled critical, bring up SR > create a restore point and fill in an appropriate description.

If presented with multiple updates - and they usually come in bunches - install one at a time (starting with the "criticals "), run for a period time - then the next. That way you have a chance to pinpoint one that might prove to be a problem.

Regards - Charles

 

Charles,

Thanks for the good advice on Windows Update. I'll remember that for the future.

In the meantime, my PC has gone from bad to worse. My son told me yesterday that the PC wouldn't turn on, and I thought he meant it wouldn't boot up. In fact, it wouldn't turn on. My wife thumped the case, and it came on, got to the Windows Logon screen, and froze. I opened the case, blew out what I could, and fired it up again. Same thing, logon and freeze. I get no mouse or keyboard functionality.

Next I tore the whole PC down, blew out everything, put it all back together, same result. Then it went to not even coming up with the logon screen. Instead, the monitor tells me to press R to check my PC (apparently it's not getting a signal), but keyboard and mouse are dead, so no go.

One thing I was noticiing; in the past, when the PC was plugged in and turned off, no lights were visible on the tower. When I'd turn it on, the power button would light up, and another light (indicating the processor, maybe?) would flash. Now, when it's plugged in, the power button is lit up, whether I've tried to turn it on or not. When I press the power button, it tries to boot (at least it sounds that way). There doesn't appear to be a way to turn it "off ", short of killing power.

Any ideas?

 

Hi Shortimer,

This does appear to be a hardware problem.

Not being a hardware expert, those that are will respond. However from my limited experience, sounds like a bad power supply.

Regards - Charles

 

One of your buttons on the tower seems to be stuck.

Normally there are 2 buttons on it - Power & Reset. If either of these are stuck, they can create random problems that are very hard to diagnose. Open the case & look around for a bunch of wires (normally towards bottom of the tower) connecting motherboard & tower front panel. Trace out the reset wire & unplug from the motherboard. Try booting. If it fails, unplug the power button wires. Short the power connector on the motherboard to boot the system. If this too fails, there is some problem elsewhere. If this is ok, connect the Reset button wire to Power connector & leave the Reset connector alone. You would have to switch on/off from reset button, but you would be saving the cost of a new case.

 

I'm back

Sorry I was away so long. Turns out the power supply messed up, which fried the motherboard and CPU, AND my keyboard and mouse! It took me a while to find this out (I took the PC to Frys to diagnose; I won't do that again), and even longer to get the parts and put 'em all back together. Hard drives and memory are okay. Replaced the motherboard with a KV85 MB and an Athlon chip, replaced power supply, hooked everything up, booted up into Safe mode, copied all files from my main HD to my back up, then did a clean install of Windows XP Pro w SP2. No errors on startup, everything seems to be going okay with the OS.

I installed the drivers from my motherboard CD, and they all installed okay. However, I've noticed my video acting strangely; when I scroll, like on Internet Explorer, the screen jumps instead of scrolling. Haven't looked into that issue yet.

I'm reinstalling all of my software, but it's like pulling teeth on some of my applications. Office 2003 took 10 tries to get it installed, as it kept telling me the .cab files were corrupt. I have 3 sets of media for Office 2003, and it told me it had corrupt .cab files on each one! I kept clearing all of my temp files, and rebooting, and I finally got it installed!

Next, I went to Office Update, which told me to install Office 2003 SP2, install failed. I downloaded the update and manually ran it, it failed. Microsoft had recomendations, so I tried the Fullfile install, and it fails (saying something about the possibility of low memory). I downloaded SP1, and got the same error message when trying to install that. Again, after each attempt I'd clean out cache and temp files and reboot.

Tried installing part of Norton Systemworks (not the Antivirus) last night, and got the same message about corrupt .cab files. Haven't tried again on that one.

No sound; when I check Audio properties it says there's no sound device installed. Haven't tackled that one yet, as the corrupt .cab files messages on both Office and Systemworks indicate to me that something is wrong. I'd appreciate any help you can provide.


Thanks.

 

Yep, if the damage is so severe, I don't think RAM (or any other thing on board) would have survived.

 

I've suspected my memory, but Fry's assured me it was still good. I also have CheckIt Diagnostics on the PC, which has a memory checker among it's bag of tricks, and it also verifies that the memory is fine. I'm thinking of adding more memory (I currently have 512mb), but funds are low due to the other things I've had to do lately, so I'm waiting.

I was able to get the sound working last night by uninstalling my audio device, rebooting, going through the Found New Hardware wizard, and updating the driver. I think I'll have to update the driver on the Video as well, but haven't tried that yet. I'm wondering if more of my problems aren't driver related. I have the CD that came with the motherboard containing all the drivers, and I've installed all that it shows me I can install. However, when I replaced the audio driver last night, I had it search the CD, and after 5 minutes it found the one it needed, which it DIDN'T find on my PC, even though I'd gone through the install program on the CD.

Still no luck with Office updates. Also, tried installing eSword last night. Corrupted .cab files again. Any other ideas?

 

I will try the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool, because I know SOMETHING is going wrong, and memory sounds like the culprit to me, too.

On the Harddrive, I've used both chkdsk and the disk manufacturer's diagnostic software, as well as CheckIT. I'm pretty sure it's solid, but I'm continuing to keep my data backed up on the other HD just to be on the safe side.

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

Okay. I ran the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool. There are 6 standard tests, and my memory passed all 6. There are also 5 extended (or maybe "enhanced "?) tests. Memory failed 3 of the 5. I yanked the memory stick, checked for any dirt, reseated, ran again, same results.

So, do I assume, because it passed all of the standard tests, that it's okay, or should I replace it because it couldn't pass the extended tests?

Also, does anyone have any ideas about the video/scrolling issue? Basically, what happens is that when I scroll anything, instead of a smooth scroll, the page jumps. I don't know where to go to change the driver, if it's a driver related issue, and I don't find any controls that seem to address this (sorry, I'm wrong; I found one, an on/off switch for smooth scrolling, but it was already turned on, and turning it off and on again had no effect).

I appreciate all the advice I'm getting so far. Thank you.

 

The thumb rule is - if the memory fails ANY of the test, replace it. Don't spend your time over it - unless you got nothing more to do.

 

Dirt, yes, although maybe the biggest problem is the oils from our fingers. The connectors are made from gold leaf so they can get the best transfer of electrical signals, oils will reduce the connection easily. If you think they may have been touched you can clean those connectors carefully with a soft pencil eraser (I use Contact Cleaner). Story...ZZZZ!...my friend that was new to computers came to the door. "You can have this ", he said handing me a stick of RAM he was holding by the connectors. I wanted to test it. First test, it would not work. I cleaned the connectors (and actually sprayed the slot on the motherboard as well). It has worked fine ever since.

Scrolling problem. Is it related to every window or maybe just web pages? Web pages, I might wonder about something like DirectX, Flash Player, updating the browser, etc. Check if there are updated drivers for the mouse. "Video acting strangely..." You may need to start from the basics and get updated motherboard/chipset drivers, graphics drivers (then update DirectX and other graphics software), then other drivers like the mouse. If you have upgraded to SP2 these may be essential.

I check for updated drivers occassionally and download them to a "Drivers" folder and burn a CD of them when I have a few new ones. They are then ready for a Windows reinstall.

Matt

 

Okay, here's where we are now.

I've replaced the memory. It made no difference to the scrolling issue, but I WAS able to get Office 2003 SP2 installed.

I've checked the mouse settings; it's set to scroll 3 lines at a time, which is pretty standard. Setting it up or down from that doesn't seem to affect the scrolling issue at all. Here's what the effect I'm seeing is:

I'm on a page, either on IE, or in a Word document, or anything that's bigger than the screen. I scroll using my mouse wheel. The area I'm watching jumps twice, up or down depending on which way I'm scrolling. There is no intermediate step, it's in one spot then in the next spot.

I'm thinking I may have a bad driver for my on-board video, but have no idea of how to replace it. I have an ABIT KV-85 motherboard, and I've loaded all the drivers that came with it. Any ideas on what to do next? And in case I haven't said it before, THANK YOU for your help!

 

Problem doesn't seem to be mouse related, as it also happens if I use the keyboard to scroll up or down any page.

I've downloaded and tried t install the VIA/S3G UniChrome Pro IGP Win2K/XP Driver. When I try to install, I get the message:

"Setup was unable to complete the installation. Check the progress log in your Windows directory for more details. "


The progress log shows this:

=========== S3SETUP LOG FILE - Started at 17:42:28 on 5-14-2006 ===========
S3Setup v(1.01.25) 1.00.03-DC/1.00.03-WD/1.00.04-AC/1.00.20-JV/1.00.15-CL/1.00.46-M7/1.00.10-SS/1.00.29-G4/1.00.25-M5/1.00.45-MS on Win XP
bAllowReboot: TRUE
bSilentReboot: TRUE
bPromptReboot: TRUE
bPromptSilentReboot: FALSE
bRemoveWindowsINF: FALSE
bDisableMenuAnim: TRUE
bDisableMenuShadow: TRUE
bDisableAlphaSelect: TRUE
VendorID to find:1106
INF File Located at: C:\Downloads\v6142kxp\16.94.39.49_logod_20041019\k8viagi.inf
Found - ven:1106 dev:3108 ss_dev:1421 ss_ven:147B rev:01 bus:01 devnum:00 func:00 (inVGA=1)
Enumerating Display class devices...
Display #0 has DevInst=000017B4
Instance=PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3108&SUBSYS_1421147B&REV_01\4&26E5F5CD&0&0008.
Found matching display.
No more displays.
Found InstID=PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3108&SUBSYS_1421147B&REV_01\4&26E5F5CD&0&0008.
Found Mfg line: "VIA.Mfg ".
Description= "%viagfx.DeviceDesc0% = viagfx, PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3108 ".
'DriverVer' is 6.14.10.0180, 'DriverDate' is 10/07/2004.
Calling UpdateDriver... with PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3108&SUBSYS_1421147B&REV_01
and INF path at C:\Downloads\v6142kxp\16.94.39.49_logod_20041019\k8viagi.inf
Started Timer window in background.
Doing copy logging.
Finished with copy logging.
UpdateDriver forced install (PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3108&SUBSYS_1421147B&REV_01) failed->-536870389.
UpdateDriver failed, returned -536870389. Cannot install.
DestroyTimerWindow OK, but no timer dialog action occurred.
-> Setup was unable to complete the installation. Check the progress log in your Windows directory for more details.


That's where I am now. I'm thinking maybe I should flash the BIOS, but I've never done that before, so don't know what else I can mess up if I try this. Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

Update: When trying to run Kyodai Mahjongg (newest version), I get this message:


"Kyodai Mahjongg cannot run in a desktop window with the current display settings. Please change your desktop settings to a 16- bit or 32-bit display mode and re-run KMJ. The program will now exit "

When I go in to Display Settings, I have only two options, Medium 16-bit and Highest 32-bit. I'm running at 32-bit. Changing to 16-bit doesn't help Mahjongg play any better.