Windows XP hang loading agp440.sys

mailman, don't use hardware "reading" software on it's face value. If the system has corrupt drivers or it is an OEM system, hardware may not be identified correctly (it may be reading incorrect drivers, not the hardware itself).

cdplayer, you need to give us feed back on whether the suggestions worked or not.

All those drivers should be "addressed" by the Intel chipset driver update that I mentioned in my last post. If you have an OEM motherboard, Intel refers you to the OEM manufacturer. You can use the identification method I linked to in that post.

The Plug and Play Enumerator is also related to the chipset drivers. I don't think the Plug and Play Enumerator is broken, I think it's drivers are not working correctly.

You are describing symptoms. (mailman, you may be trying to rectify each individual symptom rather than it's cause).

My suggestion would be to identify your hardware. If the wrong/corrupt chipset drivers are running, I doubt Everest, Driveragent or any other "reader" will identify your hardware correctly (and that may be the problem...the readers are leading you to the incorrect drivers).

From what I have read/seen you may have an OEM motherboard.

Matt

 

Thanks, Matt. I'm still trying to get a handle on exactly what Everest is useful for. Looks like I'd better spend a lot more time following threads in the Hardware forum to get a better feel for troubleshooting hardware issues.

I'll follow your advice and I'll treat proper driver identification the same as I have promised to myself to treat proper BIOS identification (as follows):

Identify the motherboard per the manufacturer's instructions (which seems to usually involve looking directly on the motherboard for the info) and/or reading the information on the initial black boot screen (which I currently assume is presented directly from the BIOS).


cdplayer, it is apparently very important you determine whether your board is an OEM version or not. Carefully read and follow the instructions on the page mattman linked to determine with certainty what board you are using.


Matt, how's that for instructions?

 

Something else I noticed in the Everest data. Virtual memory is running at 600MB, you only have 512 MB of pyshical memory. I cannot be certain of the "terminology ", especially between Everest and Windows, but you seem to have used up all your RAM and you are running on virtual memory (off the hard disk). Remedy...reduce the number of background programs or increase the amount of RAM.

Matt

 

Lets get right to the point - there is some cat and mouse going on here. The machine has been edited out of the Everest report and the user here is named Brian. A little more honesty would go a long way and I believe the AGP440.sys error and the sound issues are quite easily resolvable.

First time for me with this one -

 

Thanks Matt for the tip I will take care of memory shortage immediately!

After giving this situation additional thought I came to the conclusion that the problem lied within the OS software. It appeared that the problems with the Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator were not going to be fixed I don't care how many times I disable, enable, de-install and reinstall the service.

Where does the Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator come from? My guess is it is set up at the time when one load in the motherboard's chipsets, correct?

I continue to load in the same .inf file(s) from off the disk (C drive) in vain each time I made an attempt to reinstall the Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator.

Since there is no set order in which we have to follow when loading chipsets I decided to re-install only the audio portion of the chipset (#3) for my motherboard. The installation went well. I have a brand-new trouble-free Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator and when I play CDs I can hear them through my speakers. I hope that I haven't broken anything in the process of repairing the Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator.

Last but not least I continue to unsuccessfully perform a safe boot. It gets as far as the apg440.sys file and the computer locks up...

Thanks Matt for replying!

 

Rockster2U,
Please don't take this personally but I normally remove any identifiable information from any document sent off to be analyzed. I don't think that type of information is important when it comes to resolving an issue. Obviously I missed an occurrence. I have nothing to hide it is my co-worker's computer, Brian. my task is to keep the computers safe, up and running.

If I have placed you in an uncomfortable position my apologies. If you would like an unedited copy of the report please don't hesitate to let me know and I will send it immediately.

Elton

 

Thanks mailman!
I do have the number it is BTRL 42803431-AA- C40928-204.
Is this what you wanted?

Elton

 

Since you're confused, I suggest you contact Intel technical support with that information in-hand and have them tell you who the OEM is and how to contact the OEM for the proper chipset drivers (and proper BIOS). Intel's phone number is linked via the page mattman pointed you to.


EDIT: I added a link to Intel's technical support page for your convenience.

 

I am thanking all of you for your technical support, I received more than I ever imagined! if it was not for your guidance the computer would not be up and now with sound!

I want to apologize again to Rockster2U for unintentionally ticking you off. I am sorry!
For your technical support and patience I give you guys five stars!

Thanks!
Elton

 

You're welcome!

I'm glad you resolved your issue!

What exactly did you do that fixed everything?

I'm curious...

Assuming you called Intel tech support, how long did you have to wait until you talked to the person who helped you?

What OEM is your motherboard from?

Where on the Internet are the BIOS and chipset drivers for your motherboard located?

 

cdplayer, could we get some feedback, please (before your memory fades)?

Other people with the same or similar problem (who later discover this thread) might benefit from a detailed description of what you did that fixed everything.


Answers to the following questions are optional I guess (except answers to those questions might benefit other people who happen to have the same OEM hardware as you have).

 

I called IBM support twice Mailman. Each time I waited for 30 mins and hung up the phone! I hate waiting!

I used a program called Belarc Advisor http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html to determine what type of motherboard is in the case. You can grab OS software information as well. By the way Belarc Advisor is free! Great software!

Everest home http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html is another way to collect hardware info. Thank you guys for reminding me of this software.

Using the information I gathered from the Belarc Advisor I was able to locate the latest BIOS and other relevant data for my motherboard from the IBM site.

The major problem I discovered is that the Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator was not functioning when I looked under the Device Manager.
(The computer booted when I changed the video configuration from AGP two PCI. I’ll go into details about why I made the change in the BIOS later.)
In fact, the Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator wasn’t even there. I continue to go through the steps in order to disable, delete, reinstalled and enable the Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator (PPSDE). The problem still remains.

Okay, what is the function of the PPSDE? Its main purpose is to enumerate each plug and play device that is being added at the time when the computer boots. I felt after the 10th time failing to reinstall the PPSDE that this exercise was useless. I felt that I was installing the same broken drivers over and over and over again and getting nowhere.

So I’ve now delete it the PPSDE for the 11th time. I thought, where does this piece of software (service) come from? After searching around on the Internet a bit I discovered one of the places where this service originates is when the motherboard is being flashed.

I remembered when we receive the machine it was just a shell. I loaded the IBM Drivers for Intel® Desktop Board D865PERL which is the appropriate drivers for this motherboard. These drivers are broken up into three sections the first one is the chipset second is the lan software for the onboard network card and last but not least are the drivers for the onboard audio card.

The drivers that I am interested in is section one the, chipset. Within the chipset contains what is necessary to build the Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator (PPSDE) when the motherboard was flashed initially.
So what I decided to do was to load in just the chipset since the chipset contained the building blocks for the PPSDE. I must admit that this is not for the faint of heart. If at all possible make sure that you have backed up all of your data and your operating system, especially if you are trying to salvage it.

I had already backed up the operating system and the data by connecting the lame hard drive to another operating system and using Acronis to create an image backup.

I flashed the motherboard with just the chipset and restarted the computer. I had already installed a new APG video card in the computer before I flashed tie motherboard. The computer came up!

I checked the Device Manager and Lo and behold I had installed a brand-new operating without any problems PPSDE!

I shut down the computer remove the new video card replacing it with the old. When I reboot the computer again it locks. I go into safe mode it is locking on the service agp440.sys.

I removed the now suspected the video card and replace it with the new one. The computer responds well by booting up!

So it boiled down to two things (I think):
1. Faulty video card
2. Corrupted Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator
Which one was the initial problem? I don’t remember. If anyone else is having this problem and you discover after going into safe mode that your computer is locking on the agp440.sys service try these suggestions below not necessarily in this order:

1. Boot computer with the Windows XP CD,
a. Run in recovery mode (choose option R in the windows recovery console)
b. Run chkdsk /r "“ once that has completed you may see where the program has fixed several areas on the hard drive. Try rebooting the computer and see if that resolves the problem.

2. Check a setting in the BIOS called "Plug and Play OS" insured that is set to YES. Reboot see if that resolves the problem.

3. Check in the bios to see if you have a setting that will allow you to change your video configuration from APG to PCI. I found out that by switching it to PCI allows the operating system and the BIOS to determine which one it wants to set up. Basically the above process enabales VGASave. So if you’re video configuration is set for APG set it to PCI and reboot. If your system comes up I would suspect that the video card may be faulty.
You might be asking yourself why would that allow the computer to come up by making that change to the video configuration? I found this suggestion on another site so I tried it out. I felt I had nothing to lose.

4. Run the Windows Memory Diags (WMD).

5. If your machine comes up by some miracle go into the Device Manager and find out what is the status of your Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator. If the Device Manager shows that the Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator is having a problem then go through the steps in order to de=install and reinstall the Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator. I know it is confusing but please read through the following thread in order to discover these steps to remove and reinstall the Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator:
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/t1066427444

6. Replaced the video card with a new one.

You must realize that I spent several days in a very long nights with this problem so what you have read is the ramblings of a mad person! But I hope that the information I have relayed based on my situation will somehow help towards resolving the dreaded Windows XP hang loading agp440.sys problem you may be experiencing.

 

Hi, cdplayer.

Thank you for following up with such a detailed description of your troubleshooting and apparent fix! You certainly don't seem "mad" to me.

That thread you linked is a long one! I didn't read it carefully but I did search the page for "enumerator" and read the surrounding text in many places.

Glad you got things working! Let's hope this thread helps someone else with the same/similar problem.

Thanks again and good luck!