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Cycovision - PC helper |
Krubach
Joined: Dec 05, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: Sunny Portugal! :)
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Hi Cyco,
I need your opinion about this one.
I have an old AMD K7 600Mhz that i wanted to put to work again as a local webserver, but it's giving me an headache.
Problems:
- It refuses to boot (and i mean not every the memory test is performed), the CRT won't turn on, it will stay in stand by mode. Only after a few tries i can get it to boot.
- I could only install XP after 4 or 5 tries. It would hang in the middle of the installation at random points, would it be either formating the drive, or finalizing the instalation.
- I instaled a PCI Network card which XP didn't detect.
- If i turn it off, the problems booting appear again.
Now. What could be the problem?
- VGA card? since it doesn't activate the CRT.
- Board?
- Bios Battery?
I want to put it to work, but i'm not sure where should i put the money.
Any tip?
TIA
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Cycovision
Joined: Nov 30, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: England
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I'd say it's unlikely to be the CMOS battery because normally, you'd get the POST screen up and then an error saying something like 'Cant load standard defaults'.
What could give you a clue here is 'beep codes'. All BIOS venders integrate a diagnostic system into their software whereby certain conditions cause the pc's speaker to produce a series of 'beeps', rather like morse code. If you go to the website for your PC's particular make of BIOS (phoenix, AmiBIOS etc.) or look them up on google, you could try the following:
1. Remove all memory sticks from the motherboard and power on. If you get the beep code for 'no memory', then the motherboard is likely to be ok and it might be one or more of your memory sticks at fault.
2. Put the memory back and remove the graphics card. Likewise, if you get the code for 'No VGA', then the motherboard's probably alright, and it might be worth trying a cheap card.
If you don't get any beep codes at all, then it could either be the motherboard or possibly the power supply. ATX power supplies are not easy to test without simply trying a new one, unfortunately, but If you have a multimeter, you might be able to check the 12v and 5v outputs from one of the four pin connectors for the hard drive / cd drives or floppy drive.
What worries me here is that XP didn't detect your Network card. I'm afraid that sounds rather like a dodgy motherboard to me 
It's difficult to diagnose a fault like this without a 'POST Probe'. This is a card that fits into a spare PCI or ISA slot and provides diagnostic code numbers on a display that helps you to pinpoint the problem. You can get them cheap from Ebay, but bear in mind that they are pretty much useless without the instruction book so if anyone decides to buy one, make sure that the seller includes the documention with the probe!
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Krubach
Joined: Dec 05, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: Sunny Portugal! :)
PM |
Thanks Cyco.
About the beep codes, i thought of that, but the only beep i hear is when it boots ok (just a one time quick beep).
I'll try removing the SIMM's and the VGA card, and see what happens.
(I suspect that nothing will happen)
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Cycovision
Joined: Nov 30, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: England
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Does it beep normally when the CRT fails to switch on? If so, I think there's a good chance that you're right about it being the VGA card 
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Krubach
Joined: Dec 05, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: Sunny Portugal! :)
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Nop. I said it only beeps when it boots normally.
If the CRT doesn't power up i also can't hear any beep (or vice-versa).
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djpowelly
Joined: Jun 07, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: The UK!
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It sounds like you need a new motherboard - get on ebayand have a look for a motherboard that fits your spec.
 djpowelly |
Cycovision
Joined: Nov 30, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: England
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Yeah, I think it sounds motherboardish too
Is it a PCI or AGP graphics card? Just wondered because it might be the PCI bus that's playing up
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Krubach
Joined: Dec 05, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: Sunny Portugal! :)
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Already did take a quick look, but there's not much Slot A boards these days... 
I just wanted to make sure i'm spending some money on the right thing.
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Cycovision
Joined: Nov 30, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: England
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Cyco's Security Alert 1/4/05
Had a couple of PC's in the shop today with newish problems that I haven't seen before, thought I'd warn everyone because they pose a big threat and are spreading very quickly:
1. 'Searchmaid' aka 'virtual maid'. This is a piece of adware that initially hijacks your homepage and redirects Internet Explorer to the 'searchmaid.com' search page. Nothing particularly nasty there, and you can remove the hijacker using 'hijack this' quite easily.
The problem is that Searchmaid also implants several .exe and .dll files that pops-up an IE window displaying adverts once every ten minutes. This part is much harder to get rid of since the files are well hidden and disguise themselves as legitimate windows files. The removal process is quite in-depth since the files have a habbit of coming back and re-appearing in the registry, so I'll not post it here now. Get back to us on here if you think you've got Searchmaid!
Searchmaid is currently spreading via certain Bittorrent file sharing sites, but it's expected to 'spread' to other dodgy sites at a rapid rate.
2. Funner Virus - New strain
The funner virus has been around for some time now, infecting windows 98 and ME machines. It arrives as a file download sent via MSN Messenger. Once the executable file is ran, it tries to send itself to everyone in your messenger contacts list before corrupting several vital windows files including explorer.exe and rundll32.exe.
Consequently, it prevents windows from starting up on the next boot after infection, even in safe mode. The big problem now is that the new strain is able to infect Windows XP, not just 98 and ME which obviously poses a much bigger threat. Usually, the only solution is to reinstall the OS, AV software currently cannot clean Funner from your system files.
Do not accept ANY files via messenger unless you are absolutely sure that they are safe. Also beware of email attachments (as always!), since funner could potentially be spread that way as well
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govigov
Joined: Jul 30, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Back home - Cochin
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Thanks for the warning. I'm planning to install xp on my aunts machine. This baby has not been formatted for five years and currently runs on 98. Its a celeron with just 64mb ram. Should i do the xp or reinstall to 98?
This message was posted from a K500 |
Cycovision
Joined: Nov 30, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: England
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Reinstall 98!
You need at least a 700Mhz processor and 128Mb of RAM to run XP at a reasonable speed (despite what Microsoft say!).
Celerons, because of their smaller cache size and 'cut down' architecture, generally require even more memory to run ok. I'd say that a Celeron 500Mhz with 256Mb RAM is the absolute minimum that you can put XP on and still get bearable speeds.
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govigov
Joined: Jul 30, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Back home - Cochin
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How about if i turn off all the visual effects?
This message was posted from a K500 |
Cycovision
Joined: Nov 30, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: England
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Doesn't make much difference usually
The problem is that XP uses lots and lots of components that it needs just to work, much more of them and 'bigger ones' than 98 needs. This means that it needs lots of memory for them to run in, otherwise it uses the page file (virtual memory) almost constantly which results in a very slow PC.
If I were you, I'd maybe try XP on your Aunts machine and see how she gets on with it - not everyone has the same opinion of exactly what a slow computer is!
But really it ought to have 98 on it unless you can get some more memory for it
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govigov
Joined: Jul 30, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Back home - Cochin
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May be i will try a dual boot. And if xp f's up. I will just format the xp partition.
This message was posted from a K500 |
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Posted: 2005-03-31 01:24
djpowelly 
