WinXP wont boot since i installed P3 driver - help!

simonearly · Post by **simonearly** » Mon Nov 12, 2001 2:26 am

I have a clean XP intallation and d/l the Pulsar 3 files from CW site (eventually!). unzipped, the setup file tells me to install the Win2K driver by "install new hardware" and find driver that way. did what I was told, like a good boy, then rebooted.
now it wont boot at all. gets to loading drivers section, then restarts itself. constantly.

what are the drivers called and where can i find them (under DOS ) to delete them? any ideas? help!
simon@sussexweb.co.uk

Micha · Post by **Micha** » Mon Nov 12, 2001 4:34 am

Press after booting F8. From the menu choose Last good configuration.
No DOS access! the system uses NTFS. You must make a set of emergency repair discs (described in the help) for access in a DOS-like manner.
Hope it helps.
Happy pulsaring
Micha

simonearly · Post by **simonearly** » Mon Nov 12, 2001 4:52 am

nope. last good config doesnt work. plus the file system is still FAT32. need to first delete the offending systems driver. any more ideas?
s./

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Mon Nov 12, 2001 4:56 am

maybe?

cwScopeProp.dll
PrgLoadDLL.dll

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Spirit on 2001-11-12 05:02 ]</font>

simonearly · Post by **simonearly** » Mon Nov 12, 2001 5:05 am

oh, and as i'll be typing in all this by hand, any pointers to the directory where the dlls live would be useful too, ta.
Simon./

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Mon Nov 12, 2001 5:08 am

C:Pulsar3AppDLL

simonearly · Post by **simonearly** » Tue Nov 13, 2001 1:36 am

Update...

ASUS A7A266(??) MoBo
AthlonXP 1.5Ghz
256MbSDram P100 CASS3
IBM 40Gb IDE HDD FAT32
WinXP
UW SCSI2 CDRW (HP)
IDE CDrom
16Mb Voodoo3 AGP
300W power supply ATX

removed Pulsar card, all USB attatchments, slave HDD.
changed ribbon over from 33 to 66 - ie faster ribbon

changed overclocking on the BIOS for the SDRAM down to 1000Ghz (instead of the 1.5Ghz it should run at) in case the memory cant handle it (its PC100 SDram CASS3) turned the IRQ on the MoBo for Pulsar (before I went along and removed it) to 9.

removed all references to scope.drv/pulsar.inf/whatever else.dll I could see and think of that everyone has suggested (BTW, none were in the windows directory, which makes me think something happened before these new hardware drivers got in the right place??)

re-booted.

nothing. gets partway through the boot sequence, then restarts itself spontaneously (then does its disk checking thereafter).

comes up with the checking again, but fails to load WinXP.
tells me "safe mode/last known good config/normal" as usual, but none of these options actually work. cant boot into safe mode at all, not even F8ing.

what I *can* do, is boot into DOS (its FAT32) using a Win98 rescue disk. The XP disk wont boot (even from BIOS changing the boot order) as it fails partway through copying (faulty disk).

so, what now?

any thoughts?

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Wed Nov 14, 2001 6:18 am

OK it seems your system is in a bit of a mess. I would do a reformat and reinstall.

Find out exactly what your motherboard is, and flash the latest BIOS for it.
It might not even be AthlonXP-ready yet.

I cannot figure out how you can possibly run PC-100 SDRAM with an AthlonXP - I thought they needed 266Mhz DDR RAM. DDR really isn't very expensive these days. My advice is to buy some.

Also make sure you do the following :

Set "Plug+Play OS" to OFF in your BIOS.

When you reinstall WinXP or 2000, turn ACPI off WHILE INSTALLING. To do this, press F7 and F5 (I think it's just F5 in WinXP) during the FIRST STAGE of the OS install - it's still a non-graphical DOS screen, and the installer says something like "Windows is now looking for your hardware". In a short while (before the 2nd boot disk if you're booting off floppies) it will give you a choice between ACPI, multiprocessor, standard PC etc. : choose STANDARD PC.

These are the only things I can think of that are messing up your system. I also could not get Win2K/XP to boot when I tried to install the driver in ACPI mode, and also while PnP OS was set to ON in the BIOS.

Also : correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that Voodoo cards were no longer supported (3DFX was bought by Nvidia and they promptly stopped all driver development) - so there may not be a driver for Windows XP.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: dArKr3zIn on 2001-11-14 06:32 ]</font>

topbanana · Post by **topbanana** » Wed Nov 14, 2001 8:38 am

This may help it's a utility that lets you see NTFS volumes out of windows in dos.

TB

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freew ... SDOS.shtml

merlyn60 · Post by **merlyn60** » Wed Nov 14, 2001 10:26 am

I had the same problem. Its almost certainly your plug and play mode in your BIOS. Disable Plug and Play and you should be good.

simonearly · Post by **simonearly** » Fri Nov 16, 2001 12:36 am

spent ALL DAY yesterday, reinstalling XP and everything else. did the upgrade this time from the v3.0 CD sent to me by the local distributor and all is well (so far!).
I have absolutely no idea why it went so bad before, but all I can say is thanks for all the help and advice, but it was all to no avail!

bloody computers. time to buy a piano.
Simon.