Author: Peter Skinner
Date: 10:04:40 10/09/02
Go up one level in this thread
On October 09, 2002 at 12:48:33, Roy Eassa wrote: >On October 09, 2002 at 12:36:48, Peter Skinner wrote: > >>On October 09, 2002 at 09:27:43, Roy Eassa wrote: >> >>>Off topic, but I really need assistance: >>> >>>Microsoft tech support has been trying unsuccessfully for 3+ weeks to solve a >>>seemingly simple problem on my WinXP Pro system. I bet somebody here has >>>insight that Microsoft lacks. >>> >>>Simply put, every time I reboot I must install video drivers. >>> >>>It's an Athlon system with a GeForce2 MX400 card and 1 GB RAM. It worked fine >>>for nearly 1.5 years before the problem suddenly appeared. >>> >>>After each reboot, Device Manager shows a problem with the video card. There is >>>only a generic VGA driver with 60 Hz refresh. Loading any compatible driver >>>(Microsoft's, nVidia's, Asus's...) solves the problem until the next reboot, >>>when the same issue occurs. >>> >>>Microsoft can't figure it out. It's hard to formulate a useful search via >>>Google for this issue -- I've found cures for similar-sounding issues but they >>>don't work for this seemingly unique problem. >>> >>>Any ideas? >>> >>>Thanks in advance!! >>> >>> -Roy. >> >>This is a problem I had when I first installed Windows XP on my new Athlon >>system. >> >>The problem was the sharing of an irq. Windows XP for some reason kicks one >>device off the irq which IT deems less needed. So for instance if you have an >>ethernet card installed and it shares the same irq as the video card it will >>boot the video card thus you having to reinstall it several times. >> >>What I did was this: >> >>1. I moved all the cards in my pci slots around, leaving the slot right next to >>my agp slot free. >> >>2. Due to downloading so many drivers for my card I have to look in the "inf" >>folder and delete all the drivers related to the actual video card. The easiest >>way to do this is to boot to safe mode, go into the C:\Windows\inf folder and >>delete anything to dowith my current video card. You might have to "unhide" >>system files to see the folder. >> >>3. Remove all video devices from the hardware manager, including monitors. >> >>4. Reboot into normal Windows and let it "re-discover" your hardware. You will >>have to reboot. >> >>5. Once you reboot it will look as if you are in safe mode again but that is a >>result of you deleteing any driver that would suit the card. Just download the >>latest driver from the Nvidia site. Install it, reboot. >> >>6. Once Windows finishes loading, reboot again. You will see your problem is >>gone. >> >>That is the only way I could get rid of the problem. I didn't have an Nvidia >>card at the time.I had a 3DLabs WildCat 6110. It was a great card but due to >>lack of support with DirectX8 I wasn't able to cleanly use it in Windows XP. You >>would figure a video card with 208megs of ddrram powering it would have the kind >>of support that developers need. >> >>I went to the Quadro 900XGL that uses an Nvidia NV25 core. It doesn't have the >>massive amount of memory that the Wildcat did but I also have much fewer >>problems. >> >>If that doesn't work I have a few other tricks up my sleeve that might. Just >>email me. >> >>Peter > > >I think you might have it! A couple weeks before the problem began, I installed >both a USB 2.0 card and a FireWire card. The Microsoft guy suggested they might >be conflicting (and in fact both of them and the video were all using IRQ 5), so >I removed them and they are still out. But removing them did not solve the >problem and I completely (but probably erroneously) dropped the idea of an IRQ >conflict. By the way, the PCI slot closest to the AGP is currently empty, yet I >still think you're in the ballpark. > >Thank you for your post and your kind offer! I'll let you know what happens as >I pursue this line of reasoning. (I am feeling optimisic for the first time in >weeks.) This might sound a little off the wall and goes against all I believe in but I asked a buddy here at work about your problem and he had _something_ similiar to your problem. He went into safe mode and removed HIS usb 2.0 card from the device manager although it wasn't in the system. As per HIS tech support call to MS it is a known issue that Windows XP will still leave the device driver installed athough the actual card is not in the system. Once removed in safe mode it was gone, and his conflict was resolved. He also PUT a card in the pci slot next to the agp slot and it realligned his irqs and the problem never returned and was able to put his usb 2.0 card back in. Just a thought but give it a try.
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