Swapped my Motherboard now the OS won't work properly

I just swapped a very old, bad motherboard for a new one of the same model. They're identical, to the point that it's got the same part number printed on both. Only a couple minor details differ - that being the bios version (doesn't really matter anyways), sound controller on original mobo was plastic (this ones black metal but still the same model), and one was made in Mexico while the other comes from Indonesia. Both are "HP Vectra VL400" motherboards.

When I swapped the failed motherboard, for the spare one I purchased. Booting up for the first time all came up well to the desktop. I browsed the computer hard drives without an issue, played a song file, video file, etc. I figured I had finally got my old rig back in working order. Then I tried to shut down the pc, and the screen turned into a static dot style image right after the shutdown message (and didn't shut off the computer). So I had to do a physical shutdown by holding the power button for 5 seconds, and then powered it back up. It booted up to the desktop and all just froze... Obviously something is wrong.

I want to get this working without having to reinstall Windows Xp!

There's actually no motherboard drivers on the support site as you can see here. When I first installed Windows XP many years back, the original motherboard didn't need any separate drivers to work. Windows Xp just set it all up on it's own. I would have thought the operating system would just work after the motherboard swap. Being that it's the same motherboard model (yet with the aforementioned minor differences that shouldn't matter).

I tried loading up in Safe Boot mode just now to see if I could shutdown, and restart properly. It worked without a hitch... I left it on for an hour and no issues occurred. I'm assuming there is something trying to communicate with the motherboard and can't do so properly during Normal Boot mode. Please help, and by that I'm asking for any concrete solutions. I don't want to mess about with my rig that I've had for years to "try things out." It's the first computer I ever built. I've got newer ones now, but this ones and oldie yet a keeper. I'd definitely prefer solutions that would more than likely fix the problem. It's got a load of software I don't want to reinstall (classic games too that don't work on other setups), and software settings that would take weeks if not months to re-tweak.


What am I to do now?


Thanks for your time and effort - I'm one step away,



Thank You

 

superstar...

Have you tried Safe Mode->start->run->type "msconfig"->Startup? Untick everthing that isn't Windows and then see if it will boot to normal Windows.

Good luck...

 

@AtlBo

I've heard some people have had to do a Windows XP Repair using the original OS disc. I'm not sure if I want to go ahead with that, as I don't know if it will reinstall over certain folders that have been customized by me in the past. I don't even remember where they are to customize them again.

Does anyone know what a Win XP OS Repair does exactly, and where?

 

superstar...

Repair installation doesn't mess with any of your files. It's more like system restore than a complete restore, but it uses the XP disk to write over Windows system files. I have heard you need SP3 on the disk if your installation is SP3 for the repair to take properly, but I have run it with a SP2 disk, and it worked.

The only thing about the repair installation is that you will need to download all of the Windows updates again. It removes them.

Instructions in case you decide to run it:

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/operatingsystems/ss/instxprepair1.htm

 

@AltBo

Thanks for being helpful, I think doing a repair might just work. Don't know where you happen to find out about the differences in Service Packs affecting the Repair process. But that is extremely good information to know! The computer used a fresh install of Windows XP Service Pack 2 years ago when it was first installed. Over the years I always accepted necessary updates, including Service Pack 3.

So in essence it's currently running Service Pack 3, yet I still have the original Windows XP Service Pack 2 disc. You're saying that you did it and it worked. I'm taking a guess to think that it might correct my issue but I can't be sure. Currently I've been reading sites about the Repair process to double check so nothing get's worse.

 

superstar...

This is the kind of thing I have seen before:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/265768-45-repair

I did use an SP2 disk on a SP3 PC, and it worked fine. If you had a SP1 disk I think it would be more of a worry.

You could uninstall SP3 and then install SP2 and then run the repair to be on the safe side...

 

I think a Repair would work since I'll be doing the same thing you did. Hopefully things work out tonight. Gonna give it a try and hope for the best! So when you had done this before did it alter any installed software settings, or files? How about the files located in MY DOCUMENTS, did they remain intact? Often times some files are stored there such as photos, videos, or music. I'm mostly worried about it altering my PROGRAMS folder. Long as it only touches the Windows areas I should be good.

Thanks again

 

superstar...

It did not touch files in My Documents or Program Files when I ran the repair. I think it simply copies over some Windows system files in the Windows folder and then removes all of the updates in case there was some sort of conflict there. Those two may be reversed in order I'm not sure. I can't recall about Flash and Java. May have needed to reinstall those, but you will get prompts when you use the browser if so.

Not sure it will solve your problem. You didn't need drivers before, so that shouldn't be a problem (repair doesn't touch those either). All around, I think I would be about 35% confident it will resolve the problem based on what is going on with the PC, but I have also had many success stories in this type of situation.

I don't think the repair will hurt anything, but I wish I could say for sure. I guess it just depends on how much you are at the end of your patience with the problem as far as whether to run repair goes.

BTW, when you get done, make sure SP3 is still there. I can't remember if it removed SP3. You may need to reinstall it after the repair.

Repair installation is solid, mostly because it does not affect files or programs. If you can get your hands on a SP3 installation disk for future use, it might really come in handy for you it sounds like though.

 

superstar...

Something took me back to the drivers page at HP. I found this link using google search "HP Vectra VL400 graphics driver":

http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/si...x.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken

It was a little bit strange getting here. First I went here:

http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/si...ac.admitted=1402971288056.876444892.492883150

I clicked on the link that says, "View and download all drivers, software and firmware for this product". That took me here:

http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/public/psi/swdHome/?lang=en&cc=us&sp4ts.oid=21228

Listed there are XP, XP Pro, and XP Home. I didn't see which version you have, so I clicked on Pro and didn't see anything worth seeing. Then I went back and clicked on Windows XP, and that's how I found the page with the graphics driver.

Don't know if this will help, but there are several drivers there. I think before I installed any of them I would make a disk image of your installation if you possibly can. I guess you would need an external CD burner, unless the old PC has a CD burner.

Paragon Backup and Restore is what I have been using, but Macrium Reflect gets alot of good reviews. Perhaps you could install one of those in safe mode...

 

I use Acronis True Image, and as for the video drivers you mentioned I know what it's for. It's for models of my pc that came with an agp card pre-installed for the buyer. Mine didn't and I bought another card separately. The motherboard has onboard graphics that are so generic Windows XP initially installed the necessary drivers for it to work when I first built the pc years ago.

I'm going to take a bit of a walk, and come back to do a Repair. I've got an image of my system from a year ago or so in case something happens. I haven't really added many files since then. & I doubt the Repair will touch the partitions that contain those files (they're not on the C: drive).

This is all just weird to me, I replaced a failed motherboard for a new one of the same model with a couple unimportant differences. It should have booted fine after the swap. I'm seeing on the official Microsoft site they have a guide to swapping motherboards:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;824125

Seems like the "Replace a failed motherboard" section tells you to do a Repair regardless. & not to boot into Windows without doing so. Oops, I had booted into the OS right after the swap thinking it would work! Hope that didn't cause any irreversible issues.

I'll be back to try it out, but hey before I do so. Do you know of anyway I can save my Windows Activation code? The Repair should require you to call Microsoft again to re-activate Windows, and it's too late to call on my time zone right now (they're currently closed).

P.s.
Your desktop layout, shortcuts, wallpaper, and START>ALL PROGRAMS section never changed after a Repair?

 

superstar...

I have used those key finders before but never reliably. I'm not sure why, but I haven't ever been able to get one of the codes found by one to work. Maybe someone will come along who knows of one that will work.

Yes, all left untouched. Couldn't even tell the repair ran afterwards. I guess it's sort of like a tech install of all the Windows files that don't have to do with settings and that can be recopied without damaging anything. Super clean, and I remember thinking it was underrated as a tool...it and SFC /scannow.

Wish I could help you with the key. If your copy of XP SP2 has a working key that should do the trick. I just have never been able to understand why keys I pulled using a key finder wouldn't work. Really has me stumped...

This guy seems to have reliable information, but maybe you could Google for some reviews of the programs he suggests:

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/tipstricks/ht/findxpkey.htm

 

superstar...

I just gave WinKey Finder a try. This is one of the programs listed at the about site. I chose it because it's portable so it won't require an installation. It picked up the correct key for this PC. Here is the MG download:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/winkey_finder.html

I am 100% sure on this key. I know that it's the correct one, because I installed the OS myself, and I have the key written on the XP install disk sleeve...

 

I tried a Repair, it didn't work... The issue persists with the system not shutting down properly or rebooting correctly. It keeps displaying a static "no channel on tv" like image when that happens. I guess I've got to go the long route in and simply reinstall a fresh copy of Windows XP onto this machine. I was dreading this, but who knows a fresh install could be a blessing in disguise. I'm going to have to make a lot of notes to get this thing backed up correctly.

I have two internal hard drives, both contain two separate partitions (4 in total). One of the hard drives contains the Windows XP partition. Can I reinstall Windows XP to that specific partition alone, or will I have to format the entire drive losing data on the other half of the partition?

I feel uneasy about backing up my personal data from all internal hard drives, by copying the data to external usb drives with a broken OS. Maybe I should use something like Puppy Linux to access the drives and backup my data that way? I mean I shouldn't even have to backup my data. It's just that I feel both hard drives could use a full clean slate wipe/format. They haven't been formatted in years. & from what I recall every time they're formatted the drive itself bans bad sectors from being used, which is then written into the hard drive structure or something. Basically a good thing to do once in a blue moon, and this is my blue moon!

If I leave my personal data shouldn't I try doing something such as turning off System Restore so it flushes out any old OS data (on the separate hard drives), used to make save points?

Oh yeah most important question of the day. You think Microsoft will even allow me to activate Windows XP over the phone if I do a fresh install? It's a retail upgrade version, and not an OEM disc. I fear they might say they won't activate it because it's an old OS.

Unless someone can help me cure my broken OS I'm doomed to run a fresh install. Guess I've got a late Spring cleaning to do... *sigh


Thanks

 

superstar...

What about if you take a step back before reinstalling? I mean, your graphics work in Safe Mode. You know one of your running processes is interfering with the graphics rendering in standard Windows. It must be a process that does not load in Safe Mode.

Have you considered trying a new graphics card? This seems to me to be a viable option, considering the alternative seems to be far less than ideal.

Did you mention if you have tried shutting down start up programs using the msconfig startups dialog? It could be very helpful to determine which process is causing the problem. Knowing could mean an opportunity for a workaround. Below is more likely the problem, but this could tell you what is causing the conflict with your graphics card driver.

Maybe this could help:

http://en.kioskea.net/forum/affich-22454-screen-goes-blank-after-starting-windows

I think you mentioned you are using a graphics card that is not the original for the PC. Maybe Windows running graphics in Safe Mode is telling you that the driver for your graphics card is the problem. Don't know if you will be able to find an updated graphics driver for this old card, but it might be worth a look.

I would consider this. Make a new image backup of this partition and then try disabling the graphics card driver in Device Manager. Now give the installation a fair chance to reboot into normal Windows to see if the onboard graphics will work there (you may have to move the VGA connector over to a separate connector...from the AGP card connector to the standard connector). If you can't get graphics in normal Windows, I would then check to see if you can get into Safe Mode still. If you aren't able to get graphics in normal or Safe Mode with the driver disabled, there is something strange going on here. Anyway, you can simply restore your backup image and move to the next possibility. In this case, you know you will need a new graphics card (that uses a different driver) or an update of the driver for your current card.

 

This is an interesting topic for me to read as I am thinking of doing something similar.

->superstar
In your opening post, you said the BIOS versions were different. I have been looking into this and may be this the cause of your difficulty ? I know that OS's might not work on different m/b's with different BIOS's because some of the BIOS info contains a code which matches it to the OS (in preinstalled systems, so I have read in the HP forum), but in your case this might not be inapplicable as you installed the original OS yourself. Another question to ask is, are the BIOS versions fundamentally different, or do they just differ by upgrades/updates ? If the latter you might try ensuring the update version is
the same ? Maybe these are red herrings because you PC has no problems in safe mode.

Dumb_Question
17.June.2014
Compaq Presario S5160UK DT261A under XP/SP3
Processor - Celeron 2.7 GHz
Motherboard - MSI MS-6577 v2.1
RAM - 1GB + 512MB (1GB +1GB max) DDR PC2700
PSU - Octigen 300W model 10270PSOTG ('upgraded' from original Bestec 250W PSU [in 2011?])
Nvidia GeForce 6200 graphics card in AGP slot.

 

@AtlBo

I have an Agp video card, and I've already tested the integrated motherboard
video before (which works). Surely my broken OS might have more to do with drivers for the video card, and sound card. They may just need to be reinstalled. But now that I've done an XP Repair that didn't work. I just figure to throw in the towel and do a Fresh Install. Fresh Installs help a lot of things and I'm 100% sure my system will work after that. It's just the hassle of having to reinstall everything. Besides doing the XP Repair uninstalled my pci sound card drivers. It's too much of a mess to correct, I'd rather start fresh.

Unless if you think I came this far, and I should just uninstall my video card drivers, and reinstall my sound card drivers maybe I should. Just to see if that corrects everything. I just don't like my system freezing up so much after rebooting (which is necessary during uninstalls/installs). Because I have to do a hard power off of the system physically and that's bad for the hardware. If I do this successfully I can try to clean up the system correctly should I opt to run a fresh install afterwards.

If I I've got to do a fresh install of Win Xp. It begs the question, I have two physical hard drives. Each has two partitions as follows:

HDD ONE - C: Win Xp OS Partition, E: Data Partition
HDD TWO - G: Data Partition, H: Data Partition

The data partitions contain personal files of mine, documents, etc. I'd like to reinstall Windows Xp to the OS partition on HDD ONE. Is it possible to do so without interfering with the other 3 data partitions?

Should I flush out the System Restore points on all of the drives in Safe Boot Mode (which works *unlike normal boot mode,* but I don't know if it would have access to System Restore there)?

From what I recall System Restore saves restore points on each HDD, and I don't want past save points to interfere with the new Win Xp install. Lastly are there any other things I need to clean up, or do before reinstalling Windows XP while trying to leave the remaining HDD data partitions untouched?

@Dumb_Question

The bios is the same, except for the fact that the replacement boards got a newer version. The old one was something like v1.7, and this one is v1.8 of the same bios release line for this specific motherboard (so it shouldn't matter).

As per your next comment, ya the computer works fine in Safe Mode. I think the video card might not be shutting down correctly during Normal Mode shutdowns/reboots which could be causing my issue. I may just go ahead and reinstall the video card drivers to see. But I'm tempted to do a fresh install of my OS.

 

superstar...

I think this is what you are looking concerning saving your files partition:

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081221112502AAzhQR8

As for reinstalling the drivers. I would try it, even with the hard boot, but it's, of course up to you. Whenever I hard boot, I press gently and hold the reset button for 2 or 3 seconds and then gently let off the button. Never have had a problem doing this before.

I really feel like you are close...like your problem is either that your graphics card is broken or a driver(s) needs to be reinstalled as you mentioned.

I did have a graphics card die in similar circumstances, except I got a black screen. It confused the daylights out of me, because it died between boots, so, when I booted, I thought the power supply was dead or something else. The drive light was solid red, when it's usually green on that PC, but I don't know why it didn't occur to me that the PC was booting. I guess the red was supposed to indicate the graphics problem (black screen). Anyway, I ordered a power supply and tried it no luck. Then I finally pulled the graphics card just to take a look at it and, while I had it out decided to try a boot. I almost jumped out of my skin when the video came right up. I was totally not expecting that I promise.

I guess you have to go with your instincts. If you have to reinstall, I hope it goes smoothly. If you run into any snags, you can always post here, of course...

BTW...so you do have on board video in regular Windows?

 

@AltBo

I have onboard video but it's not in use since I use my agp card. I can verify it works though, as I tried it already and it does. I think I might take a stab at trying to reinstall the video card drivers, and sound card drivers first. Just to see what's up... I can then scope out the system a bit more before a Fresh Install. What's hurting me is the fact that I'll have to redo so many darn settings. It's crazy it took me years to setup just the way I liked it. But oh well what is a guy to do?

 

superstar...

I know where you're at with the settings. Maybe it would help to make a list of settings over the next couple of days by program and then put it on your files partition. I've done this before, and it helped.

Good idea to try out the drivers like you said. I think you will have a better idea of what to expect when you reinstall XP. I'm concerned a little bit that your card could be bad, but at least you do have onboard graphics to buy you some time to replace it if necessary.

Bruised and wounded, but the old XP machine is fighting a good fight...

Good luck getting everything working again.

 

@AltBo

You're right when you said "The old XP machine is fighting a good fight..." As I mentioned long ago, this was my first ever pc build. I've got quite a lot of good old software, games that don't run on newer pcs/setups, beta software that isn't even out anymore, etc. It's pretty much the heart of my computing beginnings to be honest. I learned everything about computer repairs building it over the years. I initially got it back in 2005/06. At first the internal guts had this HP Vectra VL400 motherboard with a measly small drive, Dvd disc drive, and basic parts. My motive was to use it as the backbone of a system build that would teach me everything from nothing to something. From case swapping, to learning about ram, cpu installs, cooling, etc. I'm self taught, and thankfully I learn quick.

As you can see that nothing (click here) turned into a major something to remember...



I've got blue led fans in it, a blue/red led video card fan, black metal intake/exhaust grills covered with white dust protectors, etc. The power supply was made by Antec (purchased not too long back a few years ago). If you notice the old motherboard on the right, is near identical as the new one I purchased on the left (with the exception of the two aforementioned differences in my previous posts). My favorite mod is the cpu socket adapter I used, which runs around $200 on eBay now. It allows you to overclock this old build while using a Pentium 4 prototype cpu (otherwise known as a Tualatin cpu). Which was the last Pentium 3 ever made in very limited numbers. Taken off the market quickly because Intel didn't want the public to know they were making cpus as fast as the P4's while still being P3's. That would contradict the ads they were putting out which claimed the P4's left P3's eating dust. It was in fact the first cpu in the history of computing to ever use a heat spreader over the cpu's center die!

Here's a few more photos of the tower I modified to the max. Remember the new motherboard is on the left, while the non-functional one is on the right. There's a nice shot of the cpu reinstalled onto the new board with some thermal paste on it. Luckily I had some Arctic Silver 5 laying around in a drawer that had barely been used. Oh and as a note the socket adapter is not, and was never overclocked. In theory there is overclocking going on since the adapter allows you to use a cpu that wasn't meant for this board. But the adapter isn't tweaked to overclock the Tualatin cpu. Instead it's used to run it at the processors retail supported speed. Apparently only two/three motherboards were ever manufactured to support the Tualatin P3 cpu in the socket without the use of an adapter.

You can see the socket adapter sitting on top of the motherboards cpu socket. The overclocking is done within the adapter by means of jumper switches. There's another shot of the battery area on the board. I'm just showing you because as you can barely see in the photo, the only thing changed is the bios version. Not a big deal and definitely not the reason why my XP doesn't work correctly after the motherboard swap. Hopefully these photos show you why I don't want to let this puppy go. They were all taken when I did the motherboard swap.
























- My life in ones and zeroes

 

Sorry here's the photo missing from my previous post of the motherboards side by side. New one on the left, old one on the right.

 

superstar...

Oh yeah. That's a sweet PC. I definitely can see why you are fighting so hard to keep it running and intact. One thing that gets me is the fact that the case is so clean and apparently scratch free. You are obviously caring for the PC.

The original you pulled the parts from reminds me of the first PC I had back in 1995. It was a Packard Bell horizontal desktop like your vectra box. It had a 486 DX2 50 processor inside, and it came equipped with 2 MB of RAM memory and a 200 MB hard drive. It cost $1000, and it was one of the cheaper ones! I finally upgraded the RAM to 4 MB before giving in to the Pentium upgrade. The modem in that PC was 2.4 kb/sec. I got a 14.4 after a few months that. Things sure have changed. I kept the PC until about 2005. It was hard to throw it out, but I knew it had to be done.

It actually ran some pretty amazing games of the time. I was playing Doom, and Sierra Football Pro 95 mostly. Arena The Elder Scrolls was a breakthrough game I played through. Very nice 3D world and interaction and all of that. I had an Indy 500 game I played to blow off steam. In those days of course everyone had to boot to DOS to play a game :-D.

Looking back I can't hardly believe I could get anything done with that PC, but I had Access, and it was way ahead of its time. It was $200 back then too. It actually ran well on that PC.

Thinking about your PC. I wonder if you can get the old motherboard repaired to have a backup. I recently found this guy at YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/CubeComputerChannel

He's got some great videos about cleaning up old PCs and about old parts and so on. Based on the videos, seems like he rather routinely repairs motherboards, etc. That got me really interested, and I think I'm really starting to get the hardware fever. I know there are some really great modders on YouTube, but I'm taking things one step at a time.

The pictures are amazing. Thanks for those. I really love the blue backplate you found for the PC. That's really distinctive along with the blue side panel. Still trying to take it all in and trying to process how you put together such a clean build by hand...and how you've kept it so clean.

On a side note. I think you will be able to keep the PC running long term. There's a ton of passion in legacy hardware, and I feel sure the industry will do something for legacy PC owners down the line. Really glad you found the motherboard for this one. It's way too real for any down time.

Please keep us all updated. Wish I could explain how impressive that rig is to me. The fever I'm getting just got a little bit hotter I think...

 

That's crazy, I'm glad to hear about your old rig. I used to play Doom myself, and as far as I remember it was off floppy or something primitive. Definitely Wolfenstien was a classic. Hearing about your network speed makes me laugh. But then I think "Wow look how far we've come." & the legacy hardware becoming a niche or old treasure (similar to antique cars), is something I hope to look forward to showcasing once in a blue moon at technology conventions (probably). Imagine how many people throw out their old hardware. As as time moves on legacy systems will naturally become scarce.

It would be great to see my future Son, or Grandchildren amazed at the classic games, and software. Not to mention the OS, which should be light years beyond functionality wise in the future. As far as the case goes, ya I've cleaned it a lot. And since it's see through you can check for dust more often then not. I generally vacuum it with the side panel open. Since vacuuming is far better for the computer than blowing dust along the pcb's copper contacts. Contact cleaner for electronics is something I use periodically to clean the contacts of all cards. I oil the fans once a year by dabbing some high quality car motor oil (with a high viscosity rating). & polish the case with acrylic plastic scratch remover/polish (Mother's brand), using a microfiber cloth.

My motherboards are generally very clean. But I actually brushed them cleaner with a new plastic paint brush, using 90% isopropyl alcohol. I know someone who has designed motherboards many times in his career over in Australia. He said it's fine to do all over (except for the cpu socket which could push debris inside the pin holes). The idea is to brush both sides off completely a few times over. The case I have on this legacy computer now had me take a whopping 13 hours to do a full motherboard swap. It's not easy to do because every nut and bolt connects to something else in an obviously unorthodox way. It's a limited case Mutant Mods made back in '04/05.

I loved playing XIII (see here), & Contract Jack (see here). I would periodically breeze away from my busy schedule to run a game or two here and there. But the most important thing I learned about it, oddly enough... Is when the frosty beer is close by you've got to make one talented decision. Let go of the wrench at an angle that took you 30 seconds to prepare for, or sip 5% like it won't still be there a minute or two after you're done?

Seriously though the guy who sold me the identical motherboard recently. Said he originally paid $2000 for the computer when he got it in 2001/2002. Which is when the HP Vectra VL400 originally came out. He sold it to me and told me about how many people had surprisingly came out to look at the towers motherboard specifically in person. Something about them wanting an added ISA card connected to the board, or something that helps their businesses old (yet main) computer infrastructure work.

I hope you get into the hardware side more so. At least for one project, that's what I did with this one. Kind of like how some guys build model cars, or some people paint. All time consuming but a great distraction for the mind. It reminds me of a rubik's cube. Patience is necessary but you can always come back for more at some point until the last piece of the puzzle is laid. Right now I'm most worried about how I can save some time doing a Fresh Install of Windows XP. While reconfiguring every software setting the way I had it before. I really wish there was a universal settings save file for all of the software on a computer. I'm going to try some things out and post back. *Sigh

 

superstar...

Yes, I agree. Something for OS settings would have been nice at least. It's a huge undertaking reinstalling an OS.

Amazing games. The games of those days were moving forward so fast. Those are amazing graphics and game play for the time. I have Silent Hunter 4 on a duo core PC, and I can't see how anyone was able to play the game when it was released back in 1999. You might take a look if you get a chance, but it's a big install.

When the games started to take off, I mostly drew towards the mystery (Alone in the Dark/Myst), sports (Sierra football/baseball/NASCAR), and story based simulator games (Star Wars XWing/SW Dark Forces/Falcon 3.0). I should add the simpler shooters and the RPG games like Arena.

Not much of a gamer to speak of, but I mess around at QuakeLive. I would like to see more games with mystery involved. Gotta say, I really was into the XWing game, but it was so hard. I imagine a modern multi-player game of the same genre. That would be amazing to play as members of a unit completing missions.

I guess it's all coming eventually. DayZ is a massive multi-player environment. Amazing graphics work going on there.

Back in the day, I used to go hang around the second hand PC stores. We had some large "boxes of parts" types of operations, and I tried to pay attention to what the IT types were looking at and pick up on some things. I do remember well 3k$ and 4k$ PCs of the day very well. Good times.

I will get into hardware more. I am tied up now with software testing, and I have a penchant for software issues. Really just trying to make the most out of the PCs I have for now, but I would like to get involved in software development on some level if I ever get the opportunity. Along the way I am sure I will find time to look into modding, and I am sure I will get into it. I guess I'm going to have to pick the right time, so I can go at it fully...

I bet your pictures have gotten some attention. I think showing pics like that does alot for overwhelmed PC users who have to get by assuming that "anything so big as Microsoft must have thought of everything, so it must be my fault". I remember how that works, but seeing a sparkling legacy PC is really inspiring. Just the fact that someone still cares about a PC of that era brings hope that the price of learning how to operate a PC is worth paying...

 

@AltBo

I remember Alone in The Dark & Myst. They were very popular pc games at the time. Never heard of Quake Live, but I would assume it's an online multiplayer version of Quake the Sci-Fi first person fighter game that came out for Nintendo 64 back in the 90's. As a side note thanks for the comments on my legacy rig.

The good news tonight is the fact I've struck some luck as it seems (let me explain before it seems like all is solved). Just a while ago I decided to try removing the video card driver. In hopes that it would stop the non-finishing shutdown/reboot occurring in Normal Boot mode. I thought of two ways to do this:

1. Try to remove it all in Normal Boot mode. <- But how would I complete this task when the multiple video card software uninstalls require reboots? And as you know the reboots don't work properly with the pc always staying on just after the shutdown message!

2. Try to remove the video card software through Safe Boot mode. I was able to remove some of the software in Safe Boot mode. The others wouldn't proceed because of the limited amount of start up resources allowed to run in Safe Boot mode. But luckily the smart fellows at Raymond.cc (see here), came out with a reg key that allows Windows Installer (MSI) to run when called upon. Which is needed by apps for the removal process and blocked from operating in Safe Boot mode.

I tried option 2 and kept going back into Safe Mode to remove every remaining bit of original video card software in my Installed Programs list. After getting rid of it all I let the pc load into Normal Boot mode. & tried to reboot... It worked! I tried to shutdown and it worked too. Figured I'd go ahead and reinstall the video card driver/software (I still have the official disc). But once I did that and tried to reboot I got the same darn problem.


Any ideas, or should I say a prayer and hope I'm patient enough for a Fresh Install of XP?

 

If it is running at the moment why not load something like Belarc Advisor to gather information about what hardware and drivers are loaded.
You can get it from MGs here
Something else I find handy is ListDLLs which you can run to find what .dlls are loaded.
It is also at MGs here
Armed with this information you can work out if the correct drivers are loaded by verifying what hardware you think is in the system and what hardware actually is in the system
You may not need to reload XP if you can fix the driver issue :cool

 

@Joffa

Thanks but I think I'm finally giving up and resintalling Windows XP. I'll have to take screenshots of all my software settings, as well as important OS settings. It's going to take a while going through jpeg images and setting things back. But a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do. At least I was able to flush my System Restore points through Safe Mode. & before I do the Fresh Install of XP I'll use Safe Mode with Command Prompt to run "chkdsk X: /f" on all drives. This will correct a lot of the wrong indexes caused by the improper shutdown/reboots of Windows Xp during Normal Boot Mode.

Thanks for the ideas, if you've got any last minute ideas @AltBo let me know! Also if you guys know of any other clean up procedures I should do before the Fresh Install of Xp I'd love to hear about it. Just so it goes on as planned without a hitch.

 

superstar...

I spent the last day or so thinking this over, but I can't think of a single thing. You are so close.

I was thinking OK maybe roll back Windows updates a little bit, but you ran the Windows XP repair, which completely removes all of them.

I guess I am a little bit concerned that the installation won't resolve the problem, but I am puzzled as to what could be the problem. I really hope it's not a troublesome agp socket or something. That would be woeful. Have you tested the socket with another agp card?

Please keep us updated on how the installation goes if you do end up going that route.

Found this looking around Google. Back less than a year ago a guy at FixYa was looking for 10 VL400 motherboards. Here is the post:

http://www.fixya.com/support/t19828524-just_need_buy_10_motherboard_hp

I know your new motherboard is likely fine, but perhaps you would like to see if he found a cache of these boards anywhere. I guess you could join and try to message him in case the reinstall doesn't fix the problem...

 

@AltBo

I think the reinstall should fix the problem. If it doesn't I have a backup image of the "C:" drive partition from late last year (when it was still working), just in case. I doubt I'm having any agp slot issues, or physical video card problems. While it's legacy hardware I still have taken great care of it all. Things just got too messy at a very low level with the motherboard swap. & I've got to accept that's what broke Windows XP in my opinion. I'm going to start a Fresh Install of the OS in a few hours or so. Just have to take some snapshots of all my important settings first.

It's going to be great running some old pc games afterwards! Believe it or not the system really isn't as slow as you would think. It still gets the job done for pretty much any task that isn't a super hog on the cpu (such as video or audio editing software). As far as regular software goes, she's a keeper.

 

superstar...

Some settings you can restore from your image...themes (if you use third party themes on that PC) and fonts. I'll let you know if I think of any others. Those are as simple as copying a folder to a remote disk...in your case you already have the image->then just restoring them.

Keep us posted about how it goes. Got my fingers crossed it's a Windows thing...

Hope you don't have alot of .ini tweaks and batch files around the PC for your games. Those can be a headache to restore. I have found that the game update patches are difficult to manage (or find sometimes), too...

 

Fair warning, simple and short.

I have never uninstalled software, removed hardware, upgraded to a new component, and had Windows "behave".

That being said, data is always transferrable. Applications/programs are not.