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Malware Expert
Have you opened it up? Most XP's are so clogged with dust by now that they overheat which causes all sorts of strange things to happen.
Who makes your BIOS?
one short and one long in Phoenix BIOS means bad RAM so you might try reseating the RAM. It's not unheard of for RAM to work for a while and then stop so you may need new Memory.
Member
My pc is clean inside, I'm in it about every six months to replace something or another. I have a Liana Lee (I think that's the name) case that holds 12 hdds, and I've been replacing smaller hdds with larger ones over the past 8 yrs. I also had to replace the psu twice and the CPU once, plus new data cables and a new cd\dvd player. When I'm in there, I vacuum and dust it. The BIOS is Rocket Raid but my hdds are in JBOD configuration. I loaded the Bios Drivers during the install of Windows. The motherboard is Gigabyte Q-Series and I have twin sticks of RAM but I don't remember sizes or model numbers of them. All that info Is in my pc.
Edited by Denisejm, 28 January 2015 - 08:28 PM.
Malware Expert
RocketRaid is a SATA controller card. It does have its own BIOS but I am talking about the BIOS on your motherboard. From what I read, Gigabyte uses Award BIOS and you just hit the Delete key several times to get into it. (assuming you have keyboard that works)
Odds are that the long beep is an indication of a memory problem:
http://pcsupport.abo...-beep-codes.htm
Member
I needed to get into BIOS to give you the maker of my BIOS so I pressed the reset button, went into BIOS, and got it's name. It then automatically rebooted when I exited BIOS and it booted all the way to my desktop this time. I'm going to try to find the drivers that I need and install whatever I can find before I reboot again. Hopefully, I'll be here from my pc next time I post on this topic.
Member
Problems and more problems. . . I've never seen anything like this. I did a complete re-install of Windows but my pc doesn't know it. In Add/Remove Programs, it shows only the few things that I installed. In Programs and in Programs (86), all of the programs that I previously installed are still there and they work. My drivers are gone tho and I can't connect to the internet so I'm still on my notebook. I have no sound even tho I installed Realtek and the option to enable sound is grayed out and Sounds and Audio Devices says that audio is working properly. (Hrmph!) And since I can't connect the pc to the internet, I can't update my drivers.
More problems . . . After I installed SP1, I installed SP2, then SP1 disappeared from Add\Remove Programs. So I re-installed SP1 and SP2 disappeared from Add\Remove programs. I used to have C++ 2005 and 2008 x86 files saved in my pc on another drive in case I needed them for a re-install of Windows and they're no longer there because, when Windows wouldn't install on my C drive, I told it to install it on the drive that my C++ files were on and the format erased them.
Even more . . . When I re-boot, DOS asks me if I want to use the C drive installation or thru F drive installation even tho I did quick format of the F drive and Windows is no longer there. AND I can't find the program I used to get rid of that happy little puppy in Search!
It's about 2:30 am here so I'm heading to bed, bb later
Member
It looks like I have 2 installs on drive c. In Documents and Settings:
Administrator
Administrator.KingKong
All Users
All Users.WINDOWS
I named my pc KingKong because it's so big, both in my last install and with this install, but not .King Kong. It looks like both installs are present on my c drive.
I think I should do a Full Erase and re-install again. What do you think?
Btw, my pc components:
Gigabyte GA-EP45-DQ6 LGA 775 Intel P45ATX Motherboard
Intel Core 2Quad Q6600 Kentfield CPU
Mushkin 4Gb (2 x 2Gb) 240-Pin
DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Ram
Corsair CMPSU-850TX 850W
ASUS EAH4650-DI-512MD2 Graphics Card
LIAN-LI PC201A 12_bay case
Dell Ultrasharp 2408WFP Monitor
My motherboard Bios could very well be Award. I remember seeing it's splash screen in the past but I can't say for sure.
I still can't connect to the internet.
Edited by Denisejm, 29 January 2015 - 10:58 AM.
Malware Expert
If you do not do an erase or format first, when you reinstall windows finds your old installation and saves it. For best results you want to wipe it clean before you reinstall.
Before you do that, see if you can run a memory test. There's nothing builtin on XP so you need to download one and burn it to a CD or put it on a USB and boot from it.
is probably the best one.
Member
I formatted my c drive before I reinstalled Windows. It was a quick format.
I can't download anything, I can't connect to the internet. What used to work (Enable or Repair) no longer connects me.
I'm going to do another format (full) and reinstall. That should completely erase c drive and hopefully I'll be able to connect to the internet to update my drivers and download any new ones I need. The way it is now, I can't do anything.
One good thing came out of this nightmare . . . I learned how to use this notepad and Windows 8 a lot better.
I'll bb.
Member
I just finished formatting my c drive and installing Windows. This time, my old programs aren't still there and Dos doesn't ask me which Windows I want to use, so some progress made.
I still can't connect to the internet, I don't know why. Any ideas?
I was just looking in c:\program files and program files (86) and both Internet Explorer folders contains only one folder named Connection Wizard and both are empty. Wasn't Windows supposed to install IE? Since it didn't, I installed IE8-WindowsServer2003-x64-ENU v 8.0.6001.18702.4. All it did was to leave an icon on my desktop named "Internet Explorer Troubleshooting." It didn't install IE.
Edited by Denisejm, 29 January 2015 - 03:10 PM.
Malware Expert
Suspect XP doesn't recognize your chipset. Normally the first thing you do after an install is run the chipset utility which explains to Windows what features are on the motherboard and how to talk to them. After that you install the drivers for your network cards. Right click on My Computer and select Manage then Device Manager. View, Show Hidden Devices. Odds are you will see a lot of yellow flagged unknown entries.
I don't have an XP handy at the moment but I think IE is considered a windows component so try: https://www.microsof...t.mspx?mfr=true. You probably don't have a network card that it recognizes so it figured you didn't need IE.
Member
Something is seriously wrong. I can't install SP1, saved MS updates, MS Word, and other things. I installed the Intel chipset drivers.
In Computer Management > Other Devices > Audio Devices and Ethernet Controllers have the yellow question marks but I've always been able to get on the internet to get whatever drivers were missing and to update them.
Since I installed the chipset drivers, do u know why I don't have ethernet drivers?
Malware Expert
Not sure who makes your Ethernet but it's probably not the same company as the chipset so you need a separate driver install.
If you don't know who makes the Ethernet then you can right click on the Ethernet Controller and select Properties then Details and then change the Properties to Hardware IDs and you should get something like:
Member
Thanks, I found the one I need, Realtek. I bookmarked the page.
Do you have an idea why the driver was always installed when I did a reinstall in the past but this time it wasn't?
I don't have System Restore capability. This install is really off. I'm ready to install Windows 1 more time before bringing it to a pc repair shop. Maybe my installation CD got corrupted. These problems make no sense.
Edited by Denisejm, 29 January 2015 - 10:27 PM.
Malware Expert
You did repair installs before and it was able to find the drivers in the old files.. This is a true from scratch install and there are no old files. Hopefully one of your neighbors can put the driver on a CD or a clean USB for you. I would make note of the drivers it needs and keep them on a CD with the XP disk so you will have them if you have to do this again.
Member
I reinstalled Windows again but this time, I looked through my bins again and guess what I found? My Gigabyte disk that came with my motherboard and my VGA driver disk. 
So I have internet again.
I installed SP1 and SP2 but, since MS no longer provides updates to XP, do you know how I can get them?
Also, my pc runs smoothly for about 20 seconds and then it freezes for about 6 seconds, cyclicly and constantly. Do you have any idea what could be causing it to do that?
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