[Irissh]

Did you say log in normal mode? Its been so long that I forget what that means.
Is there a way to install these without normal mode access? I'm nothaving any luck.

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Normal Mode just means letting the PC boot normally without pressing F8 or any other key etc

What problems are you having at the moment? If need be, you can try downloading and installing the drivers in Safe Mode with Networking if the PC is not booting normally.

[BlackOxide]

Normal Mode just means letting the PC boot normally without pressing F8 or any other key etc

What problems are you having at the moment? If need be, you can try downloading and installing the drivers in Safe Mode with Networking if the PC is not booting normally.

[Irissh]

I can save the Chipset to desktop, unzip it, and then it doesn't try to indtall automatically. If I click on setup.exe I get a "Unable to install installshield scripting runtime" error. Is there a different file I should maybe select?

[BlackOxide]

Sorry, I should have been a little clearer on running the actual file inside the zip folder, but you were indeed correct with the Setup.exe file which needed to be run from the zip file


Still sounds like the PC just doesn't want to play ball at the moment. To be honest with you, I think it might well be quicker and easier to try another Windows reinstall (you must be a pro at this by now ), but after the Windows reinstall, don't install any drivers, until Service Pack 3 is installed.


So the process would be as follows:

Disable the Maxtor 30GB Hard Drive in the BIOS, as you did previously

Install Windows XP as you did before (instructions below again)

• Start your computer from the Windows XP Home CD. To do this, insert the Windows XP CD into your CD drive or DVD drive, and then restart your computer.
• When you see the "Press any key to boot from CD" message, press any key to start the computer from the Windows XP CD.
• If it doesn't ask you to press any key to boot from CD, your BIOS is not setup to boot from it first. You will need to restart the PC and on the initial screen it should ask you to press a key to Enter Setup or Enter BIOS. Press the corresponding key and look on this page to find out how to change the boot order to boot from CD first. Note - Different BIOS manufacturers screens can look different, but this page covers most.
• Once it has booted from the CD, at the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER to start Windows XP Setup.
• Read the Microsoft Software License Terms, and then press F8.
• You should then see the partition screen below (Your paritions will appear different and you may have more than one)
  
  
  
• You will need to use the Up and Down arrow keys to select the partition, then press D to delete it. If you have more than one partition, you will need to delete these as well.
• Once you have removed the partition(s), you should see two Unpartitioned Spaces as shown below
• One will be larger in size than the other one
• Highlight the largest sized drive and then Press Enter on the Keyboard
• Choose Format the partition using the NTFS file system (Quick)
• The Windows setup will now format the Hard Drive and start installing XP
• Setup will reboot the PC automatically after around 5-10mins. It will prompt you briefly to press any key to boot from CD, but do NOT press any key. Windows setup will resume by itself
• Follow the onscreen prompts for the language settings and Product Key etc.
• Once Setup has completed you should see the Windows XP desktop.
• Windows XP has now been reinstalled

Once Windows is installed, don't install any drivers or programs etc
Download Service Pack 3 installer from here.
Once it has downloaded, double click on it and follow the onscreen prompts to install it.
When the installation finishes and SP3 is installed, let me know if the PC is still working fine and booting normally without any errors or rebooting by itself etc.
Once I know it's booting ok, we'll move onto the drivers.

[Irissh]

K. I'm in with service pack 3.
I was able to choose the larger partition so I didn't disable the other driver. Think that'll be ok?

[BlackOxide]

So far so good then

Yep, shouldn't be a problem with the drives.

Can you go to Device Mananger - (Start > Run > devmgmt.msc) and let me know which items have a yellow question mark or exclamation mark please.

[Irissh]

?-other devices
?-Multimedia Audio Controller
?-PCI Simple Communications Controller
and
?-Video Controller (VGA Compatible)

[BlackOxide]

Could you now try installing the following drivers. Install the Graphics one first. Once this has installed, reboot the PC and make sure that it is still booting fine without any problems. If it boots fine, which it should do, then proceed to install the Audio and Modem driver. Once you have installed all three drivers, just check Device Manager again to make sure there are no yellow question marks or exclamation marks. Let me know how the driver installations go and whether you come across any problems.


Driver downloads:
Graphics (This one will need to be unzipped by right clicking on the file and choosing Extract All. Once extracted to a folder, please run the Setup.exe file).
Audio
Modem

[Irissh]

Graphic went fine, restart fine. Audio fine, restart fine. Modem fine, no ? in device manager, restart....AAAAARRRGGGHHHH!!
I was able to start in last know working configuration, but then there was a ? in the modem field of device manager. So, I tried to install the modem again and got; Hardware Update Wizards says: There was a problem installing this hardware: Agere Systems PCI Soft Modem An error occured during the installation of this device. Access is denied. Iris sad. Where did I go wrong?

[BlackOxide]

Before you hit the PC with a big hammer, this may not be much of a problem Unless you have Dial-up internet (not Broadband), or use your PC to send Faxes, then I wouldn't worry about the Modem driver. You didn't do anything wrong at all, for some reason the driver conflicted. It does happen from time to time. I initially thought it was your Graphics drivers before, but it appears it could have been this modem driver after all, as the graphics went in fine.

What I would do now is reboot the PC and just make sure it still boots fine. Then disable the modem in Device Manager. So open up Device Manager as before, Right click on PCI Simple Communications Controller, click Disable, then confirm it. You should no longer be bothered by any messages about the missing driver for it now.

After you have disabled it, create a restore point in System Restore. To do this Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore. Click Create a restore point, and then click Next. In the restore description box, just type something like Before Windows Update, then click Create.

Once the restore point has been created, go to the Windows Update page and click Express and wait for it to scan for missing updates. Install any updates it shows. After you have done this, let me know how the PC is behaving

[Irissh]

Yay! So far so good! The only strange thing I've noticed is my text is really big. What do I do next?

[BlackOxide]

Good to hear

With the text being big, just make sure you have the correct resolution set and that the Font Size has not been changed from Normal. See below on how to set these:


Set the correct Resolution and Font Size

• Right click on an unused area on your Desktop (not on an icon) and then click Properties
• On the Settings tab, there is a slide bar for Screen Resolution. move this slide bar to 1440 by 900 and click Apply. If all looks good, click Yes to save the changes. (If this resolution is not there, let me know).
• Now lets check the font size. Click the Appearance tab
• Make sure Font Size is set to Normal.

Let me know if the screen and text appear normal to you now. We can tweak it a bit if it still looks too big or stretched etc.


I would now start installing your programs and copying your Data back onto the PC. I would start with installing your Anti Virus which was Avira. Then install Adobe Reader and Adobe Flash. You can also install any other programs you wish to have back on there as well

[Irissh]

DOne and done. You are my hero! Do I need to reenable anything? Also, I had Spyware Doc, Avira, and Malwarebytes before. Is that overkill?

[BlackOxide]

Super duper!

No problem, you're welcome. With the Anti Malware tools, you will be fine with just Malwarebyte's and Avira installed, I wouldn't install Spyware Doctor if you have those two on there.

Below, I've posted some useful tips and info for you to read through. I'll leave the topic open for a couple of weeks. Just use the PC as you would do normally, it should be fine now. If you have any other queries or come across any problems etc just say



Thank you for your patience and following the procedures. Please have read through of the following information, to help keep software updated and to limit your chances of being reinfected. In the 'Anti Malware Protection' section just below, you are actually fine with your setup of Malwarebyte's and Avira, but I'll post this anyway for you to read through.

========== Anti Malware Protection ==========

Having a good Anti Virus program and an on-access Anti Malware program, is great in the battle against malware and various other forms of infections. You should aways make sure your Anti Virus is Enabled and has the latest defintions downloaded (Anti Virus software will nearly always update it's definitions automatically)

Here are some recommendations:

Free Anti Virus Protection...
If you haven't got an AntiVirus or are thinking of changing, my personal recommendations are Microsoft Security Essentials and Avast, both are free to use. Remember though, you can only have one Anti Virus installed at any one given time.

Paid Anti Virus Protection...
If you want a bit more than just an Anti Virus and would like extra features such as Firewall and Anti Spam, you will have to look at purchasing an Anti Virus product. A lot of people do use free AV software as these products use the same virus databases as the paid ones, but some people prefer to have the extra features and the help and support that the paid products tend to offer. If you are looking into purchasing one, my recommendations would be Kaspersky Internet Security or ESET Smart Security. There are however many different ones out there and it is wise to just download trial versions to see which ones suit you best, before actually buying.

MalwareBytes Anti-Malware
This is an excellent Anti-Malware product. It is recommended to periodically run a Quick Scan to keep your PC as clean as possible. Remember to check for updates before running a scan, so click the Update tab along the top, then click Check for Updates.



========== Updates ==========

Keeping your PC updated is vital in the battle against infections and exploits. This is where a lot of people fall down, as there are many infections which will exploit loopholes within Windows itself, Java and Adobe Reader. Keeping these updated is a very worthwhile habit to get into.

Windows Updates

Updates to your Operating System are vital in closing loopholes and fixing bugs which some infections exploit.
Here's how to check to see if you are missing any updates. Just click your version of Windows below, to see how to check...
Windows XP
Windows Vista
Windows 7

Java updates (If installed)

• Click the Start button
• Click Control Panel
• Double Click Java
  (If you don't see the Java icon - In XP, click Switch to Category View. In Vista, click Classic View. In Windows 7, click View By: in the top right and change it to Large Icons)
• Click the Update tab
• Click Update Now
• Allow any updates to be downloaded and installed

Adobe Reader updates

• Open Adobe Reader
• Click Help on the menu at the top
• Click Check for Updates
• Allow any updates to be downloaded and installed

========== Key Tips ==========

- Never be tempted to download software you didn't ask for
If for example you see a "Free Registry Booster" or "Get rid of all your malware problems or blue screens by using this software", don't be tempted to click on them. The software is often useless, could actually be harmful to your PC and they are generally just out to get your money. If you didn't ask for the software, don't download it

- Run regular scans
Set yourself a date, approximately every 2, 3 or 4 weeks, whereby you run a Full Scan with your Anti Virus and a scan with any Anti Malware/Spyware program you may have installed, like Malwarebytes' Anti Malware.


Have fun and stay safe online
BlackOxide

[Irissh]

Thank you so much! I'm so happy with how my computer is running! I noticed today that my display adaptor (VIA/S3G UniChrome IGP) had an exclamation point next to it in device manager. Do you happen to know if this needs attention?