[philipg1969]

Hi,

Drivermax detected the following outdated drivers:-

ETHERNET CONTROLLER X
ATI I/O COMM. PROCESSOR LPC CONT.
ATI I/O COMM. PROCESSOR SMBUS CONT.
REALTEK WIRELESS LAN
PCI STANDARD PCI-TOPCI BRIDGE (+2 MORE)
LOGITECH DRIVER INTERFACE
HID COMPLIANT DEVICE (+1 MORE)
LOGITECH HID-COMPLIANT UNIFYING DEVICE
LOGITECH UNIFYING USB RECEIVER
HID KEYBOARD DEVICE
USB COMPOSITE DEVICE

Thanks, Phil :-)

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There is nothing there that I would update because I never recommend updating drivers unless it is to address a known issue, you are not having problems with any of those devices so as the saying goes "if it aint broke dont fix it".

I also asked whether you have installed the drivers for the Nvidea card.

[phillpower2]

There is nothing there that I would update because I never recommend updating drivers unless it is to address a known issue, you are not having problems with any of those devices so as the saying goes "if it aint broke dont fix it".

I also asked whether you have installed the drivers for the Nvidea card.

[philipg1969]

Sorry, I didn't answer your question on the video card drivers. Although the drivers are up to date, no I have not tried re-installing the drivers for the video card after fitting the extra RAM. I just presumed they were okay. Should I now fit the extra 1GB RAM and then load windows, completely uninstall the existing Nvidia drivers and re-install and then restart. Thanks, Phil.

[phillpower2]

No problem you have had a lot to do

If you have a drivers installation disk that came with the video card I would do the following with the video card removed;

Uninstall all software for the card that is presently installed on the computer.
Run Driver Sweeper http://downloads.gur...tup)_d1655.html
Save the drivers from the disk to your desktop.
Uninstall the ATI video drivers.
Shutdown the computer and after disconnecting all power leads etc fit the new video card and reassemble the computer.
When the computer restarts the generic Windows video drivers will be used which will then allow you to install the Nvidea drivers that you have previously saved to your desktop.

Good luck and let us know how it goes or if you have any questions.

NB: Sorry if having you run DriverMax but not install anything appears contradictory but I was hoping for an recommended chipset/SMBus driver update for the MB.

[philipg1969]

All drivers for the onboard ATI were uninstalled when I first got the new card, so no conflicts there. Fitting just an extra 1GB of RAM and also the latest drivers from the Nvidia website. The Nvidia installation program recognized the card and installed everything with no errors, so that was encouraging. Obviously the app requested a restart to complete installation. At this point I was nearly jumping for joy fully expecting it to work, as you would lol. Windows booted up, and then.... well then it was back to that error code in device manager and low resolution.

If I have made any observations (can sometimes help)...

Windows display options allowed up to 800x600 max. Obviously the Nvidia display manager app has disappeared due to the error code. But it is still giving me a display connected through the Nvidia card and not the onboard VGA. What doesn't seem to make sense to me is that this is through the HDMI output on the card. So if the card was not working at all with windows, why would it install the drivers with no problems and also work through an HDMI output and not just the VGA.

What is also worth noting is that when I decided to upgrade from x86 > x64 I remember having the extra memory already installed in the PC along with the new Nvidia card ready for a new OS installation. Also, the memory I had put in the machine at that time, was entirely different DIMMS to the ones I am using now. I bought them on Ebay, think it was X2 Ballistic 800mhz 2GB DIMMS. So I had my extra memory and the new video card ready for the 64bit upgrade, and RAM above 3.0GB.... Not forgetting the new CPU, but that had already been fitted a couple of weeks beforehand and was running in the x86 os fine. The windows installation failed and I don't mean just once, it failed every time. Obviously I thought it could have been a scratched/corrupted installation DVD on the first attempt so tried a different one with no success. Now with it being used and untested memory I presumed this was the main culprit. I removed the Ballistix DIMMS (Left in the video card) and windows installed okay. If i remember correctly (sorry, it was last year) I think those several failed installation attempts of windows mostly ran into problems on video hardware detect sequence. But the card was new, the memory was used so I pulled the latter out first, windows installed okay, the video card worked fine. So it was just a simple matter of buying some different memory to those faulty ones and fitting it after the install... Well okay, not that simple.

So now I have quite a range of different DIMMS i have bought, all of them work fine in any combo with the graphics card providing it's not more than 3GB. The ATI card also worked with the RAM not exceeding the 3GB. I have just upgraded the CPU again earlier today, same type, but a 6000+ and not a 5000. I haven’t tried it with extra RAM, but I shouldn’t imagine it would make any difference anyway. I’m not sure where to go from here, taking it to the local computer shop maybe. Thanks for the help.

[philipg1969]

PS. What I also forgot to mention is the only other strange thing happening with the PC now, since the CPU upgrade. Is what I would describe as high pitched electrical buzz when the CPU is under load. Not very loud but enough so. It did this with the 5000+ also. I don't think that is related to the RAM issue, but I thought it was worth mentioning. Not the fan on the CPU/Graphics card or PSU causing it, more electrical. It's not often I am completely stumped on a PC problem, you usually get the answers from Google and work it out in the end. Not this time though, I have installed a 64bit W7 OS on a machine that came with just the old XP and also put a very different and much faster CPU. I wonder if the RAM issue would be resolved with the original CPU back in, pointless I know but just wondered.

[phillpower2]

I am struggling to find any information on the MB, is the MB at the attached link the same as yours http://www.foxconnch...&Language=en-us

[philipg1969]

Hi, thanks for getting back to me. The motherboard, well CPU-Z is saying an Acer F690GVM. I have taken some photos to hopefully help.

Sorry, is a bit of a mess and very dusty in there.

http://www.philgwill...uk/IMAG0355.jpg
http://www.philgwill...uk/IMAG0356.jpg
http://www.philgwill...uk/IMAG0357.jpg

Would a BIOS update possibly solve this. Can you back up your BIOS in case the update goes wrong?

This MB I would say:

http://www.joway.com...how.Asp?Id=1320
http://www.joway.com...1346992718s.jpg

Finally, thanks for your continued efforts.

[philipg1969]

Hi, I have just stumbled on something that may be significant, especially as it involves the same MB F690GVM and also an Nvidia Graphics card:-

http://www.w7forums....sues-t8790.html

My Realtek audio is also disabled with the extra RAM.

It says the BIOS update worked. The BIOS on my PC is 2007, that's really old.

Try a BIOS update? never done one of those.

[phillpower2]

Been doing a lot of research on this mysekf and it would appear that there may have been two versions of MB used in the Extensa E210, possibly something like rev 1.0 and rev 1.1, have a look at your MB and see if there is something like this printed on the board, it is often found by the CPU or around the edge of the board.

I mention this as although the second MB has four memory slots it will only work with 4GB of Ram;
http://newbrunswick....QAdIdZ459940455
http://www.getcomput...print_page_p882
http://www.ascendtec...rs690m0320.aspx

BIOS updates are always a last resort as a bad flash can render the MB useless, I will have another look at the link that you have provided and get back to you,

[philipg1969]

Following the advice on the previous windows 7 Forum I have actually done it. After months of looking for answers and all your fantastic help it is resolved, well... nearly.

I disabled the realtek drivers for the on-board sound, switched off and put in another 1GB RAM. Upon re-start I ran msconfig and changed the max RAM to 4096 in boot - advanced settings. I also changed CPU's to 2, don't think the latter made any difference.

On re-start the Nvidia graphics card was working okay. I switched off and put in 3x 2GB DIMMS and a 1GB DIMM, 7GB worked!!!. I'm thinking great, on-board not essential as I can use the Nvidia sound through the HDMI, even just buy a cheap PCI sound card. I have the extra RAM and I even sorted out the buzzing sound under CPU load, reset the BIOS to defaults last night and that worked.

I Looked at that system properties again to make sure it was actually true and the RAM was recognised as 7GB and GFX card running. In the brackets only (3.12 GB usable). Arghhh. So yes it is a work around as described on the other forum but just that, a workaround and not a solution. Even though I have 7GB in the PC, i'm back to 3GB in reality. I feel that progress as been made in that is has been established (I think!), that the cause was the on-board sound and maybe move forward from here. Whoever said that PC's and tech makes our lives easier needs shooting. Lol.

[phillpower2]

Thanks for the update philipg1969

Lets see if a service on the computer helps improve the overall performance;

Please Run the PCPitstop.com OverDrive Full Tests

Here's how:

You must use your Internet Explorer for this procedure. (doesn't work so well in Firefox or others). If your machine is running Vista or Windows 7, you must Select IE to “Run as Administrator”. After completing PCPitstop OverDrive you can close your IE browser and re-open it Normally so that you are no longer running as administrator.

Go to: http://www.pcpitstop...pit/default.asp
Click on "Free Computer Check-up" listed below PC Pitstop OverDrive
In the User Login - Click on "Sign up FREE!"
You'll need to submit a valid email address and create your own password, then click - Create Account(button)

Now enter your email address and password to Log in, Select - Scan this system Now!(button)
You will then be asked to download an ActiveX component and allow it to install.
It is safe and does not compromise your privacy.
Follow the on-screen prompts to install the ActiveX and to allow the Full Tests to be run on your machine.

The Full Tests take about 2 1/2 - 3 minutes on most machines.
When complete, a Results - Summary - Recommended Fixes will be displayed.

Please post the URL internet address, from your Results, back here into this Topic Thread so that we can review the configuration and present performance levels of your machine.

Note: During the graphics 2D and graphics 3D testing, your screen will display some rapidly moving objects.
If you are sensitive to visual flashing, it may cause dizziness. Therefore, look away from the screen during that portion of the testing.

After reviewing the results we will be more informed and may be able to provide better recommendations for you to work towards improving your machine's performance.

While PCPitstop does offer a variety of Paid Products, the PCPitstop OverDrive testing is FREE. Please ignore the references to Paid Products. We prefer to provide manual solution instructions that you can apply directly to your machine.

Thanks to rshaffer61 for the PCPitstop information

NB: An example of the url that we require and the information that it leads to http://www.pcpitstop.com/betapit/sec.asp?conid=25271813