I need a favor

**Valiant** · 07-10-2002, 04:07 PM

Okay guys... if you want to show you enjoy my company, and the occasional useful reply I might spit...nows the time to show it.

My mom's friend's computer is kinda F***ed right now... he's been paying the $50 a month waiting for his new DSL modem to show up... the one they gave him is a USB, and according to the one knowledgable AOL tech that modem has problems with the VIA USB chipset.... So he explains this to me... and I get the bright idea "HEY... you just need a USB card" So we go to bestbuy, pick up a 5 port USB2.0 card and I drop it in an open PCI slot in his machine. Of course it starts asking for drivers... I pop in the floppy... it asks for Windows... I run home doing atleast 50mph... I come back pop in the CD... it takes care of the drivers... after it restarts I get a stream of 10+ blue screens of death. I restart again... this time a windows protection error..... I pop in a boot disk, and it says that it can't read the hard drive... so he tells me he doesn't need anything from it....so I am going to throw ME on it... but I am going to need info on how to do the DSL setup... I can't find any info from AOL... it just wants to get me to subscribe.... So heres where you come in. I need as much info on what I got my self into as possible.... I don't know the make of the mobo.. the HD is a Maxtor 20 GB... I can get specific when I get home... it's an AMD k6-2 550Mhz... it has the crappiest PCI graphics card I've ever seen... The mouse is wireless, and the keyboard(good one is USB), but it didn't work on the install last time... (he was running a 200Mhz) so he also bought an IBM ps2 keyboard... he wants to use the $50 usb keyboard but only has 1 usb to ps2 adapter, and is using that for the mouse..... Comments please!!!

**TheTechIsIn** · 07-10-2002, 04:21 PM

......

umm, ok Lets see originally when you installed the new USB card did you remember to disable on-board USB in bios?, (Just starting from the beginning)

As for the keyboard, cant you just connect it to the USB port? Does it now work for some reason. If so then I guess you need one more USB>>PS2 Converter :(.

Ill let others post as well since it seem you have gotten yourself in pretty deep indeed. :D

Quote:

I run home doing atleast 50mph

We need you in the next Olympics, you were really moving! :D

DJ Specs · 07-10-2002, 04:22 PM

Install WinXP for him. That will help alot!
I know... Dumb solution.. but thats what I did on my parents computer. It wouldnt work proper with alot of stuff. Installed XP and it installed all the correct drivers, and everything is OK!

**Valiant** · 07-10-2002, 04:29 PM

It will probably work once I get a good OS installed, but when I originally did it... he was using the USB keyboard, and POST wasn't detecting the keyboard.... so it'd give him that little error saying... "Hey... Dude.. your keyboard's not plugged in".... It might work on the card since it has an onboard bios and all sorts of nifty things.... BTW I didn't disable the USB in the bios... I didn't see a need why would onboard USB and a usb card conflict? But I'll check to see if there is a setting for it after I fix the HD...

I can't install XP... he has OLD school hardware... a PCI graphics card with 2MB RAM... ISA sound card... I doubt that XP will have the drivers, and I know the company went belly up, since when I did the upgrade to the 550 I had to find him new drivers for stuff too. There is nobody in town that sells anything decent.. it's basically a workstation but not really.. they play the occasional 3D pinball... 3rd party gambling games... so that doesn't warrant a $60+ graphics card..... :(

07-10-2002, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Ill let others post as well since it seem you have gotten yourself in pretty deep indeed.

My My Isn't that nice of you........LOL

**TheTechIsIn** · 07-10-2002, 04:52 PM

I though so...:D

:bandit: :compute:

:chinese: :hit: ok, Im all done playing...

**Valiant** · 07-10-2002, 04:54 PM

Gee guys I sure do appreciate the promptness of your ever so helpful responces.... Now that everyone has gotten the sarcasm out of their system I still have a problem....LOL...Umm... a computer problem... we all know I've HAD the mental ones.

**TheTechIsIn** · 07-10-2002, 05:02 PM

I dont know, I guess you'll have to reinstall M.e then, ( I never thought I would be thinking little lone typing that phrase. )

You will need to disable USB in bios for the same reason you have to disable on-board video when you put in a PCI or AGP card..it conflicts, I don't know why it just does. As for the drivers, once you install everything just get a list of drivers you will need to make everything work and let us know what they are, I'm sure there out here on the net somewhere.

Whats wrong with the Hard-drive, it cant be read, or bios isn't picking it up anymore or what?

07-10-2002, 05:11 PM

OK play time is over....:D

I'm not a big fan of USB but I guess it has it's uses.

My printer is the only USB thing on my machine.

A friend of mine had the same exact problem they sent him a USB modem and he farted around with it for two weeks trying to get it going.

Where exactly are you in this deal with this machine and where do you want to go.

I'm not sure if you are trying to get the USB card working or you are going to wait for the regular modem.

My chioce would be the later.

**JAMMAN** · 07-10-2002, 07:23 PM

USB devices will not be picked up in POST. Never.

Sorry I don't know anything about DSL. I'm confident you can figure it out, you are smarter than most people twice your age.

Some MOBO's have a jumper for onboard USB instead of a soft menu.

**Valiant** · 07-10-2002, 08:25 PM

Okay... I went and formatted the drive on my PC... no problems... yet... now that I think about it he probably has bad RAM.... it came out of his old machine... a 200 Mhz... and a stick of 64 that was in the mobo I gave him ( my first machine

) That would exlain why the HD is just fine on my comp, but I always BSOD on his PC whenever I try to install anything.... Oh well... I guess I'll take care of the USB, drop in the HD with M.E. and see what I can do from there..... thanks guys :)

07-11-2002, 05:26 AM

Good Morning Valiant2003

What I recommend for you is to wipe the Maxtor drive by writing zero's to the drive with Maxtors PowerMax available here look under Services, Product Support and Software & Utilities.

Most people are under the impression that fdisk and format cleans off your hard drive this is not true.

Try this and then try loading that OS on there.

In order to use DSL with AOL I think you need to use AOL Plus, To get all the info on this you may need to call them.

As I am not sure if you can download the program without any key numbers.

**Jason** · 07-11-2002, 06:09 AM

I just wanted to add that two computers that i tried to setup with USB 2.0 running 98 would not work. Same thing, blue screens and stuff. Setup a older USB card, worked just fine.

**Valiant** · 07-11-2002, 07:58 AM

It's okay... I hooked up the HD to my PC... fdisked...Your right I just assumed that Fdisk wrote all zeros.... oops... because then I installed part of ME....I stopped at the part where it wants to setup the hardware... no sense in having it look for drivers to stuff I have.... I'm going to go over there tonight... He has a copy of AOL plus (6.0) even though 7.0 is out now, and the drivers to the Modem.... I'm hoping the software for the modem takes care of it... I've never used ME for more than 30min at any one time..... Oh well... thanks guys.... Do you agree with me on the RAM... it is old old OLD stuff... probably PC66... with the possibility of a non registering piece of PC100 64 Meg..... It randomly blue screens on everything... it's not the BSOD isn't partial to anything.. and I always has problems installing Win98... both the old Mobo and HD as well as the new mobo and HD.... and the combination of in between... its not the CD or drive because he's had 2 of those too..... The RAM is the only thing that has remained constant...LOL

Laffctx · 07-19-2002, 08:33 AM

How about just a plain old fashioned (seems silly to type this phrase, let alone think it) Windows 98SE OS, with staight forward keyboard and mouse. Drop the ME idea (wonder where that thought came from other than everyone else too) and just try to make an honest good old fashioned simple, straight ahead system out of it?

What was the old saying? "You can't make a silk purse out of what?"

Sounds like the makings of a good little machine there. I think I would play it straight ahead and see what happens. As you can tell I am not a huge fan of USB, Windows ME (or XP yet! But, I am sure I will be in the near future) or wireless anything.

Just an old fashioned guy I guess,

Really, I hope you all the best and let us know how it all turns out. We have all been through some sort of delima like this I am sure. I know I have and my good will goes out to you.

Good luck,

Laffctx

**Valiant** · 07-19-2002, 09:06 AM

It WAS a great little machine.. the AMD 550 mhz was my favorite chip ever... just like the Voodoo 3 3500 was my favorite video card ever.... but the thing is I have removed everything except his brand new GeForce 2 Ti, the RAM, cpu, mobo, and disk drives, and when I go to install win98 I get a blue screen... so the straight forward approach is gone.... the machine is now at my house so I can swap parts and such for testing... so far the HD is good... the Video card is brand new, so that leave bad settings, the RAM, or the CPU/Mobo as the problem.... I'm personally hoping for RAM since I love that machine... It was the first machine I ever built, and it was mine but my mom made me give it away :( Apparently his need out weighed my ownership of the board. *mutters something obscene under breath* :D I'm OK folks! But thanks for the advice... he likes his wireless optical mouse, and way too many hot key having IBM keyboard too much. He's really kind of disappointed he can't use his $50 usb Microsoft keyboard.... POST doesn't detect it and gives a stupid error message... so that kind of bugged him.... I really can't get rid of his other frills.... basically that computer is a cross between a mailbox and an encyclopedia, with a dash of sports betting...he's a huge fantasy football fan.

**Valiant** · 07-19-2002, 09:14 AM

BTW my computer other than running XP has a no hotkey PS2 IBM keyboard, Black PS2 IBM mouse, 17" Monitor, Voodoo 5 video card, sound blaster LIVE Value sound card, Farallon 10/100 NIC card, US Robotics v.92 56K modem, and the Motorola 4100 cable modem.... plus the ASUS A7V with a 1.1 Ghz Athlon and 256MB or RAM..... my computer is a straight forward computer... your not that old fashioned..... of course I still have my peripherals from my gaming days but they're not hooked up... (M$ Game Voice, and a 800 dpi non optical mouse)

07-10-2002, 04:07 PM	#1 (permalink)
Valiant Tech Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Colorado Posts: 1,253 OS: Win XP Pro My System	I need a favor Okay guys... if you want to show you enjoy my company, and the occasional useful reply I might spit...nows the time to show it. My mom's friend's computer is kinda F**ed right now... he's been paying the $50 a month waiting for his new DSL modem to show up... the one they gave him is a USB, and according to the one knowledgable AOL tech that modem has problems with the VIA USB chipset.... So he explains this to me... and I get the bright idea "HEY... you just need a USB card" So we go to bestbuy, pick up a 5 port USB2.0 card and I drop it in an open PCI slot in his machine. Of course it starts asking for drivers... I pop in the floppy... it asks for Windows... I run home doing atleast 50mph... I come back pop in the CD... it takes care of the drivers... after it restarts I get a stream of 10+ blue screens of death. I restart again... this time a windows protection error..... I pop in a boot disk, and it says that it can't read the hard drive... so he tells me he doesn't need anything from it....so I am going to throw ME on it... but I am going to need info on how to do the DSL setup... I can't find any info from AOL... it just wants to get me to subscribe.... So heres where you come in. I need as much info on what I got my self into as possible.... I don't know the make of the mobo.. the HD is a Maxtor 20 GB... I can get specific when I get home... it's an AMD k6-2 550Mhz... it has the crappiest PCI graphics card I've ever seen... The mouse is wireless, and the keyboard(good one is USB), but it didn't work on the install last time... (he was running a 200Mhz) so he also bought an IBM ps2 keyboard... he wants to use the $50 usb keyboard but only has 1 usb to ps2 adapter, and is using that for the mouse..... Comments please!!! __________________ "Just because your paranoid doesn't mean THEY aren't out to get you!" (º·.¸(¨·.¸ ¸.·¨)¸.·º) «.·°·. Valiant .·°·.» (¸.·º(¸.·¨ *¨·.¸)º·.¸)

07-10-2002, 04:22 PM	#3 (permalink)
DJ Specs Funkee Superstar! Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada Posts: 2,685 OS: Windows XP Home	Install WinXP for him. That will help alot! I know... Dumb solution.. but thats what I did on my parents computer. It wouldnt work proper with alot of stuff. Installed XP and it installed all the correct drivers, and everything is OK! __________________ Forever Young! http://www.djspecs.com - Blog

07-10-2002, 04:29 PM	#4 (permalink)
Valiant Tech Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Colorado Posts: 1,253 OS: Win XP Pro My System	It will probably work once I get a good OS installed, but when I originally did it... he was using the USB keyboard, and POST wasn't detecting the keyboard.... so it'd give him that little error saying... "Hey... Dude.. your keyboard's not plugged in".... It might work on the card since it has an onboard bios and all sorts of nifty things.... BTW I didn't disable the USB in the bios... I didn't see a need why would onboard USB and a usb card conflict? But I'll check to see if there is a setting for it after I fix the HD... I can't install XP... he has OLD school hardware... a PCI graphics card with 2MB RAM... ISA sound card... I doubt that XP will have the drivers, and I know the company went belly up, since when I did the upgrade to the 550 I had to find him new drivers for stuff too. There is nobody in town that sells anything decent.. it's basically a workstation but not really.. they play the occasional 3D pinball... 3rd party gambling games... so that doesn't warrant a $60+ graphics card..... :( __________________ "Just because your paranoid doesn't mean THEY aren't out to get you!" (º·.¸(¨·.¸ ¸.·¨)¸.·º) «.·°·. Valiant .·°·.» (¸.·º(¸.·¨* *¨·.¸)º·.¸)

07-10-2002, 04:52 PM	#6 (permalink)
TheTechIsIn Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Roaming the US Posts: 1,693 OS: WinXP & Linux	I though so...:D :bandit: :compute: :chinese: :hit: ok, Im all done playing... __________________ <-- This Space for Sale -->

07-10-2002, 04:54 PM	#7 (permalink)
Valiant Tech Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Colorado Posts: 1,253 OS: Win XP Pro My System	Gee guys I sure do appreciate the promptness of your ever so helpful responces.... Now that everyone has gotten the sarcasm out of their system I still have a problem....LOL...Umm... a computer problem... we all know I've HAD the mental ones. __________________ "Just because your paranoid doesn't mean THEY aren't out to get you!" (º·.¸(¨·.¸ ¸.·¨)¸.·º) «.·°·. Valiant .·°·.» (¸.·º(¸.·¨* *¨·.¸)º·.¸)

07-10-2002, 05:02 PM	#8 (permalink)
TheTechIsIn Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Roaming the US Posts: 1,693 OS: WinXP & Linux	I dont know, I guess you'll have to reinstall M.e then, ( I never thought I would be thinking little lone typing that phrase. ) You will need to disable USB in bios for the same reason you have to disable on-board video when you put in a PCI or AGP card..it conflicts, I don't know why it just does. As for the drivers, once you install everything just get a list of drivers you will need to make everything work and let us know what they are, I'm sure there out here on the net somewhere. Whats wrong with the Hard-drive, it cant be read, or bios isn't picking it up anymore or what? __________________ <-- This Space for Sale -->

07-10-2002, 05:11 PM	#9 (permalink)
SPEEDO Posts: n/a OS:	OK play time is over....:D I'm not a big fan of USB but I guess it has it's uses. My printer is the only USB thing on my machine. A friend of mine had the same exact problem they sent him a USB modem and he farted around with it for two weeks trying to get it going. Where exactly are you in this deal with this machine and where do you want to go. I'm not sure if you are trying to get the USB card working or you are going to wait for the regular modem. My chioce would be the later.

07-10-2002, 07:23 PM	#10 (permalink)
JAMMAN TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Middle Ohio Posts: 841 OS: all	USB devices will not be picked up in POST. Never. Sorry I don't know anything about DSL. I'm confident you can figure it out, you are smarter than most people twice your age. Some MOBO's have a jumper for onboard USB instead of a soft menu. __________________ The Cat Dragged Inn

07-10-2002, 08:25 PM	#11 (permalink)
Valiant Tech Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Colorado Posts: 1,253 OS: Win XP Pro My System	Okay... I went and formatted the drive on my PC... no problems... yet... now that I think about it he probably has bad RAM.... it came out of his old machine... a 200 Mhz... and a stick of 64 that was in the mobo I gave him ( my first machine) That would exlain why the HD is just fine on my comp, but I always BSOD on his PC whenever I try to install anything.... Oh well... I guess I'll take care of the USB, drop in the HD with M.E. and see what I can do from there..... thanks guys :) __________________ "Just because your paranoid doesn't mean THEY aren't out to get you!" (º·.¸(¨·.¸ ¸.·¨)¸.·º) «.·°·. Valiant .·°·.» (¸.·º(¸.·¨* *¨·.¸)º·.¸)

07-11-2002, 05:26 AM	#12 (permalink)
SPEEDO Posts: n/a OS:	Good Morning Valiant2003 What I recommend for you is to wipe the Maxtor drive by writing zero's to the drive with Maxtors PowerMax available here look under Services, Product Support and Software & Utilities. Most people are under the impression that fdisk and format cleans off your hard drive this is not true. Try this and then try loading that OS on there. In order to use DSL with AOL I think you need to use AOL Plus, To get all the info on this you may need to call them. As I am not sure if you can download the program without any key numbers.

07-11-2002, 06:09 AM	#13 (permalink)
Jason Shot the jukebox Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 6,811 OS: Windows XP My System Blog Entries: 2	I just wanted to add that two computers that i tried to setup with USB 2.0 running 98 would not work. Same thing, blue screens and stuff. Setup a older USB card, worked just fine. __________________ Posting Tips \| Advice for New People \| Common Fixes \|

07-11-2002, 07:58 AM	#14 (permalink)
Valiant Tech Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Colorado Posts: 1,253 OS: Win XP Pro My System	It's okay... I hooked up the HD to my PC... fdisked...Your right I just assumed that Fdisk wrote all zeros.... oops... because then I installed part of ME....I stopped at the part where it wants to setup the hardware... no sense in having it look for drivers to stuff I have.... I'm going to go over there tonight... He has a copy of AOL plus (6.0) even though 7.0 is out now, and the drivers to the Modem.... I'm hoping the software for the modem takes care of it... I've never used ME for more than 30min at any one time..... Oh well... thanks guys.... Do you agree with me on the RAM... it is old old OLD stuff... probably PC66... with the possibility of a non registering piece of PC100 64 Meg..... It randomly blue screens on everything... it's not the BSOD isn't partial to anything.. and I always has problems installing Win98... both the old Mobo and HD as well as the new mobo and HD.... and the combination of in between... its not the CD or drive because he's had 2 of those too..... The RAM is the only thing that has remained constant...LOL __________________ "Just because your paranoid doesn't mean THEY aren't out to get you!" (º·.¸(¨·.¸ ¸.·¨)¸.·º) «.·°·. Valiant .·°·.» (¸.·º(¸.·¨* *¨·.¸)º·.¸)

07-19-2002, 08:33 AM	#15 (permalink)
Laffctx Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 224 OS: Win2K & Win98SE	How about just a plain old fashioned (seems silly to type this phrase, let alone think it) Windows 98SE OS, with staight forward keyboard and mouse. Drop the ME idea (wonder where that thought came from other than everyone else too) and just try to make an honest good old fashioned simple, straight ahead system out of it? What was the old saying? "You can't make a silk purse out of what?" Sounds like the makings of a good little machine there. I think I would play it straight ahead and see what happens. As you can tell I am not a huge fan of USB, Windows ME (or XP yet! But, I am sure I will be in the near future) or wireless anything. Just an old fashioned guy I guess, Really, I hope you all the best and let us know how it all turns out. We have all been through some sort of delima like this I am sure. I know I have and my good will goes out to you. Good luck, Laffctx

07-19-2002, 09:06 AM	#16 (permalink)
Valiant Tech Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Colorado Posts: 1,253 OS: Win XP Pro My System	It WAS a great little machine.. the AMD 550 mhz was my favorite chip ever... just like the Voodoo 3 3500 was my favorite video card ever.... but the thing is I have removed everything except his brand new GeForce 2 Ti, the RAM, cpu, mobo, and disk drives, and when I go to install win98 I get a blue screen... so the straight forward approach is gone.... the machine is now at my house so I can swap parts and such for testing... so far the HD is good... the Video card is brand new, so that leave bad settings, the RAM, or the CPU/Mobo as the problem.... I'm personally hoping for RAM since I love that machine... It was the first machine I ever built, and it was mine but my mom made me give it away :( Apparently his need out weighed my ownership of the board. mutters something obscene under breath :D I'm OK folks! But thanks for the advice... he likes his wireless optical mouse, and way too many hot key having IBM keyboard too much. He's really kind of disappointed he can't use his $50 usb Microsoft keyboard.... POST doesn't detect it and gives a stupid error message... so that kind of bugged him.... I really can't get rid of his other frills.... basically that computer is a cross between a mailbox and an encyclopedia, with a dash of sports betting...he's a huge fantasy football fan. __________________ "Just because your paranoid doesn't mean THEY aren't out to get you!" (º·.¸(¨·.¸ ¸.·¨)¸.·º) «.·°·. Valiant .·°·.» (¸.·º(¸.·¨* *¨·.¸)º·.¸)

07-19-2002, 09:14 AM	#17 (permalink)
Valiant Tech Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Colorado Posts: 1,253 OS: Win XP Pro My System	BTW my computer other than running XP has a no hotkey PS2 IBM keyboard, Black PS2 IBM mouse, 17" Monitor, Voodoo 5 video card, sound blaster LIVE Value sound card, Farallon 10/100 NIC card, US Robotics v.92 56K modem, and the Motorola 4100 cable modem.... plus the ASUS A7V with a 1.1 Ghz Athlon and 256MB or RAM..... my computer is a straight forward computer... your not that old fashioned..... of course I still have my peripherals from my gaming days but they're not hooked up... (M$ Game Voice, and a 800 dpi non optical mouse) __________________ "Just because your paranoid doesn't mean THEY aren't out to get you!" (º·.¸(¨·.¸ ¸.·¨)¸.·º) «.·°·. Valiant .·°·.» (¸.·º(¸.·¨* *¨·.¸)º·.¸)