Problems Rebuilding

**Fender2Martin** · 07-28-2004, 10:51 AM

I knwo this isnt really CarPC...

I am rebuilding an old PC of my parents to add to my plethora of PC's. It was running Win 98 with a bunch of crap installed so i deleted the partitions and started all over with the new NTFS formating. Installed WIndows XP Pro but had alot of problems that i associated with Hardware. So to get XP to install i had to remove all the drives (except a CD and Floppy and Hardrive) and then take out all the cards like sound, ethernet, and modem (leaving in the vid card). I got XP to install and thats great but now i need to get it on the network and get my sound setup and such.

Here is my problem.... Now that i have it up and running i am attempting to put in my ehternet card, its an old 3Com Card. If i put it in (or any other of my cards) windows wont laod, it stalls about halfway through. The wierd thing is if i have it run in SafeMode i cna get in and I can ALSO get in with SafeMode + Networking. But i cant laod normal.

Any IDeas on what could be causing my problem? I realise that you will probably need more specs on the comp, but I am at work and cant rmemebr it all, if you need it then lemme knwo what your after...

Here is what I THINK is in it...
AMD 650 Proc
NForce Mobo
GeForce 2 Vid Card

**Fender2Martin** · 07-28-2004, 01:09 PM

bump....

**Ill1** · 07-28-2004, 01:22 PM

Try downloading drivers for that card and install them before you try putting the card in. Then perhaps XP won't get caught up trying to figure out what it is at startup.

**Fender2Martin** · 07-28-2004, 01:32 PM

Welp I put in the card... started it up in safe mode.. it said that it Found the card... and instaleld it on its own... then i downloaded the latest drivers on my other comp and instaleld them.... so i restarted in Normal... no run...

**Ill1** · 07-28-2004, 01:43 PM

Under safe mode, can you see if there are problems with the drivers or the device itself? I remember fixing up an older computer and had probelms with IRQ lines.

**Fender2Martin** · 07-28-2004, 02:04 PM

Last time i checked in there i dont remember any !'s on anything.... which is why I am so confused.. under safe mode it recognises the Ethernet.... but under normal it stalls out.. and it is the only variable changed.

**Ill1** · 07-28-2004, 02:23 PM

Does installing any of the other cards have the same problem? Also, where does windows actually stall? Are you sure that you are giving in enough time to do whatever it has to do? It's an old machine, so it might take awhile. I guess the last question I would ask, which might be your first thing to try, have you checked to see if the card is compatible with XP? Just because it works in safe mode does not mean that the XP environment will like it. I'm sorry that I can't be of more help. Hopefully someone else will chime in here and give you a few other things to try.

ILL1

**savante** · 07-28-2004, 02:39 PM

Ill1 may be right. Give it some more time when starting.
It may be that its looking for a DHCP server.
With a network card in, and not attached to a DHCP server, windows can take a while to start up because its waiting for a Dynamically assigned ip-address. It eventually times out and starts up.
You can try to give it a static IP from within safe mode.
This is all assuming its not connected to a DHCP server of course.
I read somewhere that the timeout associated for getting a Dynamic ip can be upwards of 60 seconds, thats in addition to the normal start up time and magnified by older slower machines.
Hope that helps.

**Fender2Martin** · 07-28-2004, 03:19 PM

Hrrmm.. interesting ideas...

Ok... when starting it normally it gets to the Windows Proffesional Boot SCreen... and the blue scrolling bar eventually stops.. and will sit there. Now i am fairly sure i am giving it enough time as i have let it sit for upwards of 15 minutes.

Also I am NOT sure if it is compatible with Windows XP... since the card is so old I am having troubles identifying it. However i DID find a Windows XP driver for the same Serial# from 3Com. So i would ASSUME that it works. However i could be wrong.

Oh and this same thing happens with EVERY card i put in. I can put in the Dialup Modem and same things happens... as well as when i pput in the Sound Card. They all stall up the boot.

**Seth** · 07-28-2004, 04:11 PM

Are you using the first PCI slot next to the AGP slot? If so then you may have an IRQ conflict with the video card. The AGP and the first PCI slot share the same IRQ. Try putting the card in another PCI slot. Try even (2,4) or odd (3,5) PCI slot combinations. Old chipsets react very strangely with some PCI cards.

Hope this helps