Need some help with my pc (startup issues)

[tjr2mental]

A few weeks back I got a blue screen with this message "A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

Driver_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

If this is the first time that you have seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this window appears agian follow these steps.

Check to see if any new hardware or software is properly installed. If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any windows updates youy may need.

If problems continue, disable or remove any new hardware or software. Disable any bios options such as shadowing or caching. If you need to use safe mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, and press f8 to select advanced startup options, and then select safe mode.

Technical information:
*** STOP: 0x0000000d1 (0x00000001,0x000000A,0x00000001,0xf79c375)

*** nvarm.sys - address f749c375 base at f749c000, datestamp 3f3a8666

begining dump of physical memory
physical memory dump complete
contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance."

What I did is took out the ram that I had and put in some from anouther pc that I have but it still either would not boot to windows, or would lock up as soon as it got there. I then took out the main hard drive and hooked it up as a slave drive on the other pc to see if it would run, and it is fine from what I can tell.

Yesterday I reformated the drive, and reinstalled Windows XP Pro on the system, and now I am having problems even getting it to windows. The pc will either lock up at the post windwow, or lock up when it gets to windows again. Also, if I restart it, I have to actually click the off button on the power supply to get it to try to start.

Somthing else that just started yesterday is on the Magic health list that it shows at startup, the VDD is listed as ~1.3v and is red. I am guessing that this should be 1.5, but the manual does not say anything about the numbers that it shows, and I can not change it in the bios to 1.5. The motherboard is a epox EP-8rda+, running windows xp pro, Radeon 9800pro, Lite-on 52x speed cd/rw, lite-on 4x DVD burner, WD 20gig (master) WD 60gig, WD 180gig (x2).

When the pc locks up during post, it always locks up when this message shows up "The PNP system bios installs sil 0680 devices as : WDC wd1800bb-00daa0"


I am at a loss as what to do next. Any ideas?

 

[andre1000]

This is why I stuck with Win98SE. With the hacker attacks the constant updates. The bloatware M$ OS is just hard to manage.
Sorry to stomp on you. I apoligize.

HAve you tried putting in the cryptic messages using "cryptic message" into google? exclude the numbers they are not
meaningful yet. but find out what nvarm.sys is. NV is probably nvidia driver. So maybe the video card needs to be reloaded.
or replaced with something else for a trial run. Always try to have backup parts to pop in. A video card can be had for $10
that will at least get you going. Also the first message Driver_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL if you had put that into
google like, "Driver_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" you would have found that a driver stuck itself in the wrong memory
location. I suspect the nvida is the culpret due to the other nvxxx.sys error.

Consider trying another video card. If that one has a problem it could cause system lockup.
The system should at least boot using a startup disk. If not and you changed the video card then the bios or bios chips
have a problem. Oh, also remove any other cards in the system before trying the startup disk.

Are you sure that you have not damaged parts with static? Do you know about grounding yourself? you could make trouble
for yourself changing parts if they're becoming damaged.

From rereading it the nvxxxx.sys is nvidia I think. Look towards your video card.

Regarding not running windows.
You might have several problems that are
the result of windows 'eating' itself. Unable to recover from a problem it beings to create new ones.

Would you consider running Win98? It really has some benefits for the average user. One of them being support is well
established. After all M$ still puts out weekly? monthly updates for XP and WIn2K because of hacker attacks. Win98SE is not
usually required to update anything during those periods youhear stories about attacks on M$ products.

WDC might be Western Digital Corporation = hard drive / driver card or chips / or software. This doesn't mean the
hard drive is bad. PCI in one of the messages means the PCI bus.


Basically you want to remove every card, replace the video with something else. Boot with a DOS disk. Like Dos 3.3
and see if it runs. If not then it's the bios.


If the system locks up you can boot from any Win98 or DOS or other lower level OS that would run just fine. IF your computer
does not run with those startup disks then your Bios has a problem.

It might require you to either clear the bios. Read your manual. By shorting out two pins.
OR later try pushing down hard on the BIOS chips to make sure they're seated. They should 'squeek' when you push down
especially if they're bit loose in the socket. That happens when things flex a bit.

andre

Just my .02.

 

[andre1000]

.

 

[tjr2mental]

For the most part I would like to stick with XP if at all possible as I do like the diffrent things that I can do with the looks of the operating system. I will try anouther video card, but should I use somthing other then ATI, or does that not matter? Does Nvidia have sothing to do with ATI? I always thought that they were seperate companys, but like you I can up with the same thing relating to the error message. I just passed it off thinkinig that my card was a ATi so it was fasle info.

Whenever I work on my pc, I always use a static wrist band. I know many people say that they are useless, but better safe then sorry. And I seem to have to reset the bios everytime that the pc locks up. If I do not do this, it will lock up at the boot screen, and give me a C1 error on the display that the motherboard has built into it.

At this point I am wondering if it would be easier to just get a new motherboard as I have tested everything seperatly on my other pc and thay all seem to work fine, but not at all for the most part when I put it all with that motherboard. Only reason that I do not want to do that is I do not want to lose the info that I have on all the other drives that I have, and I think that I will have to reformat them all if I put in a new motherboard.

Thanks for the idea with the video card, just have to pick on up and test it out I guess.

 

[furie27]

Everything I can find on the nvarm.sys points to the nforce audio. Have you tried disabling that, then booting up the system?

 

[tjr2mental]

no, I have not tried that at all. Never even thought to try it. I guess I will have to get it to boot to windows, uninstall the audio driver, and then get it to reboot. The reboot is the issue it seems. I have yet been able to get it to windows, and have it reboot to windows with out it crashing at startup.

 

[furie27]

Try disabling it from the BIOS, more direct than trying to uninstall it, when you're having boot issues.

 

[tjr2mental]

Good idea, would never have thought of that. Thanks!

 

[tjr2mental]

Well, I turned off the sound in bios and was still not able to get the pc up and running. I guess I am just going to geta new motherboard and try that now. Only thing is I still do not know why the VDD is so low. ~1.3 when it should be 1.5 I am guessing.

I have read about bad caps on this motherboard, and am wondering if that could be the reason that I am having problems. There are quite a few that have stuff (brown to light brown) on the top of them. Maybe that is the root of the issue.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: tjr2mental
A few weeks back I got a blue screen with this message "A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

Driver_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

If this is the first time that you have seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this window appears agian follow these steps.

Check to see if any new hardware or software is properly installed. If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any windows updates youy may need.

If problems continue, disable or remove any new hardware or software. Disable any bios options such as shadowing or caching. If you need to use safe mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, and press f8 to select advanced startup options, and then select safe mode.

Technical information:
*** STOP: 0x0000000d1 (0x00000001,0x000000A,0x00000001,0xf79c375)

*** nvarm.sys - address f749c375 base at f749c000, datestamp 3f3a8666

begining dump of physical memory
physical memory dump complete
contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance."

What I did is took out the ram that I had and put in some from anouther pc that I have but it still either would not boot to windows, or would lock up as soon as it got there. I then took out the main hard drive and hooked it up as a slave drive on the other pc to see if it would run, and it is fine from what I can tell.

Yesterday I reformated the drive, and reinstalled Windows XP Pro on the system, and now I am having problems even getting it to windows. The pc will either lock up at the post windwow, or lock up when it gets to windows again. Also, if I restart it, I have to actually click the off button on the power supply to get it to try to start.

Somthing else that just started yesterday is on the Magic health list that it shows at startup, the VDD is listed as ~1.3v and is red. I am guessing that this should be 1.5, but the manual does not say anything about the numbers that it shows, and I can not change it in the bios to 1.5. The motherboard is a epox EP-8rda+, running windows xp pro, Radeon 9800pro, Lite-on 52x speed cd/rw, lite-on 4x DVD burner, WD 20gig (master) WD 60gig, WD 180gig (x2).

When the pc locks up during post, it always locks up when this message shows up "The PNP system bios installs sil 0680 devices as : WDC wd1800bb-00daa0"


I am at a loss as what to do next. Any ideas?

Sounds like your motherboard is telling you you have some bad hardware, but if you'd like, pop that drive into another machine, grab the driveletter:windows\minidump files (the newest 2-3 would be fine) and mail them to me and I'll look.

But it really sounds like your motherboard is telling you there's a hardware problem....

 

[mechBgon]

What brand and model of power supply are you using?

Also, yes, there's an established pattern of 8RDA+ failures, although they're usually sudden. I wouldn't be too shocked if yours is heading for The Great ATX Case In The Sky like mine and others did, at any rate. If you're looking for a replacement, Abit NF7-S is a board with a proven reputation. But if your PSU is not so hot, a generic unit or an old tired one or a marginally-powerful one, then consider a new 350W+ unit from a quality maker.

The nvarm.sys file is part of the nForce2 MCP-T's audio drivers, sure enough.

 

[tjr2mental]

Well, I have a Antec 430watt power supply that is only about 4 months old now. What I ended up doing was getting the MSI KT4AV. Not as nice as the Asus I know, but it served my needs for now. Only thing that I feel it is missing is SATA, but I figure I am running a 2100XP right now, so when I do decide to go to a 64bit chip I can get a motherboard with all the goodies built in.

Now that I have install the new board I am having no problems at all. Thanks all for your help, as always it is greatly appreaciated.