Help! MB fried...

[buford]

Help! Motherboard was cooked as a result of lightning storms (probably, I usually leave my system on 24/7). Replaced with ASRock K7S8XE+, AMD Athlon Barton 2500+, and 256 MB Mushkin DDR 333 (x2). Installed new parts no problem. On boot up system went through many "new hardware found" prompts such as 'infrared PnP Serial port','mpu401 compatible', and 'PCI Standard host CPU Bridge' to name a few. I assume these are associated with the new motherboard, however the prompts requested my Windows 98SE disk repeatedly to look for files only to tell me that they were not there. I finally got the system to boot and the good news is that I can access most of my data files. The bad news is system will not connect to the Internet (was using Linksys 10/100 LAN card, new MB has integrated LAN) and none of my old games work anymore. Should I reinstall LAN card? Any suggestions about the games? I had roller coaster tycoon, Atari anniversary edition with old arcade classics, and Balburs Gate 2 installed and none of them work anymore. The system simply locks up when I try to run them. So far, other software seems to be working. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.:confused:

[GaryRouth]

If you don't use MS Office 2000, you can try using RegClean 4.1 to help clean up your Registry (RegClean is incompatible with Office 2000), and then add in the motherboard drivers for the Asrock, if you haven't done that yet. You can grab RegClean 4.1 over at http://www.download.com/3000-2094-881470.html?tag=lst-0-1 Version 4.1 was updated to work well with Win98se.

If you are the main computer for a broadband connection, and if you set up either your cable/DSL modem using the MAC address of your Linksys network card as part of the installation [it's a common step, the router or cable/DSL modem "clones" the address so that your account is linked to that unique number], then you'll have to re-do the settings to use the onboard LAN [you might be able to get by with just re-setting the cable/DSL modem] . . . Remember, before doing this, you'll want to install the motherboard drivers (the LAN drivers will be on that disk). ...if you still don't have connectivity, check in your ISP documents, or give them a call. If you find them less than helpful, let us know what you heard and what you tried & we'll go from there.

After you install the motherboard drivers, some of your games might then work, especially if you only have the onboard sound. If they don't work, try uninstalling/reinstalling them. The reason some games might have trouble would likely be that they are trying to use your previous motherboard's onboard sound.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[p.s. . . . noticed that this is your first post here . . . Welcome to the PC Mechanic forums! ]

[buford]

Thanks, I'll try a few of these tips.

My previous post was getting a little long, here's some extra info: previous motherboard was very old, no onboard anything. When new motherboard was installed decided to use old sound and video cards instead of onboard video and sound to maximize compatibility since these drivers were already loaded. Decided against using LAN card because drivers for onboard LAN were on disk that came with motherboard. (These drivers were installed with only one minor hitch... system wanted secur32.dll that was not on disk. ??) Anyway, went into system properties/device manager and "SiS 900-Based PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter" doesn't show any problems, specifically under the properties window in the general tab device status states that "this device is working properly" and under the driver tab states that "no driver files are required or have been loaded for this device. To update the driver files for this device, click Update Driver". I'm fairly confident that once I can get the old girl directly connected to the Internet it will be a simple matter to track down and install the remaining drivers that I need as well as updating any motherboard software. (The software version that came with the board is dated November 2003)

As for the games, I had already uninstalled in reinstalled Baldur's Gate 2 and it is still exhibiting the same symptoms. It doesn't matter whether I use the start menu or simply pop in the disk the result is the same, system locks. Sometimes hitting alt+f4 kills it, sometimes not. Could there be some type of conflict between onboard sound and video and the sound and video cards?

I am fairly comfortable building new systems, have probably done about a dozen in the last six months, and clean installs are a breeze. This one has been kicking my butt because I am trying to graft a new motherboard (with new processor and memory) into an existing system. That's why this is my first post. Have been getting by for years by reading other people's problems and the responses and learning from those.

By the way, sound card is old Sound Blaster Live! Value (don't laugh it still works just fine) and video card is Gainward GeForce 2 (64 MB onboard)

[GaryRouth]

It makes for a bit of a rough dance, but you could start the whole re-detection rondo over again with the "Enum" trick, just to figure on making sure you've redetected all the right new things, and left out all the wrong old things. Before you do the Enum trick, though, make sure the onboard sound and video that you don't want to use are disabled in the Asrock's Bios [should be able to set to "Disable" somewhere in the "Integrated Peripherals" menu]. http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=925

Perhaps just before you try the Enum trick, start the computer in Safe Mode, and from Add/Remove Programs remove any references to sound or video that you don't plan to use. While still in Safe Mode, visit Device Manager and remove anything that you're pretty sure is no longer present on the machine.

Then perhaps a run of RegClean, or another Registry Cleaner. And then a visit to Windows Update. It's a messy process, but once cleaned up, things usually go OK.
. . . Gary

[buford]

Well, some good news finally. Got into new mobo bios and disabled onboard audio and video. Also set agp as primary instead of PCI. Now my games work at least. Should have thought of that in the first place. I'm getting too old for this.

Re-establishing Internet connectivity is another matter. Still no luck with onboard LAN, so get back into the bios and disabled. Reinstalled LAN card. Under winipcfg was unable to see TCP/IP, Linksys or anything I was expecting. System properties/hardware profiles still say LAN card is working properly, even though I can plainly see that it isn't. Haven't tried registry cleanup yet, maybe tomorrow. Resisting urge to throw computer out window.:D

[GaryRouth]

Hi again -
. . . if the window the computer is about to fly out of is more than two stories high, remember to make sure no pedestrians are below when it tries to learn to fly . . . :)

. . . some quick fix tries for the Internet connection:
Boot into Safe Mode and in Add/Remove Programs, make sure no references to the onboard LAN are hanging around. Check in Device Manager in Safe Mode, too - and make sure the old LAN's ghost isn't haunting things.
. . . it's been awhile since I setup a Linksys card, but if their installation routine isn't particularly thorough, you might have to enter the Network applet in Control Panel to make sure all the protocols you need are bound to the adapter.
. . . and, even if doing all this you still don't have Internet, and you are on a router connected to a cable/dsl modem --> try turning the router off for about 2 minutes, and then powering it on again. . .

. . . Gary

[buford]

update: pulled out any reference to any networking that i could find and rebooted. reinstalled nic driver. still nothing. :mad: days go by. yesterday decided to finally hook up 4 port router (lynksys befsr41). laptop running xp home and install went smooth. :) today- rolled up sleeves determined to fix problem. After tinkering for over an hour, still nothing. Thinking to myself " well if desktop won't get on Internet maybe I can connect it to the laptop through the router." Set necessary configurations and ran quick install. No luck. However, I saw that all requisite lights on all connected equipment were flashing green. Hmmmm... Opened browser on desktop and homepage came up, immediately followed by sound of my jaw hitting the table. Connection re-established, although I am a bit baffled as to how. :D

[GaryRouth]

. . . Voodoo (or perhaps 'auto-detect' voodoo) is my guess . .

Just talk nice to that router from now on, and see if the relationship lasts. :)
. . . Gary