Went to repair XP Home, problems with VIAAGP1.sys

[Geoman]

This is terrible. I was helping out a friend and during this time he told me he has 6 months to live due to cancer, then I had problems with doing a repair on XP home. The unit worked bad before I arrived, then after he told me the news I can't get the thing to work besides a constant install of Windows.

Anyway, I tried to do a repair, the system then after running showed a screen that said to install a driver filter disk that has VIAAGP!.sys on it. I went to Micro-Star, found model MS-6390, found the four in one drivers that has this driver, ( I'm almost possitive its the correct one, now I'm doubting everything) but when I point to it I get a black screen then I get a Bad-Pool-Caller, 0x-00000007 and several other codes. It tells me to try an F8 safe boot, but when I reboot it goes right into a Windows Installation.


It seems that the drivers need to be ran in Windows, is there any way to have them RAW, and not to be done in Setup.exe ? I was able to get into a c:\Windows prompt, but I don't know what all that new crap is about, its been 12 years since I played with DOS.
The unit:

AMD
Motherboard MS-6390 http://www.msi.com.tw/program/produc...ail.php?UID=80
VIA chips is VT 8233a
http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2

XP Home with SP1 on the Windows disk

Thanks in advance. Darn, I feel bad about this.

Rich

[GaryRouth]

Things to try:

1) System Restore - is there a restore point available from a point far enough back to be before the current rash or crashes? Boot to Safe Mode & try System Restore from there. [take your XP Home out of the cd-drive, and start tapping the F8 key as soon as you see the horizontal bars that slide sideways on the Home boot screen.


2) Another Repair Reinstall Try - Boot to Safe Mode, go to Device Manager and remove the display adapter(s) listed. In Add/Remove Programs, remove any graphics drivers listed (if any).

You can then try a repair install again if you wish, by then re-booting with the CD in the cd-drive (choose "R" to start the repair install). A repair install might be a good idea, just so that the normal system files will be reinstalled in case they're missing or corrupt.

That board has onboard graphics. If your friend isn't using the onboard, it needs to be disabled in the Bios Setup screens. [you'd enter Bios Setup by pressing the key mentioned in your start-up splash screen "Press F1 (or F2, F10, DEL, etc.) to Enter Setup"]

I don't have a KM266 board, but that Via file seems like it might be in both the Via 4n1s and the onboard graphics driver. At any rate, you might need ALL the drivers on the MSI driver page for that motherboard, not just the 4n1s. (though: If you're not using the onboard graphics, you can leave out the ones for the S3 onboard - you'd find a driver for the add-in AGP card if there is one, and install those).

If the system was in bad shape just before trying the repair install, there might be infections present that are going to make things difficult. So try adding an antivirus/antispyware scan into your repair schedule.

Does the system have a Recovery Disk set? A full Windows install CD?
. . . Gary

[... and sorry to hear about your friend's cancer... perhaps the prognosis won't hold and a surprise healing will happen . . . ]