** Check boxes are gone **

[Bill Lane]

Hi All:

My system has been acting strange the last few days, today while using the Google search engine, it quit loading the pictures in Image search.

I cleared all Internet Temporary Files, rebooted, didn't help.

I rebooted, and shut down everything that was running except Explorer, and Systray, got on line, still wouldn't load pictures on any web site.

I looked in Internet Options, Advanced, and all the check boxes are gone, no way to select options.

I decided to reinstall IE 6.0, with the Windows Update Setup Files that are already in my computer, after updating went to the Windows Update site, and it said I needed to download 3 critical updates, I did, but still have the same problems as above, web sites won't completely load (no pictures at all), and I still don't have check boxes in Internet Options, advanced.

I ran my McAfee 6.0 virus scan, didn't find anything.

Hope someone has some thoughts on this problem

And thanks ahead of time, your input is always appreciated !!!

System: Win98 with all updates, IE 6.0, CPU: Athlon 1.2GH, Ram: 512GB.

Bill Lane

P.S. After posting this, and by the way I'm on another computer, this computer won't completely load a web page either, and it's always worked just fine in the past.

The check boxes are viewable in this computer.

[Dan]

Hi Bill,
try going to add/remove programs
while you can't remove internet explorer, if you highlight it and click remove you will be prompted to repair. give this a shot and see if it changes your missing advanced options...

[Bill Lane]

Hi Dan:

That didn't restore the check boxes, also my clock won't keep the correct date, I had to reset it today, and I just noticed it had advavced to Sunday 9, 2003, but it's really still Saterday the 8th.
at 11:08Pm.

Thanks,

Bill Lane

[GaryRouth]

Hi again Bill

Since you've been doing a lot of system work and updates lately (did the new SoundBlaster arrive yet?) I'm thinking you might be best off backing up your personal data to removable media, completely reformatting the drive, and doing a fresh install.

Download all the latest drivers you can find, the latest bios for that board, whatever Abit has for Amd 760 mb drivers for that chipset - or go to Amd for reference drivers, something recent for the SoundBlaster (it will probably ship will out of date drivers), and a recent driver for the USR modem. See if life is good without the old Hollywood card. And before you put any backed-up data back into the fresh reinstall, scan it with an up-to-date antivirus: you can do this with an online scanner like TrendMicro's HouseCall (http://www.trendmicro.com) - it's always up-to-date.

I just don't trust McAffee much. Seems vulnerable to attack too often. But since that's what you've got, get the latest definitions as soon as you can after the reinstall.

And, just before you reinstall, try DocMemory just to make sure the new DIMMs are good (http://www.simmtester.com)

Best of Luck
. . . Gary

[Bill Lane]

Hi Gary:

No the Soundblaster hasn't got here yet, but I'm sure it'll be here next week.

Looks like I have my work cut out for me again :-(

I downloaded DocMemory checker/instructions, and put TrendMicro's in my favotites for the test.

I'll check Abit's site for the latest bios for this board in the morning.

Thanks again,

Bill Lane

[GaryRouth]

Hope it turns out well

[Bill Lane]

Hi Gary:

I'm not familiar with updating the bios, I downloaded a utility from the Award Bios web site to identify my bios, the results are posted at ...

http://home.att.net/~zoe5/bios.html

Then I went to the Abit web site to get the update, at this site...

http://www.abit.com.tw/abitweb/webjs..._NAME=KG7-RAID

But I don't know what to download, maybe you can take a look, and tell me.

This is what my bios show at startup ...

HPT370 UDMA/AT100 RAID CONTROLLER V.1.11.0402 1999-2001 Highpoint technologies.

And: Award Bios 3.15 v. 600PG 1984-2001 Award Software Inc.

I sure don't want to make any mistakes here

Thanks again,

Bill Lane

[Bill Lane]

Hi Again Gary:

Well I have a little more information.

Here's the bios info at the bottom of the startup screen...

10/22/2001-761-686B-6A6SA1AC-5W

They said on their site that the last two digits identify the bios.

The 5W then is my bios.

Here's the site that I got this information from ...

http://www.abit-usa.com/

Here's the information ...

http://home.att.net/~zoe5/bios-2.html

Looks like I may not need to update the bios, as the dates are the same, what do you think?

Bill Lane

[GaryRouth]

Hi again Bill

Checked over at Abit, thanks for the quick links. The bios you have might be just fine, but it is a bit old: it's from 10/22/2001, like the banner reads. Here are the revisions since:
kg768.exe - 68: January 28, 2002
kg78s.exe - 8S: April 11, 2002
kg79m.exe - 9M: June 10, 2002
kg7ct.exe - CT: November 15, 2002

The most recent bios would be the CT then. It includes a newer bios for the onboard RAID controller as well. Since you are adding some fairly new components, I like the idea of having a recent bios: but you will need to be careful and follow the instructions exactly. Really, really exactly. The complete details are in your Abit manual's appendix D - Bios Update Guide (nicely written & illustrated). If you don't have the manual handy, you can download it from the same site you posted above. Don't flash until you feel comfortable with the procedure. Or don't flash at all - it might not be necessary.

You'll also want a fairly recent version of the Via drivers for the 686B Southbridge - and by golly, I've been all over the Abit site & can't see any driver downloads for your board - seems like they'd have it somewhere in "archives" or whatnot. Maybe you'll have better luck. You can also go directly to the Via site for 686b drivers. If you were using Windows XP, you could skip all this, and use XP's built in drivers, but alas, you'll have to use a Via driver with Win98 for the SouthBridge.

I might take another look later, perhaps Abit might have drivers at another site than the Tawain site. I can't believe they wouldn't provide downloadable drivers for the board. It's an older board - but not That Old! (In June 2003 it will have been out for two years, which admittedly is not recent in the motherboard world). . . . for now I've got some mainframe maintenance to do. . .
. . . Gary

[Bill Lane]

Hi Gary:

Thanks I went and downloaded the kg7ct.exe, I also went to TrendMicro " No viruses found " :-)

I have the manual, I'll read it very careful !!! and I'll look for the Via drivers.

Thanks again,

Bill Lane

[Bill Lane]

Hi Again Gary:

I found the Via drivers for the 686B at ...

http://www.viatech.com/en/index/index.jsp

And I downloaded the 68mu200a, I think that's what I wanted.

Thanks again,

Bill Lane

[GaryRouth]

Back again:

You can check the date on that driver against the one on your motherboard drivers CD. There was no date stamp on the 68mu200a that I looked at. I'm on a borrowed computer (my department's offices are undergoing some renovation) so I don't have access to WinZip. If you have WinZip, you can view the files and their properties without having to unzip them (then, if they prove to be the versions you want, you unzip them).

You can also just download the latest "4n1" drivers and try those. They are theoretically able to install only the files needed by your motherboard. Those drivers will be much more recent than the older download.

You can do the same thing for the drivers for the Amd 761 chipset. Here's the link: http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/...1_2336,00.html The file you want is the one at the top of that page "Amd Driver Pack version 1.30". It automatically detects your OS and hardware and installs what is necessary. I'd probably start with this one first.

. . . Gary

[Bill Lane]

Hi Gary:

I downloaded the "AMD Driver Pack, Version 1.30"

I downloaded the "VIAHyperion4in1445v"

I Downloaded the "awdflash" (this one scares me a little)

I downloaded the "kg7ct"

I downloaded the "68mu200a"

This is a bit intimidating to me, I'm not sure what to do first.

Is there an order that I should run or install these items?

I would guess that I should format the C:/ drive with the S switch.

Then install Win98, then IE 6.0, get all the Windows updates.

Flash the bios.

Install all the above drivers.

Backup system. (With MS Back)

Start feeding all my programs back one at a time, checking each installation to see if it screwed anything up.

Or if I don't have the guts, just use the Abit disk that came with the mobo.

Let me know what you think

Bill Lane

[edge345]

If the check boxes in Internet Options | Advanced are gone, right click a blank spot on the Desktop and go to Properties | Appearance. In the Item: field change the colors for 3D Objects (Preferably back to the default).

edge345

[GaryRouth]

Hi Bill

You could actually start with the bios flash, just to see if it helps right away. Did you find the instructions in your Abit manual? They are very detailed (I was impressed). They walk you through every step of the way. . . . The bios flash is indeed a little intimidating, since if you lose power in the middle of it, you'll have to get the Bios reprogrammed (or buy a replacement) at a local computer shop. I've flashed boards quite a few times, it gets to be semi-old hat, but it can be a little nerve-wracking the first few times. [and another positive note: I've never lost a motherboard while working on them]. . . . The updated bios stays there, regardless of what else you do with operating systems, drivers, etc.: since it's part of the motherboard.

Then you could unzip all your drivers and burn them onto a CD-R for a handy custom drivers disk to use after you reformat. (If the personal files you want to keep will fit, you can put those on there, too). [Don't forget to put recent SoundBlaster Live! drivers on it for your new sound card! - - - and now that I think of it, you can throw away any audio drivers for the Via 686b "AC'97" onboard sound - you are going to be disabling it & using the Live! card instead] (so you won't need 68mu200a after all)

I'd wait until the Live! arrives before trying the reinstall. When it comes, then you're ready (assuming the bios flash went OK):
__________
1) enter Bios Setup and disable the onboard sound. Read your Abit manual to see if you need to change a jumper on the motherboard as well to disable the onboard sound. Don't put the new sound card in yet. Pull any modems, network cards, etc, unplug any scanners, printers, cameras, ect = you should only have the floppy, hard drive, cd-drive, cpu+hs/f, RAM, and video card in place.

2) boot from your Windows98 cd (or a bootable floppy) "start computer without cdrom support" (plain DOS).

3) Use fdisk option 4 to see what partitions are on your hard drive. (If there are any non-DOS partitions, stop and leave a post here). There will probably be just one DOS partition.

4) If everything looks OK, delete the partition.

5) Create a new Primary DOS partition (I can't remember if we mark it active now or when Win98 formats it: basically, mark it active when prompted to). [there are very good arguments for having several partitions, but to keep things simple there's nothing wrong with going with just one - especially with Win98. If you want more partitions, read up on it: it just adds a few steps - and you have to install programs a bit differently]

6) I like to reboot to the Win98 installation disk and let it format the drive (say Yes to the question "Enable Large Disk Support?", that will use the FAT32 file system).

7) Install Windows. Reboot a few times to make sure it's OK.

8) Run the Amd Driver Pack. Reboot etc

9) Run the Via 4n1 (it shouldn't install anything but some IDE drivers for the 686b southbridge . . . possibly some Power Management: I can't remember if that's in the NorthBridge or SouthBridge) Reboot, etc (if you think that the Via 4n1 installed anything it shouldn't have: stop and post what you see)

10) If everything is OK so far, you start installing your hardware devices one at a time. Might try that SoundBlaster first. Test it out pretty well. Then the modem. etc

11) If everything is still OK - run your 1st backup (do you have a Ghost/DiskImage program?)

12) Add in the Windows Security Updates. - Install programs: AntiVirus, Office, etc...

---> then, hopefully, breathe a sigh of relief at your sparkling, humming, fast-as-the-dickens computer
. . . Gary

[p.s. - just say edge's post - sure couldn't hurt to try that - see if it's a quick fix. You can still try a fresh set of drivers without a complete fresh install if you want - you'd just have to uninstall what's there already first]

[Bill Lane]

Hi edge345 & Gary:

Well edge345, that did the trick, my check boxes are back, I guess I'll have to be more careful with the custom colors that I select, thanks a bunch !!!

Gary, the Soundblaster should be here today, I hope.

I have my C:/ drive backed up with the MS Backup, and saved to a nother hard drive, but I don't think I want to use that to reinstall, I'll do a clean install insted.

I'm going to wait on flashing the bios, looks like we may have some rain coming our way, and the battery in my power backup is dead, got to get a replacement, and even a hint of rain here the power might fail.

The Abit manual seems to spell out the flash procedure pretty good, one of the notes tell me not to use a flash memory writer version earlier than version 7.52C, and the one I downloaded is awdflash.exe, now I have to go back to find out what version this one is.

My hard drive is already partitioned into four segments, I was just going to format C:/s.

I wish I could save all those Windows Updates, that's a real pain having to go back and download them again.

I did save the Windows Update Setup Files folder to another hard drive (IE 6.0), so that will help.

Anyway since edge's suggestion worked, I may just uninstall all the sound drivers, decoder card drivers, and the 4n1 drivers.

Sure hope the video is okay without that decoder card, I needed it on the 400MHz mobo, but I sure don't want anything installed that I don't need.

I'll keep you posted as to what I do, and decide on this.

Thanks again,

Bill Lane

[Bill Lane]

Hi Gary:

The Soundblaster arrived, I uninstalled the audio software, and the Hollywood Plus RealMagic software, removed all sound drivers.

Shut down, and removed the old sound card, and decoder card, installed the Soundblaster card, restarted, and followed the instructions for the Soundblaster, I only installed the drivers at this time.

Installed the CyberLink Power DVD software.

Everything is working beautiful !!!, I can now record with the Sndrec32, and I really think that movies run, and look better than they did with the decoder installed.

I think I'm going to hold off for a while on flashing the bios, and installing the other software updates to see how this thing goes.

Anyway, I have everything when I get ready, or get the guts :-)

Thanks for all your help, I'm sure you'll be hearing from me again soon as it seems like there's always some new problem popping up.

Bill Lane

[GaryRouth]

Hi Bill

Sorry it's taken me so long to reply - my two girls are keeping me pretty busy: they're home sick (nothing serious: usual bad cold stuff - fever, stuffy noses) ("Daddy more apple juice please!")

Sounds like it's working nicely with the new card and new drivers. Hopefully you won't have to reformat after all. I'd suggested that since it seemed that so many different things were giving you trouble. [Good call by edge - I'd never come across a combination of display settings that could hide the check boxes before] - The websites are loading OK now? - - I'm glad that the DVDs are playing OK: that's a pretty strong video card and fast cpu in your system, the Hollywood card is from a different generation - it's nice not to have to worry about backward compatibility: sometimes that ties things up.

And if everything's OK without the bios flash, by all means you can save that for a future last resort. I was thinking that the SoundBlaster might need it (since you have the 686b Southbridge involved), but it sounds like you're OK. [It was a timing issue -had to do with "bus parking" - in the IDE portion of the 686b that was able to be avoided in some cases by newer drivers = and yours worked (thank goodness). ]

Time for me to encourage some wee sick ones to nap
. . . Gary

[Bill Lane]

Hi Gary:

Hope the girls get over the flu soon!

Well I don't think I'm out of the woods just yet, I had a problem surfing Google, pages wouldn't load again, also something strange, when I right click the screen and select properties, the Certificates button which is always on the right of the popup, but when this problem occures it's on the left till I reboot, then I'm good till it happens again.

And I just found out that Audio CD's don't play, and I checked everything Okay to me, in Multimedia Properties, I have "Audio for Creative EMU10Kx Streaming Audio, and Media Control Device I have "CD Audio Device (media control).

I have a four disk changer, but I tried the CD's in CD Rom, and they wouldn't play there either.

All other CD's work in all the other drives (4 Disk Changer, DVD, CD Rom, and CDRW)

Also in Play Control everything looks okay, shows CD Adio Control.

I don't have a lot of games, and the few simple games that I've added play just fine, but none of the MS games that came with Win98 play at all, I even tried removing and reinstalling them,

Anyway I guess I'm going to bite the bullet and go for the procedure that you've outlined for me, but I'll have to wait till Sunday when my wife goes back to work, don't want any distractions :-)

And as I was writing this the lights dimmed a bit, guess the rain here is going to cause some problems too :-(

I'll let you know how things go.

Bill Lane

[GaryRouth]

Hi Bill

[Well, one daughter is better, and the other one is doing the fever/cough that her sister did two days ago. I'm just hoping she's better for her Valentine's Day party at preschool on Friday (not likely) . . . their spirits are pretty good for sick shut-ins]

[And that storm that dimmed the lights at the end of your post packed a wallop here, too. It came down so hard and so fast that the pump we have in the backyard drain worked itself free of the drain-pipe -- water backed up -- water, water, everywhere - water through a sliding glass door & into one of the rooms. = Almost dry now, though! It all happened while I was sleeping, so you can guess I've been busy with pipes and pampering patients]

Sorry to hear about the sound acting up. Just to double-check that something (like CD audio) isn't muted, you can try running Sndvol32.exe from Start/Run. You can view all the input/playback device lines under Options/Properties. [This would be assuming that the programs go through the motions on the screen, but no sound comes out the speakers]

[And you didn't disconnect the little cable to the sound card from the Cd-drive during your earlier troubleshooting & forget to put it back?] I think for plain playback you need that little cable hooked up. One drive can be attached to "CD", one to "AUX1", etc. (on the sound card)

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[Bill Lane]

Hi Gary:

Been off line all day taking care of other stuff.

Sorry to hear about your water problem, hope all is dry by now.

Everything looks okay as far as being hooked up right, don't see anything at all wrong, maybe something with the Coded ?

Anyway it should correct it's self when I do the reinstall. Hope the weather clears up by Sunday so I can get started

Here's a picture of my audio hookup if your interested...

http://home.att.net/~zoe5/audio.html

Take care, and give the girls plenty of chicken soup :-)

Bill Lane

[GaryRouth]

Hi Bill

Quite a sound set up you have there. Did the switch maker also provide the RCA type cables, or did you have to make your own? (since on one end they'd still need to be the flat four pin PC sound connectors) . . . Reasonable price for that device, too. I've seen some other "external solutions" - one that was USB based & looked promising - but they all cost a fair amount of money (to be fair, they remove any need for the older sound card). - Oh, and if your cables on your setup follow the diagram, it looks good to me.

I'll make sure I check back tomorrow - I'm the one on chicken soup now! (wife and kids had the flu Mon-Thurs, I got it Thursday - back at work today [Saturday - but I came in late])

It's nice to be awake and have a sub 102 temperature.
. . . Gary

[Bill Lane]

Hi Gary:

Sorry to hear the bug got you too

Yes that company has a great selection of cables, but I had some here that I reworked, and I had enough CD Rom audio cables to make up the one's I needed, a little solder, heatshrink tubing was all it took

Yes that's the way I'm hooked up now, even though those pictures are not up to date.

Well, I hope to get started tomorrow morning on the upgrade.

The wearther looks okay now, I'll keep you posted as to the outcome, or if I run into trouble.

Take care, rest, and more chicken soup

Bill Lane

[Bill Lane]

Hi Gary:

Well I'm already in trouble, started to flash the Bios, made a System disk (floppy), copied the awdflash.exe to the floppy, then I'm told that I need to copy the decompressed BIOS binary files to the floppy also.

I thought these BIOS binary files were the kg7ct.exe, I decompressed this, and coppied them to the floppy, I now have the following on the floppy ...

Abitfae.bat
Awdflash.exe
Kg7_ct.bin
Kg7_ct.txt
kg7ct.exe
Runme.bat

I booted from this floppy, typed in A:\>"awdflash se6_sw.bin /cc /cd/ /cp /py /sn /r" without quotes.

I received this message: Source File Not Found!

I rebooted again, but this time I typed in A:\>"awdflash se6_sw.bin runme.bat" without the quotes.

This time it ask me what name I wanted to save to, it already had "Runme.bat" I was going to change it to Runme.bat2, but when I touched the keyboard, I got the "Source File Not Found" again.

So my question is, what is the source file, and where do I find it?

I'll wait for your reply before trying anything else.

Thanks,

Bill Lane

[Bill Lane]

Hi Again Gary:

Also as long as I'm here,

If I ever get the BIOS flashed, I was going to see how the system operated, and if okay, I was going to format C:, and reinstall Win98

Then run the AMDdrvpk_130.exe.

Then the VIAHyperion4in1445v.exe.

Then install the Soundblaster Live drivers.

Then go get all the Windows Updates.

Then start feeding all my stuff back one at a time, saving each time between installations to make sure everything is okay.

If the order is okay, let me know.

Thanks again,

Bill Lane

[GaryRouth]

Hi Bill

It looks like you might have typed the example text from your manual? I'm hoping that all you have to do is start that string with

awdflash.exe Kg7_ct.bin

and not

awdflash.exe se6_sw.bin

The parameters that follow (/cc /cd /cp /py /sn /r ) I'll also assume are from the manual? I don't have it handy right now, but doublecheck the instructions. I don't remember having to put so many parameters in the flash command, but most of my Abit experiences are from a couple years ago.

I also wonder what the .bat (batch) files are for. Check in the manual for information about that too. It looks a little bit like Abit might have one of those run a batch file that makes things easy for you.

If I have a little more time later, I'll hunt down your manual & have a look myself.

The order you list for reinstalling looks good.
. . . Gary

[Hey again Bill - those parameters are indeed the ones recommended by Abit: /cc /cd /cp /py /sn /cks /r - they highly recommend them. . . I had a chance to download your manual again & took a look. Make sure to type the commands as exactly as you can, according to the intructions in your manual. p.s. - the manual copy I have shows the parameter "/cks " coming after /sn and before /r - if your manual asks for it too, don't forget that one]

[Bill Lane]

Hi Gary:

Well I tried it again, got the same message: Source File Not Found! (flashing at the bottom).

I did have the parameters correct the first time, but I goofed when I typed the post.

This is what I typed in: awdflash se6_sw.bin /cc /cd /cp /py /sn /cks /r

I wonder what's wrong? Do I have the decompressed BIOS binary files on the floppy?

Thanks,

Bill Lane

[GaryRouth]

Sorry, I should have been clearer: here's what you need to type:
_____
awdflash Kg7_ct.bin /cc /cd /cp /py /sn /cks /r
_____
The se6_sw is just an example of a flash bios that the manual is using as a guide. That would have been the SW bios for the Abit SE6 motherboard.

The manual also recommends that you check that the version of the awdflash.exe you are using version 7.52C or newer for the KG7-Raid. You can check your version by viewing the files properties in Windows Explorer (or of course if you copied it down when downloading).

Best of luck!
. . . Gary

[Bill Lane]

Hi Gary:

I'll give it a shot with that :-)

I downloaded version 7.97D

Bill Lane

[Bill Lane]

Hi Gary:

That worked great !!!, I shut down, cleared the CMOS, rebooted, and got a message, something about checksum default error, I hit enter, and it took me to the CMOS Setup Utility, I wasn't sure what to change other than the time, and date, so I went with Load Optimized Defaults, saved, and exited.

Windows seems to work okay so far.

But before I go any farther what should I set the CPU to in the CMOS, it's now set to 900 (100), my CPU is a Athlon 1.2GHz (266MHz FSB).

I had it set to 1200 before, but the FSB only showed 100.

Right now Windows is handling the Swap file, should I change it to another location on the same hard drive? (a different partition).

I thought maybe I'd better take care of the CMOS CPU before I reformat the C: drive.

Let me know what you think,

Bill Lane