Crying! whole comp is fudged

[Greencow_555]

Hi folks,

tis a sad day. I recently brought a Radeon 9700 pro graphics card from a friend for my computer. My whole PC was working fine until I put it in, then the problems began.

I have an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ motherboard, with 1024 mb ram on Windows XP.

So, I took out the old card and put the new one in. I install the drivers from the net on the windows autodetect. I play doom 3 for a couple of hours. Then the computer just shuts down. When it reboots, I am unable to load doom 3 again, it just either goes to a black screen of which I am unable to exit, or shuts down.

So, I do several reinstallations of the drivers, including getting the actual CD, and going to ATI's site to download them. This caused even more problems as the computer started shutting down at any time, usually in graphic intensive situations like watching videos or drawing. It then gets worse and wont even let me turn on the machine. Then one say it lets me on, and stays on for like a hour so I thought I'd take the oportunity to reinstall windows.

So I do that and get all kind of errors. I first got the 'missing hal.dll' error that no manner of fix I have found helped with. (the computer has only ever had xp on it). Then I got the NTldr error but I sorted that and was back to getting the hal.dll error again.

Then, finally of all, I reboot to try again and the monitor just doesn't come on... I try again, no luck. The computer is running but the screen isn't picking anything up. I tried using a different monitor.. nope. I tried a different (though quite old) graphics card... nope... Its driving me crazy as I am lost without my computer.

I have also tried removing the memory sticks, but they both seem fine. The motherboard is quite new, but could it be the problem?

Argh!

I would really appreciate a solution. Thanks folks.

Gaz

 

[Apokalipse]

did you have an Nvidia card previously? it could be a driver conflict.
in that case, try using a program to completely erase your video card drivers.
XP will then load some generic video card drivers, so just update the drivers again

 

[Ste]

As apoc suggested: Google driver cleaner pro, download it. Follow its instructions carefully.

 

[Greencow_555]

Ok, right here's the problem with that.

I tried removing all the driver and still got the problem. However, I'm not sure I did it right so it may have been the error. Anyway, I cannot do that now as I have nothing on it.

I should have been clearer. I now have no access beyond dos. I reinstalled windows entirely, including formatting my drive, and it got through the first part of the setup, then when it shuts down, it should reboot into that bit where you have to set windows up (i.e the time and language etc..) but it doesn't get that far. The comp reboots and loads a little then just says 'missing hal.dll'

Like I said, I tried to fix this hal problem with no success, and now my monitor wont even show anything when I turn the pc on. It just stays on standby.

Thanks for the reply, its too late for it though.

Gaz

 

[SHAWN]

To get your monitor to come back on, reset your bios. Remove the watch battery from your motherboard while the plug is not connected to the power supply. Wait 2 minutes, then put everything back together. Your machine should now POST. Reply once complete.

 

[Apokalipse]

it might be possible that you bumped something out of place, even if it appears like it is okay.
try reseating everything, and also try cleaning the pins on your cards and RAM

 

[Greencow_555]

I had already tried cleaning everything and reseating it, but it was to no avail. I just tried removing that battery, waited two minutes and put it back. still nothing on screen.

Is that how I reset the bios on this motherboard. I always thought there were some pin things that you move for a minute then put back?

thanks for your attention guys.

Gaz

 

[SHAWN]

Either or will reset it. Post back results please.

 

[Greencow_555]

No difference. It still is doing the same thing. The monitor stays blank while the pc sounds like its loading normally.

Gaz

 

[Nitestick]

this is probably a dumb question, you had the power disconnected when you removed the battery right? if the monitor is not coming on either something is physically out of place or the GFX card is burned out. although if it seems like its loading windows that would be strange because a lot of the time a failing gfx card will halt the post and it won't boot. another dumb question, are you sure the monitor is plugged in properly. at BOTH ends?