Can someone please help - A7V8X-X motherboard driver problems

[Cyde Weys]

Can someone please help me - I've been having computer problems now for
over a day and still haven't received help (let alone a response) from
this newsgroup.

My old motherboard died and so I bought a new one, the A7V8X-X, to
replace it. While I was at it I had to buy DDR-RAM, and I replaced the
CPU and video card. It's almost an entirely different computer (in the
same case). Understandably, Windows won't boot - I just get a blue
screen STOP error because the new hardware is too unfamiliar and it
doesn't know what to do. What do I do at this point?

I've been able to boot up the system with the XP CD and get into the
DOS prompt recovery console. I have no clue what to do at that point,
though. I can plug the hard drive into my working computer as a slave
and get access to the WINDOWS partition. Unfortunately, the install CD
that came with my motherboard contains only an .exe file that extracts
to the current running WINDOWS installation: C:\WINDOWS, and won't let
me pick an alternate path to install to. All of the VIA 4in1 drivers
available for download online also come in an annoying self-installing
executable which won't let me install them to the slave drive.

I saw something about "SYSPREP" in my Google searches that tells
Windows to check all new hardware on next boot-up. I can't find this
program on any of my hard drives, however. Please, can somebody help
me? I have this nice new hardware and no way to use it. Short of
backing up my data and re-installing Windows, is there anything I can
do? Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[Sus]

Can someone please help me - I've been having computer problems now for
over a day and still haven't received help (let alone a response) from
this newsgroup.

My old motherboard died and so I bought a new one, the A7V8X-X, to
replace it. While I was at it I had to buy DDR-RAM, and I replaced the
CPU and video card. It's almost an entirely different computer (in the
same case). Understandably, Windows won't boot - I just get a blue
screen STOP error because the new hardware is too unfamiliar and it
doesn't know what to do. What do I do at this point?

I've been able to boot up the system with the XP CD and get into the
DOS prompt recovery console. I have no clue what to do at that point,
though. I can plug the hard drive into my working computer as a slave
and get access to the WINDOWS partition. Unfortunately, the install CD
that came with my motherboard contains only an .exe file that extracts
to the current running WINDOWS installation: C:\WINDOWS, and won't let
me pick an alternate path to install to. All of the VIA 4in1 drivers
available for download online also come in an annoying self-installing
executable which won't let me install them to the slave drive.

I saw something about "SYSPREP" in my Google searches that tells
Windows to check all new hardware on next boot-up. I can't find this
program on any of my hard drives, however. Please, can somebody help
me? I have this nice new hardware and no way to use it. Short of
backing up my data and re-installing Windows, is there anything I can
do? Thanks in advance for the help.

*Windows XP isn't capable of recognising plug and play mobo's, you will need
to reformat your HD and reinstall windows XP

Let your pc boot from CDRom drive with the XP cd in it (you can change the
boot order in the bios), then when the R for recovery comes up, you can type
FORMAT C:
when that is done you can reinstall xp and it will install the new
hardware.

Hope that helps

Sus

 

[Wheat Muncher]

Wheat Muncher enlightened us all with these words of wisdom:

Cyde Weys enlightened us all with these words of wisdom:



My understanding of Sysprep is that it is used like a preloader.
Larger companies use it when mass loading drives via a drive loader.
It will install an image of an installation up to the point where it
will reboot and look for the hardware to bind itself to. This way they
are not forced to manually install a copy of windows on each seperate
machine due to the diverse hardware combinations possible. I may be
wrong on this, I have never actually used the utility, and if correct,
it is a very simplified explanation at best.
One alternative is to reset your drive back as the master, and boot
from the windows cd. Perform an in place upgrade (reinstallation) of
XP. This will replace the current system files that are causing this
problem. you will need to reinstall any updates and service packs, as
well as certain software (maybe) but all of your data will be left in
tact. See the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article number for
instructions on performing a reinstallation:
315341 or Q315341

Hope this helps.

I should mention that this doesn't work 100% of the time, but it is the
first avenue I would try.

 

[Cyde Weys]

Wheat Muncher enlightened us all with these words of wisdom:




I should mention that this doesn't work 100% of the time, but it is the
first avenue I would try.

If it doesn't work, will my data still be on the hard drive or will I be
SOL? I.e. should I backup my data before trying this?

 

[Sus]

If it doesn't work, will my data still be on the hard drive or will I be

SOL? I.e. should I backup my data before trying this?

*Hook your HD to another pc,save your data, and reinstall XP , you wont have
any troubles with hardware that way,lot of work maybe,,but the safest way to
get your new stuff correctly installed.

sus

 

[Wheat Muncher]

Sus put me in my place by writing

*Hook your HD to another pc,save your data, and reinstall XP , you
wont have any troubles with hardware that way,lot of work maybe,,but
the safest way to get your new stuff correctly installed.

sus

Sus is 100% right. If you don;t mind the work, it is better to install a
fresh load. I was just presenting a work around.