conventional memory replacement

[cisz]

Recently, our ethernet card came slightly loose, (it's a card for a tower
that's in a smaller computer and can't be screwed in). I mistakenly tried to
push it back in without turning off the computer and it seems to have blown
some of the conventional memory because we're now getting a message that win
xp requires at least 512k of low memory and the computer won't boot.

I assume there's a chip for the conventional memory that needs to be
replaced? It's a gateway computer with 800MHz cpu.

Thanks.

 

[Paul]

Recently, our ethernet card came slightly loose, (it's a card for a tower
that's in a smaller computer and can't be screwed in). I mistakenly tried to
push it back in without turning off the computer and it seems to have blown
some of the conventional memory because we're now getting a message that win
xp requires at least 512k of low memory and the computer won't boot.

I assume there's a chip for the conventional memory that needs to be
replaced? It's a gateway computer with 800MHz cpu.

Thanks.

First, consider the architecture of your machine. I don't think the
memory was physically damaged. It is "too far away" from where you
shorted something. (That is, unless the two pieces of silicon shared
a common voltage rail. There may be a path they both use in that
respect. Otherwise, a fault traveling though that much silicon is
less likely.)

Northbridge ---- single_channel_memory_bus_for_DIMMs
| (Not likely to be broken up here.)
|
Southbridge
|
PCI bus
|
X <--- something shorted here
|
X

I agree that something is not right with your system. The BIOS
passes tables to the OS at boot time, and the BIOS is now reporting
something bogus to the OS. For example, a certain BIOS call, reports
areas of memory that are reserved. It could be, that the BIOS is
no longer reporting the correct hardware information.

Why that would be, I haven't a clue.

Download a copy of memtest86+. It respects the BIOS E820 memory
reservation information, and when memtest86+ starts, you can
see what amount of non-conventional memory it claims is available.
That may give a hint as to how broken the box is.

http://www.memtest.org/ (a version to prepare a blank floppy is available)

http://www.memtest86.com/tech.html (describes using E820 reservation info)
(the two versions of memtest share a common
ancestor)

(Some of the history of the two versions of memtest)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memtest86+

(Article on "conventional memory")

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conventional_memory

Maybe you can get some idea what is going on, by using one of those
memory test programs.

If no memory was available, for example, for the BIOS to use during
POST, you would be getting beep codes, and no attempt to boot Windows
at all. At least one of the DIMMs on the main memory bus, must be working.
And there is a good chance, you can use memtest to learn more.

HTH,
Paul

 

[cisz]

First, consider the architecture of your machine. I don't think the
memory was physically damaged. It is "too far away" from where you
shorted something. (That is, unless the two pieces of silicon shared
a common voltage rail. There may be a path they both use in that
respect. Otherwise, a fault traveling though that much silicon is
less likely.)

Northbridge ---- single_channel_memory_bus_for_DIMMs
| (Not likely to be broken up here.)
|
Southbridge
|
PCI bus
|
X <--- something shorted here
|
X

I agree that something is not right with your system. The BIOS
passes tables to the OS at boot time, and the BIOS is now reporting
something bogus to the OS. For example, a certain BIOS call, reports
areas of memory that are reserved. It could be, that the BIOS is
no longer reporting the correct hardware information.

Why that would be, I haven't a clue.

Download a copy of memtest86+. It respects the BIOS E820 memory
reservation information, and when memtest86+ starts, you can
see what amount of non-conventional memory it claims is available.
That may give a hint as to how broken the box is.

http://www.memtest.org/ (a version to prepare a blank floppy is
available)

http://www.memtest86.com/tech.html (describes using E820 reservation
info)
(the two versions of memtest share a
common
ancestor)

(Some of the history of the two versions of memtest)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memtest86+

(Article on "conventional memory")

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conventional_memory

Maybe you can get some idea what is going on, by using one of those
memory test programs.

If no memory was available, for example, for the BIOS to use during
POST, you would be getting beep codes, and no attempt to boot Windows
at all. At least one of the DIMMs on the main memory bus, must be working.
And there is a good chance, you can use memtest to learn more.

HTH,
Paul

Thanks.

I tried using memtest and, (although I didn't run it for a real long time),
it didn't show any errors.

Is conventional memory taken from the RAM? (the memory sticks - sdram) The
computer runs
the memory check at the beginning and isn't finding any problems.

I was able to repartition the hard drive using fdisk and reformat. I tried
installing win98
and got an error saying that 7340032 bytes of ava memory is needed to
install it.

 

[Peter]

I tried using memtest and, (although I didn't run it for a real long time),
it didn't show any errors.

Is conventional memory taken from the RAM? (the memory sticks - sdram) The
computer runs
the memory check at the beginning and isn't finding any problems.

I was able to repartition the hard drive using fdisk and reformat. I tried
installing win98
and got an error saying that 7340032 bytes of ava memory is needed to
install it.

Does the computer show how much memory it has at POST?
It might be worth resetting the BIOS to defaults.

 

[Paul]

Does the computer show how much memory it has at POST?
It might be worth resetting the BIOS to defaults.

That is a good idea. *Something* the BIOS is reporting, is upsetting
things. And the CMOS RAM content is electrically "closer" to the faulting event,
and may have been upset by the PCI issue. PCI and CMOS RAM are in the
same chip.

I'd hoped that memtest would report the E820 memory reservations, but
I don't see an option in the interface to get that information. Memtest
only reports a "reservation". On my computer, one program reported
192KB is reserved. The second memory test program reported a larger
reservation was present, a bit over 300KB.

One way to clear BIOS settings, is with the "clear CMOS" jumper.
That should be done with the computer unplugged, since a number of
older motherboard designs can be damaged by using the "Clear CMOS" or
"Clear RTC" jumper if the power is still on. The motherboard manual
usually includes a detailed, step by step set of instructions, where
the first step is usually "unplug the computer".

"Conventional Memory" is memory below 640K, and would be something
from the MSDOS era. It is part of the architecture and history of
x86 computing, and isn't something you can entirely avoid.

Things you can mess around with are clearing the CMOS, resetting
ESCD using a command in one of the BIOS screens (available on older
computers), or the last option would be to reflash the BIOS chip
using the same version of BIOS as was installed originally. (This assumes
that an MSDOS floppy would boot, and you could run a BIOS flasher
from there.) The latter would be done, when you'd lost all hope of using the
machine again. If it still complains, then replacing the motherboard
might be the next step.

Paul

 

[cisz]

That is a good idea. *Something* the BIOS is reporting, is upsetting
things. And the CMOS RAM content is electrically "closer" to the faulting
event,
and may have been upset by the PCI issue. PCI and CMOS RAM are in the
same chip.

I'd hoped that memtest would report the E820 memory reservations, but
I don't see an option in the interface to get that information. Memtest
only reports a "reservation". On my computer, one program reported
192KB is reserved. The second memory test program reported a larger
reservation was present, a bit over 300KB.

One way to clear BIOS settings, is with the "clear CMOS" jumper.
That should be done with the computer unplugged, since a number of
older motherboard designs can be damaged by using the "Clear CMOS" or
"Clear RTC" jumper if the power is still on. The motherboard manual
usually includes a detailed, step by step set of instructions, where
the first step is usually "unplug the computer".

"Conventional Memory" is memory below 640K, and would be something
from the MSDOS era. It is part of the architecture and history of
x86 computing, and isn't something you can entirely avoid.

Things you can mess around with are clearing the CMOS, resetting
ESCD using a command in one of the BIOS screens (available on older
computers), or the last option would be to reflash the BIOS chip
using the same version of BIOS as was installed originally. (This assumes
that an MSDOS floppy would boot, and you could run a BIOS flasher
from there.) The latter would be done, when you'd lost all hope of using
the
machine again. If it still complains, then replacing the motherboard
might be the next step.

Paul

This is a gateway computer model "Essential 800C" with a "Brookings"
mainboard.

I haven't seen any information on how to clear the cmos but I was able to
get a bios flash
for it. I tried resetting to defaults and it got a little further in the win
xp installation but hung
when it got to "loading windows". It didn't give an error message this time.

The boot screen tested the memory and didn't show any failures.

 

[Paul]

This is a gateway computer model "Essential 800C" with a "Brookings"
mainboard.

I haven't seen any information on how to clear the cmos but I was able to
get a bios flash
for it. I tried resetting to defaults and it got a little further in the win
xp installation but hung
when it got to "loading windows". It didn't give an error message this time.

The boot screen tested the memory and didn't show any failures.

Have you had a chance to test it with anything besides Windows ?

You've got free Linux distributions as a test method. (I like Knoppix
for the purpose, because I've had good luck with it booting on my
computers here.) And memtest is good to at least see whether the memory
is now being reported or not.

The Brookings motherboard is mentioned here. It is based on 810E
Intel chipset, with ICH2 Southbridge. The motherboard is made
by MSI, the BIOS is AMI.

http://support.gateway.com/support/supinfo/index.asp?pg=2&file=dt_mot029.html

At this point, at least for me, I'd have to gather more symptoms
or information, to understand what is going on.

Windows has Safe Mode (press F8 early in boot). It even has boot
logging, to log what happens when drivers and the like are
loading. So that would be an option.

You might also check the BIOS screens, and see if there is an
option to "Reset ESCD". That is a facility that stores information
about the hardware installed in the computer. When you select that
option in the BIOS, the BIOS will respond by erasing a certain
area of the flash chip, and taking inventory of the hardware
again. Old computers mention ESCD, while newer ones don't seem
to have that BIOS setting any more. You can try playing with that.

But what you really need, is to find out where, and why, it stops
loading.

If you needed to read the boot log, you could use a Linux LiveCD
to do that. Try booting Windows with boot logging enabled, followed
by booting a Linux CD, then open the file in question on the C: drive.
But even doing that, there is no guarantee you'll get much in the
way of evidence as to what is broken or not responding properly.

Paul

 

[Paul]

Have you had a chance to test it with anything besides Windows ?

You've got free Linux distributions as a test method. (I like Knoppix
for the purpose, because I've had good luck with it booting on my
computers here.) And memtest is good to at least see whether the memory
is now being reported or not.

The Brookings motherboard is mentioned here. It is based on 810E
Intel chipset, with ICH2 Southbridge. The motherboard is made
by MSI, the BIOS is AMI.

http://support.gateway.com/support/supinfo/index.asp?pg=2&file=dt_mot029.html


At this point, at least for me, I'd have to gather more symptoms
or information, to understand what is going on.

Windows has Safe Mode (press F8 early in boot). It even has boot
logging, to log what happens when drivers and the like are
loading. So that would be an option.

You might also check the BIOS screens, and see if there is an
option to "Reset ESCD". That is a facility that stores information
about the hardware installed in the computer. When you select that
option in the BIOS, the BIOS will respond by erasing a certain
area of the flash chip, and taking inventory of the hardware
again. Old computers mention ESCD, while newer ones don't seem
to have that BIOS setting any more. You can try playing with that.

But what you really need, is to find out where, and why, it stops
loading.

If you needed to read the boot log, you could use a Linux LiveCD
to do that. Try booting Windows with boot logging enabled, followed
by booting a Linux CD, then open the file in question on the C: drive.
But even doing that, there is no guarantee you'll get much in the
way of evidence as to what is broken or not responding properly.

Paul

You could compare the following, to what you find, to see if there is
some significant difference.

I booted a Knoppix 5.0.1 CD, and using the "dmesg" tool, and this is what it reports
for my motherboard. I tried a later version of Knoppix, and it didn't dump the
E820 reserved memory areas like this CD does. 0xA0000 is the hex equivalent
of 640K, and in this case, the "0x9FC00 usable" is the 639K mark. So it seems
virtually the entire DOS area is listed as available.

The release date of Knoppix 5.0.1 is listed as "2 June 2006", so that seems to be
a pretty close match for the "May 10" reported in the kernel message.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knoppix

The other part of the BIOS communications to the OS, is the ACPI information.
On an older motherboard, I suppose that could be missing, but then the
OS installation could not support ACPI power management if that was the
case.

*******
Linux version 2.6.17 (root@Knoppix) (gcc version 4.0.4 20060507 (prerelease)
(Debian 4.0.3-3)) #4 SMP PREEMPT Wed May 10 13:53:45 CEST 2006

BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
BIOS-e820: 0000000000000000 - 000000000009fc00 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 000000000009fc00 - 00000000000a0000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000000e6000 - 0000000000100000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 0000000000100000 - 000000007ffb0000 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 000000007ffb0000 - 000000007ffc0000 (ACPI data)
BIOS-e820: 000000007ffc0000 - 000000007fff0000 (ACPI NVS)
BIOS-e820: 000000007fff0000 - 0000000080000000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000fec00000 - 00000000fec01000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000fee00000 - 00000000fee01000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000ff380000 - 0000000100000000 (reserved)
1151MB HIGHMEM available.
896MB LOWMEM available.
found SMP MP-table at 000ff780
On node 0 totalpages: 524208
DMA zone: 4096 pages, LIFO batch:0
Normal zone: 225280 pages, LIFO batch:31
HighMem zone: 294832 pages, LIFO batch:31
DMI present.
ACPI: RSDP (v000 ACPIAM ) @ 0x000f8860
ACPI: RSDT (v001 A_M_I OEMRSDT 0x02000904 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x7ffb0000
ACPI: FADT (v002 A M I OEMFACP 0x12000601 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x7ffb0200
ACPI: MADT (v001 A_M_I OEMAPIC 0x02000904 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x7ffb0390
ACPI: MCFG (v001 A_M_I OEMMCFG 0x02000904 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x7ffb0410
ACPI: OEMB (v001 A_M_I AMI_OEM 0x02000904 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x7ffc0040
ACPI: AAFT (v001 A_M_I OEMAAFT 0x02000904 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x7ffb4fc0
ACPI: DSDT (v001 4CDS2 4CDS2213 0x00000213 INTL 0x02002026) @ 0x00000000
ACPI: PM-Timer IO Port: 0x808
ACPI: Local APIC address 0xfee00000
ACPI: LAPIC (acpi_id[0x01] lapic_id[0x00] enabled)
Processor #0 6:15 APIC version 20
ACPI: LAPIC (acpi_id[0x02] lapic_id[0x01] enabled)
Processor #1 6:15 APIC version 20
ACPI: LAPIC (acpi_id[0x03] lapic_id[0x82] disabled)
ACPI: LAPIC (acpi_id[0x04] lapic_id[0x83] disabled)
ACPI: IOAPIC (id[0x02] address[0xfec00000] gsi_base[0])
IOAPIC[0]: apic_id 2, version 3, address 0xfec00000, GSI 0-23
ACPI: IOAPIC (id[0x03] address[0xfecc0000] gsi_base[24])
IOAPIC[1]: apic_id 3, version 3, address 0xfecc0000, GSI 24-47
ACPI: INT_SRC_OVR (bus 0 bus_irq 0 global_irq 2 dfl dfl)
ACPI: INT_SRC_OVR (bus 0 bus_irq 9 global_irq 9 low level)
ACPI: IRQ0 used by override.
ACPI: IRQ2 used by override.
ACPI: IRQ9 used by override.
Enabling APIC mode: Flat. Using 2 I/O APICs
Using ACPI (MADT) for SMP configuration information
*******

Anyway, that is as close as I can get, to understanding what the
BIOS is passing to the OS. And what may be preventing a normal
boot on your machine.

Paul

 

[cisz]

You could compare the following, to what you find, to see if there is
some significant difference.

I booted a Knoppix 5.0.1 CD, and using the "dmesg" tool, and this is what
it reports
for my motherboard. I tried a later version of Knoppix, and it didn't dump
the
E820 reserved memory areas like this CD does. 0xA0000 is the hex
equivalent
of 640K, and in this case, the "0x9FC00 usable" is the 639K mark. So it
seems
virtually the entire DOS area is listed as available.

The release date of Knoppix 5.0.1 is listed as "2 June 2006", so that
seems to be
a pretty close match for the "May 10" reported in the kernel message.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knoppix

The other part of the BIOS communications to the OS, is the ACPI
information.
On an older motherboard, I suppose that could be missing, but then the
OS installation could not support ACPI power management if that was the
case.

*******
Linux version 2.6.17 (root@Knoppix) (gcc version 4.0.4 20060507
(prerelease)
(Debian 4.0.3-3)) #4 SMP PREEMPT Wed May 10 13:53:45 CEST 2006

BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
BIOS-e820: 0000000000000000 - 000000000009fc00 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 000000000009fc00 - 00000000000a0000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000000e6000 - 0000000000100000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 0000000000100000 - 000000007ffb0000 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 000000007ffb0000 - 000000007ffc0000 (ACPI data)
BIOS-e820: 000000007ffc0000 - 000000007fff0000 (ACPI NVS)
BIOS-e820: 000000007fff0000 - 0000000080000000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000fec00000 - 00000000fec01000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000fee00000 - 00000000fee01000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000ff380000 - 0000000100000000 (reserved)
1151MB HIGHMEM available.
896MB LOWMEM available.
found SMP MP-table at 000ff780
On node 0 totalpages: 524208
DMA zone: 4096 pages, LIFO batch:0
Normal zone: 225280 pages, LIFO batch:31
HighMem zone: 294832 pages, LIFO batch:31
DMI present.
ACPI: RSDP (v000 ACPIAM ) @ 0x000f8860
ACPI: RSDT (v001 A_M_I OEMRSDT 0x02000904 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x7ffb0000
ACPI: FADT (v002 A M I OEMFACP 0x12000601 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x7ffb0200
ACPI: MADT (v001 A_M_I OEMAPIC 0x02000904 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x7ffb0390
ACPI: MCFG (v001 A_M_I OEMMCFG 0x02000904 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x7ffb0410
ACPI: OEMB (v001 A_M_I AMI_OEM 0x02000904 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x7ffc0040
ACPI: AAFT (v001 A_M_I OEMAAFT 0x02000904 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x7ffb4fc0
ACPI: DSDT (v001 4CDS2 4CDS2213 0x00000213 INTL 0x02002026) @ 0x00000000
ACPI: PM-Timer IO Port: 0x808
ACPI: Local APIC address 0xfee00000
ACPI: LAPIC (acpi_id[0x01] lapic_id[0x00] enabled)
Processor #0 6:15 APIC version 20
ACPI: LAPIC (acpi_id[0x02] lapic_id[0x01] enabled)
Processor #1 6:15 APIC version 20
ACPI: LAPIC (acpi_id[0x03] lapic_id[0x82] disabled)
ACPI: LAPIC (acpi_id[0x04] lapic_id[0x83] disabled)
ACPI: IOAPIC (id[0x02] address[0xfec00000] gsi_base[0])
IOAPIC[0]: apic_id 2, version 3, address 0xfec00000, GSI 0-23
ACPI: IOAPIC (id[0x03] address[0xfecc0000] gsi_base[24])
IOAPIC[1]: apic_id 3, version 3, address 0xfecc0000, GSI 24-47
ACPI: INT_SRC_OVR (bus 0 bus_irq 0 global_irq 2 dfl dfl)
ACPI: INT_SRC_OVR (bus 0 bus_irq 9 global_irq 9 low level)
ACPI: IRQ0 used by override.
ACPI: IRQ2 used by override.
ACPI: IRQ9 used by override.
Enabling APIC mode: Flat. Using 2 I/O APICs
Using ACPI (MADT) for SMP configuration information
*******

Anyway, that is as close as I can get, to understanding what the
BIOS is passing to the OS. And what may be preventing a normal
boot on your machine.

Paul

I was able to reformat the harddrive using gparted. I'll try doing the
"dmesg" and check
what it says.

I was thinking of trying to install debian. (I've got debian on a different
computer).

 

[Paul]

You could compare the following, to what you find, to see if there is
some significant difference.

I booted a Knoppix 5.0.1 CD, and using the "dmesg" tool, and this is what
it reports
for my motherboard. I tried a later version of Knoppix, and it didn't dump
the
E820 reserved memory areas like this CD does. 0xA0000 is the hex
equivalent
of 640K, and in this case, the "0x9FC00 usable" is the 639K mark. So it
seems
virtually the entire DOS area is listed as available.

The release date of Knoppix 5.0.1 is listed as "2 June 2006", so that
seems to be
a pretty close match for the "May 10" reported in the kernel message.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knoppix

The other part of the BIOS communications to the OS, is the ACPI
information.
On an older motherboard, I suppose that could be missing, but then the
OS installation could not support ACPI power management if that was the
case.

*******
Linux version 2.6.17 (root@Knoppix) (gcc version 4.0.4 20060507
(prerelease)
(Debian 4.0.3-3)) #4 SMP PREEMPT Wed May 10 13:53:45 CEST 2006

BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
BIOS-e820: 0000000000000000 - 000000000009fc00 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 000000000009fc00 - 00000000000a0000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000000e6000 - 0000000000100000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 0000000000100000 - 000000007ffb0000 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 000000007ffb0000 - 000000007ffc0000 (ACPI data)
BIOS-e820: 000000007ffc0000 - 000000007fff0000 (ACPI NVS)
BIOS-e820: 000000007fff0000 - 0000000080000000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000fec00000 - 00000000fec01000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000fee00000 - 00000000fee01000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000ff380000 - 0000000100000000 (reserved)
1151MB HIGHMEM available.
896MB LOWMEM available.
found SMP MP-table at 000ff780
On node 0 totalpages: 524208
DMA zone: 4096 pages, LIFO batch:0
Normal zone: 225280 pages, LIFO batch:31
HighMem zone: 294832 pages, LIFO batch:31
DMI present.
ACPI: RSDP (v000 ACPIAM ) @ 0x000f8860
ACPI: RSDT (v001 A_M_I OEMRSDT 0x02000904 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x7ffb0000
ACPI: FADT (v002 A M I OEMFACP 0x12000601 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x7ffb0200
ACPI: MADT (v001 A_M_I OEMAPIC 0x02000904 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x7ffb0390
ACPI: MCFG (v001 A_M_I OEMMCFG 0x02000904 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x7ffb0410
ACPI: OEMB (v001 A_M_I AMI_OEM 0x02000904 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x7ffc0040
ACPI: AAFT (v001 A_M_I OEMAAFT 0x02000904 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x7ffb4fc0
ACPI: DSDT (v001 4CDS2 4CDS2213 0x00000213 INTL 0x02002026) @ 0x00000000
ACPI: PM-Timer IO Port: 0x808
ACPI: Local APIC address 0xfee00000
ACPI: LAPIC (acpi_id[0x01] lapic_id[0x00] enabled)
Processor #0 6:15 APIC version 20
ACPI: LAPIC (acpi_id[0x02] lapic_id[0x01] enabled)
Processor #1 6:15 APIC version 20
ACPI: LAPIC (acpi_id[0x03] lapic_id[0x82] disabled)
ACPI: LAPIC (acpi_id[0x04] lapic_id[0x83] disabled)
ACPI: IOAPIC (id[0x02] address[0xfec00000] gsi_base[0])
IOAPIC[0]: apic_id 2, version 3, address 0xfec00000, GSI 0-23
ACPI: IOAPIC (id[0x03] address[0xfecc0000] gsi_base[24])
IOAPIC[1]: apic_id 3, version 3, address 0xfecc0000, GSI 24-47
ACPI: INT_SRC_OVR (bus 0 bus_irq 0 global_irq 2 dfl dfl)
ACPI: INT_SRC_OVR (bus 0 bus_irq 9 global_irq 9 low level)
ACPI: IRQ0 used by override.
ACPI: IRQ2 used by override.
ACPI: IRQ9 used by override.
Enabling APIC mode: Flat. Using 2 I/O APICs
Using ACPI (MADT) for SMP configuration information
*******

Anyway, that is as close as I can get, to understanding what the
BIOS is passing to the OS. And what may be preventing a normal
boot on your machine.

Paul

I was able to reformat the harddrive using gparted. I'll try doing the
"dmesg" and check
what it says.

I was thinking of trying to install debian. (I've got debian on a different
computer).

At this point, it would be nice if *something* would install. I don't know
if I have the skills to figure out what is wrong, based on the above. But
maybe something will be so grossly wrong, it will stand out.

Paul

 

[cisz]

At this point, it would be nice if *something* would install. I don't know
if I have the skills to figure out what is wrong, based on the above. But
maybe something will be so grossly wrong, it will stand out.

As it turns out, the problem was the ethernet card itself. When I removed
it, I was able to install
win xp and the error message didn't appear. (Assuming there's nothing wrong
with the pci slot).

Now I need to find a new ethernet card that fits into this size case.
Gateway calls it a "st. charles flex case".
It's smaller than a desktop and larger than a laptop.

 

[Paul]

As it turns out, the problem was the ethernet card itself. When I removed
it, I was able to install
win xp and the error message didn't appear. (Assuming there's nothing wrong
with the pci slot).

Now I need to find a new ethernet card that fits into this size case.
Gateway calls it a "st. charles flex case".
It's smaller than a desktop and larger than a laptop.

PCI come in "regular height" and "low profile". I don't
know if there is anything smaller than low profile.

Here is a tiny one. This looks smaller than low profile. One
problem with products like that, is they may not include alternate
faceplates. Some low profile products, include two faceplates, and
you can install the faceplate that fits your computer case. If your
computer case is unusual, you may have trouble locating a good solution.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833156107

*******

The faceplate on a low profile PCI, is listed as 3.118" here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conventional_PCI#Low-profile_.28half-height.29_card

This page, mentions the slot dimension of the St. Charles Flex case.

http://support.gateway.com/s/CASES/3500739/3500739faq16.shtml

"This case does not support full height expansion cards.
The expansion slots are approximately 3.25 inches in height"

So you may be looking for a low profile card, with the proper faceplate on it.
This one appears to have a low profile faceplate. And it likely has
an Intel LAN chip on it. The two slots cut in the edge card, means
the card can run in 3.3V or 5V motherboard buses. (All my desktops
here are keyed for 5V.)

Intel PWLA8391GTL 10/ 100/ 1000Mbps PCI PRO/1000 GT Low Profile Desktop Adapter 1 x RJ45 - $29
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16833106122

Paul