Code 39 - Missing processor driver/mono sound

[Guest]

I have an ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe mobo, and recently I installed 2 new SATA hard
drives (Seagate 80gb barracuda - OS/ seagate 160gb barracuda - Data).

I installed Win XP pro, upgraded to SP2 + updates etc. and the whole system
was working just fine, but after about 20 reboots or so I was experiencing
problems with boot-up. Suspecting I had some bad RAM, I took it into a
technician who confirmed that the RAM was faulty, and it was replaced.

However my initial problem was not fixed - this being: When I booted the PC
up after the power had been off for a while, it invariable took forever to
load up, and usually ran Checkdisk (deleting a few things along the way). I
have disconnected my Data drive, suspecting that this may be faulty, and so
far the PC has booted fine.
The technician explained to me over the phone that he suspected this disk
was causing the trouble.

One strange thing that has happened since having the PC back from the
technician though is that in Device Manager, my AMD Athlon XP 2600+ processor
is showing up with the exclamation mark warning, and a Code 39 "Windows
cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted
or missing. (Code 39)" error message. When I go to update the driver, it
says it has the most recent version. I've tried visiting the AMD website to
find an update but can't navigate the site very well. Also, in addition to
this, I am only getting mono sound output (and a lot of hard disk activity
'noise' through the speakers). Is there an easy way for me to troubleshoot
this problem? I suspect it's just a matter of rolling back some drivers or
something simple. I have also tried re-installing the mobo drivers from the
CD it came with.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[Jim C]

My opinion would be that the tech. did not load the proper driver set for
the AMD Athlon XP 2600+ processor. This driver set should be loaded before
any other driver sets.

I hope that helps.

Jim

 

[Guest]

Try running microsofts memory tester,it chks the ram but also chks the memory
controller at the same time.Depending on how many ram cards you use,if a
slot/card chks out faulty,you may need to move the cards around to pin-point
the problem.The utility needs or should be installed to a MS-DOS formatted
floppy,then boot to floppy.A cd might be ok,go
to:http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp
Also,all boards need the chipset installation utility run before any other
installation.

 

[Peter Foldes]

Andrew Stop posting erroneous answers. You do more harm than good

 

[Peter Foldes]

Read the below and follow the fix. It should get you back on track

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314060

 

[Guest]

Ok thankyou, but after reading the fix I couldn't see how it relates to a
missing processor driver, it's just talking about CD drives. Will performing
the fix anyway be fine?

 

[Peter Foldes]

Perform the fix as described in the KB and then post back with any left over issue(s) that comes up. Reboot after doing the fix.

 

[Guest]

I'm afraid that fixed nothing - I still have the same error message showing
in Device Manager for my processor.

"Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be
corrupted or missing. (Code 39)"

Any other suggestions?

 

[Peter Foldes]

Windows version please including SP.

 

[Guest]

I'm running XP Pro

v 5.1 (build 2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519: Service pack 2)

 

[Peter Foldes]

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;320553