corrupt display on clean installation

[Guest]

hi, i'm really need of some help here

i have clean installed 'xp pro sp1' onto my pc (spec below), and the display is perfect throughout the installation process. as soon as xp starts for the first time and takes me to the user logon screen the display is corrupt. for example, the horizonal bar towards the bottom of the screen is now thick white, when clicking the user to log in the graphics are garbled and display white blocks covering the text. this continues in windows explorer, media player everywhere in fact and makes the system unusable

i also, get the following errors: media player reports 'the specified key is not valid' (the xp key is new off-the-shelf). system restore: shuts down with an error relating to 'jscript', when selecting to restore from an earlier point

here's what i've done

-updated bio
-changed graphics card (with a clean install each time
-changed monito
-played with bios setting
-dasbled on-board sound (fitted PCI card
-3 xp pro installs

i thought it looked like a display driver problem, but changing cards dispelled that idea. now i'm thinking bios settings and a possible timing issue (possibly to do with irq's and usb?

i honestly can't find anything on the web (or here) to help, and ask with a touch of desperation for some kind soul to offer words of advice

many thanks

system spec
VIA KT133A chiptset/gigabyte K7 Triton motherboar
150GB AT133 harddis
G-Force-2 MX graphics 32mb (PCI
Firewire car
SCSI adapto

 

[John Dingley]

hi, i'm really need of some help here.

i have clean installed 'xp pro sp1' onto my pc (spec below), and the

display is perfect throughout the installation process. as soon as xp starts
for the first time and takes me to the user logon screen the display is
corrupt. for example, the horizonal bar towards the bottom of the screen is
now thick white, when clicking the user to log in the graphics are garbled
and display white blocks covering the text. this continues in windows
explorer, media player everywhere in fact and makes the system unusable.

i also, get the following errors: media player reports 'the specified key

is not valid' (the xp key is new off-the-shelf). system restore: shuts down
with an error relating to 'jscript', when selecting to restore from an
earlier point.

here's what i've done.

-updated bios
-changed graphics card (with a clean install each time)
-changed monitor
-played with bios settings
-dasbled on-board sound (fitted PCI card)
-3 xp pro installs.

i thought it looked like a display driver problem, but changing cards

dispelled that idea. now i'm thinking bios settings and a possible timing
issue (possibly to do with irq's and usb?)

i honestly can't find anything on the web (or here) to help, and ask with

a touch of desperation for some kind soul to offer words of advice.

many thanks.

system spec:
VIA KT133A chiptset/gigabyte K7 Triton motherboard
150GB AT133 harddisk
G-Force-2 MX graphics 32mb (PCI)
Firewire card
SCSI adaptor

You have not stated if your Motherboard has onboard graphics. If so you need
to disable it in the BIOS if you are using a PCI slot for your graphics
card.

Also the card is quite old. But you say you have tried a different card with
same effect.

The fact that the display is not corrupt when using default VGA drivers
suggests it may be a grahics card driver problem. Which drivers are you
using and where did you get them from?

If it is not a driver problem and not a graphics card problem, then you may
have a M/B problem or a IRQ conflict. Your graphics card should not if
possible share an IRQ. Try using a different PCI slot if you have one.

 

[Guest]

thanks for the reply

the motherboard does not have onboard graphics, the only graphics card in the system is a PCI card. the other card i tried is also old (ati rage pro AGP)

i can't set my bios to assign an irq to vga (maybe this is automatic), but i have tried changing PCI slots. it's difficult to tell if the display is corrupt on the default vga drivers, if i load safe moge (vga) it's still corrupt and i have the same errors

the thing that throws me is the other xp errors i mentioned, i just wouldn't expect those from a clean install? that makes me think it's something other than the graphics drivers or card

any other ideas

 

[John Dingley]

thanks for the reply.

the motherboard does not have onboard graphics, the only graphics card in

the system is a PCI card. the other card i tried is also old (ati rage pro
AGP).

i can't set my bios to assign an irq to vga (maybe this is automatic), but

i have tried changing PCI slots. it's difficult to tell if the display is
corrupt on the default vga drivers, if i load safe moge (vga) it's still
corrupt and i have the same errors.

the thing that throws me is the other xp errors i mentioned, i just

wouldn't expect those from a clean install? that makes me think it's
something other than the graphics drivers or card.

any other ideas?

When you say clean install - i assume you have done if from a reformatted
h/d as opposed to some sort of repair?

Safe mode will use generic VGA drivers so if in same mode you have problems
it is not a driver issue. If you have no onboard graphics then it is not a
jumper/bios problem.

You will not be able to assign IRQs from XP but you can force them if your
motherboard allows. Can you look at device manager and see if there is any
sharing IRQ with your graphics. If not the only thing i can think of is
that your motherboard has a problem - how old is it?

 

[John Dingley]

thanks for the reply.

the motherboard does not have onboard graphics, the only graphics card in

the system is a PCI card. the other card i tried is also old (ati rage pro
AGP).

i can't set my bios to assign an irq to vga (maybe this is automatic), but

i have tried changing PCI slots. it's difficult to tell if the display is
corrupt on the default vga drivers, if i load safe moge (vga) it's still
corrupt and i have the same errors.

the thing that throws me is the other xp errors i mentioned, i just

wouldn't expect those from a clean install? that makes me think it's
something other than the graphics drivers or card.

any other ideas?

One other thing I overlooked is that it could be your monitor!!

 

[John Dingley]

in
the system is a PCI card. the other card i tried is also old (ati rage pro
AGP). but
i have tried changing PCI slots. it's difficult to tell if the display is
corrupt on the default vga drivers, if i load safe moge (vga) it's still
corrupt and i have the same errors.
wouldn't expect those from a clean install? that makes me think it's
something other than the graphics drivers or card.

One other thing I overlooked is that it could be your monitor!!

Has your monitor been correctly identified in device manager? If it thinks
it is something else that could screw the display.

 

[John Dingley]

in
the system is a PCI card. the other card i tried is also old (ati rage pro
AGP). but
i have tried changing PCI slots. it's difficult to tell if the display is
corrupt on the default vga drivers, if i load safe moge (vga) it's still
corrupt and i have the same errors.
wouldn't expect those from a clean install? that makes me think it's
something other than the graphics drivers or card.

One other thing I overlooked is that it could be your monitor!!

Sorry for all the replies but after you have read them and you still have
problems - then I really think your motherboard has a hardware fault which
will mean replacing it. This deduction has been reached because there is no
other component in the chain that you haven't already tried.

 

[Guest]

it identifies the monitor as a plug and play. it's actually a 19" 3 year old display. i'll try swapping anyway. i just thought that if it was the monitor it would be completely unreadable.

clean install, after reformatting the hard disk in windows setup, was originally NTFS/ deleted all partitions and created a new NTFS to install to

also i have 1.5GB ram if that makes any difference.

IRQ/BIOS/CARDS i just don't see why that would mess media player up (specified key not found) and restore (jscript error).

thanks.

 

[John Dingley]

it identifies the monitor as a plug and play. it's actually a 19" 3 year

old display. i'll try swapping anyway. i just thought that if it was the
monitor it would be completely unreadable.

clean install, after reformatting the hard disk in windows setup, was

originally NTFS/ deleted all partitions and created a new NTFS to install
to.

also i have 1.5GB ram if that makes any difference.

IRQ/BIOS/CARDS i just don't see why that would mess media player up

(specified key not found) and restore (jscript error).

thanks.

IRQ/BIOS/CARDS i just don't see why that would mess media player up
(specified key not found) and restore (jscript error). - If any component
in this list was faulty it could mess anything up!

The only other thing that may be at fault apart from your motherboard is
your hard disk (is it a new one?) but I think the most likely is the m/b

 

[John Dingley]

old display. i'll try swapping anyway. i just thought that if it was the
monitor it would be completely unreadable.
originally NTFS/ deleted all partitions and created a new NTFS to install
to.
(specified key not found) and restore (jscript error).

IRQ/BIOS/CARDS i just don't see why that would mess media player up
(specified key not found) and restore (jscript error). - If any component
in this list was faulty it could mess anything up!

The only other thing that may be at fault apart from your motherboard is
your hard disk (is it a new one?) but I think the most likely is the m/b

Possibly m/b battery - was your PC loosing time? You could also try a build
without the Firewire card and scsi adaptor. Just see if it is OK using IDE.

 

[Guest]

thanks for your help with this john, it's very much appreciated

the hard disk is new. to test the hardware configuration i installed my previous version of windows nt workstation and that is fine. i then upgraded that to 2000 pro (thankfully i'd kept the software), and that is fine apart from a problem with my usb modem disconnecting when it recieves 4k of data. this made me question a few times when i'd tried to boot xp up and it had not started my usb mouse (no light), and i had to reconnect to get it working. that''s why i'm thinking it could be an irq thing.

i'm going to update my bios, check all my bios settings and jumpers, wipe my disk, and clean install again on xp pro. i'm read that the 'reset configuation' option on the bios, can force it to re-assign irq's etc.. so i'll do that first.

ideally i would have connected to microsoft during the installation of xp, for updates and key registration, but i need to configure the broadband modem first, and obviously i can't do that on a clean install

thanks again anyway.