Windows XP PC no longer boots after installing PCI Expansion Card

[M]

I have installed an SIIG USB 2.0+Firewire+Ethernet combo adaptor and now
find that when the PC boots it hangs, it will not even boot into the
recovery consol. If I try to boot into safe mode it stops on
windows\system32\drivers\mup.sys. I have swapped the card with one from
another machine so the card is definitely good.

I think that a BIOS settings may be to blame. The reason being that when I
bought the PC some time ago it was not working because it would hang when
trying to install XP. The solution was to disable the onboard LAN and
Modem, which had been enabled when the Bios was set to Failsafe, despite
neither being actually installed on the motherboard. Setting the Bios to
Failsafe also unhelpfully disables the floppy drive. This suggests that the
default Failsafes have been badly setup. The machine does not have any
other expansion cards.

The PC will not boot from a BartPE Windows XP boot CD (also hangs) but will
boot Knoppix.

Does anyone know how to work round this? Would any BIOS setting stop an
expansion card from working under XP?

Thanks.

 

[Test User]

I have installed an SIIG USB 2.0+Firewire+Ethernet combo adaptor and now
find that when the PC boots it hangs, it will not even boot into the
recovery consol. If I try to boot into safe mode it stops on
windows\system32\drivers\mup.sys. I have swapped the card with one from
another machine so the card is definitely good.

I think that a BIOS settings may be to blame. The reason being that when I
bought the PC some time ago it was not working because it would hang when
trying to install XP. The solution was to disable the onboard LAN and
Modem, which had been enabled when the Bios was set to Failsafe, despite
neither being actually installed on the motherboard. Setting the Bios to
Failsafe also unhelpfully disables the floppy drive. This suggests that the
default Failsafes have been badly setup. The machine does not have any
other expansion cards.

The PC will not boot from a BartPE Windows XP boot CD (also hangs) but will
boot Knoppix.

Does anyone know how to work round this? Would any BIOS setting stop an
expansion card from working under XP?

Thanks.

Have you tried *clearing* the CMOS? There should be a jumper you can short
to do this. It does sound like this board has... design issues.

If you don't have the manual for the board, see if you can find the model
name and number and google it. There are a lot of manuals avaialble
online.

HTH
-pk

 

[Nathan McNulty]

Three thoughts. First, check and make sure there is no onboard BIOS for
the PCI Card since it can boot from Ethernet. You may need to disable
that function. You may need to change the BIOS settings and going in
and changing things around isn't really a good idea unless you know what
you are doing. If you are comfortable changing settings in there, feel
free to explore, but I would suggest finding someone who does.

Second thought was to try a different PCI slot. It is possible you may
have resource conflicts, but that shouldn't really be an issue. The
final thought is this. It sounds like your motherboard may already have
had issues before and these problems can often times be fixed by a BIOS
update. You may want to check the website of the motherboard
manufacturer and see if they have a BIOS update available. Directions on
flashing the BIOS should be provided.