On Tue, 4 Nov 2003 17:40:38 -0500, "hiphop"
wrote:

I was experiencing some video card issues earlier this week and posted a
question about a modern video card working on an older system. The basic
problems were

black vertical lines all over the screen and then windows 98 hangs

If it weren't for what you wrote below about the BIOS text, I would've
suggested reinstalling the OS, or at least the video drivers,
particularly since you had suspicions about the HDD, but that doesn't
seem to be the problem based on further info...

during posting the bios text was alternating colors blue grey blue grey and
shimmering
pc would sometimes boot to normal mode but then the black lines and it hung.
in safe mode it would get blue vertical lines about 1/2" apart but worked.
Even the screen saver came on.

So to the best of your knowledge, there were no changes to the system
between the time it worked properly, and started this problem
behavior? Does it seem pretty consistent or progressively getting
worse?

Do you have a voltage meter (or at least a motherboard monitoring
utility) you could use to check the power supply and motherboard
voltages?


The system is
ALI Aladdin V is the chipset.
MS6261 socket7 mainboard 100mhz made by Matsonic
AMD K6III +3d 400mhz
Asound sound card
voodoo 3000 agp with tvout
17.5 gig WD 5200rpm ata33
10/100 nic (provided by my isp not sure what it is)

You wouldn't have moved the system recently, right before the onset of
these problems? I vaguely recall that Matsonic boards during this era
had HORRIBLE memory slots, that the memory practically had to be
hammered in, and/or it was necessary to put something behind the board
to get the memory in, or keep from damaging the board while pushing
hard enough to get memory fully inserted in the slots. MIght your
memory not be fully seated in the slots?


So today I pulled out the voodoo thinking it was my problem and switched it
with a gf2 pro that my friend gave me. I got it booted up into normal mode
and downloaded and installed the gf drivers. Then rebooted and started to
clean up my desk top by moving around some icons when the pc hung. I
unpluged my monitor (referb sony 17in trinitron) and switched it for my mums
15in daytek just to see what would happen at which time the pc booted into
normal mode and hung. So I was depressed and hooked up my sony again and
went to boot up again but this time computer wouldn't boot. Its going
through the posting process fine but when its about to load windows I get an
error that says "Windows Protection Error" and something about needing to
reboot press any key.

So I did some research and found a MS page that explains alot of things to
try in safe mode.
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;188867
i've tried about 3/4 of the page and frustration set in so i'm taking a
break to post this huge long question.

Unlike while sitting at the desktop idling, while booting the system
is under relatively heavier load. Considering also the BIOS oddities,
I don't think Windows and/or it's booting is actually the problem,
rather it's just when you SEE the problem surface. Failing loose
components I think either your motherboard or power supply are dying,
and considering the age of the system and relative quality level, you
may be lucky that it lasted as long as it has.

Earlier this month my HD was lagging after downloading larger files.
Programs would lag and eventually things would freez up. After all that
happened for a few weeks I started to get the video card issues. So now my
question.

That could be related or a completely different issue like a bad IDE
cable, or if the HDD is as old as the rest of the system, it too could
be failing, but that doesn't explain the video lines or BIOS issues.

Does your system use an AT or ATX power supply? Maybe it doesn't
matter, but I suspect you have a 5V issue, your 5V rail on the
motherboard isn't sufficient, but whether the cause is the motherboard
or power supply can't be determined without more testing, or perhaps
only with replacement parts since they do still "somewhat" work.



Whats wrong with my mahcine... could it be the HD is finally gone ? I'm
just about ready to replace it but before I send a few bucks on a new drive
I wanted some opinions. I'm trying to salvage this pc until the spring when
I can afford an upgrade. Any help on this issue would be greatly
appreciated.

thanks for reading
-hh

The hard drive should have no effect on the BIOS problem, either you
have two problems, it's not the HDD, or the HDD is shorting and
dragging the power down to where the rest of the system is instable.
If you haven't done anything to the system prior to the problem it
would seem to be merely a progressive aging to the point where it's
time for replacement.

If you're looking for the absolute lowest cost to get the PC going
again, I may have some old super 7 boards and low-end power supplies
lying around, will never be used, if you're willing to pay postage
I'll send you one of each, providing I have something that'll fit in
your case, I don't remember if I have only ATX-form factor super 7
boards or an AT or two.


Dave