"Exray" wrote in message news:tR1Mb.18651$5V2.31235@attbi_s53...
Larry wrote:
| | XP Pro with SP1, Asrock SIS (K7S8X) MB, 1G DDR RAM, two USB 2.0
| | drives. WaS in the process of copying files from a USB 2.0 external
| | drive when during the copy all of sudden Windows complained that the
| | source was no longer accessible and aborted the copy. A check in
| | Explorer showed that the external USB drive was no longer there.
| | Unplugging and plugging back didn't work and also another USB 2.0
| | drive I had no longer showed up.
| |
| | Rebooted Windows and it was fine but no USB drives would be
| | recognised. In Control Panel/System/USB devices a double click on
| | those resources caused Windows to lock up solid. Tried to boot up
| | Windows in safe mode and it hangs just after loading mup.sys (as
| | well as asking me if I want to not load xmasbus.sys). I don't load
| | it and the system still hangs there
| |
| | Next step - tried a repair installation of XP. Gets to the XP splash
| | screen with the color bars moving from left to right and then hangs
| | there.
| |
| | Finally based on some info in the NB's thought I might have had a
| | USB hardware failure so disabled USB in the BIOS. Now it boots up
| | and gets to the installation of XP. Of course this isn't really
| | satisfactory since I now have no USB ports
| |
| | Sounds like hardware problems to me but to be sure and before I RMA
| | the MB, does anybody have any other ideas?
| |
| | Thanks
| |
| | Larry

Larry, I have just had a similar problem with my wife's machine. First
symptom was that usb mouse didn't work. Finally lots of errors, blue
screens, both in XP and 98, scandisks show new errors frequently, can't do
repair install. Similar enough?

Sounds like hardware problems to me, too.

yes I think so. I also had other problems before - lots of blue
screens at random times which I traced to a bad stick of memory. Then
more blue screens in the audio driver for the onboard (Realtek?) audio
chip. No wasy way out of that one so I installed a SB Live 5.1 and the
blue screens went away

In my wife's case there was a problem with the cpu fan. It was slowing and
speeding. I vacuumed out the fan and the heat sink and fired it up, and the
mobo went into a continuous beep-beep mode. Replaced the fan and the beeps
stopped, the system booted, but the blue screens got worse and worse.

Are you using an AMD fan or some other one?

I am now engaged in a reinstall of XP. A clean reinstall. I'm doing it
this time, after having failed a few other times, with the CPU cache (duron
700) turned off.

My suspicion is that either the L1 or the L2 cache in the CPU has become
slightly baked, and a reinstall and successful operation of XP with the
cache disabled.will tend to convince me that my guess is correct.

This stupid motherboard, for no reason that I can understand, has always
refused to run a 1200 Athlon, in spite of my having an adequate power
supply, adequate fan, and latest bios flashed into it. I don't even
remember the manufacturer, some el-cheapo with a SiS chipset and integrated
everything.

If anybody has any thoughts as to whether a slightly cooked CPU could be the
cause of my problem and perhaps yours, I'd love to read 'em.