I hate computers Video problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter Metspitzer
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Metspitzer

I have a 3 Ghz XP machine. The graphics card is a Nvidia 6800.
I took it out to check to see if another card was bad. I put in a
5500 long enough to find out it was good. I shut down the computer
and put the 6800 back in. (and plugged the molex plug in)

The computer shows the mobo banner, and shows the Windoze loading
status bar. The status bar makes about 4 passes, and then reboots. A
couple of times it flashed the blue screen of death for just an
instant.

Suggestions?
 
I have a 3 Ghz XP machine. The graphics card is a Nvidia 6800.
I took it out to check to see if another card was bad. I put in a
5500 long enough to find out it was good. I shut down the computer
and put the 6800 back in. (and plugged the molex plug in)

The computer shows the mobo banner, and shows the Windoze loading
status bar. The status bar makes about 4 passes, and then reboots. A
couple of times it flashed the blue screen of death for just an
instant.

Suggestions?
Click to expand...
You caused windows XP to think that enough hardware changed to require a
repair install of windows. Once enough changes to hardware is done, windows
considers that you are basically running on a new machine and requires you to
reinstall and reactivate the PC.

Do a google search on how to do a "Repair Install XP"
 
what did you do about the drivers....

did you remove the 6800 drivers before putting the 5500 board and loading
its drivers then unload them before replacing the 6800 and its drivers ?
Click to expand...

No I didn't. I have changed video cards before, and never uninstalled
the previous.

I was going to uninstall the drivers after the switch, but there
doesn't seem to be any way to unload the Nvidia manager. I can change
the Nividia nView Desktop manager from disable to enable, but I don't
see any way to remove it.

The only driver in the device manager is for the 5500.
 
You caused windows XP to think that enough hardware changed to require a
repair install of windows. Once enough changes to hardware is done, windows
considers that you are basically running on a new machine and requires you to
reinstall and reactivate the PC.

Do a google search on how to do a "Repair Install XP"
Click to expand...

By changing a video card twice? I don't think so. I will reserve
this option for later, if I have to.

Thanks
 
GMAN said:
You caused windows XP to think that enough hardware changed to require a
repair install of windows.
Click to expand...

Rubbish. I've done a complete motherboard swap going from SiS
chipsetted Athlon XP to an Intel chipsetted P4 and it didn't need a
repair install.
 
Metspitzer said:
No I didn't. I have changed video cards before, and never uninstalled
the previous.
Click to expand...
You can usually get away with that if you're going from say onboard to
ATI or ATI to nVidia but when you're doing nVidia to nVidia, sometimes
it can go wrong.
 
Conor said:
Rubbish. I've done a complete motherboard swap going from SiS
chipsetted Athlon XP to an Intel chipsetted P4 and it didn't need a
repair install.
Click to expand...

And so have I. But it doesn't always work.
 
Metspitzer said:
I have a 3 Ghz XP machine. The graphics card is a Nvidia 6800.
I took it out to check to see if another card was bad. I put in a
5500 long enough to find out it was good. I shut down the computer
and put the 6800 back in. (and plugged the molex plug in)

The computer shows the mobo banner, and shows the Windoze loading
status bar. The status bar makes about 4 passes, and then reboots. A
couple of times it flashed the blue screen of death for just an
instant.

Suggestions?
Click to expand...

I always worry about the driver issues when doing that. So if I was
doing that transition, it would be

Uninstall Nvidia driver.
Change video card.
Install Nvidia driver.

I learned that the hard way.

Paul
 
By changing a video card twice? I don't think so. I will reserve
this option for later, if I have to.

Thanks
Click to expand...


Yes, I "Think" so.


I have had it happen by just changing a network card and a video card. It got
stuck in a pertetual reboot cycle, bluescreening then immediately rebooting.
Couldnt safe mode, couldnt do anything but reinstall over the top of XP.



http://news.cnet.
com/Microsofts-XP-Hardware-changes-a-turnoff/2100-1002_3-269085.html

"Office XP and Windows XP are capable of deactivating if the user makes
radical changes to a computer's hardware configuration, which could trick the
software into thinking it has been moved to another system.

"When you activate, what it does is lock the software to the hardware--takes
the signature of the hardware," explained Guernsey Research analyst Chris
LeTocq. "The technology is designed to detect changes in the configuration.
Should the hardware fingerprint change, the activation technology may think
you're running the software on another machine."

The potential for problems is greatest on desktops whenever consumers or
businesses upgrade components, but it can also affect notebooks, where
software could be rendered virtually useless on the road if the owner made
substantial hardware changes.

Tom Bailey, Microsoft's lead product for Office, acknowledged this scenario
can happen.

"In order for the activation to take, it identifies a wide variety of
components in your system," he explained. "If a certain number of components
change over time--for example, you get a new video card, add memory, this,
that or the other thing to that PC--it will ask you to reactivate."





http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.php
 
Rubbish. I've done a complete motherboard swap going from SiS
chipsetted Athlon XP to an Intel chipsetted P4 and it didn't need a
repair install.
Click to expand...
Rubbish my ass.


http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.php


Changing the motherboard

Installing a replacement motherboard will change the IDE controller, and
usually will mean that you change to a new, faster, processor. If the
processor is one with a serial number (Pentium III), then you lose a third
vote — including when you change to a processor with no serial number, such as
an Athlon. If you also add RAM, or if the motherboard is one with an on-board
SCSI adapter, that makes four or five categories now voting No — you would
need an unchanged NIC to avoid having to call in for reactivation. If the new
motherboard also has inbuilt video (and possibly even a NIC of its own!), you
run right out of Yes votes with this one hardware change.

Again, this doesn’t stop you from making such a hardware change, nor from
using Windows XP thereafter. The phone-in reactivation option was created for
just this type of situation. Also, this is an extreme example. Due to the
onboard features of some motherboards, this one hardware change is equivalent
to several changes at once.



What if I make too many changes?

If, on Windows startup, there are not the required seven Yes votes, the system
will, in the original version of Windows XP, only boot to Safe Mode. You will
be required to reactivate by a phone call to Microsoft. You will have to write
down a 50-digit number, call into the activation center on a toll-free number
that will be given to you, read and check back the number you recorded — and
explain the circumstances. In exchange, you will be given a 42-digit number to
type in. This will reactivate your copy of Windows.



What hardware gets checked?

The WPA system checks ten categories of hardware:

Display Adapter
SCSI Adapter
IDE Adapter (effectively the motherboard)
Network Adapter (NIC) and its MAC Address
RAM Amount Range (i.e., 0-64mb, 64-128mb, etc.)
Processor Type
Processor Serial Number
Hard Drive Device
Hard Drive Volume Serial Number (VSN)
CD-ROM / CD-RW / DVD-ROM
 
I have a 3 Ghz XP machine. The graphics card is a Nvidia 6800.
I took it out to check to see if another card was bad. I put in a
5500 long enough to find out it was good. I shut down the computer
and put the 6800 back in. (and plugged the molex plug in)

The computer shows the mobo banner, and shows the Windoze loading
status bar. The status bar makes about 4 passes, and then reboots. A
couple of times it flashed the blue screen of death for just an
instant.

Suggestions?
Click to expand...

I did a system restore, and changed the video card after the shutdown.
For some reason I couldn't get my computer to boot in safe mode.

Thanks everyone.
 
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