draw2much

THANK YOU! IT WORKED! I almost thought I'd made a giant brick out of my computer. THANK YOU THANK YOU!

I know that, I just don't know how to do it. I don't know what settings will get me to IDE MODE.

I dunno where to put this, so if it needs to be moved, someone please do. I was getting the typical "SATA found running in IDE MODE!" message after I updated my BIOS. I asked whether I should stick with IDE or AHCI. It was suggested I go AHCI, so I did. This was a very very bad idea. I can't boot into Windows 7 now. I'll get past BIOS and Windows will have just started it booting, and then I get a 2 second BSOD screen. I can't read the BSOD, it's not on the screen long enough. Before I switched to AHCI, I had no problems at all. This is all directly related to switching from IDE to AHCI. Please keep that in mind! This is what I've tried: 1. Windows Repair: Did this three times, possibly more... anyway, at some point it started saying "can not repair problem". 2. Booting into Windows Safe Mode. Crashes at Boot, Restarts Automatically. 3. Changing back to IDE MODE in Bios. Can't find option. If you know how, PLEASE TELL ME. (Motherboard is: Gigabyte MA78GM-S2HP, latest BIOS.) 4. Reinstall Windows 7: Discovered I can't boot to DVD anymore. No amount of changing the boot order in BIOS or through Boot Menu fixes this problem. 5. CLR_CMOS: My jumpers don't have their little covers. No way to reset there. Guess I lost the cover at some point. (Ugh!) 6: Reset CMOS with Battery: Tried once, didn't seem to change anything. Will try again, leaving the battery off the motherboard for a longer stretch of time. The only thing I can get to right now are BIOS and Windows 7 Repair functions. I can't access anything else. Any suggestions would be welcomed!

So my Dad put his RAM in sockets 3 and 4 and got no memory errors. He reinstalled Windows 7 Monday, updated, and got no errors there either. He appears *knock on wood* to have a stable system now. What have we learned today folks? When you're getting unexplainable errors... CHECK YOUR MEMORY FIRST! Ugh!

I work part time and I get paid this week. So it won't be a problem. I told my Dad if he wants me to buy another board he should RMA the broken one and either sell what they give him back or just give it to me. (With some winks and nods and stuff thrown in about giving it to me.) The board I have now is a AM2+ and I wouldn't mind owning an AM3 board. >_>

lol, I feel like I'm talking to myself! Dad testing all the RAM and the RAM sockets. Turns out the first two RAM sockets (nearest CPU) are BAD while the RAM sticks are fine. Right now I'm trying to decide whether he should RMA the motherboard. It'll take 2-3 weeks and he won't have a functioning computer while he waits. Hmm.... maybe I can just buy him a new one, he can RMA the old one, and then he can just sell the one Gigabyte returns?* What do you guys think? *I hinted strongly to my Dad that if he wants me to buy him a new one, he should give me whatever Gigabyte sends him from the RMA process. I don't mind owning an AM3 board since all I have right now is a AM2+...

Did a Windows Repair, didn't seem to help. Did a Memory Diagnostic and got an error ID 1202. Tried to google that error but nothing I got back made any sense. However, that does seem to indicate something is wrong with the memory (or the memory socket it resides in). So I'm sending my Dad a list of things to do to check his memory. Fortunately my Mom has a computer that uses the exact same memory modules. So we can swap the memory out to do a one-and-for test on what's really behind the BSOD.

Ah... I wish you'd mentioned that before. I already sent him a link doing it from within windows. I thought that might be easier...

Ok, I sent a link showing my Dad how to do a Windows Repair. We'll see how it goes.

Yes, I was wondering if that just fixes Windows Startup issues or actual windows issues in general? I never was able to find a straight answer about Windows Repair.

He managed to install some of his Office updates, but these are aaaaall the ones left that aren't installing: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v366/dra...tes20100405.jpg Someone suggested trying to reinstall Windows Installer. So I'm doing that next.

Ok.... I built my Dad a computer some time ago. I also built my Mom one. My Mom's computer works just fine. My Dad's computer... not so much. There is something wrong with his Windows 7 installation and I've been trying to figure out what. Is it hardware or software related? Until I can figure it out I don't want to tell him to reinstall or whatever. (It's a difficult thing to trouble shoot because I live in North Texas and he lives in Mississippi. I can't just walk over there and do some easy checks.) His build can be found here. Here is a list of the updates his computer is flat out refusing to install: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v366/dra...es_20100403.jpg Here is a list of the minidumps that resulted from BSODs: http://www.mediafire.com/file/nktqytzm05d/minidump01.zip Here is Turbo Tax, refusing to load for reasons I can't fathom: http://www.mediafire.com/file/dxemzqe3n4n/...ityLogFiles.zip His first set of BSOD appeared to be ATI driver related. I managed to figure that one out and, erm, solve it. The second set seem to be related to the actual Windows Update .exe. I didn't realize the actual Updater could trash a system but apparently it can. I think I solved it by turning off auto updates and having him change how the system reacts to crashes. However, he still can't properly update his system. Besides this being very unsafe I'm also wondering about the stability of his system. Any suggestions? Please keep in mind that whatever you ask me to do, my Father will actually be doing. Some sort of easy step-by-step instructions will be required. Thanks! I could really use the help. I feel responsible for this problem since I built the computer! ^^;

Oh ah....! Ok.. so... AM3 is backward compatible with AM2+, correct? But AM3 boards can not use AM2+ CPUs. Right? Actually, there were two versions of the 6000+. One was 3.0GHz 125W and the other was a 3.1GHz 98W version. I have the 98W. I'm trying to stay in the same wattage with the new CPU. Also, I've got to count my pennies. If I'm gonna spend 155$ I'd rather spend it on a new motherboard and CPU, instead of just a CPU.

Aw... I got it backwards. Thank you for your help though! Looks like I'll have to save up for a motherboard and new ram before I can switch!

AM3 is backward compatible with AM2+ right? My motherboard (Gigabyte 780GM-S2HP) says it takes AM2+. (I kept the box and manual.) I was hoping to buy the processor and then work on getting a new AM3 motherboard and RAM later.