Worm

The article described in this MSKB article applies equally to Windows XP Pro. Unfortunately, there's no option available in the BIOS to disable the PS/2 port which results in IRQ12 being tied up permanently since the system loads the driver even though there's nothing attached to the port. I had occasion to use a PS/2 mouse in order to run Seagate's diags tools recently because the program which runs from a floppy doesn't recognize a USB mouse. I tried to report this problem by using the online support form on the DFI site, but I surmise that it's pretty dated since the only options to choose when answering the question about the type of graphics card installed is either "PCI", "AGP" or "onboard". In any event, submitting the form resulted in a Java error after which all data was lost. Perhaps you peeps would be kind enough to pass this info on to DFI so that they can make a BIOS upgrade available?

Angry, with all due respect, not every problem is hardware related. Although the PSU can influence the way a system behaves, it shouldn't be applied as a "one size fits all" solution to every issue that arises and the necessary steps should be taken to eliminate the problem as a software issue before changing parts. I know troubleshooting can be very time-consuming, but to state that every BSOD, particularly Stop 0x000000A is a hardware issue is downright irresponsible in my opinion.

Repartition your hard drive making the primary no more than 60GB. Although the BIOS can see beyond the 137GB barrier if the HD has either an ATA-133 controller or a SATA, the operating system itself dates from a time when the maximum size of HD's were less than 100GB. If you don't know how to partition a hard drive, you'll find illustrated instructions here

I think you're deceiving yourself if you think replacing the power supply will fix your problem. You've simply got a corrupt installation here and once you've fixed that, you should be able to carry on as normal. To fix the "load needed DLLs for kernel" error, try doing a repair installation like this: 1. Go into the BIOS and set CDROM to first boot device with hard disk second and insert the Windows XP CD. Hit F10 to save & exit. 2. When the installation menu appears, you'll be given three choices which are: To setup Windows XP now, press Enter To repair an existing Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3 Choose the first one by hitting Enter. Hit F8 to accept the licence agreement and Windows will search for existing installations. Select the Windows installation you want to repair and hit R. It's important that you don't hit Enter when you see the message along the bottom of the screen to "hit any key to boot from the CD" since Windows will simply load the setup menu again if you do. So go into the kitchen and make yourself a cup of coffee while the repair installation is taking place. Oh, and although it seems logical to do so, don't choose the second option to load the Recovery Console because there isn't an option to replace missing files from that menu.

When you see the message to hit F6 to install a SCSI driver, hit F7. That will disable ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) which may be interfering with the installation.

To fix the NTLDR not being found insert a blank floppy disk in the drive which has been formatted with Windows XP and then do this: 1. Reboot and hit F8 a few times to access the Windows Advanced menu. From there, choose Safe Mode Command Prompt Only. This loads CMD.EXE. 2. Type CD and hit Enter. This will take you to a C: prompt. 3. Type ATTRIB -S -H and hit Enter. You'll probably see a message appear on screen that the system can't find the Page file, but this isn't important. 5. Type COPY BOOT.INI A: and hit Enter to copy that file to the floppy. 6. Type COPY NTDETECT.COM A: and hit Enter. 7. Type COPY NTLDR A: and hit Enter. 8. Type ATTRIB +S +H and hit Enter. The message about the missing Page file will appear again, but just ignore it as before. 9. Hit CTRL+ALT+DEL to bring up the options dialog box. 10. Click the "Windows" tab and choose to restart the PC. When the PC reboots, it will read the NTLDR file which points it to the Boot.ini and should enable Windows to load correctly. It goes without saying that the first boot device in the BIOS should be "Removable" with "Hard Disk" as second boot device for this to work. If you haven't got a floppy disk which has been formatted with Windows XP, you'll need to do that first from the "Safe Mode Command Prompt Only" prompt. Just type "Format A:" to format it and then proceed with the rest of the instructions.

Go to Start --> Run, type msinfo32 and click OK. In the left hand menu, click "Hardware Resources" and then click "IRQs". Is the 6800GT sharing an IRQ with any other device? EDIT: Your CPU, running at only 1.8Ghz is a bit on the slow side for graphic intensive games I regret to say.

Reboot and immediately after the nF4 splash screen disappears, hit F8 a few times. That should load the Windows Advanced menu. Choose "Last Known Good Configuration". Windows will turn back the clock and load itself using the last known configuration which allowed it to bootup properly.

Actually, the current chipset cooler is a remarkable piece of equipment since it uses magnetic levitation to float above the surface in order to reduce friction. You can read all about it here

Well, I stand to correction on the subject of course, but reading DFI's Press Release, it would seem to me that you still need a dual card setup for the Xpress configuration you mentioned. In addition, it also states that each card works in its default configuration i.e. 1x 16x and 1x 2x rather than in a true SLi setup whereby both cards work at two times 8x. As for many users switching jumpers on their board, two (or more) wrongs don't make a right and I've yet to see any official documentation that clearly states that such a setup i.e. switching 8x support to the secondary PCIE #4 is supported.

If you boot into Safe Mode, is it visible there?

I suspect from your reply here that you haven't flashed the BIOS yet. The Phoenix Award BIOS is version 6.0, but the DFI BIOS that ships with the board dates from 2004. The Venice core CPUs require at least v310 because of changes to the processor instruction set that the Venice core added. The latest BIOS upgrade can be downloaded from here and you should choose to download the exe file version. Insert a blank floppy in the drive and then run the exe file. It will format the floppy and then create a bootable disk which flashes the BIOS. Leave the diskette in the drive and reboot. Factory default has the floppy drive as first boot device and hard drive second, so the flash program should commence on reboot. If it doesn't, then you'll need to go into the BIOS and change the boot sequence to "Removable" as first boot device with hard drive second. The flash program is entirely automatic and requires no user intervention on your part. After the flash process terminates, go back into the BIOS and load "Optimized Defaults" (there's no need to clear CMOS). If you're not going to install RAID, go into the GENIE BIOS and set "Sil 3114 SATA RAID" to Disabled. F10 to save & exit.

Yes, you're correct. Apologies for my error there. So in your particular case, the problem is that although the system is able to hand over the bootstrap routine to the OS, that's not happening. Are you able to load the Recovery Console from the Windows XP CD?

The actual PSU requirements are on page #16 of the printed manual and to be fair, it does state there that a minimum 400W is highly recommended. As for your 7800GTX, that will draw around 285W at full load conditions leaving very little over for other components if all you've got is a 380W unit. EDIT: By the way, which board did you replace it with?

Which BIOS version are you running Smitty and have you got the Venice core or one of the older processors?