About a month ago, I built a computer: Athalon 1700+ XP (1.47 ghz), 256 ram, an asus a7v266 motherboard, sound blaster live! mp3+, ATI Radeon 64mb 4x AGP....it was working great, until about a week ago.

I left the computer on when I went to work, and when I returned, I found it frozen on the windows 98 loading screen (the blue clouds, the windows logo and the moving gradient bar at the bottom).

CTRL + ALT + DEL didn't work, so I manually restarted it. This time, it froze again, in the same spot. I kept trying, some times it would freeze in the same spot sometimes it would give me an error message: "while initializing device (insert a number of different letters here, it's different almost every time), windows protection error, you need to restart your computer. I got the same results while trying to boot into safe mode also.

So, I formatted my hard drive, ran scan disk, reinstalled windows, and it actually worked...for one night. Then while it was working fine, it just restarted on me out of nowhere, and it froze while loading windows once again. I kept trying and trying, and I did eventually get into windows. And everything worked fine. I ran a million tests, virus scans, ect. No results. Then it restarted on me again. I haven't gotten back in since.

So, I'm guessing this is probably a hardware problem of some sort..but I really have no clue. Anyone have any ideas, advice, tips, ect.? Please...I spent alot of money, and I need that comp working fast...or I'm screwed.

Originally posted by Big John Stud:
* "the moving gradient bar at the bottom"
* error message: "while initializing device"
moving gradient bar? Scan Disc? Meaning your pc "burpped" & rebooted, maybe from overheating. One of your devices/drivers is not being loaded.
IRQ conflict?
control panel> system> device mgr> computer>
did you check for (!) any conflicts?
What irq's your using (they're listed)
IRQs problems with sound cards (SB Live, Aureal cards)
Windows has to reconfigure the IRQs when new componets are added (IE: NIC cards)
IRQs gets reassigned & the sound card ends up sharing IRQs with other devices.
Erratic sound card detection and also instability is the result.
These problems I usually fixed by manually reserving IRQ5 for the sound card.

p.s.
This is a help forum, so subject lines like "HELP!!!" or "I have a question" are not very useful. Consider, if everyone used descriptive subject lines, it would be easier to search to see if that question
or a similar one has already been asked, answered, & archived.

This behavior can occur when a when your computer loads or unloads a virtual device driver (VxD). In many cases, the VxD that did not load or unload is mentioned in the error message. In other cases, you may not be able to determine which VxD caused the behavior.

Windows Protection error messages can occur under any of the following conditions:

If a real-mode driver and a protected-mode driver are in conflict.


If the registry is damaged.


If either the Win.com file or the Command.com file are infected with a virus, or if either of the files are damaged.


If a protected-mode driver is loaded from the System.ini file and the driver is already initialized.


If there is a physical input/output (I/O) address conflict or a random access memory (RAM) address conflict.


If there are incorrect complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) settings for a built-in peripheral device (such as cache settings, CPU timing, hard disks, and so on).


If the Plug and Play feature of the computer's basic input/output system (BIOS) is not working correctly.


If the computer contains a malfunctioning cache or malfunctioning memory.


If the computer's motherboard is not working properly.


If you installed Microsoft Office 97 and you are using the Novell Client 32 software.


john go here and read some of this see if it helps you
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q149/9/62.asp

As far as Help for a header if you don't know how to describe it Help works for me.

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[This message has been edited by YODA74 (edited 11-18-2001).]

"the moving gradient bar at the bottom."
That's the blue/light blue bar at the bottom of the Windows splash screen that moves across the screen while Windows loads. If the computer is loading Windows normally, it will keep moving. If it hangs, the bar will stop.

The bar used by scandisk and program installations is usually referred to as a progress bar.

Spontaneous reboots are almost always related to heat or power supply. Remove the cover and try it with a small fan blowing inside.

The only other thing I can think of that might cause the windows protection error is the timing issue that was a problem with AMD 350MHz K6-2 chips. At 1700 MHz you might be getting close to another threshold...Try slowing it down a bit, 100MHz at a time and see if it makes any difference. Use the multiplier, not the FSB speed. Voltage could also be an issue, but doesn't really sound like it.

Also check and see if BIOS has fail safe defaults, if so load those, or just use BIOS and Setup Defaults, see if it works, then change things back to current settings one item at a time. Write down the current settings first, for future reference.



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