slow boot.. weird screen after windows

[dlrider63]

I just got a new barebones system and I have had nothing but trouble.
I finally got MOST of the bugs worked out, but I have 2 problems remaining.
first, on the boot, it goes through the POST pretty quick and jumps to the windows screen. Then it stays there for a while and goes back to a black screen with a flashing prompt with a c prompt below it and stays there for quite a while, and finally goes into windows and finishes the boot.

It has a SCSI dvd rom in it and im wondering if this is the problem and what I can do to speed things along.
The second problem I am having is with the video chip. It is an SIS630 system, and was supposed to be corporate so there is very little if any tech advice. And the site for the video chip gives no tech support at all. Here is the problem. It appears to work, except the 3D. When you test it in the program, you see a bunch of flashes. and I put the fish 3d screensaver on this system, which works fine on mine, and get weird flashes all around the fish. the same as in testing. IM running 98SE on it BTW.
This is a system I am rebuilding for my boss, and she THINKS I know what I am doing. can anyone help me figure this out? its up and running except for this.

[jim_roberts1]

It sounds like a refresh rate problem. Sometimes the wrong monitor settings can cause the flickering. My suggestion would be to go into Device Manager and remove the monitor that is in there and let it detect it again. I am assuming that you have the correct drivers for the video card installed, already and recently. Try that and check back here to see if anyone else has an idea of what might be the trouble.

Here is a link for the driver for that graphics card.


http://www.sis.com/support/driver/630.htm

[This message has been edited by jim_roberts1 (edited 04-17-2002).]

[Rick]

The Boot screen / process you are seeing is Normal.
The black screen you see between the two windows splash screens is normal.
It is windows loading drivers and among them is the Video driver. Hence the flash back to the blank screen with c: _ flashing prompt


If the DVD drive is the only scsi device on the controller. And or the last item on the chain.
Check the scsi termination .
It should be on the last ID / device on the chain.
If it is Not terminated correctly the scsi driver will search all ID’s and devices even if nothing is on them. ( Slowing down the boot process )

In Addition what if any are the other scsi devices on this system?
Is it scsi hard drive also or Just cd-rom and or dvd drive?

If it does not have a scsi hard drive installed .
Does it have the old dos cssi drives loading at boot?
If yes. They are not needed with win98 and should be remarked (rem) out in the config.sys
and the mscdex.exe in autoexec.bat files should also be remarked out

[This message has been edited by Rick (edited 04-17-2002).]

[dlrider63]

Originally posted by Rick:
The Boot screen / process you are seeing is Normal.
The black screen you see between the two windows splash screens is normal.
It is windows loading drivers and among them is the Video driver. Hence the flash back to the blank screen with c: _ flashing prompt


If the DVD drive is the only scsi device on the controller. And or the last item on the chain.
Check the scsi termination .
It should be on the last ID / device on the chain.
If it is Not terminated correctly the scsi driver will search all ID’s and devices even if nothing is on them. ( Slowing down the boot process )
the problem with the flashing prompt is that from start to finish it is taking over 90 seconds to boot....and only about ten of them to get to the first windows screen.

as for the scsi termination.. this is the only thing on there, but could you go into a bit more detail as this is the first experience I have had with scsi.

as far as the drivers, I used the utility disk driver, but i have just downloaded the driver from the link. I will let you know how that works when i go there today.

[dlrider63]

the hard drive is IDE, and it was f disked and reformatted before I reinstalled windows, so there are no old files in the system.

could you please tell me how to determine the scsi termination?

[Rick]

On the drive you should find a set of jumpers for ID select . Id 0-9 and an additional jumper of switch to enable or disable termination

If the drive is the last or only device on the chain it should be set to Enable termination..

Double check the Config.sys and autoexec.bat for for dos drives.
Using MSCONFIG from the run box in start menu.

The utility disk driver you ran may have installed the dos device drivers for the dvd.
That could be what is causing the delay in boot.
Windows attempting to remove the dos drivers and replace them with its own VxM drivers

Also check the Bios for a scsi device boot bios loader. Disable it.
If you don’t have a another cd rom drive installed also disable the boot from CD option in bios if it is supported.

[mjc]

As for the long boot time, what do you have running in the background"

Many background programs will start between the splashscreens, a boot time AV scan will run, although most of them will have some info, network drivers will load etc.....try reducing the running apps to see if you can pick up some time.

------------------
mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

[dlrider63]

I will double check. I thought I closed all but a few, but I did reinstall a couple things while i was trying to get this thing working.

as for the 3D not working, other than updating the driver and the reinstalling the monitor does anyone have any other suggestions before i go to work on it? Its at work and I haven't gone over there yet (was trying not to as it is my day off!)

[dlrider63]

well. I just spent 3 hours at work, on my day off, trying to get this worked out. All I got was a headache.
i reinstalled the monitor and the new driver I downloaded frm the link. nothing changed in the 3d part of the sis630 displays. all ythose flashes are still there in the test.
as for the slow boot, this is what i know. the term jumper is in the spot that it says to put it for termination to be on. if I try to turn it off(by putting the jumper sideways between pin 5 and 6) all it does is tell me i dont have anything hooked to my controller.
in order to check if the scsi was causing the slow boot, I completely removed it. it speed up alittle bit, but not much.

there is nothing listed in the config.sys at all, and the only thing in autoexec.bat is GO Back. I know that uses some power but i have it on my system and it doesn't slow it down that much, does it?

the dvd rom that is in it is a part that was robbed from a emachine 400idx, and I have the disk for the 400ix.(my boss and her mom had one each of these towers. they both blew power supply and motherboard according to the place they had them checked.) the ix disk does not have the program for the dvd player, and when i try to load mine, it says I dont have an IDE dvd rom drive. Are there any software programs that will run this dvd rom so they can use it? it works as a cd rom, and it is loaded in properties as teac cd rom.
as far as speeding up the boot. im still open to suggestions, but hey can live with it if I can getthe other stuff to work.

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the most common 4 word sentence in a parents vocabulary: "Because I SAID so!"

[Rick]

To get the DVD working as a DVD drive you needs to find the make and model of the drive and down load the correct drives for it.

Check the drive markings for Make model # and any other info you may feel helpful.
Then Just do a search of the Manufacturer or The Original machine makers site for drivers.

Once you get win98 to see it as a dvd them you should be able to install your dvd player software that if available came with your video card to view dvd’s

One the drivers are installed in win98 you should be able to access the drive as a normal recoverable media drive

[mjc]

One nice thing about eMachines is that they don't use too many proprietary parts (motherboards are about all I can think of), but most of what is in them is the cheapest around....so that DVD ROM will most likely be a low-end unit.

When you replaced the video drivers did you switch to a standard VGA device first?

did you remove the old ones? In Safe Mode?

------------------
mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

[dlrider63]

I did not delete the old drivers as I did a reformat after i changed everything over, so the old stuff would not have been there. I will try to remove the drivers in safe mode and reinstall again tomorrow. as far as sitching to VGA, you mean in bios? I had the option for ega?vga set, as it was the only one that had vga in it. but maybe I am not understanding. Seems I have even more to learn than i thought...
It would not even recognize the dvd until after i loaded windows. I had to hook a spare cd rom i had up in order to load 98se. I will get the acual model number from the dvd drive tomorrow. The emachine site was no help on either the model number or to tell me what software came with the original system.
I tried to load the program for the new dvd I have but it is asking for an IDE dvdrom,, and this is scsi.
I know what you mean about low end. I have 2 versions of their 400i here and they both lost power supply and then motherboard. at least we were told it was the mother board. But when I plugged in the new power supply the power supply fan and cpu fan would spin for a half-second, and the little light on the motherboard would flick green, and then it would be dead.
Still looking for ideas here. Fell kinda foolish because I dont have it set up correctly yet.

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the most common 4 word sentence in a parents vocabulary: "Because I SAID so!"

[dlrider63]

ok. Now i feel "officially STUPID"

I assumed it was a dvd rom. The front of the tower says dvd rom all over it, and it was supposed to be, but apparently someone switched it out at some point. The scsi cd rom in there was a teac 532s. The dvd rom that was supposed to be in it was not listed as scsi and it was emachines make. I have since taken it out, and put the original 52x atapi that came with the new tower back in, and the boot time is half as long now, and there is less hanging. so that half of the problem is taken care of, and would have been sooner if i had been paying attention. It does not say DVD anywhere on it.
The 3D is still not working right, and i got an illegal operation when i tried to test it. I had it wrote down but i dont have it with me. something about VXD though i Know. any ideas on that?


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the most common 4 word sentence in a parents vocabulary: "Because I SAID so!"

[Rick]

Don’t feel that way.
it’s not the first time some has been told or believed that one device was installed Just to find it was another all together.

3d is another animal all together.
It is 100% dependent on the video card or chipset and what version of the video chip is installed
Along with the Mother Board chip set, for AGP support.
If the driver is not the correct one it will / may work with some features and not others.
The flashing around objects in 3d? Almost sounds like something is set to high
Does that video / display have an advanced button in in the setup screen?
Under the adjust video resolution and color depth ?
If so check what it set and how high.
Try reducing some of the settings.

Unfortunately I have not worked with an Sis chip set in years
So I can’t be of much help to you on this one.