Good PC probs forum/site?

928ram · 10-23-2004, 12:02 PM

Any of you know of a good and reliable Windows fix-it site?

I'm fighting with a Win98 PC problem for one of the nieghbors, and every google I do comes up with sites that are more along the "just re-install drivers" line; I'm a bit past that step.

bryanthompson · bryanthompson's Garage

TechTV has a couple forums... I haven't been there for a long long time, but it seemed decent. I was more interested in finding Linux groups, but it seemed really active for Winders users.

84porsche · 84porsche's Garage

Post your problem here, someone is bound to know how to fix a computer. This is off-topic.

928ram · 10-23-2004, 03:39 PM

Bryan, thanks I'll try over there; it's called G4techTV now.

84porsche, the main problem is that I said "sure I'll take a look at that for you"

But if anyone wants to take a stab at it: Win98 1st Ed, Athlon, AMD chipset, nVidia TNT2 64. Clean install.

Everything works fine exept the video; if I install any of the nVidia unified drivers (.exe) I got nothing on restart except 2 small red flashing rectagles in the upper left. Some driver files ask for "sucratreg.exe" which is a Win98 SE and later file, even though the drivers are said to be Ok for 98 and even 95.
I found a set of drivers that are the proper ones that aren't unified or an ".exe", but when I try to install them manually they also install an nVidia control panel which won't run. Right now I'm looking for how to install these files (.dll,.vxd,.ini) in such a way that they use the native Win98 controls to adjust color depth and screen resolution instead of the non-working nVidia control panel.
Already tested and re-tested all the hardware involved as well as ruling out IRQ conflicts and such; about 95% sure it's a software glitch.

84porsche · 84porsche's Garage

I will throw out a couple of things and see if they help. I have got myself into messes with helping friends out a few times too many.

1) Does it boot in safe mode with no video problems?
2) Do you have the original driver disks that came with the video card?
3) Did you download drivers or updates that could be corrupt?
4) Can the hardware be upgraded to Win 98SE or Win 2000?

It definitely sounds like a corrupt/missing driver issue. You may be able to find good drivers at www.driverguide.com or at the manufacturer's website if you haven't already looked. By any chance, have you tried a different video card, I know you mentioned that it is not hardware but I am sure you can get a used video card for $10-$15 for a Win 98 machine.
You can also install the drivers direct by right clicking My Computer and going to Device Manager and click on the item that needs a driver and I believe their is an update driver button and you can install a particular driver to work with the particular hardware if you have the drivers.

rcecale · rcecale's Garage

There are quite a few people here that have a great deal of knowledge. I'm sure you can find some help there.

As far as finding the proper driver, http://www.driverguide.com is a pretty good place, as 84Porsche mentioned. Personally, I've had better luck finding various drivers using Google. Just enter the Model Number, Operating System and the word "driver".

Most of the time it ends up taking me to driverguide, it's just easier to find it with google.

Randy

928ram · 10-23-2004, 05:02 PM

84porsche, 1)yes, 2)yes, 3) maybe, but I've also got newer and older version on discs which give identical results, 4)They don't even have any Windows discs, all I have is 98 and XP.

Driverguide is one of my frequent sites these days. I've swapped the video card for another; no problems. I installed this video card on another machine; no problems. This makes me think the problem is the nVidia drivers clashing with the AMD chipset drivers, but the install disc for the video card has the AMD driver pack (as well as others) on it; the same release that the AMD site offers.

Randy; Thanks, I'll try that forum too. I'll try to google the model number and see if it turns up anything too.

rcecale · rcecale's Garage

You may also want to try some of the drivers from here.

This was a result of searching google for "nVidia TNT2 64 windows 98 driver"

Good luck!

Randy

jrdavid68 · 10-23-2004, 09:13 PM

http://forums.techguy.org/

id10t · 10-24-2004, 07:08 AM

I've never found a Windows problem that couldn't be solved by backing up data, formatting, and reinstalling everything

Just for grins try downloading either a copy of Knoppix or one fo the Gentoo Live CDs with America's Army or Enemy Territory on it - that will tell you if it is a hardware or software problem.