Monday, August 02, 2004

How does an Average Joe cope?

What do they do when something goes wrong with their computer? Do they buy a new one? Or take it in to a store/tech place that overcharges them for a bunch of problems that they didn't have? Or does everyone have a resident computer tech in the family that they call to help out?

The reason I'm wondering about this is that I recently replaced my video card. It's actually a downgrade, but only a slight one (Radeon 9800 Pro to 9700 Pro). The only thing is, once I swapped the card, my computer refused to boot. It would get to the POST screen, and then freeze.

"What the hell?" I was heard to remark. Maybe the CMOS needs to be reset. I've got onboard video and onboard sound on my mother board (and a video card and sound card plugged in), so maybe my computer thought both video cards were present, or something. I flip the jumper to reset the CMOS, and turn my computer on. It goes to the POST screen, and I press Delete to get into the Setup. I arrow down to disable the onboard video, and my computer freezes. In the CMOS Setup. No, I'm not kidding.

"What the fuck?" my remark is now upgraded to. Let's try the other video card, maybe it just doesn't like this new one. I swap it, reset the CMOS, and boot back up. I go into the Setup, same result, frozen computer.

Now I'm getting pissed. I try another, much older video card. Freezes in the Setup. I go back to the 9700. I tear my computer apart, unplugging everything except the processor, and then plugging it back in. Resest the CMOS again, and boot up. I get into the Setup, disable the onboard video and sound, and save. It reboots, and goes into Windows. I dance a jig. I then turn it off.

Later that night, I surf the web, listen to some music. This goes on for about a half hour, and I get a Blue Screen of Death. Some cryptic error message about IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL. I've seen this before, and researched it. Basically, it can be caused by a hundred different things. Chances are, though, if you're changed something recently, that's the problem. So my video card is conflicting with something else. I reboot, and download new drivers. Other than making my computer slow as molasses (why the hell can't ATI test their new drivers before releasing them? But that's a whole other rant), I still get a BSOD ten minutes later. It's late, so I power off my computer in anger and decide to work on it the next day.

I power it up first thing the next morning, and it doesn't boot. No beeps, no monitor turn on, it just sat there, whirring its fans. Hit the reset button, no dice. "God fucking dammit." Reset the CMOS, reboot. POST screen, CMOS Setup, freeze. Power off, remove the video card and sound card, reset CMOS, power up. Boots into Windows. I stress test it, works fine. I continue to use it for almost 2 hours, no problems whatsoever. At this point I'm thinking something's screwy with my AGP slot or something, and have resigned to return my case/motherboard for replacement.

Today, I talked to Ben (my boss at COP IT) about the problems I was having. He said I should try flashing the BIOS. Duh, why didn't I think of that. So that's what I did tonight, reset the CMOS, disabled the onboard sound and video, and plugged my cards back in. I've been running for 45 minutes, no problems. I'll have to buy Ben lunch tomorrow.

No comments: