ok. here is the problem... i started getting this message error: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL. and my pc would randomly restart on its own... but it would work just fine in safe mode... i try to uninstall win xp and reinstall it but it would just keep restarting as soon as it loaded the screan with the dif. options. so i found this prog on the net called killDisk... supposed to formatt all win. os's with no complications... so i ran that and it got almost done formatting and BAM a restart. and ever sence then my moniter has not worked but my pc will boot kinda. every now and then if i hit the restart button my pc the moniter will flicker like its tryin to come on but it never does... i cant try to fix it if i cant see nothing... ive removed all hardware from my pc and reinstalled everything, ive tryed 2 dif. video cards.. a old voodoo 3 i had laying around and my current card nvida 5200fx card neither one seems to bring on the moniter... i tested the moniter out on a laptop and it worked fine. i dont belive this to be a power supply prob cause the pc boots all lights come on and the network card light comes on, all fans work etc... any takers?
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anyone have any ideas on how to correct this? 1
- Thread starter HeyDudes
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John Lewis
Programmer
Most likely a RAM problem, based upon the point at which you are seeing a restart.
memtest is a good starting point
Could be a corrupted paging file, but I would think that would have gone away with the measures you have already taken.
memtest is a good starting point
Could be a corrupted paging file, but I would think that would have gone away with the measures you have already taken.
I had the same problem: Driver_not_equal......and the pc would reboot itself. It seemed to come and go. I spent a lot of time searching/reading for a solution. I ran a lot of utilities and nothing worked.
How did I solve the problem? Good question. I'm not sure. I can tell you that in my case it was not a hardware issue. At one point I suspected bad RAM. I have Ultra-X utilities and all of my hardware including RAM passed.
About the only change that I made was to delete several programs because I was getting low on disk space. Once I did that the problem went away. One of the programs I deleted was W2000 Office. Good luck....
How did I solve the problem? Good question. I'm not sure. I can tell you that in my case it was not a hardware issue. At one point I suspected bad RAM. I have Ultra-X utilities and all of my hardware including RAM passed.
About the only change that I made was to delete several programs because I was getting low on disk space. Once I did that the problem went away. One of the programs I deleted was W2000 Office. Good luck....
- Thread starter
- #4
hmm i can not use mem test.. cause the moniter will not come on. first i need to do is see how to get the moniter to come on... every now and then when i hit the reset button on the case the moniter will flash like it trys to come on but it does not... i have no idea =(
I would set the BIOS to default and see if it boots up then. If the battery is weak it won't remember the settings. There is a chemical on the market that will icrease conectivity on RAM and cards. I would do a search for it and try it. I would re-seat the RAM and CPU. Sounds like a tough problem....
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- #6
how do i set the bios to default... when i cant even see the screen? the moniter will not come on... first i need to do is see how to get the moniter to come on... every now and then when i hit the reset button on the case the moniter will flash like it trys to come on but it does not... i have no idea =(
I'm really paying attention....ok, the monitor is good but no video. If you remove the battery that may set it to defaults. I'm not sure how long to remove that battery for but I would do a search on what I just mentioned and see if others concur.
John Lewis
Programmer
memtest boots from a floppy and runs over the OS that is on the floppy. This bypasses Windows, hard drive problems (to a large degree) and uses a different mode on the video card, so it will boot and test many times on machines that seem otherwise dead, including no video.
If it will not boot as well, then run through the FAQ posted earlier (although I prefer to start by removing everything from the board except the CPU at the beginning and add things back in one at a time -- memory first, then video, then the rest).
I'm still betting on a memory problem.
If it will not boot as well, then run through the FAQ posted earlier (although I prefer to start by removing everything from the board except the CPU at the beginning and add things back in one at a time -- memory first, then video, then the rest).
I'm still betting on a memory problem.
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- #12
i got the moniter to come on by reseting the jumpers on the mother board.. when u said reset the bios it didnt register in my head untill i got home... the moniter works great now bios is set back up but it still keeps restarting on its own... quite confusing.. i can spend all day in dos but when i try to reinstall windows on my pc it reboots... dont have a version of windows on my hard drive cause its formatted sort of... every time i even go to reformatt it it restarts... any other ideas?
- Thread starter
- #13
John Lewis
Programmer
Once again, this really points to a memory problem.
can spend all day in dos but when i try to reinstall windows on my pc it reboots
DOS, by default only uses the first 640 k of memory. Windows uses it all (and then some). So, it is possible that you could run DOS using the lower 640 k, but when Windows loads into upper memory (even the installer uses upper memory), problems start.
Also, when you change your BIOS settings using the on screen utility, the BIOS settings are loaded into upper memory then saved when you exit the utility. Clearing with the jumper does not use the same process, so if you were having upper memory problems, it would make sense that using the utility causes problems that could be fixed by using the jumper.
The power saving features should not come into play yet, as it does not sound like you have enough operating system loaded to trigger them.
It is also worth noting that it may not be a problem specifically with the memory -- it could be another hardware problem on the mobo. Have you run memtest?? It should find these problems as well.
can spend all day in dos but when i try to reinstall windows on my pc it reboots
DOS, by default only uses the first 640 k of memory. Windows uses it all (and then some). So, it is possible that you could run DOS using the lower 640 k, but when Windows loads into upper memory (even the installer uses upper memory), problems start.
Also, when you change your BIOS settings using the on screen utility, the BIOS settings are loaded into upper memory then saved when you exit the utility. Clearing with the jumper does not use the same process, so if you were having upper memory problems, it would make sense that using the utility causes problems that could be fixed by using the jumper.
The power saving features should not come into play yet, as it does not sound like you have enough operating system loaded to trigger them.
It is also worth noting that it may not be a problem specifically with the memory -- it could be another hardware problem on the mobo. Have you run memtest?? It should find these problems as well.
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moniter is back on.. everything seems to be working fine except for the whole restarting bit... will be checking the memory tonight when i get home. powersupply didnt seem to be the prob cause all i did was reset the jumpers on the mobo... then the moniter came on with no probs
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- #20
ooook... heres the deal the memory is fine... i tested it on another computer... i took my hard drive out of my computer and connected it to another and reformatted and reinstalled windows xp... then i took the old hard drive and connected it to the other compter but now the computer will not read the hard drive but the pc reconizes it... still having the pc restart issue by the way... the pc worked be 4 in safemode figured id try to get back to point and go from there... so my question is... can you take a hard drive installs windows on it on 1 pc... and then take the same hard drive and load it on a dif computer and it work?
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