problems installing NF7-S mobo drivers

houler · Post by **houler** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 12:08 am

Just received a replacement from an NF7-M to an NFS-S because of this exact problem I am currently having.

I flashed to the latest BIOS for revision 2 (that's the rev number i have).

I reformatted my hard drive then re-installed windows xp.

I upgraded to SP2 with the CD.

I downloaded the newest Nforce chipset drivers from the nvidia website for the motherboard and installed them. It prompted me to reboot so I pressed "OK" and windows rebooted.

Now windows won't start.

The Microsoft Windows XP logo and status indicator show up with the black background, but the status indicator always freezes when I bootup after installing the chipset drivers. Hard drive light isn't blinking so I know it's not loading.

I can only boot to windows using the "last known configuration that worked" option when pressing f8. I can't get through safe mode.

I took out all the PC cards only leaving my video card.

I've done this process 4 times with a fresh reformat.

I haven't overclocked. Left everything at default.

What could be the problem?

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 12:21 am

just an idea, try the chipset drivers from Abit instead of Nvidia.

also pull the CMOS battery and clear the jumper after doing a bios flash.

houler · Post by **houler** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 1:33 am

nevermind found out what the problem was. It seems that my cd-rw is incompatible with the chipset drivers. Pre-installation of the chipset drivers, CD-rw was working just fine. Also tried switching the cables and ruled out that the cd-rw was the culprit.

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 1:39 am

and how did you determine that ?

houler · Post by **houler** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 1:55 am

I switched it with a cd-rom drive and it works now

. I'll check the mfg website right now to see if there is a bios update for the drive and re-install it again.

I could boot up with that cd-rw drive just fine and install windows xp. But Windows XP sp2+nforce chipset drivers = doesn't like the cd-rw drive and won't boot.

Massa · Post by **Massa** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 3:17 am

Make sure you install directx 9.0c BEFORE chipset drivers. Also, do not install the nVidia IDE SW driver as it does not provide a performance increase but this is what your CD-RW does not like.

houler · Post by **houler** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 10:25 pm

yep, that solved the problem, thanks