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OOOOkay, how screwed am i?
Ok, so i wake up yeasterday extera early (around noonish) and find at my doorstep all the things that i had been waiting for for over a month. My <a href="http://www.ratpadz.com">Ratpad</a>, <a href="http://www.cardcooler.com">Cardcooler</a>, <a href="http://www.amd.com">AMD ATHLON stickers</a>, <a href="www.allelectronics.com">my allelectronics catalog</a>, and a post card from my friend in Hawaii (sp?).
So i thought to myself: Man, things are lookin up today.
So, i go down stairs to my computer, install all my new goodies and place the card cooler right by my MAX and install my backup 1gig hard drive.
So, i hit DEL at the bios POST phase and get greeted with a bios screen. Hit hit down my down arrow and *bam* the whole screen corrupts, as in filled with random letters and was totally unreadable. So i'm like "Oh F- what'd i do?"
So, i quickly hit the powerswitch, waited a few seconds, and turned it on again.
Nothing. No monitor output, no beeps, no floppy search (symboling a corrupted BIOS on my BP6).
So, after swearing and curseing a few moments, i turned it off again, removed the card cooler, made sure everything was securely seated and turned it on.
No dice, just a black screen again.
At this point i was like "ok, what the f- did i screw up?" So i tried to answer that by unplugging everything but the video card. Yay, it booted up to POST.
So, thinking i had narrowed it down to my hard drive, floppy, cdrom, or my backup hard drive.
However, when i hooked everything up again, just for the hell of it, it posted! It began to load 2k, but, sadly, it froze right after it displayed the IRQ assignments with a blank screen (right where 2k initializes its video).
So, damnnation, i turn off the power and turn it on again. Black screen AGAIN, no beeps, floppy searches, or monitor activity.
Well, since i thought i needed time to cool down, i went upstairs and ate breakfast (or would it have been lunch?). Anyways, after eating i hit the power switch and it POSTS but freezes in 2k at the same problem.
Then, it hit me, maybe its just 2k's problem.
So, after a long reformat and reinstall, i get greeted with the exact same error! Except this time it freezes after it prompts you to reboot for the second time on the installation of 2k.
So, i thought, maybe i just screwed my BP6's bios. So i grab my emergency disk and reflash my BIOS to the newest one avalible (BETA QQ BIOS).
Well, i really don't think reflashing was related to me being able to actually get into win 2k for the first time, buti was finally able to do so.
So i go and grab matox's newest drivers for 2k and install them, prompts for reboot and i hit ok, reboot.
However, it froze AGAIN at the exact same spot after rebooting.
So, i think to myself hmmm, what could it be? I just flashed my Mobo's bios, i guess it could've been the video board's bios that got corrupted when i entered the bios screen (after all, its the thing that displays everything. and it freezes when 2k is trying to initialize the damned video).
So i go and make a nice little emergency disk from my bro's comp and boot up with it.
It gives me this error "invalid imput file checksum"
So, thinking that its just a corrupted disk, i grab a new one and make another emergency disk for it, and boot up with it.
Damn, Same error.
So, i went and re downloaded the file from matroxusers, re-extract it, and make another rescue disk.
Boom, same error, damn this is getting annoying.
Hmm, maybe matrox just messed up with its emergency disk.
So i go and grab all the files, span it across 2 floppys and copy it to my machine.
It starts off fine, it goes and formats/copys all the crap to the emergency disk, but then it just says "Bios checksum failier (or something like that, can't rembember the specifics) and exits the program.
So, here i am, extremely frustrated because i can't seem to find the damned problem.
I really don't think its my BP6's, i think its my g400 MAX's bios.
It boots randomly (1/40) into windows, with no explanation or error message when it doesn't.
Should i RMA my max or not, i don't want to have to spend another $120 on phone calls to matrox like i did before.....
Thanks (sorry its so long)
Any help would be appreciated.
So i thought to myself: Man, things are lookin up today.
So, i go down stairs to my computer, install all my new goodies and place the card cooler right by my MAX and install my backup 1gig hard drive.
So, i hit DEL at the bios POST phase and get greeted with a bios screen. Hit hit down my down arrow and *bam* the whole screen corrupts, as in filled with random letters and was totally unreadable. So i'm like "Oh F- what'd i do?"
So, i quickly hit the powerswitch, waited a few seconds, and turned it on again.
Nothing. No monitor output, no beeps, no floppy search (symboling a corrupted BIOS on my BP6).
So, after swearing and curseing a few moments, i turned it off again, removed the card cooler, made sure everything was securely seated and turned it on.
No dice, just a black screen again.
At this point i was like "ok, what the f- did i screw up?" So i tried to answer that by unplugging everything but the video card. Yay, it booted up to POST.
So, thinking i had narrowed it down to my hard drive, floppy, cdrom, or my backup hard drive.
However, when i hooked everything up again, just for the hell of it, it posted! It began to load 2k, but, sadly, it froze right after it displayed the IRQ assignments with a blank screen (right where 2k initializes its video).
So, damnnation, i turn off the power and turn it on again. Black screen AGAIN, no beeps, floppy searches, or monitor activity.
Well, since i thought i needed time to cool down, i went upstairs and ate breakfast (or would it have been lunch?). Anyways, after eating i hit the power switch and it POSTS but freezes in 2k at the same problem.
Then, it hit me, maybe its just 2k's problem.
So, after a long reformat and reinstall, i get greeted with the exact same error! Except this time it freezes after it prompts you to reboot for the second time on the installation of 2k.
So, i thought, maybe i just screwed my BP6's bios. So i grab my emergency disk and reflash my BIOS to the newest one avalible (BETA QQ BIOS).
Well, i really don't think reflashing was related to me being able to actually get into win 2k for the first time, buti was finally able to do so.
So i go and grab matox's newest drivers for 2k and install them, prompts for reboot and i hit ok, reboot.
However, it froze AGAIN at the exact same spot after rebooting.
So, i think to myself hmmm, what could it be? I just flashed my Mobo's bios, i guess it could've been the video board's bios that got corrupted when i entered the bios screen (after all, its the thing that displays everything. and it freezes when 2k is trying to initialize the damned video).
So i go and make a nice little emergency disk from my bro's comp and boot up with it.
It gives me this error "invalid imput file checksum"
So, thinking that its just a corrupted disk, i grab a new one and make another emergency disk for it, and boot up with it.
Damn, Same error.
So, i went and re downloaded the file from matroxusers, re-extract it, and make another rescue disk.
Boom, same error, damn this is getting annoying.
Hmm, maybe matrox just messed up with its emergency disk.
So i go and grab all the files, span it across 2 floppys and copy it to my machine.
It starts off fine, it goes and formats/copys all the crap to the emergency disk, but then it just says "Bios checksum failier (or something like that, can't rembember the specifics) and exits the program.
So, here i am, extremely frustrated because i can't seem to find the damned problem.
I really don't think its my BP6's, i think its my g400 MAX's bios.
It boots randomly (1/40) into windows, with no explanation or error message when it doesn't.
Should i RMA my max or not, i don't want to have to spend another $120 on phone calls to matrox like i did before.....
Thanks (sorry its so long)
Any help would be appreciated.
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