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Conference noted::ibmpc-95

Title:	IBM PCs, clones, DOS, etc.
Notice:	Intro in 1-11, Windows stuff in NOTED::MSWINDOWS please
Moderator:	TARKIN::LINND

Created:	Mon Jan 02 1995
Last Modified:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	3023
Total number of notes:	28404

2987.0. "Help unwedge my system" by TUXEDO::FRIDAY (DCE: The real world is distributed too.) Mon Apr 14 1997 10:52

Well, I succeeded in wedging my system this weekend and would
appreciate help unwedging it.  Here's the story.

PC is a Starion 942.  Triple boot set up : Windows 95,
NT 3.51 and NT 4.0. Iomega SCSI card and 2nd IDE drive.

Problems: At boot time, Windows95 waits quite a while before
loading.  After entering the name and password for logging
into the network, the system waits for quite a while before
allowing me to proceed.  SCSI card is no longer visible and
some drive letters are messed up.  Sound doesn't work.  Attempting
to dial out give sthe message that some other application
already has the modem locked up.  Joystick doesn't work.

When my son attempts to boot a DOS disk that contains
a game that uses sound it fails to initialize the sound card
and reboots, and reboots, and reboots...

Attempting to boot NT 4.0 fails: the system stops
at the blue screen, where you'd expect to see it loading
software.

Here's how I got to this "state".

Late last week I purchased a UMAX S6 scanner and attempted
to get it to work off of my Iomega SCSI card.  It didn't
work, but even after all the
mucking around I did with the scanner, the system still worked
as expected.

THEN, since people had verified that Iomega's SCSI card
probably wouldn't work with the scanner, I decided to try
the SCSI card that comes with the
scanner.  So I physically removed the Iomega card (did *not* do
anything wrt the software), plugged in the new card, let Windows
95 detect the new hardware, and succeeded in getting the scanner
to work just fine.  I verified that just as I had feared,
the scanner's SCSI card wouldn't support the ZIP
drive. And so, since the sound was also not working at this
point I removed the scanner's SCSI card and put back the Iomega
card.  (My intention is to purchase a real SCSI card. But I can
live without the scanner until then.)

This left me in the state I'm currently in, as described previously.

I tried letting Windows 95 look for new hardware, but it didn't
find any.  Running the device manager didn't show any mention of
any SCSI card at all, nothing at all strange in fact.

How can I recover?

Thanks in advance.

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
2987.1	re-run Win95 install	PCBUOA::GKELLEY		`Mon Apr 14 1997 11:38`	14
	The DOS boot with no sound can probably be solved by comparing the CONFIG.SYS and the AUTOEXEC.BAT files from the C: drive to the one contained on the floppy - there are three lines in AUTOEXEC.BAT that enable the sound card, without these lines the sound card does not initilize. As to the other problems, I would suggest that you take the Windows95 CD that came with the system and re-run SETUP from the ?:\WIN95 directory (? = the drive letter for the CDROM). Re-running the setup will reinstall any drivers that may have been munged and will also re-run the hardware detect from scratch (running hardware detect from the Control Panel sometimes misses things). glen kelley
2987.2	out with the old....	LIOVAX::POELKER		`Mon Apr 14 1997 21:12`	21
	Note!!!! Hardware detect will not find your original card until you manually remove the one that came with the scaner from your current configuration database in the registry. Win95 is great at finding and configuring devices if its the first time it has seen the device, but Win95 is not so smart when you upgrade or swap devices. Go into control panel, look for scsi controllers, and delete your controller from the configuration by selecting it and clicking on the remove button. Now restart your computer with the original card in place and Shazam! Win95 will now be able to find it and configure it for you. If this doesn't work, you can always use your backup to reset your system to that config. (you DO back up, don't you... :^), or else go to control panel,system, and remove the "current" hardware config from the list of configurations, and let 95 reboot and reconfig from scratch. BACK UP BEFORE ATTEMPTING ANY OF THE ABOVE!! Chris Poelker MCSE
2987.3	NT, last know good configuration	ANGST::legoe.zko.dec.com::marshall	Digital SI, Internet Practice	`Tue Apr 15 1997 13:58`	8
	On the NT part of the problem, can yout boot with the "Last known good configuration"? If you have put the hardware back the way it was and have never successfully booted with the configuration that has the scanner SCSI card installed you should be able to boot with your old NT registery settings. If you have successfully booted you are out of luck and may have to reinstall NT. Chris
2987.4	System now unwedged	TUXEDO::FRIDAY	DCE: The real world is distributed too.	`Wed Apr 16 1997 10:41`	15
	Well, I successfully unwedged my system last night. Turns out it was actually fairly simple. (1) The TeleCommander card somehow got loosened up and had to be reseated (My 11-year old noticed that from looking at the back of the case. Guess I'll have to stop teaching him stuff; he's getting too smart). (2) Reran setup directly off of the CD. This (re-)detected the Iomega SCSI card, and, wonders of wonders, even put back the drive letters the way I had hacked them to be previously. Didn't lose anything! Thanks for the suggestions.