OT -- I need Computer Help
 

Sorry for asking computer questions here, but you guys seem to know so much
more than gears and rocks ...


I got a computer for free that I'm sure had virual enhancements affecting
its operation.

It is running WinXP Pro with an AMD K6 processor running at 475 Mhz. I
reformatted the HD by installing it as a Slave (moved a jumper) in another
machine. Now, I'm trying to put it back into the original machine as the
Master (reset the applicable jumper), but the original machine now hangs on
Boot with a message that says VERIFYING DMI POOL DATA.

I can get into the BIOS, and I've set the Boot Sequence to CD>A>C but the
bootable CD never starts because the Pool Data is not being read. I'm lost
here, what should I be doing?

Can I turn the HD into a Slave again, and put anything into it and then
reinstall it as a Master into the original machine? If so, what do I put on
it?


THE REASON I THINK THE MACHINE WAS VIRUALLY ENHANCED
The Task Manager reported in the Performance tab that the processor was
running at 100% all of the time. I went into the various settings in Task
Manager to set the priorities for runing processes to the minimal settings
and smallest possible time slices, but nothing would let the processor take
a rest. The result of the processor running at 100% was that any new command
(mouse click) would take a considerable delay before it would be
processed -- the new command would have to wait for the next available time
slice to appear, but this could take several seconds, and it was possible to
have several mouse clicks stored in a queue and have them process in a
batch.

Re: OT -- I need Computer Help
 

Check your BIOS setup and see if the motherboard is seeing all drives if not
it may be a bad connection on the ribbon cable or an incompatible cable.

If I understand your problem you are trying to install a new HD and it was
in another computer? You formatted the drive in one computer and now you
want it as a master in another. Was the drive you formatted NTFS or FAT32?
If it was NTFS there is a partition on it that formatting does not remove
and if it is being used in a FAT 32 machine it won't work. You need to do
an FDisk delete all partitions, them do a full format.

You will need to boot from XP pro install disk or http://www.bootdisk.com/
download the boot disk for xp and do a clean install'

Coasty

"Jeff Strickland" <crwlr@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:stCdnf-VZvu0tA_enZ2dnUVZ_sadnZ2d@ez2.net...
> Sorry for asking computer questions here, but you guys seem to know so
> much more than gears and rocks ...
>
>
> I got a computer for free that I'm sure had virual enhancements affecting
> its operation.
>
> It is running WinXP Pro with an AMD K6 processor running at 475 Mhz. I
> reformatted the HD by installing it as a Slave (moved a jumper) in another
> machine. Now, I'm trying to put it back into the original machine as the
> Master (reset the applicable jumper), but the original machine now hangs
> on Boot with a message that says VERIFYING DMI POOL DATA.
>
> I can get into the BIOS, and I've set the Boot Sequence to CD>A>C but the
> bootable CD never starts because the Pool Data is not being read. I'm lost
> here, what should I be doing?
>
> Can I turn the HD into a Slave again, and put anything into it and then
> reinstall it as a Master into the original machine? If so, what do I put
> on it?
>
>
> THE REASON I THINK THE MACHINE WAS VIRUALLY ENHANCED
> The Task Manager reported in the Performance tab that the processor was
> running at 100% all of the time. I went into the various settings in Task
> Manager to set the priorities for runing processes to the minimal settings
> and smallest possible time slices, but nothing would let the processor
> take a rest. The result of the processor running at 100% was that any new
> command (mouse click) would take a considerable delay before it would be
> processed -- the new command would have to wait for the next available
> time slice to appear, but this could take several seconds, and it was
> possible to have several mouse clicks stored in a queue and have them
> process in a batch.

Re: OT -- I need Computer Help
 

Check your BIOS setup and see if the motherboard is seeing all drives if not
it may be a bad connection on the ribbon cable or an incompatible cable.

If I understand your problem you are trying to install a new HD and it was
in another computer? You formatted the drive in one computer and now you
want it as a master in another. Was the drive you formatted NTFS or FAT32?
If it was NTFS there is a partition on it that formatting does not remove
and if it is being used in a FAT 32 machine it won't work. You need to do
an FDisk delete all partitions, them do a full format.

You will need to boot from XP pro install disk or http://www.bootdisk.com/
download the boot disk for xp and do a clean install'

Coasty

"Jeff Strickland" <crwlr@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:stCdnf-VZvu0tA_enZ2dnUVZ_sadnZ2d@ez2.net...
> Sorry for asking computer questions here, but you guys seem to know so
> much more than gears and rocks ...
>
>
> I got a computer for free that I'm sure had virual enhancements affecting
> its operation.
>
> It is running WinXP Pro with an AMD K6 processor running at 475 Mhz. I
> reformatted the HD by installing it as a Slave (moved a jumper) in another
> machine. Now, I'm trying to put it back into the original machine as the
> Master (reset the applicable jumper), but the original machine now hangs
> on Boot with a message that says VERIFYING DMI POOL DATA.
>
> I can get into the BIOS, and I've set the Boot Sequence to CD>A>C but the
> bootable CD never starts because the Pool Data is not being read. I'm lost
> here, what should I be doing?
>
> Can I turn the HD into a Slave again, and put anything into it and then
> reinstall it as a Master into the original machine? If so, what do I put
> on it?
>
>
> THE REASON I THINK THE MACHINE WAS VIRUALLY ENHANCED
> The Task Manager reported in the Performance tab that the processor was
> running at 100% all of the time. I went into the various settings in Task
> Manager to set the priorities for runing processes to the minimal settings
> and smallest possible time slices, but nothing would let the processor
> take a rest. The result of the processor running at 100% was that any new
> command (mouse click) would take a considerable delay before it would be
> processed -- the new command would have to wait for the next available
> time slice to appear, but this could take several seconds, and it was
> possible to have several mouse clicks stored in a queue and have them
> process in a batch.

Re: OT -- I need Computer Help
 

Check your BIOS setup and see if the motherboard is seeing all drives if not
it may be a bad connection on the ribbon cable or an incompatible cable.

If I understand your problem you are trying to install a new HD and it was
in another computer? You formatted the drive in one computer and now you
want it as a master in another. Was the drive you formatted NTFS or FAT32?
If it was NTFS there is a partition on it that formatting does not remove
and if it is being used in a FAT 32 machine it won't work. You need to do
an FDisk delete all partitions, them do a full format.

You will need to boot from XP pro install disk or http://www.bootdisk.com/
download the boot disk for xp and do a clean install'

Coasty

"Jeff Strickland" <crwlr@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:stCdnf-VZvu0tA_enZ2dnUVZ_sadnZ2d@ez2.net...
> Sorry for asking computer questions here, but you guys seem to know so
> much more than gears and rocks ...
>
>
> I got a computer for free that I'm sure had virual enhancements affecting
> its operation.
>
> It is running WinXP Pro with an AMD K6 processor running at 475 Mhz. I
> reformatted the HD by installing it as a Slave (moved a jumper) in another
> machine. Now, I'm trying to put it back into the original machine as the
> Master (reset the applicable jumper), but the original machine now hangs
> on Boot with a message that says VERIFYING DMI POOL DATA.
>
> I can get into the BIOS, and I've set the Boot Sequence to CD>A>C but the
> bootable CD never starts because the Pool Data is not being read. I'm lost
> here, what should I be doing?
>
> Can I turn the HD into a Slave again, and put anything into it and then
> reinstall it as a Master into the original machine? If so, what do I put
> on it?
>
>
> THE REASON I THINK THE MACHINE WAS VIRUALLY ENHANCED
> The Task Manager reported in the Performance tab that the processor was
> running at 100% all of the time. I went into the various settings in Task
> Manager to set the priorities for runing processes to the minimal settings
> and smallest possible time slices, but nothing would let the processor
> take a rest. The result of the processor running at 100% was that any new
> command (mouse click) would take a considerable delay before it would be
> processed -- the new command would have to wait for the next available
> time slice to appear, but this could take several seconds, and it was
> possible to have several mouse clicks stored in a queue and have them
> process in a batch.

Re: OT -- I need Computer Help
 

"Coasty" <uscg_retSPOOGE@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:78Sdne1XSb_gsg_eRVn-rg@comcast.com...
> Check your BIOS setup and see if the motherboard is seeing all drives if
> not it may be a bad connection on the ribbon cable or an incompatible
> cable.
>

BIOS sees the drive. The drive worked before it formatted it, but I thought
it was heavily loaded with viruses (virii). Now, if shows up during boot,
but the 'puter hangs with the message, Verifying DMI Pool Data.




> If I understand your problem you are trying to install a new HD and it was
> in another computer?

Not exactly. I had the drive installed in Computer 1. I put it into Computer
2 as a slave to format it, then put it back into Computer 1. Now I want to
load Win XP back on, but I can't get past the boot sequence.



You formatted the drive in one computer and now you
> want it as a master in another. Was the drive you formatted NTFS or
> FAT32? If it was NTFS there is a partition on it that formatting does not
> remove and if it is being used in a FAT 32 machine it won't work. You
> need to do an FDisk delete all partitions, them do a full format.
>

NTFS. Fdisk doesn't work in XP. I think I did a Full Format. The format
initially dod a Quick Format that was complete in about 10 seconds. The Full
Format took about 10 minutes.



> You will need to boot from XP pro install disk or http://www.bootdisk.com/
> download the boot disk for xp and do a clean install'
>

The trouble I'm having is that the Boot Disk (Win XP Install CD) isn't being
read from. It appears during Boot, but the message, "Verifying DMI Pool
Data" is holding me up. I don't know what DMI Pool Data is ...

I'll try that link and let you know what happened ...

Re: OT -- I need Computer Help
 

"Coasty" <uscg_retSPOOGE@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:78Sdne1XSb_gsg_eRVn-rg@comcast.com...
> Check your BIOS setup and see if the motherboard is seeing all drives if
> not it may be a bad connection on the ribbon cable or an incompatible
> cable.
>

BIOS sees the drive. The drive worked before it formatted it, but I thought
it was heavily loaded with viruses (virii). Now, if shows up during boot,
but the 'puter hangs with the message, Verifying DMI Pool Data.




> If I understand your problem you are trying to install a new HD and it was
> in another computer?

Not exactly. I had the drive installed in Computer 1. I put it into Computer
2 as a slave to format it, then put it back into Computer 1. Now I want to
load Win XP back on, but I can't get past the boot sequence.



You formatted the drive in one computer and now you
> want it as a master in another. Was the drive you formatted NTFS or
> FAT32? If it was NTFS there is a partition on it that formatting does not
> remove and if it is being used in a FAT 32 machine it won't work. You
> need to do an FDisk delete all partitions, them do a full format.
>

NTFS. Fdisk doesn't work in XP. I think I did a Full Format. The format
initially dod a Quick Format that was complete in about 10 seconds. The Full
Format took about 10 minutes.



> You will need to boot from XP pro install disk or http://www.bootdisk.com/
> download the boot disk for xp and do a clean install'
>

The trouble I'm having is that the Boot Disk (Win XP Install CD) isn't being
read from. It appears during Boot, but the message, "Verifying DMI Pool
Data" is holding me up. I don't know what DMI Pool Data is ...

I'll try that link and let you know what happened ...

Re: OT -- I need Computer Help
 

"Coasty" <uscg_retSPOOGE@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:78Sdne1XSb_gsg_eRVn-rg@comcast.com...
> Check your BIOS setup and see if the motherboard is seeing all drives if
> not it may be a bad connection on the ribbon cable or an incompatible
> cable.
>

BIOS sees the drive. The drive worked before it formatted it, but I thought
it was heavily loaded with viruses (virii). Now, if shows up during boot,
but the 'puter hangs with the message, Verifying DMI Pool Data.




> If I understand your problem you are trying to install a new HD and it was
> in another computer?

Not exactly. I had the drive installed in Computer 1. I put it into Computer
2 as a slave to format it, then put it back into Computer 1. Now I want to
load Win XP back on, but I can't get past the boot sequence.



You formatted the drive in one computer and now you
> want it as a master in another. Was the drive you formatted NTFS or
> FAT32? If it was NTFS there is a partition on it that formatting does not
> remove and if it is being used in a FAT 32 machine it won't work. You
> need to do an FDisk delete all partitions, them do a full format.
>

NTFS. Fdisk doesn't work in XP. I think I did a Full Format. The format
initially dod a Quick Format that was complete in about 10 seconds. The Full
Format took about 10 minutes.



> You will need to boot from XP pro install disk or http://www.bootdisk.com/
> download the boot disk for xp and do a clean install'
>

The trouble I'm having is that the Boot Disk (Win XP Install CD) isn't being
read from. It appears during Boot, but the message, "Verifying DMI Pool
Data" is holding me up. I don't know what DMI Pool Data is ...

I'll try that link and let you know what happened ...

Re: OT -- I need Computer Help
 

"Jeff Strickland" <crwlr@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:stCdnf-VZvu0tA_enZ2dnUVZ_sadnZ2d@ez2.net...
> Sorry for asking computer questions here, but you guys seem to know so
much
> more than gears and rocks ...
>
>
> I got a computer for free that I'm sure had virual enhancements affecting
> its operation.
>
> It is running WinXP Pro with an AMD K6 processor running at 475 Mhz. I
> reformatted the HD by installing it as a Slave (moved a jumper) in another
> machine. Now, I'm trying to put it back into the original machine as the
> Master (reset the applicable jumper), but the original machine now hangs
on
> Boot with a message that says VERIFYING DMI POOL DATA.
>
> I can get into the BIOS, and I've set the Boot Sequence to CD>A>C but the
> bootable CD never starts because the Pool Data is not being read. I'm lost
> here, what should I be doing?
>
> Can I turn the HD into a Slave again, and put anything into it and then
> reinstall it as a Master into the original machine? If so, what do I put
on
> it?
>
>
> THE REASON I THINK THE MACHINE WAS VIRUALLY ENHANCED
> The Task Manager reported in the Performance tab that the processor was
> running at 100% all of the time. I went into the various settings in Task
> Manager to set the priorities for runing processes to the minimal settings
> and smallest possible time slices, but nothing would let the processor
take
> a rest. The result of the processor running at 100% was that any new
command
> (mouse click) would take a considerable delay before it would be
> processed -- the new command would have to wait for the next available
time
> slice to appear, but this could take several seconds, and it was possible
to
> have several mouse clicks stored in a queue and have them process in a
> batch.
>

Are there 2 drives on the same cable(CD and DVD drives included)? If so,
make sure the other drive isn't set to cable select. I see that on a lot of
machines. Also, this is an older machine, so make sure the BIOS is the
latest version for the motherboard. If still no joy, then remove all the
hardware you do not need for the machine to boot, i.e. CD drive, sound card,
modem, NIC card, etc. I know you won't be able to install anything without
the CD drive, but it is just to eliminate the possibility of an older piece
of hardware taking an IRQ that is causing a conflict.

If it will boot OK without the CD drive on the same cable as the hard drive,
you may just want to run the CD drive as a master on the secondary IDE
channel with a second cable. This will boost your throughput a little
anyway.

In the end, if it will boot without the CD drive, you can still install XP
by putting the hard drive in another machine, and copying the I386 folder
from the XP CD to the hard drive. You will need to boot to a floppy disc if
you use this method. You can use a Win98 disk.

1. boot to floppy
2. at the A:> type cd c:/i386
3. type winnt to begin the install from the hard drive folder.

Chris

Re: OT -- I need Computer Help
 

"Jeff Strickland" <crwlr@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:stCdnf-VZvu0tA_enZ2dnUVZ_sadnZ2d@ez2.net...
> Sorry for asking computer questions here, but you guys seem to know so
much
> more than gears and rocks ...
>
>
> I got a computer for free that I'm sure had virual enhancements affecting
> its operation.
>
> It is running WinXP Pro with an AMD K6 processor running at 475 Mhz. I
> reformatted the HD by installing it as a Slave (moved a jumper) in another
> machine. Now, I'm trying to put it back into the original machine as the
> Master (reset the applicable jumper), but the original machine now hangs
on
> Boot with a message that says VERIFYING DMI POOL DATA.
>
> I can get into the BIOS, and I've set the Boot Sequence to CD>A>C but the
> bootable CD never starts because the Pool Data is not being read. I'm lost
> here, what should I be doing?
>
> Can I turn the HD into a Slave again, and put anything into it and then
> reinstall it as a Master into the original machine? If so, what do I put
on
> it?
>
>
> THE REASON I THINK THE MACHINE WAS VIRUALLY ENHANCED
> The Task Manager reported in the Performance tab that the processor was
> running at 100% all of the time. I went into the various settings in Task
> Manager to set the priorities for runing processes to the minimal settings
> and smallest possible time slices, but nothing would let the processor
take
> a rest. The result of the processor running at 100% was that any new
command
> (mouse click) would take a considerable delay before it would be
> processed -- the new command would have to wait for the next available
time
> slice to appear, but this could take several seconds, and it was possible
to
> have several mouse clicks stored in a queue and have them process in a
> batch.
>

Are there 2 drives on the same cable(CD and DVD drives included)? If so,
make sure the other drive isn't set to cable select. I see that on a lot of
machines. Also, this is an older machine, so make sure the BIOS is the
latest version for the motherboard. If still no joy, then remove all the
hardware you do not need for the machine to boot, i.e. CD drive, sound card,
modem, NIC card, etc. I know you won't be able to install anything without
the CD drive, but it is just to eliminate the possibility of an older piece
of hardware taking an IRQ that is causing a conflict.

If it will boot OK without the CD drive on the same cable as the hard drive,
you may just want to run the CD drive as a master on the secondary IDE
channel with a second cable. This will boost your throughput a little
anyway.

In the end, if it will boot without the CD drive, you can still install XP
by putting the hard drive in another machine, and copying the I386 folder
from the XP CD to the hard drive. You will need to boot to a floppy disc if
you use this method. You can use a Win98 disk.

1. boot to floppy
2. at the A:> type cd c:/i386
3. type winnt to begin the install from the hard drive folder.

Chris

Re: OT -- I need Computer Help
 

"Jeff Strickland" <crwlr@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:stCdnf-VZvu0tA_enZ2dnUVZ_sadnZ2d@ez2.net...
> Sorry for asking computer questions here, but you guys seem to know so
much
> more than gears and rocks ...
>
>
> I got a computer for free that I'm sure had virual enhancements affecting
> its operation.
>
> It is running WinXP Pro with an AMD K6 processor running at 475 Mhz. I
> reformatted the HD by installing it as a Slave (moved a jumper) in another
> machine. Now, I'm trying to put it back into the original machine as the
> Master (reset the applicable jumper), but the original machine now hangs
on
> Boot with a message that says VERIFYING DMI POOL DATA.
>
> I can get into the BIOS, and I've set the Boot Sequence to CD>A>C but the
> bootable CD never starts because the Pool Data is not being read. I'm lost
> here, what should I be doing?
>
> Can I turn the HD into a Slave again, and put anything into it and then
> reinstall it as a Master into the original machine? If so, what do I put
on
> it?
>
>
> THE REASON I THINK THE MACHINE WAS VIRUALLY ENHANCED
> The Task Manager reported in the Performance tab that the processor was
> running at 100% all of the time. I went into the various settings in Task
> Manager to set the priorities for runing processes to the minimal settings
> and smallest possible time slices, but nothing would let the processor
take
> a rest. The result of the processor running at 100% was that any new
command
> (mouse click) would take a considerable delay before it would be
> processed -- the new command would have to wait for the next available
time
> slice to appear, but this could take several seconds, and it was possible
to
> have several mouse clicks stored in a queue and have them process in a
> batch.
>

Are there 2 drives on the same cable(CD and DVD drives included)? If so,
make sure the other drive isn't set to cable select. I see that on a lot of
machines. Also, this is an older machine, so make sure the BIOS is the
latest version for the motherboard. If still no joy, then remove all the
hardware you do not need for the machine to boot, i.e. CD drive, sound card,
modem, NIC card, etc. I know you won't be able to install anything without
the CD drive, but it is just to eliminate the possibility of an older piece
of hardware taking an IRQ that is causing a conflict.

If it will boot OK without the CD drive on the same cable as the hard drive,
you may just want to run the CD drive as a master on the secondary IDE
channel with a second cable. This will boost your throughput a little
anyway.

In the end, if it will boot without the CD drive, you can still install XP
by putting the hard drive in another machine, and copying the I386 folder
from the XP CD to the hard drive. You will need to boot to a floppy disc if
you use this method. You can use a Win98 disk.

1. boot to floppy
2. at the A:> type cd c:/i386
3. type winnt to begin the install from the hard drive folder.

Chris