new computer, lost drivers, nothing works

[GailM]

My son bought a computer (1.7g processor, 20gb hard drive, 256mb RAM) with no O/S. When he got it home, he loaded Win98 SE and then made a startup disk thru add/remove programs feature. The monitor he connected to is a 1992 era LeadingEdge. There are lines running up and down the display, so he changed the monitor setting to Plug and Play and the display adaptor to Standard PCI Graphics Adapter. The lines are still there, and we can only choose between 2 colors & 16 colors. The only identifying marks that I can locate on the graphics card are VisionTek, Inc., NV996.0, M64 32MB. My first question is: What do I need to do to get those lines off of the screen and increase the color output?

2. When booting the computer, an error message comes up stating that crtdll.dll cannot be located.

3. In the control panel systems list, there is no modem listed. I have no idea what brand of modem is in the computer. The only # listed on the modem card is TAI-33566-M5-E 94 V-0. When I try to install a modem thru the add hardware function in the control panel, I get the following message: Setup cannot load the installer (Modem.Cpl) for the modem hardware being installed. Contact the vendor for assistance. Again, I have no idea who the modem is manufactured by.

Can someone please tell me what I should do? Can I reformat the hard drive without having the original drivers or knowing where to find them?

Any information you could share with me would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mulga]

You will require drivers for at least your modem & video card, also the sound card if it is not working. Even if sound and video are onboard (built in to the motherboard) they still need drivers. You may also require drivers for the motherboard itself, depending on what it is. From the specifications the computer could be new. If that is the case the supplier should provide all necessary drivers for the hardware. If it is not a new system you will have to locate drivers on the internet. You have the grapics card details so search for the Vision Tek site and go from there. as for the modem, if you are sure there are no other names or numbers on it (there should be) try a google search on the number string you have and see what comes up. If you have no luck then you could try installing it as a "Standard 56k Modem" from the "Add New Hardware" wizard. This may or may not work.

 

[CitrixEngineer]

If the monitor is, as you say, "1992 era", then chances are that this is the problem. Early monitors cannot handle the frequency ranges that powerful graphics cards put out. It may not go above 256 colours, or 800x600 pixels.

The modem is a PC-Tel modem, and the driver can be obtained here

http://www.bestdata.com/tech/pcteldriver.htm.

However, since it's a plug and play "winmodem", it's odd that it doesn't automatically get picked up.

I would suspect a corrupted file.

crtdll.dll is a Dynamic Link Library which contains standard API (Application Program Interface) information for Cathode Ray Tube devices, ie standard monitors. If it can't load, then either the file is corrupted (unlikely on a fresh installation), or it may be that the monitor is somehow not recognised/compatible.

I would suggest a clean start - format the hard disk and start the installation of Windows again. Check that the Windows CD is from a legitimate source, since dodgy copies may contain corrupted files. If it came with the PC, get the vendor to exchange it.

I hope this helps.

 

[Tels]

You say you can only select 2 or 16 colours, and by the model number of the video card you gave me, it looks like what is happening is that Windows, not having the correct drivers for that video card, is defaulting to a very basic set of drivers (hence only 2/16 colours) which are known to work with all cards safely. I've just had a look myself for some drivers for you and I figure that there is a small possibility that the card is powered by NVidia (There are NVidia powered cards made by visiontek) - NVidia has some reference drivers you could try

http://driver.softlookup.com/homeurl.html?memid=548

but I think I've found your drivers at

http://www.visiontek.com/Detonator2.shtml

- try these first - they support 'Model64' (M64) in Win98 - just download these drivers and come back here if you need a hand installing them. As for the monitor, it should at least handle 256 colours (unless it's REALLY old) so once you get the card working you should be able to try more colour. Keep the resolution (screen size) at it's lowest setting - a too-high setting makes most monitors screw up. Good luck Win2000 Network Administrator

 

[Guest_imported]

Easy as 1,2,3. Go to

http://www.driverguide.com,

log in with the username: drivers, password: all Once you have logged in go to the search page and enter in the numbers found on the chipset of both the video card and modem (do each individually)and you will see drivers for different operating systems......Have fun!

 

[paparazi]

Definately Nvidia, M64 sounds like a TNT2 either way those kind people make just one driver that does everything in there range from the lowley TNT to the new G/force 3 Ti500.
Use your seach engine,Google etc, type in nvidia drivers look for the new Detonator 4 XP drivers for 98SE.
Of course you will have to do this on another system.
More worrying is the fact that you havn't got the system board drivers, they are going to be a little more difficult to fathum.
You really ought to get these drivers from the system vendor! anyway hope I've helped. Martin Vote if you found this post helpful please!!

 

[Tels]

Yeah. Pretty sure you can find the drivers you need at the link

http://www.visiontek.com/Detonator2.shtml

. Good luck with the rest. - If you're thinking of re-installing then save the graphics drivers on a disk and provide it when you set up again.

Good luck!

Tels Win2000 Network Administrator

 

[GailM]

WoW! Y'all are absolutely wonderful!! I'm preparing to format this baby and start from scratch. I have the video driver from nvidia, the modem driver (thanks, Citrix!), and the cd-rom from Toshiba doesn't need a special driver...so I'm good to go in those areas. I also downloadeded the crtdll.dll, just in case. (BTW, the Windows98se CD that I have is new and is for computers without an O/S. The computer was bought at a computer sale at the convention center and came with no software & a 30-day warranty. The vendor is located in Ohio, and I'm in St. Louis.)

But.....

I'm trying to load up on every driver I might possibly need, and I'm a little confused. I looked on the motherboard, and the following information was on a small black "box/button" thingie:

SMSC LPC47M102 A0102-B7462 8H102128
American Megatrends 1994

A search for SMSC LPC47M102 took me to SMSC's web site:

http://www.smsc.com/main/catalog/lpc47m10x.html#Additional Information

There are several downloadable files listed at the bottom of that page. Would someone mind taking a look and telling me exactly which files I may need, please? I'm assuming I need the imdisk.zip file??? And do I need any of the others that are listed there? I'm hoping this is the motherboard/system board information that Mulga & paparazi mentioned I might need drivers for.

Now comes the sound card. >scream< Again, there is absolutely no manufacturer or fcc id #. Here is the information that is on the card:

On a white sticker:
A8226559 AudioPCI 0047 600153 (above bar code)
ASSY NO: 04 REV: A
ASSEMBLED IN SINGAPORE
SERIAL NO: A8226559
And stamped directly on the card:
063CE1202 AAB

I've searched and searched and I can't find any info. :-(

I'm going to retire the ancient monitor and use my monitor. It's a Gateway VX700. Do you think doing that will help, and will I need a driver for it?

Is there anything else you can think of that I might be missing?

Thank you all soooooo much for your time and help!

Gail

 

[Mulga]

If you require a driver for the m'board that would be it I would think, however it may not be necessary, just see how it goes without it first.
Your monitor should be fine and normally drivers are not required for standard type monitors.
The sound card is definitely a problem, like you I have searched on the numbers with no result. try going to add new hardware and let windows search for the card. Windows MAY recognize it and if so will tell you what it is, you can then go looking for a driver if there is not one included in windows. If windows can not find it you may be stuck with replacing it unless anybody else can help identify it.

 

[JohnS9051]

Gail,

Go to the following website and download the BIOS Wizard:

http://www.biosupgrades.com/biosagent/index.cfm

Run this program then post the information listed in the bottom section. We can use this info to identify your motherboard and find the drivers.

As for your sound card, look for a chip about 1/2 inch X 3/4 inch, probably the largest chip on the card, post any info printed on this chip.

Once you have posted this info we can try to locate the drivers.

Waiting for your reply.

John

 

[paparazi]

From another Post you ask for futher assistance so lets keep it simple and to the point!!
1)In order for your motherboard to communicate to the periferals connected to it (sound card, modem, graphics, CDrom etc) it needs drivers. These System drivers come with the motherboard on a CDrom disk and are always supplied with a new system.
These board drivers should be loaded imediately after windows installation and without them things just don't work right!
2)Your graphics problem again is just an extension of what we have just said! it is obvious that the display driver is not loaded hence the 16 colours, but again you need the motherboard drivers installing first before you install the display drivers. (it looks like you have a TNT2 by Nvidia) so download the Detonator 4 XP drivers for 98(on another PC)
3) Modem is a little trickier, getting the name of the chipset on the modem will help a little (Conexant, Lucient, Roxwell, Ambient) are the main ones. But every manufacturer has specific drivers so a branded make and model would enable you to go to there website and download the correct drivers
What bothers me in all of this is you should already have all of these drivers on Disk supplied by your system supplier!! even if you bought the sytem in bits it should have come with all the driver disks!! You really are better off ringing up the supplier who knows exactly what parts he used in your system. Martin Vote if you found this post helpful please!!

 

[GailM]

I apologize for the delay...I had to take an unexpected leave of absence from computer learning and repair. I ran the BIOS Agent, as JohnS9051 suggested, and here are the results:

BIOS ID: 030199-
BIOS Date: 7/25/01
BIOS Signon: 51-2300-000000-00101111-030199
BIOS Type: American Megatrends licensed to Intel
Super I/O: SMC LPC47M10x rev 1 found at port 2eh
Chipset: Intel 2530 rev 2
OEM Signon: (this is blank)

PAPAROZI: As I stated in an earlier post, we bought this computer (tower only) at a computer sale at the local convention center in St. Louis. It came without an O/S or any software whatsoever....not even drivers. There were many &quot;vendors&quot; there that follow these convention center computer sales from state to state. There was a two-hour wait from the time we made our purchase till the time they assembled the system right there on-site, obviously using used parts - hence the problems locating the drivers. They told us we had a 30-day warranty, but we aren't even able to locate the company that appears on my credit card statement, PC Parts, Eastlake, Ohio. We made this purchase on December 3rd. Believe me, if I would have known how this was going to turn out, I would not have made the purchase.

ANOTHER PROBLEM: I downloaded a hardware benching & reliability testing software called BurnInTest from

http://www.passmark.com

and ran a series of tests on this system. The Memory RAM test failed stating, &quot;The data written to memory is not the same as the information read from memory. This is a very serious error. It's highly likely that your computer is about to crash or lock up.&quot;

Guess that means I have to replace the RAM now too, huh?

Thanks to all for your help.

Gail

 

[ceh4702]

Might be easier to send the computer back to the vendor for a replacement or refund. Make sure you make them tell you what is in the computer. I would consider just asking for a refund if that applies. If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.