Annoying problems with Dual Core/FAtality setup. Anyone got any ideas?

[BigDom]

Ok I origonally bought two identicle PC's so some may remember problems I had before. However my wifes PC is just as bad as mine used to be.

Problem 1) Plug in a Ipod - PC locks up solid.
Problem 2) Try to update Nvidia drivers - Get an error.

Oh and on a related issue - anyone know if there's a Ram speed divider on these system as Project RedAlert uses the same board and is becoming Ram Limited.

Full system spec :-

X2 3800+ running at stock speed.
Abit Fatality AN8 SLI mobo.
X800GTO2 Running stock ( not even unlocked)
2gig Geil Value Ram
Windows 2000 SP4

I re-installed Windows 2000 from scratch, installed SMBus/Network/Sound and Graphics drivers. Did Windows update to beyond SP4 and installed DX9c. Then tried both of the above ( the ipod and the driver update ) neither worked. So the problem is NOT a windows install/config issue, it seems
consistant accross Abit boards and a fresh re-install didn't fix it. Oh and she's running the latest BIOS for the mobo.

I can see another ASus board being purchased as these run fine unlike the Junk that is the Fatality :/ (wish I'd listened to you guys *sob* when I bought it)

 

[BigDom]

2000 is a great OS.. far better than win XP as it's not full of clutter. 2K definatly wasn't a stop gap and in fact many companies still use it and and/or did use it well past XP's release. INCLUDING software development.

In fact all XP is is 2000 with bells and whistles ( although it's developed beyond that a bit now but the core of XP is still 2000 just a developed core of 2000 ). However it could be the OS related although wierdly it seems to be working ok on my Venice chipped Fatality :/

I can answer why you can't reboot Doc... Your Bios picks up the Ipod as an external disk ( which technically it is ) and tries to boot off it and, when that fails, doesn't switch to primary disk. Suspect the Ipod may have a bootstrap but nothing else so it starts to boot off the Ipod, finds the bootloader but then nothing else ( by which time it's too later to swap to the HDD ).

Oh the lockup occurs BEFORE firing up itunes ( when it's adding the disk to exploder).

 

[BigDom]

True, but many companies also skipped it and stayed with NT4 until xp was released...

True it doesnt have the clutter, can give higher performance, but I have always seemed to have stability issues with 2000 on some pc's that have gone away with an install of xp...

A bit like win98 vs ME.... 98 was far more stable..

Just my experience, as I said it may not be an issue, as for stopgap, it was launched feb 17th 2000 and xp came along october 2001.... in the grand scheme of windows OS's, that looks pretty stopgap to me..

Not wishing to drift the thread too much but unlike say NT4 to 2000, XP especially initially, was literally a tweaked 2000 so the comparativly short timespan between the two is because it wasn't a major upgrade compared to NT4 to 2000. FWIW I've had horrendous stability issues with XP, especially in the early days, hence sticking to 2000 .

ME unlike 2000 and XP was a mighty hash on a decent enough OS which fell flat on it's face. In fact there was the same time span between 98 and ME ME was just a flop though unlike XP.

I accept XP will need to be upgraded to in the near future though as XP has diverged from 2K enough to have stuff coming out that's just supported by XP. 2K is a very good OS.. just getting old.

 

[BigDom]

OK done some messing and I'm convinced Fatality boards just do not get on with X2 processors and I've ordered a second Asus Crossfire for it. A 3rd problem I was having has re-occured - annoying instability and random reboots.

My Fatality with a single core processor is just fine ( but exhibited the same symptoms with a X2 ) on my Red Alert project.