Help - graphics card installation problem

[Davey182]

Hiya,

I've just installed an ATi Sapphire 2900 Pro and I cant get the damn thing to 'start up' It has a picture, and the system begins to start up but stops and says cannot start up because it is missing the following file:

WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

It won't even allow, safe start up in any way. It just reboots and reboots... HEEEEELLLLLPPP! The OS is XP (Media Centre Edition)...

Thanks,

Dave

 

[Davey182]

Oh and I've tried system restore but no joy

 

[BAMBI]

Have you tried to repaire windows using windows the CD?

 

[decto]

Hiya,

I've just installed an ATi Sapphire 2900 Pro and I cant get the damn thing to 'start up' It has a picture, and the system begins to start up but stops and says cannot start up because it is missing the following file:

WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

It won't even allow, safe start up in any way. It just reboots and reboots... HEEEEELLLLLPPP! The OS is XP (Media Centre Edition)...

Thanks,

Dave

Did you remove the old Video card drivers before you installed the new card?

Can you boot into safe mode

Drivercleaner might be an option to remove the old drivers in safe mode, a system restore would just reinstall the same older Video drivers.

Also what PSU are you using?

AD

 

[Davey182]

Corsair, 520, gonna put the old card in and see what happens... then I'll stick it in safe mode and install the new drivers BEFORE I put the card in... I don't want to CD restore and lose everything...

 

[Princey]

Boot into safe mode and run DriverCleaner then boot back into Windows and install latest drivers, if that fails run the repair feature on the Windows CD.

 

[Davey182]

It will not let me boot it into safe mode... no matter what I try... I have put the old card in. Same bloody problem though

 

[Princey]

Try repairing Windows with the CD then.

 

[decto]

Is your PC overclocked?

Worth reseting to stock while you troubleshoot if it is.

I don't know if you can install the drivers without the card in as it needs the device ID to know which drivers to install. The ATI cayalysts cover a lot of cards.

As with an earlier post, if you manage to get it to boot, bump into safe mode and use drivercleaner.

If you are still struggling to get a boot, I'd re-seat all the connections to the mainboard including VGA, Memory, PCI, Power, SATA, IDE etc. Wouldn't be the first time I disturbed something while fitting another card, especially a big heavy brick like the 2900

AD

 

[Davey182]

Thanks guys, managed to recover it using system restore (I have to manually sort out all the old data and program files though!)...

Basically the problem arises when there is an interuption to the power supply when Windows is accessing the registry...