Problem Reformatting - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

kutulu · 01-09-2006, 01:00 PM

So I've had tons of crashes going back quite some time. At least twice per day, the computer just restarts itself. XPs error reporting says it is related to a device driver but there are so many fucking drivers that I really don't want to go through with finding the most up to date driver and going from there.

Anyways, I've decided just to reformat and start from scratch. I have a Gigabyte 7400 Pro 2 (I think, I'm not at home right now) and a Seagate 160 GB SATA HDD. The disk that the mobo came with had driver files for booting and it all went fine when I first did things but now it says that there is a file missing, therefore the process of reinstalling and reformatting is stopped before it even starts.

I went to GB's website and got SATA drivers (non-raid since I only have one HDD) that include the missing file (something like txtsetupoem.something or whatever) and now when I start, Windows tells me that there is an error reading the file. It says something about BIOS drivers or whatnot. I'm really unsure about flashing the BIOS.

I'm really frustrated since I already too the trouble of backing up all my pics, music, programs, and porn (21 full DVDs worth, btw, took forever to get it all organized in folders that are as large as possible so that I could minimize DVD usage). I don't know what to do at all. There is probably a way to just force the reformat without going through the XP install process and then install it as if I just bought it but if I do that then I could just be stuck with a big hunk of plastic, metal, and silicon if I can't get XP to work with the SATA drivers.

Another question is, if the problem is really caused by bad drivers, won't this just start happening again? Do I just need to need to just start updating ALL of my drivers and see if this fixes it, if so is there a list somewhere of what to go get?

dksuddeth · 01-09-2006, 01:33 PM

was the SATA drive hooked up before? It's been my experience to break the comp down to its most basic form when doing reformats and then install extra peripherals one at a time. Take the SATA card out of its slot and then try to reformat/reinstall XP. Once you have updated all of that, reinstall the SATA card with updated drivers from the site.

kutulu · 01-09-2006, 01:37 PM

Yes, its the only drive I've ever used with the system. Also, there is no SATA card, the drive plugs right into the mobo, not an expansion card.

gustaf00 · 01-09-2006, 05:50 PM

I can't really tell from your post, are you booting an XP install CD, and running a windows install from there? Things work much better when you start there, instead of running the installer from within windows.

And if you're doing that, I'm assuming that you've put your SATA drivers on a floppy and hit the magic key to tell the windows setup to load your drivers? "Hit F3 to add third party drivers" or some such. The oemsetup.txt file has to be in the root directory of the disk, so make sure you didn't inadvertantly unzip into a subdirectory.

Other than that, the only thing I can think of is that if the new SATA drivers you got from GB are for a newer bios revision, you probably need to update your bios.

Plaid13 · 01-10-2006, 09:16 AM

Dunno what to tell you about your problem but... 21 dvds... thats like 100gig of porn? thats a collection to be proud of. as far as bad drivers go most likely it just got corrupted and the reinstall of it all new and fresh should fix it. but keep in mind its windows... im pretty sure microsoft considers the twice yearly fromat as basic maitnance.

kutulu · 01-10-2006, 12:43 PM

Well its not ALL porn, I'd say about 1/3 of it is. I rechecked the floppy I originally used and it does have the txtsetup.oem file on it. I run setup and when I hit F6 it says that the file caused an unexpected error some file in the install disk.

I am booting from the install disc, although I did try doing it with windows running just to see if it would work that way but since I would be going from Sp2 to Sp1 windows won't let me do it. From everything I read I'm doing everything right. I don't know what hell is going on.

Maybe I'll just go and get an IDE HDD and do a clean install on that drive. I'm running out of disc space anyways. With all the stuff I have that I backed up plus all my programs and games, the most I ever have free is about 20GB, which really isn't enough since I have some video taken from a home camera I need to encode (what is the uncompressed bitrate, about 1 GB/min?).

01-09-2006, 01:00 PM	#1 (permalink)
kutulu Junkie	Problem Reformatting So I've had tons of crashes going back quite some time. At least twice per day, the computer just restarts itself. XPs error reporting says it is related to a device driver but there are so many fucking drivers that I really don't want to go through with finding the most up to date driver and going from there. Anyways, I've decided just to reformat and start from scratch. I have a Gigabyte 7400 Pro 2 (I think, I'm not at home right now) and a Seagate 160 GB SATA HDD. The disk that the mobo came with had driver files for booting and it all went fine when I first did things but now it says that there is a file missing, therefore the process of reinstalling and reformatting is stopped before it even starts. I went to GB's website and got SATA drivers (non-raid since I only have one HDD) that include the missing file (something like txtsetupoem.something or whatever) and now when I start, Windows tells me that there is an error reading the file. It says something about BIOS drivers or whatnot. I'm really unsure about flashing the BIOS. I'm really frustrated since I already too the trouble of backing up all my pics, music, programs, and porn (21 full DVDs worth, btw, took forever to get it all organized in folders that are as large as possible so that I could minimize DVD usage). I don't know what to do at all. There is probably a way to just force the reformat without going through the XP install process and then install it as if I just bought it but if I do that then I could just be stuck with a big hunk of plastic, metal, and silicon if I can't get XP to work with the SATA drivers. Another question is, if the problem is really caused by bad drivers, won't this just start happening again? Do I just need to need to just start updating ALL of my drivers and see if this fixes it, if so is there a list somewhere of what to go get?

01-09-2006, 01:33 PM	#2 (permalink)
dksuddeth Junkie Location: bedford, tx	was the SATA drive hooked up before? It's been my experience to break the comp down to its most basic form when doing reformats and then install extra peripherals one at a time. Take the SATA card out of its slot and then try to reformat/reinstall XP. Once you have updated all of that, reinstall the SATA card with updated drivers from the site. __________________ "no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything. You cannot conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him."

01-09-2006, 01:37 PM	#3 (permalink)
kutulu Junkie	Yes, its the only drive I've ever used with the system. Also, there is no SATA card, the drive plugs right into the mobo, not an expansion card.

01-09-2006, 05:50 PM	#4 (permalink)
gustaf00 Upright	I can't really tell from your post, are you booting an XP install CD, and running a windows install from there? Things work much better when you start there, instead of running the installer from within windows. And if you're doing that, I'm assuming that you've put your SATA drivers on a floppy and hit the magic key to tell the windows setup to load your drivers? "Hit F3 to add third party drivers" or some such. The oemsetup.txt file has to be in the root directory of the disk, so make sure you didn't inadvertantly unzip into a subdirectory. Other than that, the only thing I can think of is that if the new SATA drivers you got from GB are for a newer bios revision, you probably need to update your bios.

01-10-2006, 09:16 AM	#5 (permalink)
Plaid13 I want a Plaid crayon	Dunno what to tell you about your problem but... 21 dvds... thats like 100gig of porn? thats a collection to be proud of. as far as bad drivers go most likely it just got corrupted and the reinstall of it all new and fresh should fix it. but keep in mind its windows... im pretty sure microsoft considers the twice yearly fromat as basic maitnance.

01-10-2006, 12:43 PM	#6 (permalink)
kutulu Junkie	Well its not ALL porn, I'd say about 1/3 of it is. I rechecked the floppy I originally used and it does have the txtsetup.oem file on it. I run setup and when I hit F6 it says that the file caused an unexpected error some file in the install disk. I am booting from the install disc, although I did try doing it with windows running just to see if it would work that way but since I would be going from Sp2 to Sp1 windows won't let me do it. From everything I read I'm doing everything right. I don't know what hell is going on. Maybe I'll just go and get an IDE HDD and do a clean install on that drive. I'm running out of disc space anyways. With all the stuff I have that I backed up plus all my programs and games, the most I ever have free is about 20GB, which really isn't enough since I have some video taken from a home camera I need to encode (what is the uncompressed bitrate, about 1 GB/min?).