me again... VIA VT82C686A drivers and XP Pro

**Sockhatguy** · July 8th, 2005, 12:54 AM

Hello everyone, the unstable-and-crappy system owner here again. Previous crashes were due to bad video card drivers and missing connectors on a pricy ram chip. Now the only problem I'm running into is my VIA bus master IDE drivers...I get the "found new hardware wizard" every time I reboot, and windows can't find the drivers online. I fould the drivers for my chip (the VIA VT82C686A) but it has a note that says that if an XP user screws this up, the only way to fix it is a complete format...that wouldn't be too bad if I had my XP Pro disks...but I bought the compy with XP pre-programmed on the system, and it didn't come with the disks.

Should I go ahead and risk the install, or is there an easier way to work around this?

or does Via Arena possibly have a safer installer? Would creating a restore point do any good, if I were to mess up the install or something fatal happens to my system?

Mobo: Asus K7M (Slot A), stuffed with a 900 MHz AMD T-bird and loads of other stuff. The Via chip itself has the numbers VT82C686A printed on it. I'm just nervous.

And another, that I may post in the correct forum, but I've created more than enough annoyances for you gals and guys, is finding the correct drivers for my GeCube Radeon 9200 SE 128 MB Video card.

GeCube has drivers for a 9250 and up, but not for the 9200 series. and the support people haven't gotten back with me after a solid week of sending emails and forums. any ideas?

As always, Thanks for any and all help!

**confus-ed** · July 8th, 2005, 02:38 AM

Originally Posted by Sockhatguy

... I fould the drivers for my chip (the VIA VT82C686A) but it has a note that says that if an XP user screws this up, the only way to fix it is a complete format...

Show me where it says that !

.. the only reason you should generally 'have to resort' to this level of 'giving up' is because you don't know the versions of all the inf files involved, via should certainly know these ..

I'm unclear on what's happening though, is this happening after you've added the 4-in-1s (hyperions) ? & can you tell what windows is looking for ? Not some '.cat' files by any chance ?

Btw is you are completely convinced of your 'right' to be in possesion of an xp disk, even though you didn't get one supplied, I'd work on 'aquiring' one

& on your video drivers, well whats wrong with the ones at ati ?

**Mayet** · July 8th, 2005, 04:58 AM

Ah so it was the ram? *me does a little dance

http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=759

ATI drivers above

If you have the correct chipset 4 in 1's I wouldnt worry to much about wrong installs and reformats.......

and yeah for the heck of it, create a restore point....

**confus-ed** · July 8th, 2005, 05:14 AM

Originally Posted by Mayet

Ah so it was the ram? *me does a little dance....

Which he sussed out by running a memory tester despite them being 'unreliable'

**Mayet** · July 8th, 2005, 09:13 AM

I wish I had a mem tester to see how my own memory is going.........

or where its gone to

**Ferrit** · July 8th, 2005, 09:22 AM

you need the old version of the 4 in 1 drivers for that board
And I would say yer biggest issue with the system is the creative card
And your Gecube radeon uses nothing other then the ATI drivers

**Sockhatguy** · July 9th, 2005, 08:25 PM

The "Found New Hardware Wizard" wants to look for the software for:

VIA bus master IDE drivers

and gives the message that if I have the CD, insert it now...blah blah

no mention of .cat drivers...

So the Hyperion 4-in-1 drivers will work? I'll have to do some digging for my board.

If the install goes wrong, will I have any problems going back to what I had, or to the right drivers?

would that be one of the reasons that, no matter what version of the ATI drivers that I try, my computer loves to crash to a BSOD, with a part of the ATI drivers listed. ...hmm...

at first I thought that was the ram, but it's back with a vengeance.

btw - it' can't be heat because I have now permenantly mounted a 3ftx3ft Box fan to the open side of my case. a bit loud, but nice and cool.

Why would my creative card be a problem?

Thanks for the help, and just to let ya know, I did not find my ram issue with a memory tester...the first time I checked it it was alright, I let the memory test run for over 6 hours with nothing coming up...but I found the flaw after I took it out.

**Sockhatguy** · July 9th, 2005, 09:12 PM

I can't find any info for my via vt82c686a at the via homepage...no info at all...great... any help?

**Sockhatguy** · July 9th, 2005, 09:20 PM

http://support.asus.com/download/dow...Language=en-us

I found some things from Asus here for my Mobo, but none are listed for use with XP...

**Sockhatguy** · July 9th, 2005, 09:26 PM

well, after more digging, Via Arena came up with this for me: Name: Apollo KX133, Northbridge: VT8371 Southbridge: VT82C686A/B, CPU: Athlon (At http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx...D=40&STypeID=8) But when I try to check out more info on the Apollow KX133, I get a missing page error from VIA. When I click on "view" to view the motherboards, my Asus K7M is not listed...

sorry for all the quick replies, I just wanted to get as much info possible in here to help out anyone who chooses to help the search.

**Mayet** · July 10th, 2005, 12:40 AM

http://downloads.viaarena.com/driver..._4in1_443v.zip

VIA Hyperion 4in1 drivers are compatible with any VIA chipset. Performance, however, is optimized for the more recent and the latest chipsets. Therefore some users of slightly older or legacy chipsets report that using the older 4.43 drivers they experience a more responsive system.

The driver package below is recommended for use with the following chipsets: MVP#, Apollo Pro## series, KT1##, KN1##, KM1##, KT2##, KN2##, KM2##, P4X2##, P4X3##, P4M2##

**Sockhatguy** · July 12th, 2005, 02:51 AM

*Bows to Mayet*

Thanks, I did not know that they were universal drivers...and you even took the time to get the good ones linked for me with an explanation! That makes me happy. Well, I'm gonna go try them out, I'll be back to let you know how it went!...or, I won't be back if it didn't go so well...we'll see!

Thanks again! brb

**Sockhatguy** · July 12th, 2005, 03:15 AM

well, the install went great...thought that was for sure going to fix it...but no. after the reboot it came up with the same box, looking for the Via Bus Master IDE drivers...

So since I had the file, I didn't let it connect to the net, but chose to do a manual install though the wizard...it would let me choose the file, but the "ok" button was shaded and un-clickable...so I continued anyway, and it gave me a list of manufacturers...thats when I got really lost. It had an option for a "have disk", so I tried that and accessed the file on my desktop (the via drivers from above ^) but it didn't have the file I needed...

...this is why I should have learned Linux...

So, it's back to the drawing board. Thanks again... any more suggestions/questions/etc? I'll reboot in a bit and see if I can get some screen shots up on my yahoo page...I think that would get the idea accross better. I'll keep in touch.

**Mayet** · July 12th, 2005, 06:55 AM

When you get to the "have disk" option, pop the win xp disk in and let it search for them there. That often picks up the bus mastering.

Oops edit ....I see you haven't got your XP disk. This is why it is so important to have your own legit copy of XP on hand. Do you have a recovery CD at all that contains your XP?

Point it to the XP install files if they are on the drive.

**Sockhatguy** · July 14th, 2005, 02:56 AM

no files whatsoever for XP Pro install...I recently got a raise and I'm getting a bit more money...so I'm thinking about buying a new compy (something that is more reliable) and using the recovery disks from that compy to fix it. Would a copy of XP Home work for my XP Pro system? Home I can get my hands on...but I don't know anyone with Pro... I have my CD key though...

I really appreciate the help, but alas my computer just wants to stay screwed. any other ideas?