PCI problem on ABIT IC7-MAXIII
 

very odd problem ...

last week, i was installing a budget rig for a friend of mine
since i usually have two optical drives attached to my system, and a DVD-drive was a bit pricy for now, i decided to lend him my second dvd-drive (considering i'm not really using it right now)

so i powered down my system, unhooked the second optical drive (IDE2 - slave), changed it to master and attached it to the budget rig

no need to alter anything on my own rig, since the other optical drive was already set to master and the autodetect feature would take care of the rest. so i boot my pc again, and when windows was loaded, the fun began

as said, the mainboard is an ABIT IC7-MAXIII, with no significant changes made (i only took off OTES, otherwise my SLK-900U wouldn't fit). PCI3 is normally taken in by a LinkSys WMP54G wireless network card, PCI5 is used by a Hercules Game Theater XP soundcard.

So windows had loaded, and i suddenly got the "new hardware detected" window -- which i found very strange, as i did not change a thing besided disconnecting the IDE2 slave device. windows detected an "unknown PCI device", for which neither the OS nor i could find the appropriate drivers. result: windows did not "see" the WMP54G, as well as the GT XP PCI card.

i already tried the "obvious" steps: hardreset BIOS, re-install windowsXP, install windows2K, changing PCI slots, ... the only thing i can think of now is to flash the BIOS, which i will later on today

So .. is this the next one to be sent out on RMA, or can you guys think of something else?

did you try to remove the other optical drive?

yep

no changes whatsoever ... tried it with both drives (original situation), drive 1 only, drive 2 only, no drives attached ...

Tried disabling IDE2 in bios ?

remove everything from mainboard, including ram, remove CMOS battery, set clear jumper, unplug power.

let it rest 15min. then replug your memory & vidcard + system OS drive.

boot up , set bios to none overclocked settings
start windows in safe-mode
remove drivers for your pci-wavecard & that soundcard

reboot your PC & start XP normally

report back

tried to flash BIOS : no progress here

complete hardreset BIOS : already done (incl. remove RAM, battery, ...), no changes

drivers : not installed ... already gave it clean install 2 times, no changes either

will try the above, but i do not expect any progress out of it
my hunch, IC7 = b0rked

you bought it from Jadakizz? Tones warranty?

no effect whatsoever ...

already sent mail/PM to jada, since i forgot the appropriate papers when i picked it up

i'm hoping to be able to drive to vilvoorde/mechelen tomorrow, since i kinda need my pc now, for studies :^/

I can give you an Asus P4PE + P4 2.53Ghz if you want, you can pick it up tonight, won't be needing it before half of January

thanks for trying to help me out, but i'm driving to tones tomorrow to get another board ... called jada this afternoon, he assured me they would just give me another specimen if they have one in stock

so i'm going to call tones around noon, to make sure they have don't have to order ...