Computers & Tablets

[Neihn Valued Contributor]

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dtown91 wrote:
Is my current video card (which I upgraded about 18 months ago from a GForce 128MB) not compatable with Windows 7?

Reason I am asking is perhaps it is not 100% compatable with XP SP3 either and maybe that is why I am having the driver issues. I know that a machine that is 7 years old is a dinosaur but it was clicking along fine until recently when I started having the assumed driver issues.

I am not opposed to buying a new machine - that is why I was wondering about the ability of my current one to run 7 anyway.

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Is your video card DX 9 compatible? If not then no its not compatible Windows 7 requires a video card capable of DX 9 or higher. I was under the impression it was stock since you never included the fact it was a upgrade. But as I have said run that application from Microsoft I linked you it will tell you flat out if your system can or can not run windows and if not what exactly is not compatible in your system.

[dtown91]

Yes - I will do that.  I do believe however that the video card is directx9 compatable.

My first hurdle is to get the thing to boot and not go to the BSOD.

[RedWyv3 Best Buy Employee]

Describe what happens before it goes to the Screen of Death. Are you able to boot into safe mode? Do you have a copy of the existing OS around?

[RedWyv3 Best Buy Employee]

No load proccedure (try each until problem fixed):

1. Boot into safe mode. If able, shut down properly and reboot normally. (fixes registry and some file issues automatically)

else..

2. Reload OS from disk. 

If unable or doesn't work...

3. Kick nearest unbreakable solid object and/or growl at cat.

4. Assume hardware issue. Remove one non-vital componet after another. If you have a secondary video card, remove it and try your onboard, etc. Swap things around.

If still not working..

5. Consider yourself SOL and toss out nearest airlock. 

[dtown91]

I think I have determined what the issue is.

I did a system scan with the utilities cd that came with the machine and was getting some errors when it scanned.

Then when that was done and it went to reboot I got a message that indicated there was no internal hard drive "device not found" or something like that.

I resigned myself to reinstalling Windows and the only drive it saw was my 500GB external USB drive, which of course it said could not be used to install Windows.

So it looks like a HD issue.

I am now thinking I will get a HD (they are cheap) and reinstall Windows. I was going to go with SATA - my motherboard has 2 SATA plugs - but unfortunately I dont believe I have the correct power supply plugs.

[RedWyv3 Best Buy Employee]

Western Digital - 500GB Internal Hard Drive (EIDE)

Are you sure you want to go this route?

[Neihn Valued Contributor]

You are really geting close to the point where its not worth it if you are still wanting to potentially attempt to install windows 7. I would use the money for the hard drive and OS upgrade to buy a new windows 7 PC then look at replacing that hard drive at later date and using it as a second PC or a backup.