Safe Mode bootup after installing NIC
 

Hello tech gurus:

I just reinstalled all the SW in my Win98se PC from scratch and had it
working perfectly. Then I installed a new Belkin NIC in a PCI slot.
Immediately after doing this, I could no longer boot properly. The PC
would only let me boot into Safe Mode. I tried the following, but they
did not work:
Moving the NIC to different PCI slots and rebooting.
Trying another NIC of the same model to ensure it was not defective.
Reinstalling the NIC driver.

When I removed the NIC, once again I was able to boot properly. But I
really need this NIC because I want to start using DSL.
The PC is rather old but, on the other hand, I'm using an old OS, so I
don't think I'm overloading its resources. Here are its specs:
Pentium 200Mhz processor.
256MB of RAM.
40GB Hard Drive.

Please let me know what I can do to resolve this problem. Thank You.
Patrick

On 7 Oct 2005 16:13:52 -0700, put finger to
keyboard and composed:

I just reinstalled all the SW in my Win98se PC from scratch and had it
working perfectly. Then I installed a new Belkin NIC in a PCI slot.
Immediately after doing this, I could no longer boot properly.

What exactly do you mean by "properly"?

Are you aware that Windows will appear to hang for several minutes
while it is looking for a non-existent DHCP server if you have your
NIC configured to obtain an IP address automatically?

-- Franc Zabkar

Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

Franc:

By "properly" I mean in Normal mode; i.e., no DOS-like screen asking me
to choose from a range of several boot-up options. And only one of
those options; namely, Safe Mode, allowed me to boot at all. If I
chose Normal from the list, it wouldn't boot normally, but would
restart again and go back to the same list of bootup options.

No, I was not aware of that non-existent DHCP server issue you
mentioned. But, now that you mention it, there were several occasions
when, instead of going into Safe mode, the PC would just show a blank
screen for about 2 minutes before finally completing the boot up.
This seems to describe what you just wrote about. If that is indeed
the cause of the hanging and the "Safe mode" problem, can you tell me
how to fix it? I don't recall having configured anything at all for
the NIC, so perhaps it configured itself incorrectly. The NIC is a
brand new Belkin F5D5000. Please let me know. Thanks

I would try a different NIC. Brand new doesn't always mean its going to
work. I'd try to find a NIC from the same era as your pc. If you ever have
street cleanups, you can usually find one for free inside a discarded PC.

wrote:
Franc:

By "properly" I mean in Normal mode; i.e., no DOS-like screen asking
me to choose from a range of several boot-up options. And only one of
those options; namely, Safe Mode, allowed me to boot at all. If I
chose Normal from the list, it wouldn't boot normally, but would
restart again and go back to the same list of bootup options.

No, I was not aware of that non-existent DHCP server issue you
mentioned. But, now that you mention it, there were several occasions
when, instead of going into Safe mode, the PC would just show a blank
screen for about 2 minutes before finally completing the boot up.
This seems to describe what you just wrote about. If that is indeed
the cause of the hanging and the "Safe mode" problem, can you tell me
how to fix it? I don't recall having configured anything at all for
the NIC, so perhaps it configured itself incorrectly. The NIC is a
brand new Belkin F5D5000. Please let me know. Thanks

I did actually try a different NIC. In fact, the first one I tried was
from Linksys, but I had the same problem with it.
Can you think of any other places to get an older NIC other than from
picking through the garbage?

In Safe Mode, open Device Manager and see if you can change the IRQ settings for the
NIC to an interrupt not in use.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


wrote in message
oups.com...
I did actually try a different NIC. In fact, the first one I tried was
from Linksys, but I had the same problem with it.
Can you think of any other places to get an older NIC other than from
picking through the garbage?

On 7 Oct 2005 16:54:29 -0700, put finger to
keyboard and composed:

Franc:

By "properly" I mean in Normal mode; i.e., no DOS-like screen asking me
to choose from a range of several boot-up options. And only one of
those options; namely, Safe Mode, allowed me to boot at all. If I
chose Normal from the list, it wouldn't boot normally, but would
restart again and go back to the same list of bootup options.

No, I was not aware of that non-existent DHCP server issue you
mentioned. But, now that you mention it, there were several occasions
when, instead of going into Safe mode, the PC would just show a blank
screen for about 2 minutes before finally completing the boot up.
This seems to describe what you just wrote about. If that is indeed
the cause of the hanging and the "Safe mode" problem, can you tell me
how to fix it?

Is the PC going into Safe mode by itself, or are you selecting this
mode? If it is doing it on its own, then maybe you have two issues.

I don't recall having configured anything at all for
the NIC, so perhaps it configured itself incorrectly. The NIC is a
brand new Belkin F5D5000. Please let me know. Thanks

Go to Control Panel - Network - Configuration - select TCP/IP -
your_ethernet_adapter - Properties - IP Address.

Your NIC is probably configured to obtain an IP address automatically.
It would normally obtain this address from the DHCP server within your
DSL modem. However, in your case the NIC waits until the DHCP search
times out, after which it chooses an IP address within Microsoft's
reserved range, ie 169.254.x.x.

You can avert this behaviour until you get your modem by choosing to
"specify an IP address". In my case I chose an address in the range
169.254.x.x and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. I used the same values
that were automatically assigned to the NIC by Windows after the DHCP
timeout. You can see these values by going to Start - Run and typing
"winipcfg".

-- Franc Zabkar

Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

To answer your first question:
When I am brought to the screen that has the list of bootup options,
"Safe Mode" is selected by default, so that if I don't choose another
option, it goes to Safe Mode automatically. Thus, according to you, I
"have 2 issues". What are these 2 issues?

Can you please clarify the statement "[The NIC] would normally obtain
this address from the DHCP server within your DSL modem ." I don't
know what a DHCP server is. If this is "normally" what is supposed to
happen, does that mean my DSL modem is somehow defective or does it
simply mean it just doesn't work that way with the particular modem I
have?

Also, what do you mean by "You can avert this behaviour until you get
your modem"? I do have my modem. It was connected to the NIC at the
time that I booted up. It is a Westell, model 6100.
Thanks for your detailed response.
Patrick

Glee:

The NIC was not using an IRQ that was in use by another device.
Device manager said, "No conflicts" regarding the NIC.

On 7 Oct 2005 23:42:26 -0700, put finger to
keyboard and composed:

To answer your first question:
When I am brought to the screen that has the list of bootup options,
"Safe Mode" is selected by default, so that if I don't choose another
option, it goes to Safe Mode automatically. Thus, according to you, I
"have 2 issues". What are these 2 issues?

This one and the bootup delay. Or maybe the two issues are related???

Can you please clarify the statement "[The NIC] would normally obtain
this address from the DHCP server within your DSL modem ." I don't
know what a DHCP server is. If this is "normally" what is supposed to
happen, does that mean my DSL modem is somehow defective or does it
simply mean it just doesn't work that way with the particular modem I
have?

DHCP is an automatic method by which your NIC is assigned an IP
address by a device acting as a DHCP server. In this case the device
would be your modem. You can see the address that your modem has given
you by running "winipcfg". In my case it is 10.1.1.3, in yours it may
be 192.168.x.x. If the modem is not communicating properly, then the
address would be 169.254.x.x.

Also, what do you mean by "You can avert this behaviour until you get
your modem"? I do have my modem. It was connected to the NIC at the
time that I booted up. It is a Westell, model 6100.
Thanks for your detailed response.
Patrick

Sorry, I had the erroneous impression that you had only gotten as far
as installing your NIC and that you hadn't as yet connected a modem.
The absence of the modem would have explained the bootup delay and may
have given you the false impression that Windows was hanging during
the boot process. That's why I asked you what you meant by "not
booting properly". I also have a socket 7 PC of around the same
vintage as yours. It stalls for about three minutes during booting if
the modem is powered down. When I first observed this behaviour I
spent quite some time looking for a non-existent problem.

-- Franc Zabkar

Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.