Hello all,
I hope someone can help me with this predicament I'm having.
Now, I could get all new parts to build a new machine, but I'm leaving for a job overseas in two weeks and it would not be worth it for me to fix a new machine at this point in time. I'd like to get this job done with as little extra "parts" I would need to get as possible.
Here we go:
for about 3 years I was running a machine I built with the following specs:
Epox EP-8KMM3I-X micro ATX board
AMD Athlon XP 2800 333FSB CPU
Western Digital - 80GB Hard Drive
500GB Hard Drive
1GB A-Data RAM
DVD Burner
I was running XP and integrated graphics. On-board SATA would not work no matter what I tried, so I got a PCI SATA card and all for the time was fine. 80GB had OS installed.
About a year ago, I decided to try my hand at Vista. I ended up having it installed on the 500GB; for some reason it wouldn't load into the 80.
Next, I added an AGP graphics card, that oddly enough happened to be the same graphics setup (GeForce 5200) that was on-board. But the card had a RCA video out. I added that and 1GB of RAM (G-Skill brand). All was doing OK.
Until...
about a year to the day, Vista stopped loading. It was gradual, and I hoped that it wouldn't happen, but it did. So, surprisingly I booted to the 80 and my old copy of XP was still on the HD, though I thought it had been deleted by the Vista install. I cleaned out the 80 and re-installed XP just fine.
Then, pci slots stopped working. First one, and before I lost the one where it loads the HDDs I bought a new motherboard with the intent of transferring those parts over to the "new" motherboard.
The "new" MB is an MSI K7N2 Delta2 Platinum
So, I put the 2800 CPU, the RAM, both HDDs, and I reinstall XP on the 80 for the new MB.
I'M STILL GETTING THE SAME PCI SLOT NOT WORKING PROBLEM!!!!
I gave you that history lesson to see if it's something I overlooked. I'm beginning to suspect the CPU, as the same problems I had with the Epox board I'm still having with the MSI. Could the MSI board be bad, just as the Epox board became?
Even the USB headers on the MSI won't read the card reader, though it CAN read USB if I install a device. (???)
That's the history of my machine. Should I just run it as it is, and wait until next year when I can build a new machine?
Any help is GREATLY APPRECIATED. Thanks for reading!