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General discussion

hardware issues after reinstalling windows xp

Jul 17, 2005 11:55AM PDT

Greetings all,

I recently reformatted my PC and reinstalled Windows XP Home on my Gateway 500XL (512MB SDRAM, 1.7GHz P4, 64MB NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX 400). After doing this, two issues occurred:

(1) In Device Manager, under "Other Devices," there is a yellow question mark next to "PCI Simple Communications Controller." I have tried to solve this issue by installing all the drivers from the Gateway Drivers CD and also by using the Hardware Update Wizard, but neither works. The device indicates a Code 28 error. (For what it's worth, I do, however, have sound on my PC.) The Gateway tech told me to just uninstall the device, but everytime I reboot, the PC "finds" new hardware again, but no drivers for the unknown device. She then to me to reseat the PCI devices, but why do this when there was no driver issue before reinstalling Windows? Besides, I don't know where the PCI devices are located.

(2) Afer starting or restaring my PC, once it boots to the desktop, the monitor flashes off for a brief second (goes to black) and then flashes back on. Again, she told me to reseat the video card, but this wasn't happening before reinstalling Windows and I don't know which one is the video card.

Thanks in advance for any assistance,
Jason

Discussion is locked

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hardware issues after reinstalling windows xp - I B stoopid!
Jul 17, 2005 12:12PM PDT

Ok, I'm a complete idiot. I was experiencing issue #1 because I forgot that I had added a parallel port to my PC after purchasing it from Gateway. I found the CD and successfully installed the drivers for it. I am, however, still experiencing issue #2. Any assistance with this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Jason

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Regarding Issue #2
Jul 17, 2005 3:33PM PDT

Hello Jason,

When you say the monitor flips off and then on, does it return to the desktop and appear normal after that?

Thank you,

Shawn Mosqueda

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yep
Jul 18, 2005 5:06AM PDT

Hi Shawn,

Once it flips off and then on again, everything is back to normal.

Thanks,
Jason

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Just FYI...
Jul 17, 2005 9:41PM PDT

That monitor or display behaviour occurs with some video drivers. I have no cure since it's the driver which we can't tweak. If that's the only issue, you should know that it's not just you that has seen it. Also, since it's just at boot, it's likely why they don't bother with it or consider it normal.

Bob

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minor issue
Jul 18, 2005 5:08AM PDT

Hi Bob,

Glad to hear than I'm not the only one to experience this issue. It's really only a minor annoyance, but I wanted to make sure that the cause wasn't something to be extremely concerned about.

Thanks,
Jason