Yesterday I left things with just a plain vanilla XP Pro installation on the machine, so tonight I started installing the latest drivers for each of the hardware components. I successfully updated the drivers for the motherboard, RAID controller, LAN, sound card, and video card. I also flashed the motherboard BIOS without any trouble. And the last thing I did was flash the BIOS on the video card, but when I rebooted the machine the monitor was blank. It couldn’t even display motherboard BIOS screens. The machine was still running and it seemed like things were generally working, but there was no video output whatsoever. I called the video card tech support line and they said that I would probably need to flash the video card back to whatever BIOS version was originally installed, but that I would need to call back during normal business hours to get them to email me the original BIOS installer (I guess they can’t do that after hours for some reason?). So I guess I’ll call them tomorrow and see if re-flashing the original BIOS solves the problem. Until then I’m stuck because I can’t do anything without a monitor.
Wow–building from scratch! I’m impressed! :) I bet that is fun to pick out everything exactly how you want–kind of the feeling when we were considering a new construction house. :) I hope you can figure out your video card and flashing etc. and get it all up and running Monday! :) What color is it?? :) Sorry, I know that’s a girly question… just wondering. :)
Love,
Becca
p.s. We wish you could come down for the move this weekend! We’ll have to settle for hugs and messages passed through Mom and Dad, I guess. :)
Comment by Becca — May 21, 2006 @ 8:45 pm
To clarify–we LOOOOOOVE that Mom and Dad are coming, but they’ll have to pass along some hugs and messages to/from you instead of you bringing them yourselves! Matt says we can come up for a visit this summer, so we’ll get to see you and your giant baby sometime! :)
Comment by Becca — May 21, 2006 @ 8:46 pm
Becca,
As you can see from my later post, I did eventually get the video card working again (thankfully). And the new computer case is black, with a black monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers to go with it.
Comment by Brad — May 23, 2006 @ 5:44 pm