Big Troubles

Machine 2: Brand New
Win 98SE
P4, 1.8G
Asus P4g8x Deluxe Motherboard
MSI FX 5200 Video Card
256 MB DDR ram
Onboard sound
Onboard Gbit Lan
CD Player
Floppy Drive
Compaq 15? Monitor
Tried a new Promise Controller Card (TX2 133 Ultra)
Problems:
Sometimes several Maxtor hard drives (60g, 2 different 80g, 120g and even a 10.8G Fujitsu) are not detected in post if connected to the mb or from the controller card. Maxtor?s Powermax also only detects the Maxtor drives occasionally. If Powermax does detect them an advanced test could show an error code this time and say they are fine the next time they are tested. Sometimes the floppy drive will not work if trying to boot with the 98 boot disk or with Powermax. Get a ?disk boot failure? message on a regular basis. When these drives are connected to another computer the same problems persist.

Machine 3: Bought in 1998 as a system
Win 98SE
P3, 450
10.8G Fujitsu Hard Drive
Tekram p6b4-a4x Motherboard
Riva TNT2, 64 mbVideo Card
Power Color Sound Card
3com 3c90x Network Card (added)
384 mb SD 133 ram
CD Player
Floppy Drive

Problems:
Controller Card will not work in computer.
Controller Card from Machine 1 would not work.
PS 2 ports stopped working, started working and stopped again.
USB ports appear to have stopped working now.
Machine won?t start windows now because no mouse or keyboard detected.
Sometimes floppy drive won?t work with boot disk or Powermax disk
Sometimes get ?boot disk failure? message.

Machine 4:
Win 98SE
P3, 666 Celeron
Tyan Trinity 400 Motherboard
Pine Gforce 2, 64mb MX 400
AWE 64 Sound Card (ISA)
2G hard drive
This machine is not connected to the network.

Problem:
Was working fine. On a reboot no power is getting to anything.

I understand machines 3 and 4?s problems could be with old equipment, however with the problems that are popping up on the P4?s, I can?t help but think they are related. The computers on the network (3com Gateway and Sympatico High Speed) either were or are setup with Norton 2003 (updated) to scan system files on bootup and when files are downloaded and have detected nothing after complete system scans when I was able to use them. Another problem appears to be with the light on the router for machine 2 not being lighted. This machine at this point is the only one that I can access the internet on.
The Gateway does have a firewall.

I appreciate any suggestions offered but please bear in mind that I will leave this question open until I hopefully get a response that solves at least most of these problems. I?m completely frustrated running from computer to computer as these problems seem to be multiplying and spreading.

First, did you flash the BIOS in the systems? Second, are there BIOS virus protection on all three mainboards? Third, if you didn't flash the BIOS can you on all three system mainboards?

Sound like a BIOS problem which if BIOS virus protection is not present or not enabled, you might have gotten a BIOS virus from one of the friendly online gamers. If so, then flashing is about the only way to fix that problem.

Thanks for the quick response.
I don't play games over the Internet, however I do occassionally download from Kazaa. The Tekram bios was upgraded about 2 years ago. I didn't notice any change at the time and the board is unsupported at this time with no other updates available to my knowledge. None of the others have been flashed. The P4's are so new they shouldn't need it if not for a bios virus. Bios virus protection is enabled on all machines. Is there a better detector I could download andtry and if it is a bios virus is it possible that it is spreading to other computers over my network?

Hi,
I truly doubt a bios virus and would not spend much time on that or none at all.
I would not worry about "updated bios" or "flashing" the bios.
??? Have you had any power fluctuations of any kind up or down. Brown outs [low voltage] for a long span of time. Lightning. Have you checked your wall voltage lately. [Wall snould be between 115 and 125 and steady.
I have everything on three APC's [6 units, 2 to each] and run them on different circuts [Wall] and have checkedto make sure thay are on different breakers. I suggest you run off of 2 different circuts.
I just changed the modem on a customers pc to solve their problem. The modem still worked yet it caused freezing and other program problems.
I would really check that wall voltage for stability as somthing has caused a PS switch out on one of your machines already.
As you have a network set up I would also look at your router output voltage.
I agree that TheChas will probably have the answer and one that is more functional than mine.
I hope that you understand the probability that your problem has anything to do with your bios or any virus is none to nil.
A server trojan or worm is very improbable also unless you are running an MS server program.
A hacker playing "mess them up" for the hell of it has some probability.
Okay and now try the old stand by and pull the raid card and hook the boot HD direct and drop the router out and see if you can boot clean on one machine at a time.
If all goes well at least you will know where the problem is not.
Earmarking this one to watch for your comments and progress.
fred

It is possible that your PSU (power supply unit) is faulty due to power problems (any of the power conditions like brown out, over or under voltage, etc).

If it is truly power problem, then it is source of all your problems. Maybe by changing new PSU will solve the problem.

Worst case scenario, the power problem may also cause some of your hardware equipments to malfunction or burn. then the only thing you can do now is to sort as much good hardware from the bad one.

Hope this will help.