Do store bought PCs suck, or just Compaq, other?

[H_TeXMeX_H]

I tried tinkering with pretty much everything in the bios. No change. This is the end game, I'm afraid this one may have to be lost since I'll have to leave the PC behind, it's my mother's PC. Ironic I didn't have any problem with the other ones including a laptop which I thought would give problems.

Anyways, this is the BIOS error it gives:

..MP-BIOS bug. timer not connected to IO-APIC
PCI: cannot allocate resource region 3 of device 0000:00:00.0
hdc: ide_intr: huh? expected NULL handler on exit

boot with the following kernel flags:

noapic noioapic

That might just work ... I know that 2.6.16 and up kernels won't boot on my laptop without this, due to POS BIOS

You may also try using a live CD with a kernel 2.6.15 or older and it may work without issue. (This includes DSL)

[GenuineAdvantage]

The ubuntu forums was the first place I went to ask. I got no reply. Found a thread about it, none of the suggestions worked. The thing is that even selecting to check the cd gives the same error, so it's an IO problem. Can't do much about that other than switching computers. I had already tried the kernel flags. noapic noioapic apic=off ioapic=off. nothing. I'm afraid that POS PC is stuck with a POS OS. Btw, I tried a live cd with a 2.6.12 kernel distro and appearently had the same problem. Nothing loaded.

And about the OS blocking BIOS thing. It even loaded an XP disk, a pirate XP disk, windows 98, windows ME. So I guess if it is that, the BIOS does have it's preference.

[H_TeXMeX_H]

Whoah ... really :eek: Holy shit man ... what's going on, that shouldn't happen. Could it really be it locks out all OSs but Window$. Dammit, I'll have to look around for stuff on this tomorrow.

Hmmm ... have you tried BartPE any BSD or OpenSolaris live CDs ?

I'm betting at least BartPE should work.

[worker201]

Damn, here's ANOTHER page that suggests you have major compatibility issues between your graphics card and your motherboard:
http://www.uwsg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0311.1/0544.html

And another:
http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0607.0/1409.html

I highly doubt this is a hardware lockout.  It's probably just some really fucked up one-in-a-million hardware configuration.  But I guess I should remember that when Microsoft was toying with lockout security on the Xbox, they hid the important BIOS code in the GPU, and then left a little decoy Flash BIOS in the expected location.  So they're not necessarily above this sort of thing.

I still think it's a "fluke" accident, and there is some parameter you can pass somewhere or kernel config you can toggle.

[GenuineAdvantage]

Yeah, it could be just a fluke. Like netscape and real player slowing down on windows. *shrug* it just happens!

[hm_murdock]

Maybe it's God

[GenuineAdvantage]

Anyways, I only had a chance to d/l and burn and attempt one more, I tried Belenix. No cigar. I would have also tried HomerPE or whatever that is called, but it wouldn't surprise me if that worked. Nor would it be of much use in this case. So, MS and Comqrap win this round. Awesome bastards. They should do this kind of thing more often, we don't need weird non-windows on our shiny PCs. Belenix seems pretty good though, apart from all this crap Compaqs thing. The only thing I don't like is that molestor looking sun face.

[H_TeXMeX_H]

It may be compaq:

http://groups.google.com/group/linux.redhat.misc/browse_thread/thread/6038ca30bac35459/26b127a3cabbe245%2326b127a3cabbe245

or it might just be a rare case of hardware incompatibility.

But if it is incompatibility then why does the UNIX kernel (from Belenix) still not boot ? Probably BSD won't boot either. Why can only Window$ boot ?

[GenuineAdvantage]

Why? Hmm, who knows. It's just a fluke (those little parasitic creatures). Don't ask Comqrap or Microunit though. They didn't see nothin, they don't know nothin. Since I have no money it will have to wait but that PC will be replaced soon just for spite. I was already never going to buy anything with an integreated video card. Now I will add anything with "Compaq" written on it to that.

[Orethrius]

Trade it in on an HP dv8000.  Just be sure to get the nVidia card.  

[GenuineAdvantage]

It's not mine so I can't go grab it and trade it. Besides, I also don't like HP. Not to the point of boycotting them but they have made some cheesy desktops in the past. I'm just going to buy some $100 after rebate PC that is not compaq sometime and replace it. Then I might put some dynamite inside that other one, take it out in the desert and put it to some use for a change. Or maybe just some really strong firecrackers. Dynamite is hard to come by for a regular person. My preference would be C-4 but that's impossible.

[Orethrius]

Ah, I missed the part where you said it was a desktop and assumed you meant a laptop.  Those used to be pretty crappy, but HP's quality is up somewhat from where it used to be, since the merger.  Just steer well clear of Integrated Piece-of-Shit Inc. (whoops, sorry, I mean eMachines if Gateway even lets them market under that name anymore).  BTW, nothing is impossible, just really unlikely.  

[H_TeXMeX_H]

Well recently I've been looking for computers (laptops actually) and there are a lot of lesser known companies that make really good laptops much cheaper and better than the major manufacturers ... you might wanna look around a bit (try google). And I even found ones with NO OS PREINSTALLED !!! Hell yeah ... that makes me wanna buy it no matter the price ... but it was actually pretty cheap for it's specs.

Well I hope this doesn't count as advertising, but I just have to cite this example (no os installed)

http://www.xtremenotebooks.com/index.php?section=catagory&include_type=notebook

now, they run in the thousands ($800 minimum), but for their specs they are worth it. With those kind of specs I just wonder how they keep them from overheating.

For example this one:

http://www.xtremenotebooks.com/index.php?section=configurator®ular_model_id=1077&model_id=1080&include_type=14_inch&category=

DUAL NVIDIA

[piratePenguin]

Approximately 2.0 Hours of Runtime

Why bother..

[GenuineAdvantage]

I wouldn't pay that much for a pc anyways. I'd get an overpriced display before I ever went boring and tried to keep up with the latest stuff. A futile act. From how clueless OS folk seem, Mac people and even linux, I am sure now that Microsoft will stay around for a long time. The real public goes out and buys cheap store PCs with the preinstalled OS and uses it until it goes to hell. I went looking at the stores, PCs are really cheap now, and not really slow stuff either, just regular usable stuff with large hard disks. No matter how windows sucks it will be in there on cheap PCs. How many are are going to spend a bigger buck to get less CPU for the buck just because some dork somewhere cries that Mac is cool? Really few! I understand why computer companies bow to them. Resistance is futile. You are our lord and master MS, take us on the righteous path. Oh well, there's always linux shooting that tank with an air gun. Better than nothing.