ABIT KR7A PROBLEMS!

[rich2]

the system is currently:

enermax 435W supply
ABIT KR7A-RAID
AMD Athlon XP 1900
512 Muskin HighPerf RAM
1 Maxtor ATA133 80gig HD on Highpoint 372
Geforce2 GTS
CDROM
Floppy
keyboard
mouse

now, when i put the cd in to install windowsXP and go thru the nice lil blue installation screens, and hit my f6 to install the highpoint drivers. it loads all the drivers...then it says Starting Windows Setup... now, one of 3 things happens

a) it locks
b) bluescreen Stop error
c) it goes forward, lets me choose a drive, then locks

so i cant install OS at all, i have tried moving drive off the HPT controller, and disabling it alltogether in the BIOS, SAME PROBLEM!

Bios is updated, to 6g, and grabbed the latest highpoint drivers from highpoint-tech.com (even tried some older versions just to try)

now figured maybe its WINXP, and tried installing win2k, same errors

thought maybe it was cdrom, switched in new cdrom, same errors

thought it was maybe videocard, switched in old TNT, same errors

I dont think I have EVER had this much trouble building a system, does anyone KNOW ANYTHING I can try? i am at my wits end! please help

i am convinced its the highpoint drivers, due to if i use the newest i get a lil further before it locks up...but also that doesnt explain why it doesnt work on the regular IDE chain...*sigh*

rich2
aim:rich2inboston << feel free to IM me, i am desperately needing help.

 

[tristramshandy]

This is a shot in the dark, so don't get sniffy if the suggestion's too simple. If "Virus Warning" is enabled in bios, this can freeze OS installation because ('believe this is the correct explanation) you're altering boot-sector information and this change can be detected as the incursion of a virus. You might need to turn off "halt on all errors" as well. (See the pdf KR7A manual 3.3 Advanced Bios Features).

For your sake, I hope this is the problem and the solution. Good luck.

 

[YBS1]

Another simple solution that may be overlooked is your bios setting determining ata133 or raid operation of the HTP372. I overlooked in your other post you're only using a single drive, assumed you were using raid. I believe the default setting is for raid use, have forgotten now. FYI...I'm using the 6G bios and the shipping Abit HTP372 drivers and all is well. I was certain from your other post it was the videocard 🙁, and considering how little trouble most are having out of this board you may just have a bad one. Seems like you've looked at the most obvious stuff already. One last thing, maybe try restoring fail safe defaults in bios. Changing only the things that are a must to install windows (boot option to cd-rom, initialize agp 1st, etc...), I mean even leaving fsb/memory speed at 100mhz just to be sure. Maybe even the ide cable is flawed?? Have you used that one before or is it the one from the box? Good luck with your troubleshooting.

PS...Tried installing Win9x on it just to check?

 

[dmpro]

I am having trouble with my new KR7A system that I just set up. I had no trouble installing XP and getting the system up and running, well, almost no trouble. I cannot get the unit to set up my Athlon XP 1900 processor. It always defaults to a slower processor. Could you tell me what bios settings you used in the Soft menu for processor settings? (If you ever got to that point)

Thanks

 

[Rahminator]

Try other ram maybe?

 

[dmpro]

Yeah, I was kind of dreading that response. It is hard to get in the little town I live in. I'll have to send off for it.

 

[tristramshandy]

Just want to say that -- given the visibility of threads concerning irresolvable problems with the KR7A-R -- I installed mine yesterday, and performance and stability have been fantastic. It's taken an unlocked MP 1600 up to 12 x 133 (XP 1600) with the voltage upped to 1.80 volts. Everything else has been simple, nearly self-explanatory in the Soft-menu III Award bios, and very stable. I'm super happy.