ARGH!!! Can't re-install XP... Gonna take the bridge soon! Any help?!?

[ajf3]

Hey all,

I'm at my wits end here... so I'm really hoping for some help! My machines down for the 1st time in years & I CAN'T TAKE IT MUCH LONGER!!!

Anyway, this all started when I began having random reboots & chkdsk errors (discussed this in another thread), so I went and bought a new drive to install & move everything to. The original drive can't be fixed via chkdsk (unrecoverable error), so I'm starting fresh with XP.

My scaled down, ripped apart setup right now:
Antec TruePower 330
XP 2400+
Epox 8kha+
(2) 512MB pc2100
Maxtor 160gb
NIC
Matrox g450 etv
Liteon DVDrom

Since I can't seem to get XP installed, I took everything out of the case except the above (usb cards, promise card, dazzle card, etc).

As it scanning the hardware, usually right after I choose to install (sometimes before it gets to that prompt screen) it dies. Either gives me a bsod with just a stop error & no driver listed, or an irql error, or - get this - colorful flashing ascii graphics.

The drive has a single 30GB partition on it - freshly formatted NTFS.

This is what I've tried so far... what else can/should I check??? Remember - this machine has been running 24/7 with this configuration (except the new maxtor 160) for the better part of a year... until I started having the random reboot / boot drive problems earlier this week.

1. Ran windiag from MS to check the RAM (does this outside of windows) - no errors. (Can I assume this validates my CPU too?)
2. Tried install with each single stick of RAM - no change.
3. Tried install with another harddrive - no change.
4. Tried install with another video card - no change.
5. Tried install with both the 4/25 and 9/16 versions or the 8kha+ bios - no change.
6. Reseated all the cards - no change.

I don't think the mobo can be bad... It has bios boot codes and the display shows no errors. Also I'm able to flash the bios w/o problem & let it sit and watch the temp change without problems. Plus - the windiag runs right on top of the bios & that didn't show any problems.

Where do I go from here? This one is perplexing!

Thanks!

 

[anandfan]

Actually, you could still have a bad motherboard. I had an Epox die on me. I also doubt windiag does an exhaustive test on the CPU. I think you need another working system to check out each component individually, even the CPU. If you can't do that, take as many non-essential pieces out as you can and try a minimal hardware configuration and build from that.

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: anandfan
Actually, you could still have a bad motherboard. I had an Epox die on me. I also doubt windiag does an exhaustive test on the CPU. I think you need another working system to check out each component individually, even the CPU. If you can't do that, take as many non-essential pieces out as you can and try a minimal hardware configuration and build from that.

yep, agreed.. i've had an epox die too (they suck IMO)

 

[Markfw]

What are your ram timings set to ? Try CAS3-4-4-9 and see if that helps any. If it seems to, remove that partition, and re-create it after it seems a little stable. (if the 30 gig partition was created with errors you can;t see, it can cause problems)

 

[ajf3]

Finally got XP to go through an entire install, but it very unstable... shortly after booting up it bsod's with a either a "page fault in non paged area" from win32k.sys, or an irql_not_equal...

Maybe it is the mobo...?

 

[John P]

Could be the mb or maybe the CPU. I had a P3 go bad on me and I got all sorts of weird BSD's and error messages.

 

[chocoruacal]

Pick a stick of RAM and run Memtest86...ALL tests. Though, my money is on bad mobo or bad power supply. Check the mobo for swollen or leaky capacitators.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Did you try a different IDE cable along with the drive? Did you try each stick in each and every slot to rule out a bad slot?

 

[SithSolo1]

My friend couldn't get XP to install on his new system. Around 5% he'd get a BSOD w/ a page fault error. Finally after kicking it a few times he took one of the memory sticks out and it worked fine.

 

[Robor]

I was thinking memory as well. I had a Dell I was trying to load up with Win2K for an image and it kept giving me a BSOD during the install process. Swapped the memory with another box and the problem went away. Thinking back I also had a similar experience with a bad P-233MMX. That CPU is still sticking in my corkboard at work here.

Good luck finding that faulty hardware.

 

[thorin]

What are your temps?
Change your mem timings to By Spd for the time being.
Is the CD clean, ie: no finger prints, no scratches, etc... ? (I know that seems like a lame questions but I've seen that as a problem.....happened to my brother he called me up one night we spent about 30 mins swapping IDE cables and all sorts of sh!t before it dawned on me to have him clean the CD.....it's always those little stupid things).

Thorin

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I couldn't find the specifics of what each bios revision addresses with your board, so do you know if the 48bit LBA is added with any of them? If not perhaps it's the fact that you have a 160gb HDD as the old drive was faulty and the system ran fine until it went belly up, then you bought the new drive and have had no luck getting the OS installed on it. I would think the 04/23/2003 bios would have that added but since it makes no mention of it I'd confirm it with Epox tech support.