Big System Install/Format Problem

JackPhlegmo11

Junior Member
Aug 20, 2004
1
0
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Ok, so here's the deal. I just ordered a bunch of parts and 2 days ago, I got the last of them. The baisic specs of the system are an athlon 64 3200+, 1gb ram, nforce 3 250, geforce 6800gt, and 2 200gb hdds. Now heres the problem. When I put in my install disk for winxp(sp0) it didnt recognise the full ammount of the drives. When I tried to partition the drives I got errors. So I was told that I needed one with sp1 or higher. So I got sp2. Still I got errors, though the windows installer recognised both drives to their full capacity. Out of options, I just started changins master/slave settings etc. I ended up using only 1 drive as a master and setting the 32gb capacity limitor on the drive. It got through the format stage and started installing windows, but because of a problem with the cd key, I had to restart and I havent been able to get back to the windows installation since. Now with either sp2 or sp0 discs I have I can format the 32gb drive and install some of the system files, but on restart I get one of 2 errors, either "unmountable boot volume" or an unknown error about ntdll.dll. heres the reason I think its the motherboard. I tried to format a 15gb partition of my 80gb drive from my last computer. I got the same errors. I feel like there is some motherboard option that I'm missing, but I dont have that much experience with the bios(the last box I built worked perfectly). Ive asked this some other places and most people seem to be stumped, but I would really appreciate any/all help you can give me. Thx.
 

Harvey

Administrator<br>Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
35,057
61
91
Welcome to AT Forums. I tried to read your post to see if I could help, and I damned near went blind. :Q

May I respectfully suggest that you edit your post to put some spaces between paragraphs. Trying to keep track of thoughts while reading a long blur of text is way too much like work. :(

Just a friendly suggestion. :)

Harvey
 

imported_Phil

Diamond Member
Feb 10, 2001
9,837
0
0
What power supply are you using? This sounds suspiciously like either a PSU that's not strong enough for the job, or flaky memory.
 

kbullert

Junior Member
Aug 22, 2004
2
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I can help you with the hard drive questions, since I ran into this problem myself.
I see that you have the original Windows XP disks. When you install the hard drives at 200GB, you will need to have an install disk with Windows XP Service Pack 1, 1a, or 2 on it already. Here is a link to describe the situation you are in, http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/faq/137_winxp.html.. It talks about slipstreaming, which involves putting a service pack into an install disk. Here is a link to Microsoft's Support which has instructions on slipstreaming a service pack into a Windows XP install CD, http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=329613.. Here is the last link to create a bootable CD which now has Windows XP Service Pack 1, 1a, or 2, http://www.windows-help.net/WindowsXP/winxp-sp2-bootcd.html..
I know that is a lot of links but it will be of a lot of help.
After you install Windows XP, check to make sure that the version you installed now is Windows XP (Home or Pro) with Service Pack (1, 1a, or 2). I just read you don't need to install the EnableBigLBA patch for the registry after installing Windows XP with Service PAck 1, 1a, or 2. Here is a link for this issue, http://www.48bitlba.com/enablebiglba.htm..
I have found that only Seagate has covered this issue in full, while Maxtor and Western Digital are vague about this issue, while Hitachi and Samsung barely cover this issue.
I hope this helps you out and good luck.
 

MatthewMaes

Senior member
Sep 25, 2001
408
0
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I can't get those links to work kbullert. I had this same issue with my 160GB drive. Seeing that I was going to have an 80GB partition and 2 40GB partitions, I just went ahead and made the 80GB partition through the setup and left the rest 'unpartioned'. After I got windows installed and updated to SP1, I went to disk management and partitioned the rest.

Worked for me, any more questions, PM me as I don't usually check this forum, I was just bored.

Hope you don't want all 200GB as a C drive, or else that will be difficult :(

LMK

Matthew Maes
 

kbullert

Junior Member
Aug 22, 2004
2
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They should be working. I know what happened, I put the period in the link, which shouldn't be there. But it comes down to this, to install the full capacity of the hard drive you need to have a copy of Windows XP with Service Pack 1, 1a, or 2, to be able to have Windows XP see your whole drive size at install time.
 

Smilin

Diamond Member
Mar 4, 2002
7,357
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Can't...read...thread...eyes..buckling..under...strain...must..have...paragraphs...