Defective motherboard?

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morrisbj

Senior member
Nov 10, 2005
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I recently attempted an upgrade from this motherboard to this new motherboard.

After transferring all the components and getting everything installed, I ran into a wall. The system will post, I can get into the BIOS, but I can't re-install windows. One of 3 things happens.

1) After "Press any key to boot from CD", the screen goes blank and the system freezes.

2) After "Press any key to boot from CD", the install disk begins the setup process, loads a few files, then the drive no longer responds, and the system freezes.

3) While loading files, install disk gives a message that a file is corrupted, the install cannot be completed, and restarts the system.

Now, I just used this same Windows install CD to reload XP 2 weeks ago maximum, so I really don't think it is the CD. I went to my local repair shop and asked what could be causing my problem (as I really don't know much myself), and they suggested the following problems.

1) Faulty RAM

2) Faulty Video card

3) Faulty Motherboard

So I tried a couple different sticks of RAM in all 3 available slots, no change. Tried another video card, no change. So I tore everything back apart and put the old motherboard back in, just to make sure I hadn't damaged EVERY part somehow. Got everything put back in, system booted up and went right into Windows.

Should I consider this to be a bad motherboard and get an RMA started, or have I missed somthing that may be my fault on this end?
 
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o1die

Diamond Member
Jul 8, 2001
4,785
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71
You're attempting to change from a via to nvidia chipset board. You may need to format the drive and reinstall windows.
 
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morrisbj

Senior member
Nov 10, 2005
363
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Anyone have any idea how I can determine for sure whether the board is defective or not? Is there an easy to miss step in installing a new motherboard other than reinstalling windows (which is where I'm hanging up)?
 
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jimmyj68

Senior member
Mar 18, 2004
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Might I suggest - that if you reinstalled your harddrive without it being reformatted to a "blank state", you are going to have problems. Find a way to clean up your hard drive and I think you will be OK. you will have to create a new partition and format the drive before windows will accept it.
 
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morrisbj

Senior member
Nov 10, 2005
363
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Originally posted by: jimmyj68
Might I suggest - that if you reinstalled your harddrive without it being reformatted to a "blank state", you are going to have problems. Find a way to clean up your hard drive and I think you will be OK. you will have to create a new partition and format the drive before windows will accept it.
Click to expand...

Okay, thanks. I'll give that a try.
 
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morrisbj

Senior member
Nov 10, 2005
363
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Okay, I attempted a reinstall with the drive completely blank. I'm still getting the same hangup, which was that the XP INSTALL DISK is for some reason not being read by either my cd or dvd drive with the new motherboard installed. As in the first post, the install process hangs before it even gives me any installation options. I put the old motherboard back in, popped the disk in the drive, and was able to do a full install on the first try.

Is it possible that the motherboard has some kind of problem with the IDE controller, but not anything else? It seems to be the only thing not working.

BTW, I also tried the motherboard install without a windows reinstall by installing the drivers beforehand, then removing anything I could find related to my old motherboard. Nothing but problems for me there, and it didn't work on top of it all.

If anyone has any last minute pointers I'd love to hear them, otherwise I figure I'll RMA it with newegg tomorrow. If I do that, should I switch to one of these boards instead?

ABIT NF7-S2
EPoX EP-8RDA3
MSI K7N2 Delta2
Chaintech 7NJL6

Based on the features and this article, I'm leaning toward the EPoX board, with the ABIT a close second. I know the article doesn't review all these exact models, but they are the closest boards left to those. I'd love to find the ASUS board reviewed in the article, but Newegg doesn't carry it, and I'm not sure which other online retailers I'm willing to trust.
 
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morrisbj

Senior member
Nov 10, 2005
363
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0
Originally posted by: Peter
As usual, the absolute first thing to do with a new build is run a thorough RAM test. Yes, even if you think your RAM is good.

www.memtest.org
Click to expand...

I'll give that a shot this evening, but unless every stick of RAM I own is either faulty or not compatible with the new MB (highly unlikely, but stranger things have happened), I've got a problem elsewhere. Thanks for the suggestion though, I'll see if it helps me out.
 
Cdubneeddeal

Cdubneeddeal

Diamond Member
Oct 22, 2003
7,473
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Whatever you do, don't get the NF7-S2..you'll be sorry. If you ever want to overclock your chances are limited.
 
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grooge

Senior member
Dec 23, 2004
542
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The first thing you'll want to check is if your motherboard has a 4 pins square power connector that feed the power to the CPU. Some Nforce2 motherboard has one and it has to be plugged. Then try to run the memory at 2.7 volts. This will help to improve stability. maybe you PSU is failing too. If you can test with another.. Oh.. is the HSF cleaned and installed with fresh thermal paste after the switch? It should...
 
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morrisbj

Senior member
Nov 10, 2005
363
0
0
Originally posted by: grooge
The first thing you'll want to check is if your motherboard has a 4 pins square power connector that feed the power to the CPU. Some Nforce2 motherboard has one and it has to be plugged. Then try to run the memory at 2.7 volts. This will help to improve stability. maybe you PSU is failing too. If you can test with another.. Oh.. is the HSF cleaned and installed with fresh thermal paste after the switch? It should...
Click to expand...

Hmmm.... lets see...

It doesn't have the 4 pin power connector for extra power to the CPU (but I didn't think the AthlonXP ever reached a point where it was necessary?)

I'll try running the memory at 2.7 (higher than normal?) volts, hadn't tried that yet.

On the PSU.... I'll have to see if I can get ahold of a spare one somewhere to test with.

And the HSF, yep, removed the fan, blew all the dust out of the HS, cleaned off the old thermal paste and applied new.
 
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