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Final plea before I smash it. Can't install OS *update

S

SuperPickle

Golden Member
This machine refuses to install an OS. I'm trying to install Win2K on this box 'cause I got sick of WinXP and all of its bubblegum. Board POSTs fine, and gets to the point where in needs to load an OS. I'm doing a fresh install, so I boot from Win2K disk. It starts into setup, but always fails.

I get a variety of errors: most say something like:
Line xxxx of .inf file invalid. Setup cannot continue.
Click to expand...
(xxxx being a varying 4-digit number)

Sometimes it says something like:
file /i386/ntknlmp.exe could not be loaded. Error code is 4.
Click to expand...

I thought that maybe that somebody was telling me something, so I tried WinXP again and found slightly different, but similar errors occured.

System:
A7N8X Deleuxe Rev. 2 (C1004 BIOS I think)
XP1900+
512 PC3200
9500Pro
Antec SmartPower 350W
Everything running at defalt stock speeds.

Has one HDD on one channel of IDE and DVD-ROM on secondary channel, both set to master. I also use SCSI having 2 optical drives and two (now, low-level formatted) HDDs

The disk was used to install WIn2K on a different machine only a week ago so the media is OK. I've tried all three CD-drives with no luck. I even tried using two others including the drive that just sucessfully installed Win2K with that very disk.

I've tried three different known-working sticks of RAM that have worked with this board before (in all three RAM slots). I've disabled every onboard goodie via BIOS. I've tried different slots for the SCSI card, a different SCSI card, even taking out the card altogether so all left in there is AGP card, a CD-ROM, and a IDE HDD. Yes, tried a different AGP card and a PCI vid as well.

The CPU is not overheating.

EDIT: Trying a different PSU was fruitless

Here's the funny part. I had these troubles the first time I tried to install Windows 2K. When I tried WinXP, it was successful and has been completely stable for three months. The only reason I was to reinstall was the desire to go back to Win2K. I'm stumped.

Does anyone have any ideas? (besides the Linux vs. MS debate, which I'm starting to weigh)
Thanks for any help.
 
Originally posted by: owensdj
Have you tried running the hard drive manfacturer's drive diagnostic utility on all hard drives?
Click to expand...
Not all drives. I ran them on the SCSI drives though --they've all come clean and are now low-level formatted. The OS installation fails before I can chose the destination drive.

 
Have you tried copying the I386 directory from the CD to one of your hard drives and running the setup from there? I had a weird one where it would refuse to copy files properly (despite the cd and drive being fine and I was able to copy the cd once I had windows up). I ripped a drive out and copied the files onto it, ran the setup and it worked. Worth a try I guess.
 
Originally posted by: kazeakuma
Have you tried copying the I386 directory from the CD to one of your hard drives and running the setup from there? I had a weird one where it would refuse to copy files properly (despite the cd and drive being fine and I was able to copy the cd once I had windows up). I ripped a drive out and copied the files onto it, ran the setup and it worked. Worth a try I guess.
Click to expand...
That's certainly worth trying. I've not thought of this route. I'll give it a shot tonight.
(BTW, my temps are in the mid 30's...Memtest is another option to rule out a variable which may be tried)

 
Hi,

If it is reporting errors with the installation files during installation, my first line of attack would be to replace the IDE cable connecting my installation CD-ROM drive to my motherboard (preferably use an older type 40 strand cable). Having had all kinds of spurious issues while attempting to install from CD media using known good CD's, exchanging the IDE cable has removed all such problems.

Are you using a high density 80 strand cable? - try replacing it with its slower 40 strand counterpart - while your O/S is loading, the Win2k/WinXP installation files are using generic CD-ROM drivers, 40 strand IDE cable is far more reliable at transferring data at standard speeds (80 strand cable has 40 ground/earth wires to help with the signal timing - fitting an extra 40 strands in the same space as one using 40 requires thinning the 40 data wires, which means it isn't as effective at providing a signal free highway for the data.. blah, blah.. just use a standard 40 strand cable is what I am trying to say!)


If it was a memory problem then you would generally get the installation process failing at the same spot repeatedly (as the bad area of memory was getting populated).
If it was an overheating problem, you would have noticed it while running WindowsXP.
A hard drive problem would have been noticed on the initial drive check - and if it wasn't, you would generally experience the failure at the same installation point every time (as the bad area of disk was getting populated).

The only other reason I have had troubles with while installing an O/S is the bus speed, certain models of motherboard rated to support 133Mhz refuse to install the O/S until it is dropped to 100Mhz... you can happily pop it back to 133Mhz at completion of the installation.


Why I think it is your cable..
The errors you are experiencing are random, electrical interference is random by nature... you'll laugh at this but, did you install your working O/S in a different location to where your PC is now? - Any local sources of interference? has your neighbour just bought an amplifier for his CB ariel? anyone had a satellite dish installed since you last installed it? - Think wife/girlfriend/interference - console yourself with no matter how hard it is to install an O/S on your PC, it will never ask you if it's bum looks big in this..
Regards

Nick
 
I thought about the cables being the trouble spot. I've run into that before and actually did swap out one cable to the CD drive, but in this case, I'd tend not to believe that is the problem because I've tried installing from SCSI-->IDE, SCSI-->SCSI, IDE-->SCSI, and IDE-->IDE. ALL the combinations of the above cables can't be bad, especially since I've tried swapping out one of the SCSI cables with a known-working one.

Electrical interferance could always be that voodoo problem. Whereas I'm installing this OS is the same location as the box usually sits and where I've installed OS's countless times before on many machines, this particular board could be especially susceptible, I suppose.

I'll try dumping the fsb...it can't do any harm.

Thanks for all suggestions thus far. Every one of them has a better chance to fix my problem than my initial desire just to pee on the damn thing.
 
One nice diagnostic tool I like for troubleshooting stuff is using Knoppix.

Its basically a bootable linux cd, you can boot off the cd and into a fully functional Linux box, its all off the cd, and it doesn't touch your hard drive, so its not destructive. so boot into that and see if it can boot up, and try surfing the web etc etc. any weirdness should be discovered there.

Also from Linux you could run some diagnostics, mess around with the hard drive if u wanted to etc.

Here is the link to the page to get Knoppix from http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

Let me know if you need any more help with Linux and stuff
 
I was hoping somebody would come through with the Knoppix suggestion. I remember reading about that here, but couldn't remember the name. Thanks arib0nd. I'm pretty close the telling ASUS and/or Microsoft to stick it in their blowholes.
 
Ok. I tried Knoppix but it won't even boot to that. The SCSI BIOS says there's a bootable CD in the drive, but it won't load. It does load on another machine.

Memtest won't load. I tried just booting to DOS with CD support with a Win98 disk. That gets me into DOS, but when I type anything, each character is followed by a heart, or exclamation point or up-arrow, or some other goofy character.

I've changed powerstrips, PSUs, CPU's and taken everything out of the case and tryed it on the bench. No go at all.

Perhaps it's now safe to say that I've done ample troubleshooting and should RMA this POS ASUS?
This makes me a grumpy monkey:|

BTW: Thanks for all the replys. I appreciate it
 
I think the cd might be busted. Try copying the entire CD onto you HD. And if you don't like XP's interface, why don't you just set it back to the 95 style interface. It's possible to do.
 
For anyone that is curious, it was the motherboard. I took all my junk and hooked it back up to my old KG7 and everything worked fine. Time for an RMA.
 
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