***FIXED***ASUS A7N8X-E Error 0x0000007e

[danrasta]

Hello-

I purchased a a7n8x-e Deluxe mother board, and i cannot get windows installed. While installing i get an error message
*STOP : 0X000007E CANNOT LOAD SETUPDD.SYS

*Here is my hardware:

A7n8x-e deluxe mother board
AMD ATHLON XP, 2800 , 512K Cache (barton Core) 2.083 Ghz
512 MB PNY memory PC 2700 DDR333 (PNY part#d512mpc270pt)
TNT 2 video card
WD SATA 120g hard drive
WIN XP HOME

Here is what i have tried with no success:

1. Took mother board back and got new board.
2. Moved memory to different banks
3. Ran MEMTEST86 for 10 hours with 36 passes reporting no errors
4. Updated BIOS to Version c18e1013.bin (most current version)
5. Tried IDE hard drive
6. Tried installing WIN 2000 instead of xp
7. Tried booting with SLAX (linux CD)
8. Changed to PCI video card (Matrox Mystique)
9. I Used an IDE hard drive that already had win 2000 installed and
got halfway through start up and then it crashed with reported error.
10. I disabled bios and video caching. Changed my bios settings to STABLE and tried AGGRESSIVE


Can someone please help me?

Ive searched the internet and all the answers were the ideas above. I keep trying to get tech support from asus but im always on hold. It bites having to pay longdistance when i already paid for the board.

Thanks

Text

 

[Uncle Bob]

do you get the same error when installing windows 2000 and windows XP?

 

[meltdown75]

This is taken from this page...

STOP: 0x000007E: Inaccessible Boot Device

This error appears when the hard disk controller has difficulty determining which is the boot device?which might happen if your computer contains an Adaptec SCSI disk controller, for example, and there is an ID number conflict. Another instance in which this error occurs is when the master boot record (MBR) is corrupted by a virus or a disk error.

If your workstation has an internal IDE drive and a SCSI disk drive with an ID number set to 0, you will also see the "inaccessible boot device" error. The 0 ID number is used to specify which disk is the internal disk, and this drive conflicts with a boot partition on the IDE drive. Any bootable SCSI disks may also be booted in preference to your internal IDE drive, so you may want to make all SCSI drives nonbootable to prevent the SCSI disk controller from booting that SCSI drive. (Some disk adapters dynamically assign SCSI device numbers, but they aren't particularly common.) If the Windows NT DETECT program in the boot loader assigns the SCSI bus adapter the number 0, the reference in the BOOT.INI file to your internal IDE drive becomes inaccurate.

If your system proceeds through the load phase and boots correctly but still seems to be malfunctioning, you should check the system event log to see whether any system messages were written to the log.

The system log may display errors, warnings, or informational events that can explain the conditions leading to the anomaly you observed due to an error in the boot sequence. To view the system log, first choose Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, Event Viewer. Then select the Log menu and choose the System Log command to open the system log. Figure 7.4 shows a system log listing various events.

** hopefully this gets you started on a possible solution or at least you will know what is causing your problem?

edit: oh and btw i just googled your error code by itself - "0x000007E". Lots comes up. You're not alone

 

[Fern]

I'm guessing it has to do with your SATA drive. HERE is a SATA tutorial for your mobo, if you wanna it check out.

Fern

 

[danrasta]

I got the same message when i was trying to install win 2K and Win XP

I tried using a IDE drive also and had the same problems. It was an old WD 40g drive.

To rule that all out I also used a hard drive out of another system that already had WIN2k installed and it would begin to start then halt with a stop message also. I don't remember the code for that one. That drive was a ide 40g seagate drive.

Alot of info on the net points to the memory, but i tested it with MEMTEST86 and no errors. I also put the DDR memory on my ECS k7s5a board and it booted and started win2k no problem.

I should also point out that the first motherboard i took back had the exact same problem.

All the jumpers are default settings straight out of the box. Only a floppy, cdrom, and hardrive connected.

Ive developed a bad headache from this mess.

 

[montag451]

have a look for bios upgrade

 

[danrasta]

I already upgraded to the latest release.

Thanks though.

 

[montag451]

View the Microsoft Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) to determine if the PCI devices in the computer are compatible with Windows XP.

A simple try is to boot up with as few devices as possible - including integrated periphs

 

[danrasta]

I thought the same thing, so during my testing i used only hardware i have used before with xp and win 2000.

 

[danrasta]

This morning i tried a different stick of ram. Kingston memroy 512pc 3200. With no luck

I then turned off every feature one at a time in the bios, restarted and tried to install XP with no success. Finally at the end the only thing left was to diable the CPU L1 and L2 cache. It finally would allow me to install XP. Im now going to return the CPU and Hopefully the new one will work.

 

[meltdown75]

I'd run a chkdsk /f on that drive before you send anything back... you can throw in a DOS boot disk and do this from the command prompt...

Fixed a problem I had with a drive last night... worth a try.

edit: i'd do this especially if the drive was previously used!

 

[danrasta]

I tried on three different drives. Two mother boards and two memory sticks. As soon as i disabled the cache everthing will install.

One of the drives already had an installed version of win 2K ( the computer im posting from)

No success for any methods.

I will give it a shot though.

 

[danrasta]

I tried chkdisk with no postive results.

It's definitely the L1 and L2 Chache. I loaded the setup defaults and turned the cache back off and i was able to install.

This definitely means the CPU right?

 

[montag451]

wow - never heard of that before.

Well done for finding the prob danrasta....... good work.
Now - problem is -
Is the L1/L2 damaged, or is it the way the mobo recognises it or passes on that information.
I would go with what you say = cpu, but if exchanged unsuccessfully, then mobo.
Is there anyway to shove that cpu in a working system?

 

[danrasta]

I can't put the other CPU in another system unfortunately. Ive got an RMA to send the CPU back. I bought it online from a pricewatch vendor. They had a good rating so I am hoping they won?t swindle me somehow by saying its "GOOD" when I send it back and they test it. It came from ENET Marketing, Inc. So I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I called tech support @ ASUS as a last resort hoping they might have a different idea. The rep said he has never heard of that error code before "setupdd.sys? I explained everything I have tried and his reply was "Wow, I have no idea? He agreed with me in thinking that it was the CPU. After my experience with ASUS and the Tech support I will just get a chepo ECS board next time. Why pay all the money for the bells and whistles and no support. AGHHHHHHHH I bought my K7S5A board with AMD950 at frys about 2 years ago for like a 100$ and ive had no problems.

This and the chargers losing, what a bad week for me!

 

[danrasta]

I replaced the CPU and booted up with no problems.

Thanks for all the help