hardware malfunction. call your hardware vendor for support

[dshodson]

About 1 month ago, my computer crashed and would not boot back into win2k without any specific reason or recent changes.
Well to make a long story short, i decided to go for a clean start but now i can not get win2k to reinstall on this system.
i have an asusa7v133 with a 1 ghz thunderbird not overclocked and have removed everything except one hard drive which i placed on ide, the video card and the 512 of memory.
During installation when win2k is supposedly checking for plug and play stuff, i get the blue screen of death with :

*** hardware malfunction
call your hardware vendor for support
*** the system has halted

any ideas of what to do?

D

 

[DaveSimmons]

Have you run any memory-test software?

 

[dshodson]

are there any that can be run from dos?

ill try and pull out one stick and see what happens and then try the other

D

 

[Lonyo]

memtest86 runs from its own thing (boot from floppy/CD)

 

[dshodson]

where do u get it?


never mind found it

D

 

[dshodson]

okay i did the memory test for 2 passes and no errors reported

any other suggestions?

D

 

[BigFatCow]

Originally posted by: dshodson
okay i did the memory test for 2 passes and no errors reported

any other suggestions?

D

you have to run it for longer than that.

 

[GonzoDaGr8]

A7V133 FAQ Here Might be some good info for you..Sorry to hear you having trouble with this, The A7V133 was one of my all time favorite boards. Rock solid board.

 

[dshodson]

okay
i ran the memory program for 12 hours and no errors reported.
i couldnt find anything of relevance on that page
i did like my asus a7v133 until this happened (of course it might not be the motherboard that is my prb)

D

 

[thorin]

Originally posted by: dshodson
any ideas of what to do?

Yup >

call your hardware vendor for support

but since that was too obvious you could always try running some diagnostics on the HD(s) (get testing utils from the manufacturer's web site). And make sure that the BIOS option "Plug and Play aware OS" is set to true.

i couldnt find anything of relevance on that page

You didn't really read through the topics covered did you?
"What temperature is too high for the A7V? "
"I cannot install Windows NT / Windows 2000 on A7V or board when the HDD is connected to the Promise ATA100 IDE connector?"
"I am having lots of problems with a Windows 2000 installation, but other Windows versions seem to work fine. What is wrong? "
etc.....

Thorin

 

[dshodson]

honestly
do u think a hardware vendor is going to be any help to me?
but thank you for the other ideas

D

 

[tw1164]

do you have to load any special controller drivers during installation?

 

[dshodson]

i dont since i took the hard drives off the raid and put just one on an ide
i actually tried each drive and both failed (leading me to think its not a drive prb)
i could get it to start to install but when it gets to trying to find plug and play stuff
it gets 1/2 way there and then i get the same message

D

 

[thorin]

i could get it to start to install but when it gets to trying to find plug and play stuff
it gets 1/2 way there and then i get the same message

See FAQ linked above and above mentioned sections.

Thorin

 

[dshodson]

no actually i did read that thing again to make sure i didnt miss anything although it is still possible that i did miss something

in fact i have posted on that site many times before (i even have a physical printed copy of that FAQ). My name there is either dhodson or dshodson if u want to check(i cant remember). I actually once had the install prb with the raid issue but i found the answer there and as i mentioned above this time took the drives off raid.

i even tried turning as much stuff off in the bios as much as possible (since this seemed most relevant although i have installed the system previously with the exact same bios settings) although im not 100% that i accomplished the task of turning off everything.

As far as the quiz.
id have to look at the temperatures numbers in the bios when i get home which i can report back if u feel it would be helpful although i talked about them to someone else and they said they were fine (i just cant remember what they are)

D

 

[dshodson]

one other thing i should mention is that i have tried installing 98se and although it installs
the system crashes or prgs stop working in particular ie
i have since removed 98 from the hd

D

 

[thorin]

I'm sorry if I'm seeming like a pain in the ass but that would probably fall under:
"I am having lots of problems with a Windows 2000 installation, but other Windows versions seem to work fine. What is wrong? "

Which links to one single page thread on the topic and that thread links to a 5 or 6 page thread on stability/compatability/apps etc...... I'm not saying I'm 100% sure that the answer is there but you obviously aren't the only person to have trouble getting Win2K on a system with that board.

As for temps I don't really care what they are, if you're gonna check them anyway then let us know. But basically get them then read what the FAQ has to say.

Thorin

 

[Double Trouble]

I'm not familiar with that particular board, but if you can, turn off the ACPI function in the bios and then try to install again. I've had several boards where I had to install win2k this way.....

 

[dshodson]

ill retry those suggestions although i think i have already done this
the bottom line for those suggestions is to turn pretty much everything u can off which i am attempting to do
the reason i didnt consider that faq as helpful is that it is mostly for folks who have 98 running just fine and want 2k or cant get 2k to install in the first place
although i install 98 okay, it seems odd that it crashs all the time, i mean within a few minutes.
anything in ie would mess up and i had prbs even with accessing the hard drive. this led me to take the 2 hds off raid and try each individually on ide.
Before the big melt down i had both 98 and 2k on the system in a raid configuration and had installed 2k several times typically in raid with the raid drivers on a floppy.
i honestly think something is broke but just cant figure out what it is.
it doesnt appear to be the memory after the 12 hour test. i guess it could still be the hds although again odd that neither will work

tonight ill try another round of turning off anything that looks suspicious
is there something about the faq u dont think ive tried b/c i feel that i have been doing the faq

D

 

[thorin]

is there something about the faq u dont think ive tried b/c i feel that i have been doing the faq

Nope I just keep pushing it because of your earlier "I don't see the relevance" comment, when the topics it says it covers are completely relevant to the problems you are describing. That's all.

Thorin

 

[Double Trouble]

I haven't found very many situations where both hard drives have 'gone bad' at the same time, so it's more likely something else.

Given the symptoms, I'd have to think there might be something wrong with one of the memory sticks (assuming you have 2). Have you tried just using one of the memory sticks? Try each one individually, and try them in different slots just to be sure it's not one of the slots that's bad.

Perhaps your video card might be causing problems as well, make sure you seat and re-seat it.