Help! i need some help with my rig setup... it stopped working? details inside

Frosty3799

Diamond Member
Nov 4, 2000
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OK, well i went to format and install win98SE the other night, and i formatted the drive, and started installing. when it got to the point where you log in your name, it flashes the screen for a few seconds and then i get a string of blue-screen errors all in a row. i tryed formatting and installing again, same problem. i tryed formatting and installing win98, winME, winXP... all the same problem, i got a blue screen at just about the same point.

up until after the first restart in the windows installation, everything seems to be working fine, which is what baffles me. i also tryed sticking a harddrive in that already had a full install of winXP home on it, and i got a blue screen with that too (but that coulda been cause winXP doesnt like a whole bunch of hardware changing).

heres my rig setup:

Athlon 1.4 266fsb thermoengine cooler w/ delta fan
Epox 8KHA
512 crucial pc2100 DDR
mx400 diamond sound card
netgear 10/100 nic
maxtor 30 gig ata100 7200rpm
geforce2 pro 32mb w/ tv out
yamaha 16x10x40
32x cd-rom (generic)
antec psu

i have tryed removing all unneeded pci cards, and one of the cdrom drives, leaving only the vid card and the yamaha, and ther ewas no difference. i have narrowed it down to being either a hard drive or a motherboard problem, but i dont know which, or even if those are the right things.

i did open up the comp and do a full de-dusting job before i tryed to reinstall, but i dont think i messed anything up :(

well, please leave your input/ideas... i will try pretty much anything... but dont really have any $$ to buy newstuff right now :(

LMK what you think everyone, or if you have had this type of thing happen and resolved it.
 

Frosty3799

Diamond Member
Nov 4, 2000
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EDIT on first post... sorry i leftit it blank to start with... hit enter instead or tab on accident...


thanks for the input

Josh
 

Fiera

Member
Jan 31, 2002
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Normaly when a blue screen comes up like that you should be able to pick up a vxd exe or dll file that erroring out. that should help you track down what is causing your problems.
Does it blue screen if you try to boot into safe mode?
 

Frosty3799

Diamond Member
Nov 4, 2000
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yes, it does give me the name(s) of the files that are screwed up, but the thing is it scrolls through like 10 different ones very quickly.

i am pretty sure they are all VXD errors if that makes a difference.

if i try and boot in safe mode, the i get the black screen that says "Windows protection error, please restart your computer" or something to that liking.

I dont have anything overclocked, so that wouldnt be it.

Josh
 

Bovinicus

Diamond Member
Aug 8, 2001
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Have you tried setting the values in the CMOS to fail-safe defaults? Also, try swapping memory to make sure a stick isn't causing you problems.
 

Frosty3799

Diamond Member
Nov 4, 2000
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yes, i cleared CMOS to fail-safe, and yes i tried re-seating my memory, and different memory, still nothing working...

(the other memory was from a known-working system, so there were no problems with it)
 

visceral

Member
Feb 24, 2001
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I can tell you with 99% certainty its the ram thats gone pop!

Happens to the old 133's at werk from time to time...
 

Yonux

Member
Dec 18, 2001
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well, since you have already tried resetting your BIOS, and removed all unneeded cards and devices along with swapping out memory I believe you have done the majority of tests. The thing that intrigues me is you are able to load windows XP (which I think is a good stress test IMHO). I know these are going to be shots in the dark, but try another IDE cable (??) also if you have another Power Supply to try may be something. I cant imagine the CPU being the problem as you can load your OS, but maybe lower your bus and/or mult to see what happens. and lastly.. bump for ya.