Help me get my roomate's new box running...

[stinkynathan]

convinced my buddy he needed a new computer this past weekend, so he ordered a motherboard, CPU, RAM and case on sunday. it got here today and we assembled it today. I gave him my old 4x burner and he has a month-old 80Gb hard drive in there too.

parts:
Biostar M7NCG
Athlon XP 2600+
512 Mb Corsair VS RAM
Evercase case
80Gb HD
crappy CD-ROM and burner
Linksys WMP54G wireless card

Anyways..... got it all together this afternoon. loaded Windows XP on it and I went to work. I came back at 9:30 to find that he was on his 3rd install. He's been getting pretty constant BSODs on nearly every boot. It won't show the BSOD for long, so I can't give any pertinent info it.

I reinstalled again about a half hour ago thinking he screwed something up. same deal.

Things I know:
1. not heat related - got MBM5 installed at one point and it was idling around 29C
2. not memory related (unless its the socket) - swapped with one of my Corsair sticks
3. not related to the wireless card - BSOD whether the card is installed or not

Cliffs notes
lots of BSOD
tried some stuff
didn't work
post to anandtech.com

any ideas?

later,
nate

 

[amdskip]

What power supply, check the memory for errors with memtest86, has windows been completely updated and what about anti virus?

 

[stinkynathan]

I've double checked the memory with a stick from my box. Mine has been running stable for over a month now, so I doubt that can be the problem. The XP install was slipstreamed with SP2. No anti-virus since it hasn't even been connected to our LAN.

other ideas? bad motherboard maybe?

later,
nate

 

[erikistired]

if it's running at all, when you get into windows to go the control panel -> system -> advanced -> startup and recovery -> system failure -> uncheck 'automatically restart' and then you can at least see what is causing it.

 

[DrCool]

can you complete memtest86? that would isolate weather it's a software or hardware problem.

are you installing off a geniune windows cd or a copy?
if the data isn't copied correctly from the cd, it leads to a corrupt installation..

 

[erikistired]

i wouldn't assume it was software over hardware simply from running memtest86. for all he knows it could be his soundcard, not sure memtest would pick that up. just fyi.

 

[mechBgon]

Yeah, what power supply is towing the boat here? A high-quality one, or a cheapie? If it's a cheapie, go out and grab an Antec SL400 or Enermax or Fortron/SPI or another recognized name-brand unit. 400W will leave you some breathing room for a year or two if he throws a whopper video card into it.

Remember that wireless can infect your computer just as nicely as a wired network connection can. Run Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer and see if you've got some weak/blank passwords to correct. Among other things.

Also, go into Advanced Chipset Features in the BIOS. Set the Memory Frequency to 166MHz so it's sync'ed to your CPU's frontside-bus speed (I assume your 2600+ is 333MHz FSB, although 266MHz-based ones do exist). If your buddy's motherboard allowed memory-voltage adjustments then I'd also suggest using 2.6 volts, but it doesn't.

 

[stinkynathan]

Originally posted by: DrCool
can you complete memtest86? that would isolate weather it's a software or hardware problem.

are you installing off a geniune windows cd or a copy?
if the data isn't copied correctly from the cd, it leads to a corrupt installation..

memtest86 completed. no errors

The CD is a slipstreamed sp2 disk that another of my roomates made. It has been used on two other boxen in the house which have both been running fine for >2 months.

i wouldn't assume it was software over hardware simply from running memtest86. for all he knows it could be his soundcard, not sure memtest would pick that up. just fyi.

using onboard everything, except for the wireless card once we get it working. not about to string cat-5 all over the house.

still baffled on this one

later,
nate

 

[stinkynathan]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Yeah, what power supply is towing the boat here? A high-quality one, or a cheapie? If it's a cheapie, go out and grab an Antec SL400 or Enermax or Fortron/SPI or another recognized name-brand unit. 400W will leave you some breathing room for a year or two if he throws a whopper video card into it.

the PSU is the one that came with the case. I don't recall what it is, but I can't imagine it being anything too spectacular. He will never need an uber video card or probably any other components for that matter, so I don't think an upgraded PSU is an option. I will probably throw the motherboard in my Antec case tomorrow when I have time to see what happens.

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Remember that wireless can infect your computer just as nicely as a wired network connection can. Run Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer and see if you've got some weak/blank passwords to correct. Among other things.

This could be a problem if I could even get the card to work. For some reason the installer for the drivers won't even running. I'm running with a seriously borked system here. I can't get it to do anything. I'm going to try to reinstall with yet another XP disk right now to see what happens

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Also, go into Advanced Chipset Features in the BIOS. Set the Memory Frequency to 166MHz so it's sync'ed to your CPU's frontside-bus speed (I assume your 2600+ is 333MHz FSB, although 266MHz-based ones do exist). If your buddy's motherboard allowed memory-voltage adjustments then I'd also suggest using 2.6 volts, but it doesn't.

will do....

thanks for all the help everyone...

later,
nate

 

[erikistired]

were you able to stop it from automatically rebooting so you can at least see what's causing the BSODs?

 

[stinkynathan]

Originally posted by: fisher
were you able to stop it from automatically rebooting so you can at least see what's causing the BSODs?

the last error i got was "PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA" i believe. i'm reinstalling with a different disk right now to see what happens. should be done in a few minutes

later,
nate

 

[erikistired]

just fyi:

Error:
STOP: 0x00000050 PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA
Translation:
During a WinXP installation, you get this message. This error is generated when one or more of your system?s RAM memory modules is faulty.

Solution:
Remove a memory module and restart the setup process. If the error reappears, replace the memory module you just removed, remove a different memory module, and restart the setup process again. Continue using this procedure until you isolate the specific memory module that is causing the error message.

Keep in mind that WinXP needs at least 128MB of RAM to run properly. If you have 128MB or less of total system RAM, this is a good opportunity to upgrade your system memory to 256MB or 512MB. The more memory you have when running WinXP, the better; 512MB is probably the optimum amount of memory you?ll need to run WinXP and all your other applications efficiently.

wondering if it's not the ram then possibly the motherboard.

 

[stinkynathan]

That was on the good memory from my machine, so I'd suspect the motherboard first.

Last install got to T - 5 minutes and died because of a bad disk. trying this once again with another of my disks.

if it doesn't work, i guess we'll have to call newegg tomorrow. is that how it works for bad parts?

later,
nate

 

[erikistired]

you can do the rma online, not sure if you can call them for that or not. i've always done it online, easy enough to do.

 

[jpeyton]

What is your RAM configuration? Is it one stick of double-sided memory in slot 1?

 

[stinkynathan]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
What is your RAM configuration? Is it one stick of double-sided memory in slot 1?

1 512 MB stick of Corsair Value Select in slot 1

 

[mechBgon]

I suggest trying your Antec power supply now, before getting into the RMA stuff.

 

[DrCool]

did you say both sticks of memory you tried were Corsair? if so, it could be this board is just incompatible with BOTH sticks of memory..

thats one of many reasons why you generally want to stick with brands that are consistent (Asus, Abit, MSI).. that way you avoid strange instances such as this..

Toms Hardware did a very detailed review on the topic of memory compatibility and motherboard brands:
http://www.tomshardware.com/mo...memory_modules-23.html

 

[stinkynathan]

Originally posted by: DrCool
did you say both sticks of memory you tried were Corsair? if so, it could be this board is just incompatible with BOTH sticks of memory..

thats one of many reasons why you generally want to stick with brands that are consistent (Asus, Abit, MSI).. that way you avoid strange instances such as this..

Toms Hardware did a very detailed review on the topic of memory compatibility and motherboard brands:
http://www.tomshardware.com/mo...memory_modules-23.html

yes, both sticks i've tried are both Corsair.

I may have come to a possible discovery of the problem. It boots into windows the first time, no problem. I install the chipset and onboard LAN and video drivers and the thing goes berserk. will be trying to install with the drivers i just downloaded from their website. hopefully this works.

here goes nuthin

nate

 

[erikistired]

still giving you the same bsod message?

 

[stinkynathan]

Originally posted by: fisher
still giving you the same bsod message?

not any more. i'm still working on getting new drivers installed. seems relatively stable at this point. my only grip is this sh!tty mouse i'm forced to use because i'm on a KVM switch

nate

 

[erikistired]

were you using the latest drivers before? or off a cd?

 

[stinkynathan]

just got the BSOD again. i guess i spoke too soon.

just got another..... this thing is hopeless......

error in win2k.sys or something. maybe win32.sys

giving up for the night (morning?)

nate

 

[stinkynathan]

Originally posted by: fisher
were you using the latest drivers before? or off a cd?

originally from the CD that came with the board.

the last to BSODs were with the drivers from their website

i guess i'll be doing some heavy duty part swapping tomorrow to see what happens.

put his mobo and CPU in my case....see what happens
put my CPU on his mobo.... see what happens
put his CPU on my mobo.... see what happens
reassemble my box



nate

 

[erikistired]

ugh not fun at all. hopefully you'll figure it out quickly!