Help! Windows won't install!

[DarkAmeba]

Ok, i'm at my wit's end here. I just bought myself a brand new computer:

MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
Athlon 64 3500+
1gb corsair bh5 XMS (from old pc)
eVGA 6800GT
74gb raptor

Here's what happens... I start installing windows... everything seems fine, then bam.. i get the blue screen of death. No explanation, just the bsod. It dosen't even happen at a consistant time. Sometimes I can get halfway through the installation, sometimes it dies just after the format while "setup is copying files."

I can't make any sense of this at all. I think it must be a hardware problem.. but with what??? I don't see what could cause this. It's not the CD or the CDROM drive, tested both of those, and i doubt it's the hard drive cause I can get through a full format without detecting any errors. Help!

 

[Rkonster]

What are you running your RAM at?

 

[DarkAmeba]

Originally posted by: Rkonster
What are you running your RAM at?

Whatever the board defaults it at. I haven't mees with any tweaking/overclocking at all. If it'd help I can run upstairs and see what it's set at. (i'm in my resident hall's computer lap)

 

[DaveSimmons]

Since you're not overclocking, it's probably a bad RAM stick, overheating CPU (heatsink not installed correctly) or a defective motherboard. I'd bet on the RAM.

(My brother bought a cheap Celeron for a HTPC and didn't install the HSF properly and was getting some weird errors until he fixed it. Apparently the Celerons use a cheaper HSF than P4's and the plastic prongs on it can seem to snap in without doing it properly. One more reason to hate P4-era cellys)

 

[DarkAmeba]

well I just checked my temps... I'm using a Zalman cooler.. the all copper one, with as5. I checked the bios temps, and the pc is running at 52 C, a bit high imo for that beefy of cooling, but certainly not overheating. So i don't think it's cooling.

I'll look into the ram, but it worked fine in my old computer

 

[Maggotry]

Reseat the RAM and run memtest86.

 

[DarkAmeba]

Well, my bsod actually contained some useful info this time. Said the error was "PAGE_FAULT_IN_UNPAGED_AREA" and said ntfs.sys could have caused the problem. I don't know if that means anything to anyone... it dosen't to me.

I'm going to go reseat the ram now.

 

[mechBgon]

What voltage are you running the RAM at? Don't use Auto, force it to 2.7 volts. Also, what brand and model of power supply is running the show in there?

 

[DarkAmeba]

Ok, I'll try forcing 2.7v. It's an Antec 430 watt truepower.

 

[klah]

http://www.memtest86.com/

 

[DarkAmeba]

Ok, I forced the ram to 2.7v.. realllly thought that would do it.. it didn't.

I'm begining to think more and more I have a bad motherboard. I swapped one of the ram sticks into a different DIMM, and the PC wouldn't even POST. I swapped it back, and the computer booted, but still bsod during setup. Both sticks of ram are in the DIMMs securely.

The only other thing it could be is a bad cpu cache. Any recommendations what to do from here?? Time to RMA the mobo?

EDIT: can I run memtest without windows running??? Unfortantuantly my other computer is at home, so I can't swap my RAM into another PC for testing untill late tomorrow when people are awake after class.

 

[mechBgon]

You can run memtest from a self-booting floppy. Have you tried a flat, boring, brand-new 80-wire IDE cable to your optical drive yet? A bad IDE cable isn't unheard-of...

 

[DarkAmeba]

Ok, I don't have a floppy drive, so I'm going to run down to IT tomorrow and borrow one. (I work there, so that will be easy ) I'll run mem test then. I'll see if I can borrow a working IDE cable too. I did use the new cable that came with the board, so if a bad IDE cable could cause this error, then it's very possible.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: DarkAmeba
Ok, I don't have a floppy drive, so I'm going to run down to IT tomorrow and borrow one. (I work there, so that will be easy ) I'll run mem test then. I'll see if I can borrow a working IDE cable too. I did use the new cable that came with the board, so if a bad IDE cable could cause this error, then it's very possible.

You can also download the .ISO and make a bootable Memtest CD. But you might try a "regulation" IDE cable since that's also an easy step (plus it will take a lot less time than a complete set of Memtest diagnostics ). Good luck!

 

[DarkAmeba]

Ok, I tried to run memtest today, only to find that my problem seems to be getting progressivly worse. Now, the computer will freeze while i'm trying to change settings in BIOS, or even worse it will fail to detect ide drives or freeze during POST after detecting the ide drives.

Any other suggestions? I'm really starting to think I've got a bad mobo.

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: DarkAmeba
Any other suggestions? I'm really starting to think I've got a bad mobo.

This is a very real possibility. Many, many ATers have had problems with MSI mainboards; they're probably the least liked company for mainboards here.

 

[DarkAmeba]

I'm really thinking I need to just RMA the mobo.. any other ideas before I do?

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: DarkAmebaany other ideas before I do?

Yeah, top link here is a list of almost all the no-POST/no-run causes I could think of. You can start with the "Parts are compatible" category. But a bum mobo is certainly a possibility... I've been steering clear of MSI myself, not that there aren't bum boards from every company.

 

[DarkAmeba]

New error... I'm now getting "bios ROM checksum error" every other time I boot. Then, if I do get into bios, it moves incredibly slow, like it's lagging out or something. Flashing the bios fails. I've definatly got a bad board here. Luckily, I ordered from newegg.. the rma is already in.

EDIT: VERY nice guides mech!

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: DarkAmeba
New error... I'm now getting "bios ROM checksum error" every other time I boot. Then, if I do get into bios, it moves incredibly slow, like it's lagging out or something. Flashing the bios fails. I've definatly got a bad board here. Luckily, I ordered from newegg.. the rma is already in.

EDIT: VERY nice guides mech!

Thanks for the compliment on the guides, I try the best I can for an ex-bicycle mechanic Sorry to hear about your board but you can be glad it didn't lead you on for months and months first, I guess