Help with new comp...I'm really stuck here!

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R3solve

Member
Aug 30, 2002
38
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Hi, I just upgraded my good computer (for gaming) so I took my old mobo and put it into the new rig I'm building for a friend. It's a Duron 1.1, Biostar MVIB, 256mb pc2100, radeon 32mb sdr, and a 60GB IBM deskstar. First off, it wouldn't install windows xp. It would freeze halfway through, sometimes showing a blue screen saying something about turning BIOS cacheing off. I did this and nothing happened. Finaly, I switched motherboards and it installed perfectly. I swapped the mobos back and now it won't boot at all. It POSTs, but then it goes to this screen that asks if you want to start windows in safe mode or normal mode. No matter what you select, it always reboots and repeats this over and over. I know for sure this motherboard works because I've used it myself (I even switched it back into my good comp to test it and it DOES still work fine). Any help would be appreciated.
 
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TheGreenGoblin

Senior member
Jan 3, 2001
216
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Sometimes blue screens during installation can be the result of faulty ram , I'd use a software memory tester if u can to test your dimm , there are quite a few out there. You might wanna try DocMemory , I've used it before and it's worked well . Most of these memtesters run off a floppy so even if u cant boot into windows you can still check your ram.

Anytime your having reboot problems , trying a new power supply can't hurt .

I'd flash to the latest bios if you can , and load setup defaults or fail safe defaults in your bios before trying anything else too.
 
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ST4RCUTTER

Platinum Member
Feb 13, 2001
2,841
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R3solve,

Welcome to Anandtech! There are two problems here. The first is hardware related the second appears to be user caused. I'll tackle the second one first...you can't just switch motherboards without removing the device drivers for that motherboard. The best thing to do is a clean install with every new motherboard. In your post you don't specify if you're doing a clean install so based on your problems I'm assuming you're not. The only time I've even been remotely successful swapping mobo's in that scenario is when both boards had the same chipset and maker.

The first problem you saw, while installing windows, could be caused by a few things; bad RAM, overheated CPU, or inadequate power supply. You may have a faulty PCI device as well or one that is conflicting with another device. Could you provide us more information on the above items so that we can try to pinpoint what is going wrong?
 
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R3solve

Member
Aug 30, 2002
38
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I have been suspecting the power supply, and I'm testing that right now. If that's not it, I'll move on to memory. And about swapping motherboards, I appreciate the info because I always thought windows erased old device drivers. That explains a lot of problems I was having with my other comp too. Thanks for the help! About my hardware: The cpu is reading temps of about 55*c (which I thought strange because I have the same chip and it doesn't run nearly that hot. I have so far assumed this to be a BIOS error... The RAM is indeed a likely problem because I have never tested it, and about the power supply.... it is terrible. It is a 320watt generic that runs lower 5v lines than my 250 watt compaq. It is my number 1 suspect, and I'm switching power supplies as I type this. Once again, thanks for the help and I hope these extra details can help you more.
 
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R3solve

Member
Aug 30, 2002
38
0
0
Ok, I swapped PSUs, and it does the same stuff. Power supply is ok. I'm testing the RAM next, but after that I'm totally lost. I've already flashed the BIOS and I'm considering reformatting and trying all over again, but I'm afraid it won't work this time either.
 
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jmatt

Member
Jul 9, 2001
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