I gotta ghost in my system (Ghost problems solved!!!)

[ZachMarius]

Hey yall. Ok here's the deal. My computer crapped out (would restart or just stop working before loading win) after two and a half years of good service. So I popped out the cpu, mobo, psu, ram, and hdd to replace. here's what I put in.......

P4 2.4a
Gigabite mobo
Psu at 400W
Kingston ram at 3200
WD 80GB at 7200

I load everything in perfectly fine (had some post issues but fixed them) and put xp on. Then it gives me crap about not finding usbehci.sys then shuts down on me. I found it on driversguide.com and loaded it on. It froze after loading it on then wouldn't start xp. I wiped the hdd and started fresh. It wouldn't even start the disc properly. I notice that sometime it dosen't run the full post and beep when first starting. it's about half and a half when this happens.

Does anyone have a quick solution or at least an idea of what is going on with my system? Oh...here's the other equipment in it.

DVD player
DVD-R writer
NVIDIA GeForce2 at 64MB AGP
floppy

Otherwise everything is new.

Thanks!

 

[Atheus]

What brand is that PSU? How many amps on each rail?

 

[ZachMarius]

It is is a CoolMax AP-450X. I don't know how to check the rail thingy.

Thanks,

 

[ForumMaster]

ok. first, u suck at giving info. in order to help we need a through list.
EXACT mobo model.
EXACT make and model of ur cpu.
What dvd player/writer are u using?
why the hell do u have a geforce 2!?!
as for the psu, open up ur comp and look at the sticker on the psu.
LEARN TO GIVE BETTER INFO

 

[ZachMarius]

Well sorry for not being such a smart ass like yourself. However how can I or anyone else learn (as you say) if no one is there to help us along to LEARN how to in a caring manner (one such as yourself I have not seen possess yet)

Well on to "better" info in which I can only hope to get right (correct?)

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819116178
Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813128232
DVD: Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M1612 1004
HDD: WDC WD800JB
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817159043
MEM: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820141468

As for the GeForce 2: I don't need the absolute best in video and I don't play games. So there is no point to get a hugely expensive or new video card.

 

[Tobolo]

You definetely need a better PSU. I think the pentium itself might over load the one you have now.

 

[Atheus]

Yep, you want to get a good power supply, either Sparkle/Fortron or PC Power and Cooling. Wattage rating matters much less than brand.

 

[DetroitSportsFan]

First off, it may very well be the psu. PSU problems can create the issues you describe. However, I'm not ready to send you to the parts store just yet.

First, lets disconnect the power from anything we won't need for our test. You will only need one optical drive, one hard drive, the ram, video card and of course the mobo/cpu. Once we've eliminated all the extras, try again to reinstall windows. If you get the same error, run memtest on your ram. You must run this test for several hours. If the ram passes, replace the psu since your problems would most likely be due to an underperforming supply.

If the ram fails, see if a buddy will loan you a known good power supply. Test the ram again. If it fails memtest again, replace the ram.

Its no fun replacing the wrong part. I prefer to take an organized approach to troubleshooting than to just to start indescriminately replacing parts. PSU troubles can cause the issue you're describing ... but so can bad ram. Its always better to run a few extra tests to confirm what you suspect than to be in a hurry to run to the parts store.

I'm not taking issue with the above diagnosis. I am encouraging you to run the tests to be sure you're replacing the right part before you spend your money. You'll have less headaches that way.

 

[ZachMarius]

Ok. then my one question would be how would I run a ram memtest?

thanks!

 

[ZachMarius]

I fixed it. I switched around cables that had come with the mobo and it worked fine. Weird how that happened.