My First Build Asplode :(

[Cornellian]

Hey guys,

So, I'm usually reticent to make my first post on a forum the requisite "OMG HELP MEEE111" post, but on the strength of a recommendation from a friend I've been assured that either 1) Anandtech welcomes such posts, or 2) Anandtech is used to such posts.

Regardless of whether you're willing to dispense help, or merely tolerate it, I'll give you guys my system specs, and give you as much information as possible regarding what happened.

THE SPECS:
Mobo - ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe nForce
Processor - AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ socket AM2 (2.4Ghz)
RAM - OCZ OCZ268002GK 2GB Kit (DDR2)
HDD - WD Caviar RE2 400 GB WD4000YR
DVD - NECND 7570A DVD-RW
Video Card - EVGA GeForce 7900 GT KO (256 mb)
Monitor - Dell 2407WFP
I'm using an Antec SLK3000B ATX case with the Antec SO 45-0 Smartpower Power Supply.

BIOS: AwardBIOS v. 6.00PG

THE EVENTS:
Upon completing my build, and turning her on for the first time, the monitor remained in powersave mode, and I got the following shriek of pain from the mobo: one long beep, followed by two short beeps. After finding out this usually has to do with an incorrectly-placed video card, I tried reseating it. No dice.

So, I disassembled my system, down to just the mobo and the RAM. Turns out the A1 and A2 sockets on my mobo are not functional. Only after putting the RAM in the B1 and B2 sockets was I able to get a successful boot.

Once I reassembled everything and turned her on again, I got a vast array of frustrating, albeit superficially entertaining, errors. In a sample size of 18, here is a list of my errors.

THE ERRORS:

7 times, the system did not boot, and I got the "long, short short" beeps from the mobo.

3 times, the system would lock up as soon as I got a boot without the sounds from the mobo speaker. The machine would lock up with the "Ai Lifestyle M2N-SLI Deluxe" logo on the screen. Two of these times, the logo appeared as it should, one of these times, the logo had odd black and orange lines going through it, as though it did not load correctly or the image file was corrupted.

6 times, the system got to the point where it was reading from my reinstall CD. The following message would appear on my screen: "Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware configuration." Within these 6 attempted boots, the following errors were received:

• 1 time, I got a black screen of death, without any sound from the mobo

• 2 times, the monitor would enter power save mode and the mobo would resume the long, short short beeps

• 1 time, I got the following message: "Line 11640 of the INF file \i386\txtsetup.sif is invalid. Setup cannot continue. Press any key to exit."

• 1 time, Windows setup actually started, but locked up.

• 1 time, Windows setup started, but informed me that "file ntkrnlmp.exe could not be loaded. The error code is 14. Setup cannot continue. Press any key to exit.

2 times, the system would lock up after a successful boot, and the following interesting characters would appear down the left side of the screen (no, I'm not making this up):

• a "u"

• a box with a crudely-drawn in smiley face

• a "."

• an accented "a"

• this one's hard to explain. Imagine an F, but extend the vertical line up until the bristles on the F appear in the middle, instead of the top, of the letter. Or picture a toothbrush with the top bristles missing.

Well, that's everything. I hope I wasn't too specific. Does anyone have any ideas on what I can do? Currently, I'm leaning towards the "motherboard is busted" and "get a new copy of WinXP" hypotheses, but any alternatives are welcome.

Thanks!

 

[Cornellian]

I forgot to mention that I am attempting to use a Dell Reinstall CD on my new build. I scourged anandtech's forum history before deciding to go this route, and discovered that there's no clear-cut, universal belief among the forum denizens that this will/will not work.

I'm aware of the legal implications, but would rather have used this CD and bought Vista than had to buy them both.

But it's an additional piece of information that could explain some of the errors once I actually got to Windows Setup.

 

[So]

Just an FYI, assuming it's from an older Dell that you own, it's legal, but it doesn't sound like an OS problem to me.

As for the characters...do they come up after the system POSTs or did it not post at all?

 

[Cornellian]

Hey there So:

I get the funky characters after the system POSTs.

 

[Markbnj]

Well, it's something awfully fundamental, given the wide array of issues you're having. Assuming you've pulled everything out, stripped down to the minimum config and run the thing on a piece of cardboard on a table (i.e. no case), then I am going to put my money on issues with the SATA interface. I would look for BIOS updates, and any needed drivers for the SATA interface.

 

[Nocturnal]

Can you run Memtest on your memory? That's the first thing I'd do to rule out any memory problems. If your memory is REALLY bad it should start to error within a few passes. If it passes without any errors for several passes, I'd move on to the next thing. I'd then rule out the PSU. But if I had to take a guess, I'd say it was your memory giving you problems. Try just one stick.

 

[KayKay]

I know from recently building my brothers computer (3800+ x2 Am2, Asus M2nPV, OCZ XTC Plat DDR2-800) that the new asus boards dont get along with OCZ ram.

The results were always odd or unpredictable. Had to return the ram for some value select, and hopefully return those and grab the OCZ again once asus releases some better bioses (one of the issues i faced was that the vdimm on the ASUS was something retarded like 1.9V max)

 

[So]

Originally posted by: Markbnj
Well, it's something awfully fundamental, given the wide array of issues you're having. Assuming you've pulled everything out, stripped down to the minimum config and run the thing on a piece of cardboard on a table (i.e. no case), then I am going to put my money on issues with the SATA interface. I would look for BIOS updates, and any needed drivers for the SATA interface.

Hmm....I agree that you should try pulling the entire system out of the case and run it on cardboard or something, but I just don't see it being SATA. My experience with the old PATA raid controllers was that you'd get an error in the XP install more than halfway through, not so early. If the A channel of the ram is not functional it sounds like either a bad motherboard or a defective memory controller in the CPU.

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: KayKay
I know from recently building my brothers computer (3800+ x2 Am2, Asus M2nPV, OCZ XTC Plat DDR2-800) that the new asus boards dont get along with OCZ ram.

The results were always odd or unpredictable. Had to return the ram for some value select, and hopefully return those and grab the OCZ again once asus releases some better bioses (one of the issues i faced was that the vdimm on the ASUS was something retarded like 1.9V max)

I agree with this as I have read a tonne about incompatibility with the AM2 Asus boards and OCZ RAM. To be fair though it was mainly with respect to the M2N-E, not the SLI board.

Is that the most recent BIOS you have there? If not, try updating your BIOS as I know Asus has been trying to work out the voltage problems (a BIOS update fixed all my problems - my rig would only work with one stick of RAM until the update).

 

[NuAlphaMan]

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: Markbnj
Well, it's something awfully fundamental, given the wide array of issues you're having. Assuming you've pulled everything out, stripped down to the minimum config and run the thing on a piece of cardboard on a table (i.e. no case), then I am going to put my money on issues with the SATA interface. I would look for BIOS updates, and any needed drivers for the SATA interface.

Hmm....I agree that you should try pulling the entire system out of the case and run it on cardboard or something, but I just don't see it being SATA. My experience with the old PATA raid controllers was that you'd get an error in the XP install more than halfway through, not so early. If the A channel of the ram is not functional it sounds like either a bad motherboard or a defective memory controller in the CPU.

I'd have to agree with the mobo. You shouldn't have to move the RAM around to get it working. But, you have to do some trouble shooting. Do the strip down and test it piece by piece. That should give you a good idea of what's causing the problem. :thumbsup:

 

[Trey22]

Originally posted by: Nocturnal
Can you run Memtest on your memory? That's the first thing I'd do to rule out any memory problems. If your memory is REALLY bad it should start to error within a few passes. If it passes without any errors for several passes, I'd move on to the next thing. I'd then rule out the PSU. But if I had to take a guess, I'd say it was your memory giving you problems. Try just one stick.

Specifically test #5 in Memtest...

Does sound like bad RAM or some sort of incompatibility.

 

[So]

If it's unstable, don't try to flash the bios with the OCZ ram in it.

 

[V00D00]

There isn't anything indicating the SATA interface here. That just doesn't follow.

Definitely sounds like bad memory.

The video card would also make a lot of sense. If you have another video card, try it with that one.

If you have 2 sticks of memory try it with just one, and then the other. And then different ram if you have any.

If it's not the memory or the video card I would suspect the motherboard itself.

 

[SparkyJJO]

My initial impression is the mobo is all screwed up. I've seen those strange characters before and it was because the bios chip came semi-corrupted. My guess is mobo. That or this incompatibility that some here have already mentioned.

If you have an old PCI video card lying around it wouldn't hurt to pull your new card and put that one in just to see if it changes anything.

 

[Markbnj]

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: Markbnj
Well, it's something awfully fundamental, given the wide array of issues you're having. Assuming you've pulled everything out, stripped down to the minimum config and run the thing on a piece of cardboard on a table (i.e. no case), then I am going to put my money on issues with the SATA interface. I would look for BIOS updates, and any needed drivers for the SATA interface.

Hmm....I agree that you should try pulling the entire system out of the case and run it on cardboard or something, but I just don't see it being SATA. My experience with the old PATA raid controllers was that you'd get an error in the XP install more than halfway through, not so early. If the A channel of the ram is not functional it sounds like either a bad motherboard or a defective memory controller in the CPU.

Yeah, that sounds reasonable too. My basic thinking was that he was getting corrupted data popping up at various stages, and memory is the one other subsystem that can corrupt any data anytime.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: Markbnj
Well, it's something awfully fundamental, given the wide array of issues you're having. Assuming you've pulled everything out, stripped down to the minimum config and run the thing on a piece of cardboard on a table (i.e. no case), then I am going to put my money on issues with the SATA interface. I would look for BIOS updates, and any needed drivers for the SATA interface.

Hmm....I agree that you should try pulling the entire system out of the case and run it on cardboard or something, but I just don't see it being SATA. My experience with the old PATA raid controllers was that you'd get an error in the XP install more than halfway through, not so early. If the A channel of the ram is not functional it sounds like either a bad motherboard or a defective memory controller in the CPU.

i too would guess bad mobo or bad cpu memory controlller

 

[Nocturnal]

I've seen bad memory cause video to be distorted.

 

[drum]

I would try to get ahold of something other than OCZ ram for starters.

 

[bob4432]

Asplode - sounds like the name of bad gay pron

 

[Baked]

RMA everything while you still can, and buy a Dell XPS700. Problems solved.

 

[So]

Originally posted by: Baked
RMA everything while you still can, and buy a Dell XPS700. Problems solved.

You're the most helpful person on this forum, baked. Where would we be without you?

A toast, to baked, a king among men.


:wine:

 

[Baked]

Originally posted by: So
You're the most helpful person on this forum, baked. Where would we be without you?

A toast, to baked, a king among men.


:wine:

I try my best to give everybody the quickest solution every single time. :evil:

 

[Cornellian]

Alright guys, it was the RAM. I'm now up and running on my new machine.

I do have one other hardware related issue though. My HDD is a 400 GB Western Digital. However, when I examine the drive using XP, it's saying I only have 140GB of available space. Why would this be?

Oddly enough, when I started installing windows xp, it too said that there was only 140 GB of available space.

 

[KeithTalent]

Question on the RAM: are you still using the same type of RAM or did you switch types?

Just interested to know.

Thanks, KT

 

[Twsmit]

Originally posted by: Cornellian
Alright guys, it was the RAM. I'm now up and running on my new machine.

I do have one other hardware related issue though. My HDD is a 400 GB Western Digital. However, when I examine the drive using XP, it's saying I only have 140GB of available space. Why would this be?

Oddly enough, when I started installing windows xp, it too said that there was only 140 GB of available space.

You probably have an original XP install CD. SP1 adds support for large sized hard drives. Try and slipstream a new SP2 CD.