Please help newbie. 1st build attempt goes horribly wrong.

[Petty Blue]

System Specs:

ASUS "A8N-SLI Deluxe?
AMD Athlon 64 3200+, Winchester
eVGA nVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, PCI-E
Fortron Blue Storm 500W
Mushkin Dual Pack 184-Pin 1GB (512MBx2) DDR PC-3200
Seagate 160GB Barracuda 7200.7 7200RPM SATA
NEC 16X Double Layer DVD±RW Drive, Black, Model ND-3520A BK, OEM

WinXP SP1 (attempted SP2 ? that?s where trouble started).

This is my first build, so I?ve made rookie mistakes along the way. I can?t figure this out and it?s driving me mad.

Weird thing is, I was able to install WinXP flawlessly the very first time. Turned on power, formatted the HD, and everything was smooth as silk. This nightmare started, however, when I attempted to install SP2. I know what I did wrong at that step. I should have installed SP2 before installing the drivers from the motherboard CD. Live and learn. So the SP2 installation was aborted for driver conflicts (I?m assuming), and I was unable to uninstall SP2 from the control panel. Hell, I couldn?t get into the control panel or anything else without getting errors. So I attempted to reinstall WinXP. Long story a little shorter, I have no OS installed now after attempting 3 installs, and I?m getting ?Memory Test Fail? at the bootup screen.

Here are highlights to help keep this a little less complicated. I really need your help!

? First install of WinXP flawless.

? CPU temp: 39 C
MB temp: 40 C
1 Gig Ram detected

? Installed Asus motherboard drivers and a few utilities (this should have came after SP2 install? I know now).

Nightmare begins:

? Install of SP2 failed.

? Attempted to re-install WinXP twice more, but kept getting messages during install that it couldn?t install certain ?installers,? the final one being the ?System Installer.? Installs aborted.

? Now when I run through memory test at boot-up, it detects all 1048 MB of RAM (DDR 400 Dual Channel, 128 bit, nForce 4), detects HD (First SATA Master), and detects DVD burner (Secondary IDE Master). Then, I get ?Memory Test Fail.?

? I?ve flashed the motherboard bios to the version 1003 thinking that might help. It didn?t.

? I took out the two sticks of RAM and put them in the other two slots. No difference. Same memory test fail (but system still sees them and accurately counts their amounts and type).

? Is it possible that my 6800 GT is bad? Could this be the culprit? Is the hard drive set up correctly (as Primary SATA)? Could the hard drive itself be bad now?

? The final error I?m getting now is ?NTLDR is missing,? but I figure that may have to do with there being no OS installed?

Geez, I don?t know, I?m grasping at thin air here.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I?m just going to turn the damn thing off and wait for replies at this point. I?m stuck.

Thanks in advance

 

[AtlantaBob]

This is just a first guess, but it seems worthwhile to try it out: memtest (a nice memory diagnostic).

More details on the program can be found here

You can boot it off of a CD, which means that you should be able to avoid all of your Windows errors (sounds to me like you're eventually going to want to wipe that partition and start over clean, but this way you'll be able to rule out at least one set of errors before you begin with the software again.)

To my ears, it doesn't sound like a graphics, or HDD problem, but some of the more experienced people here should be able to tell you more definitively.

Good luck!

 

[Insomniak]

Seems really odd to me that a software change would bork hardware, short of changing firmware of some kind.

A few suggestions:

-These "reinstalls" of Windows - are they an attempted repair, or are you formatting and then doing a clean install. If you haven't done a clean install, try that.

- Clearing the CMOS would probably also be a good idea.

 

[MrCodeDude]

NTLDR is the NT Loader, which deals with the OS being installed but the loader is somehow missing.

Try only using one stick of memory and seeing if you get past the "Memory Test Failed" error. If you can, burn Memtest86+ to a CD, make sure CD-ROM is the first boot device in the BIOS and let memtest86+ determine if your memory is at fault. I'd do one stick at a time, then do both together.

If you can, I'd try another mobo. For some odd reason, I tried to install an Iwill XP-333R with some spare parts, WinXP would refuse to install. It would always freeze somewhere in the middle of installation, etc. WinXP installed flawlessly on my ECS K7S5A.

 

[Melchior]

Try taking out the HD and booting up. Does it STILL fail memtest? It shouldn't, try reseating or one stick.
If it boots up without failing memtest, boot into CD and reformat your HD and start from scratch. If something is still wrong try formatting your HD on another comp first.

 

[Petty Blue]

More info:

When I attempt to format the HD while beginning the WinXP install process, I get this error:

----------
A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

The problem seems to be caused by the following file: setupdd.sys

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

If this is the first time you?ve seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to make sure any new hardware of software is properly installed. It this in a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any windows updates you might need.

If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use safe mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select safe mode.

Technical information:
*** STOP: 0x00000050 (0xF735A11E, 0x00000000, 0xF77E9345, 0x00000000)
*** setupdd.sys ? Address f77E9345 base at F779A000, Datestamp 3d6dd67f
----------

I can't get past this screen now.

BTW, thanks for the memtest info, AtlantaBob. I?ll check that out.

 

[Waylay00]

Uh oh, that was the error I was getting a couple of weeks ago when I tried to reformat my HDD. Fortunately, I just kept trying and it happened to work after about 12 times of trying.

 

[Petty Blue]

Originally posted by: Insomniak
Seems really odd to me that a software change would bork hardware, short of changing firmware of some kind.

A few suggestions:

-These "reinstalls" of Windows - are they an attempted repair, or are you formatting and then doing a clean install. If you haven't done a clean install, try that.

Yep, all tries were complete re-installs on clean drive.

- Clearing the CMOS would probably also be a good idea.

I was thinking that might be worth a try. I'll do that and let ya know. Thanks.

 

[Chosonman]

99% of new build problems are from not updating ALL the drivers. The most important ones are the motherboard, chipset and Graphics drivers.

Only flash Motherboard Bios as a last resort you can do more harm than good.

 

[mauiblue]

Originally posted by: Petty Blue
More info:

When I attempt to format the HD while beginning the WinXP install process, I get this error:

----------
A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

The problem seems to be caused by the following file: setupdd.sys

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

If this is the first time you?ve seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to make sure any new hardware of software is properly installed. It this in a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any windows updates you might need.

If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use safe mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select safe mode.

Technical information:
*** STOP: 0x00000050 (0xF735A11E, 0x00000000, 0xF77E9345, 0x00000000)
*** setupdd.sys ? Address f77E9345 base at F779A000, Datestamp 3d6dd67f
----------

I can't get past this screen now.

BTW, thanks for the memtest info, AtlantaBob. I?ll check that out.

I had the same error when I do a fresh install of Win XP Pro. Make sure the Win XP install diski is clean. I just kept on doing the Win XP install process (3 times a charm ) until the install took. I knew that I had not done any hardware changes so I knew that Win XP install would take (past experience).

Take a deep breath and good luck!

 

[Tostada]

If you're getting "Memory Test Fail" in POST sometimes and then XP is giving you Page Fault errors, you really need to try some different memory before you waste any more time with the software side of things. If POST is complaining, you have a hardware problem.

I've seen a lot of strange problems installing SP2. All the problems go away when you install XP from a slipstreamed SP2 disc. Use another machine to make an XP SP2 slipstream disc and install from that.

 

[Insomniak]

I think things are starting to narrow down. I have a suspect list of four things here:

1 Windows XP Install disk is somehow faulty, corrupted, dirty, etc.
2 Memory, for some reason, has bought the farm.
3 DIMM slots on the motherboad have bit it.
4 Problem with the CPU memory controller (unlikely, but possible at this point).

I think, honestly, that it's either 2 or 3, because the POST test is giving you memory-fail errors. Try the RAM in another motherboard, and try different RAM in this one, if you have the spare parts around. That right there should tell you if it's the memory, the motherboard, both, or neither.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

These are the pitfalls of DIY computer "building". But we accept this, and we cross our fingers that things go forward without puzzling problems.

Let me offer my experience from last year -- and keep in mind that I have been building systems since 1995. I had very similar symptoms to yours. I was building a Xmas present system for my sister-in-law financed by my brother.

With two different motherboards, I could not install the OS. It would get to the point of formatting the Hard Disk, and then post an error and tell me that it could not go further with the installation. I had started with an ASUS P4P800 (standard) motherboard, a boxed Intel 2.8C processor and some Corsair DDR's. I sent the P4P800 back to the reseller, and ordered an Intel D865PERL. Same problem.

I cannot remember for sure that I ran MEMTEST86 to determine the problem, but I do remember that the memory modules were guaranteed to run at the DDR400 spec, but they were programmed in SPD according to the JEDEC PC2700 standard. Some will remember those Corsair kits, because they were selling at ZipZoomFly last year. I reset the BIOS data to run the memory at DDR333. Either way, I did try running MEMTEST86 under both memory settings, and I remember getting errors with it configured as DDR400. Under the DDR333 setting, suddenly, everything was fine, and XP completed its installation. I contacted Corsair and they had a replacement pair shipped to me three days later as soon as my RMA'd box of defectives was delivered to them.

Perhaps I learned something from this. ALWAYS run MEMTEST86 and any floppy-bootable test programs on your hardware before proceeding to install your OS and format your hard disk. It is imperative to determine any defective hardware as soon as possible before moving on.

The advice you have above from others is also "right on". Test a memory module at a time. It is less likely that the motherboard is defective, and for that reason just moving both modules to different slots may be useful, but not as useful as testing the modules in "single-channel" mode.
I can also guarantee this statement. You should ALWAYS install your chipset drivers AS SOON as the OS is installed. I would not do it AFTER installing the service pack update. Do it right away. THEN, install the service pack.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

PS By the way. Isn't there a different version of Win XP for the AMD 64-bit processor? Is it possible you are trying to install the wrong version?

 

[Petty Blue]

Thanks everyone. You're a huge help.

I took one stick of 512 MB RAM out and got past the memory fail test. I'm attempting to re-install windows now. This is where I have also got hung up in the past. But I'm crossing all digits hoping this one will go.

I'll let ya know...

 

[Insomniak]

Originally posted by: BonzaiDuck
PS By the way. Isn't there a different version of Win XP for the AMD 64-bit processor? Is it possible you are trying to install the wrong version?

WinXP 64 bit. You can try it for free, but I don't recommend it - driver support for almost all devices is basically nil.

 

[Petty Blue]

WinXP SP1 installed! So it was just a bad RAM stick.

Now I?m afraid to install SP2. I went ahead and installed the ASUS chipset drivers from the motherboard CD. I hate to, but I guess I need to do it.

Here goes nothing?.

 

[Insomniak]

Meh, I'm still on SP1. With all the hell SP2 has been causing I'm going to steer clear of it until absolutely neccesary.

 

[Petty Blue]

Originally posted by: Tostada
If you're getting "Memory Test Fail" in POST sometimes and then XP is giving you Page Fault errors, you really need to try some different memory before you waste any more time with the software side of things. If POST is complaining, you have a hardware problem.

I've seen a lot of strange problems installing SP2. All the problems go away when you install XP from a slipstreamed SP2 disc. Use another machine to make an XP SP2 slipstream disc and install from that.

10-4 on that. I wish I would have had the slipstreamed SP2 up and ready, but the machine acted like it wanted to go ahead with the install, and I wasn't about to stop. If this SP2 install goes awry , I'll put together the slipstreamed version.

 

[Petty Blue]

Just an update to thank y'all. It looks like I'm okay now, just minus 512 RAM. That's a pain to have to RMA that. I just threw the case it came in away yesterday. Then I'd have to wait another week for my RAM.

I've got half a mind to try to install that other stick of RAM anyway and see what happens. I know I probably shouldn't, though.

 

[Insomniak]

If it ain't broke...

 

[mechBgon]

If you've left the memory voltage on AUTO, try giving it a bit more voltage. What precise Mushkin modules are they?

 

[Petty Blue]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
If you've left the memory voltage on AUTO, try giving it a bit more voltage. What precise Mushkin modules are they?

Model# 991145
Manufacturer: Mushkin
Speed: DDR400(PC3200)
Type: 184-Pin DDR SDRAM
Error Checking: Non-ECC
Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered
Cas Latency: 2.5-3-3
Support Voltage: 2.5V-2.6V
Bandwidth: 3.2GB/s
Organization: two 64M x 64 -Bit
Warranty: Lifetime

 

[Petty Blue]

Originally posted by: Insomniak
If it ain't broke...

You're right.

However, I'm also wondering if it really IS bad, or if the board socket is bad. I believe the latter to be less probable.

So I'm testing the one stick of 512 Mushkin now with memtest and will put the other in and test it when this one's finished.

 

[sandorski]

Give the ram more juice. If that doesn't work, try lowering the timing settings.