Question on how big a PS I need

[tboo]

Im upgrading my folk's computer & I got them a P4 1.7 on an ECS p4vxasd motherboard with 256mb of ddr ram. They also got a new cdrw, hard drive, radeon 7500, & power supply. Ive never dealt with p4s before(Ive always been an athlon man)& when I asked the guy at the shop how big a power supply Id need he said I could get by with a 300w. i bought a Codgen(sp?) 300w & been having a hell of a time installing xp-I keep on getting "cant copy this file" errors off of either of the 2 xp cds that I have(no they are not copies!)-most of the time I can hit retry & it works, but a few times it wouldnt. After several attempts I managed to install xp(I did have to skip a few files it just wouldnt copy), but I keep on getting random reboots & still have problems transfering files off the cdrw drive. My 1st impression is that I dont have a strong enough power supply or that I have a bad mobo-any thoughts?

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

If some files are missing, go to Windows Update and download the service pack and any updates after that. Sometimes some of those problems are fixed with updates.

 

[mechBgon]

You could also have a bad IDE cable, but if it were me, I'd be looking for a high-quality brand of PSU before even looking at wattage. If you have a CompUSA in the area, try an Antec TruePower 330, 380 or 430. I don't like running stuff at redline and would prefer to over-engineer rather than start over, so I would be going for the 380 or 430, but they do cost more (duh).

 

[tboo]

Here are some of the readings out of the bios

Vcore 1.7
2.5v 2.496
3.3 v 3.34
+12v 12.6
-12v -12.6
SB5V 4.89

Do they look alright? Do they change once windows is loaded?

 

[everman]

It sounds like it could be your ram if it's having problems copying files, that is because I believe files are sent to ram first and then it picks them up there when needed. I had a similar problem before and switching ram did fix it..

 

[tboo]

Yeah, thats true it could be the RAM. Another quirk i noticed is that I cant do a regular format of the drive-it just sits at 0%, I CAN doa quick format, though.

 

[kazeakuma]

If you can't format properly either I would try changing your ide cables. Data corruption from the cdrom and inability to format sounds just too fishy.

 

[tboo]

cables worked fine in the previous system, but ill give some others a try

 

[godmare]

If it could be th ram it could just as easily be the motherboard. I'd try reformatting and reinstalling, see if you get the same errors, Yeah, changing the IDE cable wouldn't hurt, either.
Those psu specs don't look great, but, sadly, they're better than my pos psu so i don't think that's your problem.
Have you installed from those XP discs before?

 

[tboo]

Have you installed from those XP discs before

Many a time. This is the 1st time I ever came across this problem where it had trouble copying the files off the cds. I tried other cables & still no go. Im going to return the cpu/ram/mobo combo tomorrow & see if I can get it fixed