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Score some HARDWARE if you can help!! Need MAJOR help with new P4 system!!

S

Scooter422

Junior Member
hey guys, like i said, i need some help 😉 first, let me run down the specs --

P4 1.8ghz
ASUS P4B533
256 MB DDR Crucial RAM
80GB Western Digital HD
40x12x40 Lite-On
50x CDROM
ATI Radeon 7500
SB Live!
DLink Network Card

Ok, here is my problem... I cannot get this system to install any OS. I've tried installing Win95, WinXP, no go. Ive taken out all the unecessary parts while installing, and it's all to no avail. Here's what I've gotten for errors--

Win95 -- Boot disk goes fine, install even goes fine... Then, when it tries to load windows for the first time, i get a windows system "IOS" error. Can't boot into safe mode, nothing... Basically like getting a nasty blue screen... I've tried installing nearly half a dozen times, no luck.

WinXP -- I manage to get through all of the 6 boot disks, except that right after the 6th one finishes, and goes to load the setup part, then i get a system/system32/nt.dll hard error... cant get anywhere past that. ive tried this half a dozen times as well...

Now, ive build computers before, and have been able to overcome just about any problem, but this one has me boggled beyond belief... i have no idea what to try after this. this is the first time where i have actually been clueless as to what to do next. I'm building this for a friend which is why im desperate to get help... hes leaving for school in a couple weeks, and id like to have time to set it up before hand.

Now, if anyone can help me, itd be much appreciated, like i said, i have some hardware sitting around that i could give out, if someone can solve this for me... Ive got a couple of things sitting around, (300w Antec PS, Voodoo3) that i wouldnt mind shipping out to the person/persons that can help me. Please give me some leads...
 

Start with a bare system. CPU one stick of ram, HD, floppy and cd-rom, video card.
see where that gets you.

of there error persist it is time to start swapping out parts.

JUST DO NOT USE THE VOODOO CARD IN THERE!!! it will fry the system.

 
I think voodoo AGP cards (except maybe the voodoo5) are 3.3V, and p4 motherboards are only 1.5V. Thus, it will fry the motherboard if you attempt to put a 3.3v agp card in a 1.5v slot.

But more to the point, i think windows95 needs a patch to handle 2.1+ Ghz processors (I know windows98 has that problem it is has been documented, if you look on microsoft support. A patch will fix it up).

I dont know how you're loading winXP, but sholdnt you be boot it from the CD? I've never actually installed winXP from floppy install disks.
 
to all, i have tried it with the bare minimum, still getting the same probs... ran the WD utilities to see if there were any probs, and there were none, so i know the hard drive is ok... havent tried it with any other vid cards, so dont worry guys 😉 but thanks for the warning...

the only reason ive tried the xp boot disks i because my XP cd wont boot from the cdrom, ill have to try another i guess...
 
set it to only boot from the cdrom (disable all else)after reboot and hit the space bar (it should ask to boot from cd) if that doesn't work, try formating the wd and fdisk the mbr (fdisk/mbr) then try reloading the xp disk and booting from it

since you don't say in you post which drive(40x12x40 Lite-On or 50x CDROM is first)try both rebooting between them as some bios's are picky about which one you load it into also if that is a burned copy set the cdrw up as the master on the secondary side(if it doesn't work up above) and reboot again to see if that gets it-some cdroms can't read burned discs very well and will give errors

please report back

hope this helps
mike

 
from what ive seen, it seems that you have to have your XP disc named a specific name, etc etc (which mine probably isnt, its a copy from my brothers) so, ill check into getting it from someone... are ALL retail version bootable? it doesnt look that way from looking around the internet...
 
I second that. Sounds like a memory error to me, make sure your memory settings are conservative (cas3 etc.) and if that fails try using a different stick if possible.
 
Check your cpu temp. If all else fails, start the windows XP installation on another computer (when it is copying the windows files) and plug it back into the original comp at the next step (where it starts detecting hardware). I haven't tried this with Xp, but i have done this with 2K
 
I will assume that the previous help did nothing for you.

Is the PS "approved" for the P4? Usually, this is only an AMD question, but it applies here. PS issues can cause that problem. The last time that I had a similar problem, was on a system that had it's MB ccoked by an electrical surge. The only way that I got it to run was to install XP on a different system, put the HDD back into the original system, RE install XP back on the original system.

(Yes, I ran the installer on top of XP that was operational on a different system)
 
If your getting the same file error in WinXP it might be your disc instead of your setup. Since you said it's a copy from your brother's CD, it could be the disk. If your getting different file error's everytime then it might be the ram.


-Jimbo
 
If it is giving you an IOS error (input/output system), it might be your vid card. I would try and swap in a diff. vid card and see if that works...once you have it up and running, swap this one back in
 
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