Slllooooowww Boot and other problems

[mrzed]

Hardware:

Biostar M7NCG (nForce2 -400 mATX)
Barton XP2500+ Mobile
WD 250Gb
2*512 DDR400
9600xt 128Mb

First sign of trouble:

In an earlier install of windows, ~ every third boot attempt would hang at "Verifying DMI Pool"

New bigger sign of trouble:

Takes up to 60 seconds to reach first BIOS boot (del to enter setup, F9 for boot order etc)
Then about 15 seconds to load next screen (Verifying DMI . . . )

I was able to begin windows XP install after waiting, but despite copying files, next boot will not make it through.

Now, the bootable CD (XP Pro) is not recognized any more despite being first in boot device order.

arg.

Things I have tried:

- Remove AGP card and use integrated.
- Switch RAM sticks to aternate slots, tried each individually
- Reset BIOS to defaults
- Clear CMOS entirely

No difference either way. Am I hooped?

 

[mechBgon]

If the WD drive is a Parallel ATA drive that's on its own separate data cable, remove its jumper cap from the jumper pins. That sets it to the Single Master mode, which may resolve the slowness and the other issues.

Any good?

 

[mrzed]

Bingo!

That's cleared it all up. Any insight into the particulars of the problem? Seems limiting that it only works well in this mode (though I rarely install more than one HDD and one optical in a system these days).

(posting from the revived system)

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: mrzed
Bingo!

That's cleared it all up. Any insight into the particulars of the problem? Seems limiting that it only works well in this mode (though I rarely install more than one HDD and one optical in a system these days).

(posting from the revived system)

excellent I don't know why it happens, exactly, but it crops up pretty frequently.

 

[mrzed]

Hmn - just another one to file in the vault.

Thanks for the solution. It actually reminded me I should visit the tech support forum a little more. Reminds me of the old days of AT forums - still plenty of flame wars back then, but people helping eachother out was a bigger aspect. I almost forgot what that was like.