solve this and help charity

[amerville]

I have one of the most puzzling problems that no one to date has been able to resolve: I am trying to build my own system with the following



Asus Motherboard A7V333

AMD 2000+

512 DDR Ram Generic (also tried branded NEC ? still same problem ? see below)

Western digital HD 120GB 8MB Cache

LG DVD / CD Rom

LS120 floppy

Prophet II 64MB DDR 250MHz Video card



All absolutely band new.



What is the problem you ask? I can?t install winXP or 2000 on the HD. It tries to install and hangs at various locations during ?set up is reading file XXX? then hangs. On occasions, it contiunues until it reaches windows is now starting installation and hangs.



I removed the HD and installed it in a different machine, installed XP then returned it to the first pc and now it comes with a dangerous blue screen saying ?windows has detected an error and stopped to protect the system?. The error varies between stop 0x0000007b, stop 0x0000008b and so on. I looked at Microsoft web site and it says it related to IRQ conflict?etc. All rubbish as I have nothing on the machine. I even disabled from the motherboard jumpers the sound capability, USB capability, removed the DVD and LS120 (since the op system has already been installed from another machine) and it still refuses to boot. I can?t even flash the bios because as it starts to read A drive, it hangs. On occasions, when I enter the bios it hangs, so I have to shut down, clear the cmos and re-enter the bios.



Microsoft says they can?t help as it is not their problem, motherboard says it could be memory (changed it no luck), HD is working?..what the heck is the problem.

if you can solve this problem, I will donate £20 to your favourit charity

 

[Boonesmi]

what power supply are you using?

also i would download memtest86, you dont need any os installed to run the proggie. it takes awhile to run, but if it passes with no errors then you know your whole memory subsystem is good

have you checked in the bios to see what temp your cpu is running at? make sure your not overheating
also check your voltages

 

[Buz2b]

I will tackle one portion of your problem. As to setting up WinXP on a drive and trying to move it to another system (with a different board) is a complete crap shoot. I had a knowledgable friend tell me it could be done if I first booted to Safe Mode and let XP load the basic drivers, then boot normally and let everything finish. However, this does not always work. Right now I am 1 for 2 as far as success vs failures. The deadly blue screen with a stop error will bite you in the A$$ if it doesn't work and that is exactly what is happening to you. You might as well take that drive back to the other machine and format it and leave it blank while you try to solve your other troubles.
As to the other item; loading WinXP. It sounds like it might be a power supply problem. However, other troubles can sometimes mask themselves with similar symptoms. Is your RAM a single 512 MB stick or two sticks? If you can, I'd do the following: remove the ATX Power connector and reset the CMOS (even if you have already done this). Make sure and remove everything from the system except the video card, one stick of RAM (if possible), the floppy drive, (newly formatted) Hard Drive and of course the CPU w/HSF. Leave nothing else plugged in. If you can, start with a "standard" 1.44 MB floppy for this also. Now go to the BIOS if you can and set it to boot to CDROM. Exit and save the changes with the XP CD in the drive and cross your fingers. Let us know what happens.

 

[AA0]

XP is a bitch to install, I've seen a lot of problems.

Memory generally fails at the same place constantly. The same goes for hardware conflicts, had a AIW radeon that just would not install XP.

I'm hoping you aren't o/ced at all, have good temperatures, and the memory timings are the least agressive possible. I can't think of anything else right now.

 

[amerville]

Thank you all for your help. I have tried all your suggestions (particularly Buz's) but it still not working. I formatted the HD, tried installing XP and I got page fault error in STOP 0X000007F. I then thought I ought to try and install win2000 and that did noit work either with STOP 0X00000050 error. I previously tried a branded memory stick (NEC) and that did not work either. I only have 512MB in one chip. I changed the ship with the same make (in case the first was faulty) but no dice. I now only have CD Rom, Video card, HD, Floppy installed and everything else disabled (including USB ports, sound capability of Mobo, etc.)

H...E....L...P

 

[Peter]

So did you memtest86 the RAM already? No? Then go do that first.

 

[amerville]

Peter, thanks for the reply. I did the memory test and that was fine. I have 300W PSU in a brand new case which is certified for AMD (Suntech)

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Since your using a WD HDD I'm wondering if you have it configured as master or left it as it was shipped, and if it's alone on the cable? Have you tried a different cable with it? Also, despite trying 2 sticks of DDR I would still suggest trying another brand I.E. Crucial or Samsung becasue I've seen generic DDR work on one chipset(SiS) but not another(VIA) and on other systems boot O.K. but BSOD shortly after getting to windows. I know you tried NEC but who's chip is on the PCB is it their own? I'm not familiar with their memory. You should also run diagnostic software for your HDD to make sure it's O.K. if possible.

 

[zzzz]

did you try swapping out the cpu? I had the same problem and turned out that the cpu was bad.

 

[jiffylube1024]

Shot in the dark here but I'd recommend (if this isn't the method you took already) formatting the drive on the other computer using NTFS into however large a partition size you want (make it all 1 huge 120 GB drive, or just a 40 GB drive for starters to set up the rest later or whatever). Microsoft are real ba$tards when it comes to large HD's and FAT-32. So, with a clean NTFS disk in the new computer try to install XP.

I've also had problems moving a pre-existing XP hard drive to a new computer. I always recommend a re-format and re-install when you get a new computer.

Hope this helps.

 

[chaswood]

All the problems you're having, especially hanging during a DOS boot (while flashing) and while in BIOS setup, point to an unstable system. The 3 main culprits are usually:

overheating (what's the CPU and Motherboard temp. in the BIOS - if you can get there before it hangs?)
lack of power (once again, check the BIOS for voltage readings and compare to spec)
overclocking (as a shot in the dark, you might want to try temporarily underclocking your 2000+ by taking the FSB down to 100 to see what happens. This will also cause your system to consume less power and produce less heat, which would help pinpoint one of those two problems.)

If none of these things or the other suggestions work, it's time to RMA the board and CPU.

 

[Buz2b]

I'm really starting to suspect it is a power issue here. In looking for the Suntech or Suntek cases and/or power supplies, the best I could find on the AMD Approved Power Supply List was a Suntek 250 watt (yes, I know yours is a 300 watt, but none were listed). The 250 watt is only rated to a 950 Athlon and has a low combined 3.3 & 5volt power rating. It is a big jump from a 950 to a 2000+ (even taking into consideration the somewhat lower power requirements of the XP processors) and I really don't think that that PS is up to the task. Simple way to find out is beg/borrow/steal/buy a unit that is rated for that cpu. Check the list I linked to above for possible candidates. Your "fix" could be as simple as that.
Please remember that your case/power supply may well be certified for AMD, but if it is not certified to run a 2000+ cpu, that doesn't mean squat.