This is a weird problem, can anyone figure it out.

[bf1942]

Hello
I just built a new computer, everything seemed great, then.

After a couple of reboots, the welcome screen that comes up right before the desktop would hang for a minute, and then the desktop would appear but there are no icons only a mouse cursor.

No start button, but ctrl/Alt /Delete does bring up task manager, and nothing appears wrong but explorer.exe is said to have crashed when I try to shut down.
(Install was Win 64 bit_I had a copy from the AMD tech tour)

So I did the reinstall, and everything was fine till a recboot after Anti-Virus install,
Re-install again several times, ok until Windows update, or some install requiring a reboot.

Then did a 1 in the morning re-install, looked good and went to bed.
the next morning , even without install or updating any programs , it would only boot to a iconless desktop, and would do nothing.

Next tried to install Win 32 ,major weird errors reading during the install process or would not even get started very far, tried both cd drives and several different discs_Valid ones.

Ok this is a RAM problem , I says. goofy errors cant read line 14 and such.
Pull 1 stick of Ram out Win 32 Installs, up to cd key enter, (newest cd is for another comp)

Since I got that far im thinking bad Ram stick.

Re-insatll my win64 with one stick, again all id good for a short while then same old same old.

Move the stick to different spots , change speed and voltage, same old.

Then I throw in Ubuntu Linux LIVE that is supposed to run on pure RAM, and its stable,
even with both sticks.

NOW It get's weird.
Re-install win again stable all day, reboot once and no desktop Icons or functional windows.

So I put linux live back in , boot to Live cd and surf and play tunes till bed time.

Next day boot up comp , and forgot to take the Linux cd out.
A screen comes up ,"do you want to run Linux or boot from hard disk"
This time I say Hard disk and ,COOL windows works.
I download a 1.5GB demo and play everything great.
Re-Boot, choose boot from HD again from the linux boot scrren all is well.
Take out the CD , all is BAD
Put in cd choose boot to HD all is well.
Then put CD in other drive and boot from HD no icons??????.
Please , any ideas , what is going on?

Comp consists of,
2 WD 250gd 16meg SATA drive in raid 0 tried both 64k and 128k stripe.
(used in previous comp)
Evga 6600gt pcie in slot 1(used in my previous comp)
Gigabyte GA-M55SLI-S4 AM2 Motherboard
A64 X2 4200 cpu
G.Skill 1Gx2 PC6400 Ram DDR2 800
450W Power supply--(used in my previous comp)

 

[acole1]

That IS weird.

I might try taking it out of RAID next time you reformat and see if that changes anything. The controller might not be managing it right.

Also, you might try updating BIOS and/or RAID drivers as well.

 

[bf1942]

Yes , that is a good idea, about the RAID.
I updated the Bios 1st thing, and the RAID controller when I installed the 1st time,
now I am using the one on the supplied CD.

I will run the MEMTEST that came with the newest version of ubuntu tonite, and I have new ram
(motherboard recommended this time)
coming in a few days, but it's only pc4200 DDR2 533 insted of pc6400 DDR2 800,
the recomended parts at that speed were around $300 vs the $160 I paid for the G.skill brand.

Im real suprised that when windows runs, it's stable, if the Ram was incompatible or bad,
and the Linux live too.

But the RAM sure looked bad when I tried to install Win32 bit.

 

[acole1]

Did you do a disk check for kicks?

 

[bf1942]

No , not yet will add it to the to do list tonite.
I did the slow and fast format NTFs with no problems, but it's a good idea to make sure.

thanks.

 

[bf1942]

The computer is now booting to Windows everytime with both memory sticks at full speed,(and a usable desktop)
Ran Memtest =ok
Ran Checkdisk=ok

The problem was the cd/burner drive , brand A-open about 3 years old.
Weird thing is that I used it to install the OS and was using it in my previous computer.

After removing the power plug from the drive the problem went away-Hurray