Trouble shooting a friends computer...

[JJ24]

I am working on an older (2006ish) computer my friend built back then.... Here is what it does...

Booting up it shows the Bios Post screen, recognizes IDE Devices, shows the Windows XP loading screen then the screen goes blank and if you leave it alone for about 1-3 minutes it reboots and starts the process over...
I have booted it into Safe Mode once and it seemed okay... But I didn't know what to try in Safe Mode other then to look in "msconfig" at what programs/services are set to startup and disable anything I thought looked suspicious (Not microsoft services... but stupid crap like Yahoo, Google Toolbars, and other stupid stuff) even after doing that it will not start into windows normally.

Things I have tried...
1) Repairing/Reinstalling windows from CD... either one does the same thing... it gets into the repair/reinstall for maybe 10 mins then screen goes blank and computer reboots itself.
2) A different HD... I plugged in extra SATA drive I had laying around and the windows install disc wont even recognize that HD exists.... it shows up in bios/post but the windows install doesnt see it.

Things I can try but havent done yet...
-Different PSU... I have an extra computer and can swap out the PSU to see if that helps...
-Different GPU... I *Think* i have an old GPU somewhere that will work in the computer but I am not sure

Here are the system specs as far as I could tell:
Asus K8U motherboard
1GB Ram
Antec TruPower 430w psu

I can probably figure out the Gfx card and HD if I google model numbers but not sure if thats really necessary.... The current HD and DVDR that are in it are IDE not SATA tho it does have 2 sata ports on MB....

Any suggestions?

Thanks?

 

[Brainonska511]

2) A different HD... I plugged in extra SATA drive I had laying around and the windows install disc wont even recognize that HD exists.... it shows up in bios/post but the windows install doesnt see it.

That's because the SATA driver isn't loaded. You'll need to download the SATA drivers for the board to a floppy and load them when it says 'Hit F6 to load drivers'. Or slipstream an install CD with them... Or go into the BIOS and switch the SATA mode from AHCI to IDE mode (sometimes called compatibility).

As for what to try:
The computer is 5 years old, so I wouldn't spend too much fixing it. But if it boots okay into Safe Mode, it sounds like it could be a driver issue. Have you tried a format then install instead of a repair reinstall?

 

[C1]

On boot up hold F8 key and select "Boot Logging" option (line by line) and see what it is trying to load when it faults.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYP6MoAqbu0

 

[JJ24]

Replaced the GFX card with an old one I had in my "spare parts" bin and now the computer is working.

Of course I had formatted the HD in the process of trying to reinstall windows thinking it might be a driver/install issue....So now I gotta deal with all that and cant seem to find my ages old windows xp.... not sure if this computer could do win7 lol/

 

[QueBert]

jj24 - Google nLite and download it, copy the XP cd to your computer, download the sp3 installer, the full download or network install, not sure what it's called. But it's gonna be good sized. nLite makes creating a bootable XP disc with upgraded drivers a breeze. XP pre SP2 won't see SATA HD's unless you slipstream either the drivers or SP2 which has it built in.

 

[denis280]

That's because the SATA driver isn't loaded. You'll need to download the SATA drivers for the board to a floppy and load them when it says 'Hit F6 to load drivers'. Or slipstream an install CD with them... Or go into the BIOS and switch the SATA mode from AHCI to IDE mode (sometimes called compatibility).

Yes and make sure you have SP3