Windows XP Home Clean Install Problem

[Encryptic]

Basic computer specs:

ASUS K8N-E Deluxe motherboard
AMD Sempron 3200+
512MB DDR333
Western Digital 120 GB HD
Linksys Etherfast network card
ATI Radeon 9200
Creative Labs Audigy

I just put this computer together (for the wife) and I cannot for the life of me get Windows XP to install. The installer consistently hangs (or appears to be hanging) at "Please Wait" (the screen that appears immediately after you press Enter to install Windows XP and before the screen that asks you to accept the license agreement) and never proceeds any further. I tried waiting for at least 30 minutes and nothing ever happened.

I've tried everything I can possibly come up with myself or stuff I've found while surfing the net, but nothing works.

Here is everything I've tried:

- Exchanged the hard drive for a new one
- Exchanged the RAM for a new stick
- Tried my Windows XP CD that I used for my own computer
- Tried putting my CD drive into the new computer
- Pulled all un-needed hardware from the computer before installing
- Changed the cables on the CD drive and the HD
- Put the CD as slave and the HD as master on the same cable to rule out the CD being connected to a fried IDE slot
- Tried to install Windows 98 with the intention of upgrading to XP if the 98 installation worked, but the 98 installer crashed to DOS when I tried to start it.

None of this has gotten the installer to successfully complete, although I've managed to get as far as the "Formatting" screen once for some bizarre reason. 99% of the time, it still hangs at the "Please Wait" screen

Just now, I even tried putting the HD from the new computer in my computer, took out as much hardware as I could, then tried to boot from the CD. It takes several minutes for it to get as far as the "Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware configuration" screen, then I get a blank screen and nothing seems to happen, even after waiting for a long period of time. Once I put everything back in my computer as it was, mine boots up just fine.

Googling for this doesn't turn up anything similar and the Microsoft Windows XP knowledge base doesn't really turn anything up, either. I'm at my wit's end and ready to throw this POS out the window.

Any suggestions that I haven't tried yet will be greatly appreciated.....

 

[boomerang]

WD hard drive. IDE I assume? Do you have all the jumpers removed? WD drives solo on a cable need all jumpers removed. The label is rather ambiguous, but you do want all jumpers removed. And along those lines, are all your IDE devices detected by the BIOS?

Is the 3200+ a typo? I'm not familiar with the full line of AMD processors, but I'm asking because there is a CPU compatibility list here for your board and I don't see a Sempron 3200+ listed. I can't link directly to the page; you will have to navigate using the drop-downs.

If the jumper deal proves fruitless, I would make sure I am at the most recent BIOS revision.

If it is, reset the CMOS according to the directions in the manual. It is very important to follow the directions exactly as stated. I cannot stress this enough.

You have swapped RAM, but have you run memtest?

What Power Supply are you using? This is very important.

And I'm curious. Why are you adding a second network adaptor?

If you're really stressed out about this, walk away from it for 24 hours or as long as it takes. I get this way myself, so I know how you're feeling.

 

[Encryptic]

Originally posted by: boomerang
WD hard drive. IDE I assume? Do you have all the jumpers removed? WD drives solo on a cable need all jumpers removed. The label is rather ambiguous, but you do want all jumpers removed. And along those lines, are all your IDE devices detected by the BIOS?

Is the 3200+ a typo? I'm not familiar with the full line of AMD processors, but I'm asking because there is a CPU compatibility list here for your board and I don't see a Sempron 3200+ listed. I can't link directly to the page; you will have to navigate using the drop-downs.

If the jumper deal proves fruitless, I would make sure I am at the most recent BIOS revision.

If it is, reset the CMOS according to the directions in the manual. It is very important to follow the directions exactly as stated. I cannot stress this enough.

You have swapped RAM, but have you run memtest?

What Power Supply are you using? This is very important.

And I'm curious. Why are you adding a second network adaptor?

If you're really stressed out about this, walk away from it for 24 hours or as long as it takes. I get this way myself, so I know how you're feeling.

Thanks for the reply. Let me go down the list, one by one:

- Yup, jumper was pulled when I had the HD on it's own cable. Since I put the HD and the CD on the same cable for now in the course of troubleshooting, the jumpers are set to master and slave accordingly.

- All drives are detected with no problem in the BIOS. I can set the boot order and everything else with no difficulty.

- Must be a typo on the processor number. Should be the 3100 as far as I know.

- Not sure on the BIOS version. I'll check that out when I get home.

- Haven't gotten around to trying Memtest yet, though I've looked into it and I'm not sure if I'd be able to make any sense of the output from Memtest, from what I've read about it. If I can't figure anything else out, I'll try it and see if anything comes up. The memory does get detected OK in my computer (when I pulled it to check if it might be fried) and the problem computer as well, though.

- Power supply is the stock 400 watt PSU included with the Antec case that I bought. I've used Antec cases for the last two computers I built and had no problems with them. They're very well-designed cases IMHO, though I've never heard anything one way or the other about their power supplies.

- I wasn't planning on adding a second network card...? I did pick up one Linksys card so I can (if this computer ever works...) get the computer hooked up for network/Internet access. As far as I know, the motherboard doesn't have a network adapter or anything similar, so I'd have to add one.

 

[boomerang]

Here's a link for memtest. It'll launch on it's own from a floppy and as long as you don't see anything in the lower half of the screen you are OK. It runs a number of tests consecutively and keeps track of how many passes it makes through those tests. You'll see what I'm talking about.

PS should be fine and dandy.

There is an RJ45 (network) port on your board. In fact, it's near impossible to find a motherboard without one these days. Pull that add-in card before you troubleshoot anything else.

Looks like your BIOS revision is going to have to be 1008 to support your processor fully. I would concentrate on that and / or reset that CMOS as I suggested.

I would get that Optical drive on it's own cable even now. You're going to want it there anyway. If you get it going and start installing Windows, it'll go faster that way. Might as well do it now.

As I said earlier, I would concentrate on the BIOS and resetting the CMOS. If none of this helps I'm going to say you've got a bad motherboard. You've swapped everything you possibly could.

I'm out of ideas. Post back with your results.

 

[Genesis15]

Also, have u tried formatting the HDD then putting it into the computer? because HDD's dont like to switch motherboards, it could be somthing to do witht hat.

 

[Encryptic]

Originally posted by: boomerang
Here's a link for memtest. It'll launch on it's own from a floppy and as long as you don't see anything in the lower half of the screen you are OK. It runs a number of tests consecutively and keeps track of how many passes it makes through those tests. You'll see what I'm talking about.

PS should be fine and dandy.

There is an RJ45 (network) port on your board. In fact, it's near impossible to find a motherboard without one these days. Pull that add-in card before you troubleshoot anything else.

Looks like your BIOS revision is going to have to be 1008 to support your processor fully. I would concentrate on that and / or reset that CMOS as I suggested.

I would get that Optical drive on it's own cable even now. You're going to want it there anyway. If you get it going and start installing Windows, it'll go faster that way. Might as well do it now.

As I said earlier, I would concentrate on the BIOS and resetting the CMOS. If none of this helps I'm going to say you've got a bad motherboard. You've swapped everything you possibly could.

I'm out of ideas. Post back with your results.

Thanks, I'll see what I can do with the BIOS angle as well as Memtest. I have stripped the computer down to bare bones including removing the network card I bought, but that didn't do anything either. I've checked for little stuff like an IDE cable not being plugged in completely, etc. but everything seems in order.

This has been going on since last Saturday, so I'm open to any ideas up to and including the sacrifice of my first-born child at this point. Well...not that, but you get the idea.

I thought I'd mentioned it before, but this motherboard is actually the second one I've tried. The original board was the same model as this one, but was DOA and would never boot up at all, so I ended up returning it for the current board, which booted up just fine and didn't exhibit any obvious problems, so I'd hope I didn't get another dud motherboard.

::shrug::

Thanks again for the help and I'll post back if anything new comes up. Good to get a second opinion on this, if nothing else.

 

[boomerang]

Another thing you might try is downloading the diagnostic utility from the WD site. Boot off the floppy and find out what you can.

I don't believe it's the HD since you have tried several, but if the diagnostic utility cannot communicate, or has problems communicating with the HD, then that may be a sign that the IDE controller on the MB is NG.

I suppose it's possible it could be the Processor, but you wouldn't think it would do anything at all you know? No beeps, BIOS screens, etc.

Any chance the board could be grounded to the case? Standoff in the wrong place or something like that? When that's the situation you usually get nothing. As a last resort you could try removing the board from the case and giving it a whirl.

Just throwing out the last of my ideas here.

Edit: You've got a top notch Power Supply there but, if you have another to try as a diagnostic that could be helpful.

And this is really the last of my suggestions.

 

[Encryptic]

Whew!

I'm not quite ready to break out the champagne and party favors, BUT I do have some better news to report:

I got a hold of the most recent BIOS update from ASUS, flashed the motherboard and Setup is currently formatting the HD on the other computer (20% and counting!), which is a lot further than I was able to get before.

Stay tuned for future updates.

 

[Encryptic]

I'm posting this message from the new computer.

My undying thanks go out to you for saving my sanity and helping me get this computer up and running.

 

[boomerang]

Glad you got it working, and thanks for posting back with the results!