XP reformatting problem

[harle]

My college has a deal with MSDN academic alliance where any business student can obtain a one use version of Windows XP professional for free. I thought this was a great idea so i downloaded the ISO on their website and obtained my CD key. I burnt the ISO to a CD and went ahead and reformatted my computer.

Everything was going well until i got a blue screen with some STOP error. Keep in mind that nothing was wrong with my computer before i reformatted and installed XP professional. Anyways, i started to get blue screens more often, and after a while the computer would randomly restart all the time and never get past the POST screen. I finally got it to recognize the XP CD, and tried repairing, but it said that there were no hard disks attached to this computer. I thought this was odd so i checked to see if they registered on the POST screen, and both of them did.

My problem now is that i cannot even get the computer to boot past the POST screen. It also has problems going into the setup screen half of the time. I would say this might be a hardware problem, but i do not see how reformatting a harddrive and installing a new version of windows could cause this much of a problem.

Any suggestions as to what might be the problem would be greatly appreciated.

 

[nova2]

hmm, unfortunate.

suggestions:

> unplug PC, remove the CMOS battery for 20 seconds (I think that is plenty, but check with google or PM someone)
pics: http://images.google.com/images?as_q=cmos%20battery&safe=off
you may want to use a small screw driver (careful) to remove it.
-- plug in, boot up, see what happens

> take everything apart (the hardware), and put it back together, and see what happens. if you see a lot of dust anywhere, blow it out using your mouth and a straw, or whatever you prefer. this has always worked for me.
if you have spit issues, then wait 20 or 30 mins before turning on.

> swap component arounds, like swap the mobo with another, see what happens.

 

[jmagg]

Write zeros to the boot drive and try again.

 

[harle]

Just a little update so far. The harddrives are not showing up on POST anymore. I tried unplugging both harddrvies and plugging them back in, and the first HD showed up on POST again. It now boots to windows, but restarts within 10 seconds. Right before it restarts, it says that it recovered from some kind of windows error. I really dont know what i am supposed to do at this point, but this is the first weekend i have had off in 2 months, and this is definitely not what i was planning on doing.

System:

AMD Athlon 3500+
A8n Sli
EVGA geforce 7800GT
corsair 1GB XMS
Antec SmartPower 500Watt

 

[mechBgon]

If it's sometimes not making it past the POST screen, then you don't have just a Windows problem. Edit: nm, you posted some spec info and I didn't see it, we got some specs... but nothing about the hard drives. What are you using for hard drives, and have you tried the manufacturer's diagnostic utilities yet?

 

[harle]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
If it's sometimes not making it past the POST screen, then you don't have just a Windows problem. Edit: nm, you posted some spec info and I didn't see it, we got some specs... but nothing about the hard drives. What are you using for hard drives, and have you tried the manufacturer's diagnostic utilities yet?

It gets past the POST screen now, past the windows XP loading screen, and loads my desktop. Within 10 seconds, though, it restarts.

I changed the config to read the CD rom first, went to repair a windows installation, and it brought me to the recovery console. That is where i am currently at, but i have never seen this before, so i have no clue what to do.

 

[mechBgon]

In this situation, when it's struggling just to run Windows, I would try a couple things:

0) if the system's overclocked, set it to stock clockspeed.

1) check the power supply's voltages using a digital multimeter (if you have one). Yellow wire should be 12.0V or within 5% of that, red wire should be 5.0V or within 5% of that, and orange should be 3.3V or within 5% of that.

2) if the PSU checks out ok, now test the memory by making a Memtest86 boot CD and booting from that. It will run tests on your RAM non-stop until you halt it. One loop of tests could take a few hours, so make sure you got snacks on hand

3) if the RAM fails the Memtest86 testing, then try kicking the memory voltage up to 2.8 volts and test again. If it still fails, see if you're attempting to hit overly-stringent memory timings, including 1T command rate. If it fails anyway, try one module at a time, then try different RAM. If it all fails all the time, it might be the motherboard or the CPU.

 

[harle]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
In this situation, when it's struggling just to run Windows, I would try a couple things:

0) if the system's overclocked, set it to stock clockspeed.

1) check the power supply's voltages using a digital multimeter (if you have one). Yellow wire should be 12.0V or within 5% of that, red wire should be 5.0V or within 5% of that, and orange should be 3.3V or within 5% of that.

2) if the PSU checks out ok, now test the memory by making a Memtest86 boot CD and booting from that. It will run tests on your RAM non-stop until you halt it. One loop of tests could take a few hours, so make sure you got snacks on hand

3) if the RAM fails the Memtest86 testing, then try kicking the memory voltage up to 2.8 volts and test again. If it still fails, see if you're attempting to hit overly-stringent memory timings, including 1T command rate. If it fails anyway, try one module at a time, then try different RAM. If it all fails all the time, it might be the motherboard or the CPU.

The system is definitely not overclocked. I wish i had a multimeter to check the PSU with, but i dont.

Ill try running the memtest86 boot CD.

Just FYI if this might help, i have done absolutely no overclocking to the CPU, memory, or GPU. The ONLY thing i have changed since yesterday is reformatting my HD and putting a fresh copy of windows on it. That is why it never even crosses my mind that it might be hardware related.

I really think it has something to do with the ISO image of windows XP i burnt. It actually seemed to be working until i downloaded the latest microsoft update, then everything started to go wrong

Thanks for your help so far. If i remember correctly, you helped me get this computer running after i was having some build problems about 6 months ago

Update: the last 2 CDboots of windows XP, the first error i got was "no NTLDR" and the second one is "memory overflow error"

 

[harle]

Well, I went ahead and booted the memtest86 CD, and its currently on its 10th pass and there are absolutely no errors.
I turned the voltage on my memory up to 2.8 volts.
I guess now i must find a multimeter or buy one.

I really think it is some kind of software issue just because everything was working perfectly before i reformatted and installing a fresh version of XP. The primary HD is now showing in POST, so the disappearing HD is no longer a problem.

MechBgon: I didnt see your edit until now. Im using the Seagate 200GB barracuda Ultra ATA (ST3200822A) as my primary drive, and a western digital 250 GB ultra ATA as my slave drive. I have not tried using the diagnostics tools yet. Is there anything on the CD that could help me in this kind of situation?

 

[boomerang]

If I understand correctly, the drive you wish to boot from is ALWAYS detected at post now. It disturbs me that your secondary drive is not detected, but let's move on.

Disconnect that secondary drive for now.

I would try downloading that ISO again and burn it at a slower speed. Have the burn check for errors. From what you're saying, it sounds like you may have gotten a funky download and/or burn in conjunction with some hardware problem. I periodically disconnect and reconnect cables in my PC when I'm futzing around inside. You may have just had a bad connection.

You will lose nothing but time by doing a fresh install. Don't bother with a repair install. DON'T bother formatting. Do that from within the Windows install.

If you've gotten a hold of a voltmeter check that out first. Good troubleshooting step.

After you're up and running, deal with the secondary drive. You're on the right track, it has to be detected in the BIOS to be seen in Windows.

 

[harle]

Originally posted by: boomerang
If I understand correctly, the drive you wish to boot from is ALWAYS detected at post now. It disturbs me that your secondary drive is not detected, but let's move on.

Disconnect that secondary drive for now.

I would try downloading that ISO again and burn it at a slower speed. Have the burn check for errors. From what you're saying, it sounds like you may have gotten a funky download and/or burn in conjunction with some hardware problem. I periodically disconnect and reconnect cables in my PC when I'm futzing around inside. You may have just had a bad connection.

You will lose nothing but time by doing a fresh install. Don't bother with a repair install. DON'T bother formatting. Do that from within the Windows install.

If you've gotten a hold of a voltmeter check that out first. Good troubleshooting step.

After you're up and running, deal with the secondary drive. You're on the right track, it has to be detected in the BIOS to be seen in Windows.

Sorry i did not specify this is my last post, but i ended up disconnecting everything that was not essential to running the PC (took my other stick of RAM out, unplugged the second HD). So the only reason my computer is not detecting the second drive is because it is not plugged in

I ended up taking the CMOS battery out for about 30 seconds, put it back in, and solved some of my problems. When i boot up now, it bring me to the default page (the one with the big energy sign on the top right hand corner). It recognizes everything, counting my primary HD and DVD RW. At the bottom it says cheksum error - defaults loaded. The only problem at this point is that i cannot press F1 to continue because it still does not recognize my keyboard. Im thinking the problem may be that i am using a saitek eclipse gaming keyboard, and i have heard there are some problems recognizing it on several motherboards.

I ended up burning the ISO 2 times, then got my friend to burn me a copy of XP professional that i knew worked beforehand, and all of them get the same error, stating: "could not read from this device" "command: boot" "Line: 36" "file: bscript.ini" I have no clue what this means, but im not sure i should worry about this as much now that i am able to boot to that default screen.

At this point im trying to find someone that will let me borrow a spare keyboard to see if it might just be an issue with the saitek keyboard.