disfigured

If you haven't been following (or care).

I thought I lost a motherboard about 2 weeks ago. The night I bought a new LCD. Go figure huh.

I've been trying to trouble shoot this problem now for 2 weeks with no luck.

TroubleShoot History:

Couldn't boot past windows screen (grow bar thingy). Thought it was a case intrusion sensor that's always given me problems.

Bad mobo right? Replaced the MOBO. Same results.

Then I thought it may be the Vcard not displaying any graphics beyond the BIOS and other "none O.S" graphics.

Bum Vcard right? So I replaced the Vcard (NEW PNY 8800GT woo hoo). Figured I might need the extra umph to push the native of the new LCD (1920x1440).

No dice, same thing, doesn't make it past Windows Logo screen.

Some one suggested a bad RAM module, right? Hammered the RAM with MEMtest86 for 2 hours straight, no failures, nothing.

Corrupt Windows file was my next guess, so loose everything on the HD, and reinstall Windows XP. Right? Boot to CDROM, delete partitions, make new partition. Install windows. The drivers install, the MBR installs, the hardware checks out, it flys through it like a 4000 CLawhammer (CPU) and a 10,000 RPM drive should. Reboots. Gives me the "Welcome to XP" screen, I put in my CDKEY. It even gets the the point where I put in my COMPNAME, Time/Date/GDT etc, and the COMPNetwork name.

Then it hangs....... Tried multiple times. Hangs at nearly same point everytime.

Ok, bad HD right? Go out, buy a brand new Wester Digital 150gb Raptor. This should take care of it right? New mobo, new Vcard, new HD.Guess what? It hangs at nearly the same moment. Gets through everything, testing, writing, WinExectutive, etc etc. Reboots, begins the XP isntall, CDKEY etc etc, then hangs.

WTF, could cause this?

Power Supply? Does the HD begin to draw differently at that one particular moment?

Bad CDROM? It spins like a mother fucker when it's loading the prep stuff for the Windows Installation.

BUM Windows XP Disc? No apperent scratches, hardly ever used.

What next? New Power Supply, new Windows Disc, new CDROM, new IDE cables?

What would cause a WinXP installation to hang at one point, and then hang again with a new HD, new Vcard, and new mobo?

Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions?

Hell I don't care if it's a prayer or the sacrificing of a chicken.

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Jonesy

Hangs at the windows screen? How long does it hang? A week? Have you tried any other operating systems? Could the computer be over-heating?

disfigured

It hangs on the windows install. But after all the prelimanary stuff. Loads all the nessecary files, drivers, all that shit. Even reboots and welcomes me to the "new and exciting XP". I put my CDkey in computer name, and even the time and date. Then at some point after that it hangs.

Did it to a brand new drive too. Go figure.

The wife's I.T guy says it's bios setting. Something about having the HD set to IDE device instead of auto detect. Or something to that effect. I'm going to poke around in there tonight and see if that helps.

If not he said he'd get it up and running for me. I'll try to slip him a few bucks but he told the wife he wouldn't accept payment.

Makes me wonder how she's climbing the corporate ladder.

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guest1234567

You may have to call microsoft customer service. I'm pretty sure that when XP is first activated, it is assigned an internal code that is based upon the hardware configuration, and that code is sent to microsoft and paired with your cdkey in their files. You've obviously changed all of that. If this is the case, it shouldn't be that big a deal.

disfigured

I wish I had got that far (to activation) it would (yes I said would), quit during the installation but pretty far into it.

I'm glad to say it was a two fold problem (3 fold if you count the orignal problem) . Some IDE/SATA controller/driver issues. And an incorrect Bios setting for HD support (needed to be set to LARGE).

That's right.... I don't give up easily.

Two weeks, one mobo, a video card and a new harddrive later, and I'm back.

The new HD can go back for store credit. I don't need 150GBs. I barely use the 70 on this Raptor.

I'm keeping the 8800GT depending on the performance. I deserve it after this trouble shoot.

Keeping the new mobo, even if I do some switching out to test peformance $89.00 for a back up 939 which was nearly impossible to find, is well worth it.

I might RMA the Asus in the mean time. It might have a bit more umph, and it has SLI for future use.

It must have been a corrupt windows file. By the time I gotten to the choice of reformating the drive the new mobo was in and that presented the additional set of problems.

Which only compounded my feable attempts at trouble shooting.

But percerverance (no spell check yet) paid off. If I didn't do it tonight it was going to my wife's I.T guy. Could have my baby in some one else's hands.

Now all I have to do is:

Upate windows, then tear it down again by shutting down all the B.S
Tweak the mobo with drivers, ram timings and cpu clock settings.
Rewire the case for a neat and clean apperance.
Reinstall mood lighting (blue cold cathodes)
Install the X-FI Platinum sound card.
Tweak my Vcard a tad more.
Install new 26" Samsung LCD monitor and get that working to my satisfaction
Install games BF2 BF1942 BF2142 and patch them.
ITunes (lost about 80 songs)
Set up my webpage editing software and dump my site from the internet back into my computer
FTP
FireFox
Zone Alarm
Grisoft AVG
AdAware
Spy Sweeper
Get my webcam back up and running.
G-15 keyboard support and applets

And that's just off the top of my head.

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guest1234567

You love this shit!

disfigured

Not a single dead pixel on the Samsung. At least one thing has gone right and in my favor.

What a monitor so far. We'll see how it stands up to BF2.

Couldn't go through all the updates and downloads looking at the "loaner" I was using.

So Vcard Drivers and some tweaking of the monitor for now.

But enough time is saved up on the DVR to watch the Bruins now.

So I'll put the rest aside.

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BleedingPinky

THAT is a must, . Bulge and DC Lost village are a must for killing some adrenaline. Even after 5 years gone, vanilla BF still rules.

disfigured

Been all over BF2 for the last 2 years, but I still do some 1942 CTF now and then.

I haven't even dabble in loading my games yet. That comes after everything is stable and/or tweaked.

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al Asaad

Just reading this (4-21-08).

Next time, before you do anything else-clear your MOBO CMOS.
In some cases, the CMOS memory may contain wrong/corrupt data.
Follow the steps below to clear the CMOS memory.

Assuming you have a new battery installed:
go to your MOBO CMOS jumper: it is usually set on pins 1 & 2.
Unplug the ATX power cable from the power supply first.
Move the jumper to pins 2 & 3 (shorts MOBO) for about 2-3 seconds (or 10).
Move jumper back to pins 1 & 2.
Plug in ATX power cable.
Restart.

Doing so resets your CMOS and clears a lot of detrius from previous install attempts.
This pertains to any install-any WIN9x OS (don't know about VISTA)
**Even long-running, trouble free old computers can benefit from clearing the CMOS.

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