4 days and still no luck: P5Q Pro Vista install hangs up! help

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ssabripo

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 25, 2004
Messages
75
:(

new system:
e8400
Asus P5Q Pro
4GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-6400
3 x SATA.

I've tried both Vista ultimate 32bit and x64 with same results:

it starts copying installation files and bar finishes, and then the 1st graphical screen appears (with the mouse icon). After several seconds, there is a split second read of the HD (I see the HD light come on for a split second) and then it hangs up, and the system reboots!:mad:

I've checked Memtest and memory is fine.....I've tried both versions of Vista and nothing.

:confused:
 
Hello. The first think I would do is to phyically check your motherboard and wires.See if you have any obvious damage. Next thing I would do is to check your bios screen to see if all of components read properly. If everything reads well, try booting your motherboard outside of the case(on the motherboard box). If it boots outside the case, inspect your case closely for bad areas. There is a possibility that one of your harddrives is somehow bad.

Good luck.
 
Try installing with just 2 gigs. On some setups (gaming rig in sig for instance) Vista bluescreens during install with 4 gigs.


edit: Once installed, do all of the updates, then install the other 2 gigs. Vista Sp1 install media supposedly doesn't have this problem.

 
Major assumption here. Everything is at stock in the bios? +1 for initial install with 2 GB Ram. Also, you indicate 3x SATA? Boot drive & DVD? What is third? Possible suggestion is to unplug third SATA (unless you are trying to do RAID).

 
Update to 1306 bios from the asus site, use flashmenu or whatever its called, do not use the windows update. I installed pre sp1 vista with 4 gigs on the same board with no problems... see my sig
 
here is what I've tried so far (BIOS in default...no OC):

a) Removed 2 x 1 GB sticks (from DIMM2 and DIMM4 slots)
b) Forced Bios Timings to memory 4-4-4-12 (as oem says) and 2.0 Vdimm
c) tried a different install disk of Vista x64

in all 3 cases, it did the same thing.....it hangs up several seconds into the 1st graphical screen (after loading files and the windows scroll bar is finished). Again, it seems like there is an attempt to write to the HD (I see the HD flash for a split sec) and then it hangs!

I called Western Digital and they are sending me 2 new drives, but I'm not 100% if that's the problem... I'm thinking of trying XP Pro and see if that installation works, then format the drives, and then try to reinstall Vista.

this has been the absolute worst headache I've ever had!! :(
 
capreppy said:
Major assumption here. Everything is at stock in the bios? +1 for initial install with 2 GB Ram. Also, you indicate 3x SATA? Boot drive & DVD? What is third? Possible suggestion is to unplug third SATA (unless you are trying to do RAID).

Click to expand...

yeah, the 3rd drive is my "data" drive. I have one drive for OS/apps, one for data, and one as "backup". Does having 3 drives become a bad thing?:confused:
 
this is sooooo wierd and frustrating. So I tried the latest BIOS and nothing. I unplugged all drives except one, and tried each one separately, and nothing! same hangup.

so now I'm trying windows XP pro to see if it is successful, and it going ok so far, BUT, it asked me to format the new drives:

I chose "quick format", and it has been formating for about 40 minutes so far and only 28% done! This can't be right!

could it be the SATA cables? the HD's themselves?
 
Check the southbridge heatsink to see if it is overheating. SATA IO is handled there. Could have a bad thermal interface.
 
well I'll be damned! :mad:

I just installed XP pro SP3, and it installed fine....no hangups, etc. Then I tried to install Vista, figuring that perhaps the drives being formatted and all,would work... alas no such luck!

it is obviously not a HW issue at this point, right? perhaps memory incompatibility with Vista? :dunno:
 
I tried to install Vista Ultimate 64 on my machine and I got stuck at the "Please Wait" screen. After letting it sit there for 45 minutes, I just rebooted and installed XP Pro 32bit.
 
Wow. Unfortunate that you're having such a hard time getting Vista installed. Most of the advice given so far is exactly what I would have recommended.

Your note re: quick format during the XP install being at 28% after 40 minutes is certainly alarming. What mode is the SATA controller in? What model of WD HDDs are you using? Out of curiosity, have you tried booting with WDs HDD diagnostic utility (Data Lifeguard) just to see what it says?
 
kick said:
Wow. Unfortunate that you're having such a hard time getting Vista installed. Most of the advice given so far is exactly what I would have recommended.

Your note re: quick format during the XP install being at 28% after 40 minutes is certainly alarming. What mode is the SATA controller in? What model of WD HDDs are you using? Out of curiosity, have you tried booting with WDs HDD diagnostic utility (Data Lifeguard) just to see what it says?
Click to expand...



Agreed, you might have a working XP install on the system now but clearly a problem exists with this system since the quick format took so long.

I also found out long ago that XP is rather forgiving on unstable systems.

I would grab a copy of a Linux distro and try to install it. I am willing to bet it will not install on this PC.
 
well....i may have spoken too soon on the quick format issue..i may have pressed regular format by mistake. I formated the second drive, and it took seconds.


do you guys think that copying the files onto the HD, and then running setup that way may work?
 
i have to believe it is the mobo incompatibility....I've tried everything! new HD's, new install CDs, new Sata cables, and now, I just tried some new RAM (Corsair XMS2 pc2-6400).

i have to believe it is the mobo somehow
 
Is the media you are using for Vista Service pack 1? If not there may be dirivers that need to be loaded for the operating system to see the drive in non-compatability/normal mode. Not familiar with the board, but if you are trying to install with AHCI enabled for the chipset in the BIOS, Vista setup uses compatability mode to start loading even with AHCI enabled but will not recognise the drive without the drivers that were added for AHCI with service pack 1.
 
I have had something like this happen before on my x48 board. try it with only your O/S drive in and redo the install, make sure the drive is in the sata0 connection. if you have AHCI turned on that should be ok since you are doing a fresh install. put your dvd sata drive in the sata4 slot. this should do you fine.
 
i have an IDE dvd drive, not a sata dvd.

yes, it is vista ultimate sp1, and I'm running in IDE mode, not AHCI.

dont know what else to try...i'm sooooo frustrated
 
I've not seen you try a different hard drive. I know I know - you got xp pro installed OK, doesn't mean that the drive doesn't have a big honkin bad sector somewhere that the xp install didn't touch. Just trying to help :)
 
ssabripo said:
i have an IDE dvd drive, not a sata dvd.

yes, it is vista ultimate sp1, and I'm running in IDE mode, not AHCI.

dont know what else to try...i'm sooooo frustrated
Click to expand...
Sorry
Edit: So I downloaded the manual for your motherboard. Too much stuff to go through, but it may help if you do some looking in the BIOS for a problem, Maybe something is off somewhere. Maybe set everything to default BIOS settings and restart.
Edit# 2 Have you tried changing to AHCI mode after you are installed? Maybe you have to install in AHCI mode and leave it there. A bad sector in the drive would explain a lot also. Disconnect everything you are not using to get installed. Check the southbridge for overheating after operating for awhile. Sometimes there is a bad thermal interface and the southbridge heats up pretty quick. Good luck.
 
Try BIOS 703 or 804, I've had the best luck with those 2 BIOSes on my P5Q-E... From what I gather 11,12,13 are BETA and don't work well in some configurations. However they will boot to your drives quicker than 7 or 8, but I kept getting BSODs in Vista after I updated my BIOS.

I installed Vista Ultimate x64 on mine with no issues with 8 GB or RAM, and this was even a PRE SP1 disc.
 
thanks for replies guys.....I've tried the following as well:

a) used 3 different drives, one by one....same issue (hangup)
b) i removed all usb/floppy/etc connectors, and still same behavior
c)i've tried RAID, AHCI, and even did a RAID0, and again all three had same behavior at the same spot!

i'm just really dumbfounded....I'm packing this mobo and sending it back....now I have to decide whether to get another Asus P45 based mobo, or just go with gigabyte or something.

any suggestions?
 
A lot of people have Vista on that board. At this point I would suspect your Vista DVD - or your drives ability to read it.
 
I read most but have you done a memory test? vista does error check during file copy which may be why its reseting/rebooting.
 
JESUS F(@&( ING CHRIST!!!!!!!!! :mad::mad:

I've tried just about everything I can possible try without luck!!! arrrrrrrrghhhh. I just redid a memtest for 6 hours, and memory passes.

I bought a brand new P5Q-E, and yet STILL does the same freaking thing!!!!

now what? if it's the DVD drive, then why did it run fine with Vista 32bit and my older p5b-deluxe board?

also, i just tried installing XP and it installed perfectly! wtf!


is there a HD dip switch or something I need to set? perhaps the IDE dvdrw is in slave and needs to be in master.
 
Wow... that is pretty awesome. But not really.

Is there anyway possible you could try a SATA DVD drive?
 
ssabripo said:
is there a HD dip switch or something I need to set? perhaps the IDE dvdrw is in slave and needs to be in master.
Click to expand...

That's easy to check. Should be a 6 pin header on the back of the drive... Labeled as follows...

C S M
S L A

CS = cable select, SL = slave, MA = master.

If you have the dvd drive by itself, set it to MA. I'd think it's your install disc thats got a problem though. Have you tried using it to install on another machine?
 
Could be the CPU, haven't changed that. Sounds like you've used different media to install
 
On the DVD drive Issue:
It is an IDE drive (connected via IDE cable to IDE controller on MB)... It installs XP fine, which is why I believed it is not the drive, but could it be that it is incompatible with Vista? I don't think that's the case because it ran Vista32bit in the past.
So should I just try a Sata Drive?
If not necessary, then I should leave the HD's in MA mode? does one of the drives need to be Master and One slave?

Vista copy:
- I have two copies: one is Vista 32bit, and one is Vista x64 with SP1. I will try to get another copy of Vista, but I doubt that's the problem...although anything is possible. The copy of Vista32 I know works because I used it before.

CPU:
Cannot be CPU, right? if it was a CPU issue, then why would XP run fine?



What I found wierd in all this is that when I installed Vista32 via XP, it started to install fine (copied files, decompressed, started install)....when it rebooted to finish the install, it goes past POST, then it goes into the graphical screen, the hour glass starts and it immediately does a hard reboot! I even did F8 and chose "do not do system reboot in error", and it still does it.
 
I just spoke to Asus tech support...they told me it could be the e8400. They said try to put it in Performance mode vs enhanced, and see.

I doubt this is it, but I'll give it a try
 
its not the cpu. everytime i have had/seen that issue its been the dvd/dvd drive. use a different optical, and/or swap out the cable. you have eliminated the hd's and ram. this probably has been suggested, but try using the same media to install on another machine. and if you go with another p45, get the biostar or the dfi.
 
vanilla_guerilla said:
its not the cpu. everytime i have had/seen that issue its been the dvd/dvd drive. use a different optical, and/or swap out the cable. you have eliminated the hd's and ram. this probably has been suggested, but try using the same media to install on another machine. and if you go with another p45, get the biostar or the dfi.
Click to expand...

so Asus P45 boards are no good?

I'm gonna get a SATA drive this afternoon, take everything apart, and install it externally and see what happens

I WILL PAYPAL someone $30 if we can get this to work! :cool:
 
I had this issue, though when running RAID 0 on my P5Q pro. Thankfully I had my company laptop handy and just put the latest ASUS bios on a flash drive, updated the BIOS and I was fine afte that...no other changes made.
 
rampantandroid said:
I had this issue, though when running RAID 0 on my P5Q pro. Thankfully I had my company laptop handy and just put the latest ASUS bios on a flash drive, updated the BIOS and I was fine afte that...no other changes made.
Click to expand...

as mentioned, I downloaded the latest driver on it...so that's not it.
 
rampantandroid said:
You mean BIOS, right?

Try enabling RAID, but don't create any arrays. See what happens.
Click to expand...
yes, I meant Bios.

I didn't try raid, but I tried AHCI and IDE in both enhanced and compatible mode. I also tried creating an RAID0 array, and it still behaved the same on all 3 cases.

gonna try a different DVD drive, and Videocard this afternoon
 
Wow, I had forgot about this thread and almost can't believe you haven't managed to get vista installed.

Looking at everything you have tried I have to say it must be related to the DVD drive. You got XP to install and I would assume that was from a CD but Vista wont and it's a DVD. I suspect the drive is taking a shit on you and no longer reads DVDs properly.

If your XP install really is 100% stable then I can't see what else it could be. I forget what Vista media you have but if it is pre SP1 I would install it with only 2gig of ram or less. As others have mentioned Vista has a known issue that can pop up when attempting to install on a system with more then 2gig of ram that was patched in SP1. My pre SP1 disk installed just fine on my system with 4gig of ram but as I said it is a known issue and with all the trouble you have already had I wouldn't risk it.

Good luck
 
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