Cant install OS/XP

Snakebyt

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 21, 2001
Messages
1,584
ok here is the deal. Last night while playing games i started having problems. Screens would go black but i could hear game music. Reboot.. Would do the same thing within a few minutes.
Thought it might be getting too hot so i put another fan blowing on it and installed temp monitoring software and temps were 52-62C. Same thing screens would go black and sometimes the whole computer would reboot, others it was just a black screen.
Decided i needed to format. Been trying to reformat and reinstall win XP randomly the screens will go black but the computer dosent restart, all fans keep running ect. Try again....
other times it will get to the "press any key to boot from cd" and i get this

Trap 0000000D =========== General Protection Fault ============


tr=0028 cr0=00000011 cr2=00000000 cr3=00000000
gdt limit=03FF base=00017000 idt limit=07FF base=000017400

cs:eip=0008:2FFF3066 ss:esp=0010:00060E7B errcode=0000
flags=00010013 Cy NoZr IntDis Down TrapDis
eax=00000F44 ebx=00000004 ecx=00000005 edx=00000000 ds=0010 es=0010
edi=00070000 esi=000000A1 ebp=00000000 cr0=00000011 fs=0030 gs=0000



Any ideas? I did try another hard drive and got further in the install. but when i put in cd key again, black screens. Other times it would get further into the install and then the black screens.

A couple times i was looking at the BIOS for anything that might be off, adn black screens...
I dont know what to try next
Any suggestions?


Antec 550W PS
Lan Party NF4 motherboard
AMD 4400 X2
2x 1GB Geil ram
Evga 7900 GS KO
 
Maybe a RAM problem.

Google, download, burn and run Memtest+ for at least 3 hours, 24 hours max if you want to completely rule out your RAM. If a single error occurs, then the RAM is bad.

Also make sure that everything is at stock speeds.
 
i have tried removing one of the sticks, running that one, running the other one... I dont have another computer that will take that ram so i can try testing it. Would it be plausable that both sticks go bad at the same time?
 
i have tried removing one of the sticks, running that one, running the other one... I dont have another computer that will take that ram so i can try testing it. Would it be plausable that both sticks go bad at the same time?

Ive had 2 ram sticks DOA at the same time. If you can try a different set.
 
i have no way to run any tests on the memory . No other computer to put it in to try
 
You don't need another PC to test your RAM. If you had actually googled Memtest+, you would've found out that Memtest+ is a bootable program that doesn't need any OS installed in order to run.

Since your system can boot, Memtest86+ can run without installing anything.
http://www.memtest.org/

Download the .iso file and burn it to a CD.
 
Errors during installation point to hardware problems, specifically HDD, Optical Drive, and/or RAM.

Run memtest overnight like Danny said. If no errors after several passes, run Drive Fitness Test. Again, its another program that runs by itself, without an OS.

Other things you could try is another optical drive, new cables, another HDD, another disc, another set of RAM.
 
thanks for all the suggestions
i am testing memory now, will test HDD next.

I thought about trying a PCI vid card but i dont have one handy, I have several AGP, but no PCI-E or PCI,

OK, As i was writing this was testing memory and the screens went black. Going to try again. I also have a friend that is going to try bringing over one of his PCI-E cards and we are going to try that and see if it is the vid card.
Thanks for all the suggestions
 
ok folks, heres the deal.
Tried another vid card, same thing. Tried another stick of memory, same thing, tried another dvd drive, same thing. Changed cables.. same thing. Tried another hard drive .. same thing..

I think it might be the motherboard. Anyway to test to see if it is motherboard or processor? I have already pulled the heatsink off the processor and reapplied thermal paste, and even added a different fan.

Any other suggestions?

Sometimes it will run for 20-30 min then black screens, othertimes it will only run like 30 sec then black screens.
 
Maybe a RAM problem.

Google, download, burn and run Memtest+ for at least 3 hours, 24 hours max if you want to completely rule out your RAM. If a single error occurs, then the RAM is bad.

Also make sure that everything is at stock speeds.

BEEP BEEP BEEP - WRONG!?!?!?
Ram issues in memtest can occur due to faulty chipsets or CPU's as well, so they DON'T rule out all the other options.
TO op, why did you decide formatting was the solution?
It sounds like a hardware problem, I'd check out the VideoCard, screen blackouts are usually related to VC problems.
Your CPU is also kind of hot - but not to the point of crashing.
 
ok folks, heres the deal.
Tried another vid card, same thing. Tried another stick of memory, same thing, tried another dvd drive, same thing. Changed cables.. same thing. Tried another hard drive .. same thing..

I think it might be the motherboard. Anyway to test to see if it is motherboard or processor? I have already pulled the heatsink off the processor and reapplied thermal paste, and even added a different fan.

Any other suggestions?

Sometimes it will run for 20-30 min then black screens, othertimes it will only run like 30 sec then black screens.
Well, you should check mobo for bulging/leaking capacitors, and your PSU.
Lastly I would check if your CPU has good enough contact with the heatsink, I would clean and re-apply a thin layer of thermal paste.You can always download Ultimate Boot CD which is a nice diagnostoc tool.
Good Luck.
 
BEEP BEEP BEEP - WRONG!?!?!?
Ram issues in memtest can occur due to faulty chipsets or CPU's as well, so they DON'T rule out all the other options.

True, but its usually the RAM thats bad, and not the board/CPU. And since most RAM sticks have lifetime warranty, its the easiest to replace out of the three. When RMA'ing with Corsair, memtest failure is enough for them to replace your RAM. I've yet to find a bad CPU with memtest. I've found faulty boards and RAM, though. I test RAM in more than one board/CPU setup, just to be sure. However, most people don't have this luxury.

There is no easy, yet definitive, way to test the motherboard other than deduction/elimination and a visual inspection. Memtest does not do a good job of testing a CPU, therefore it would be better to run prime95/orthos/etc small FFTs test. Still, if a setup passes memtest AND smallFFTs, I'd say theres a 99% chance your CPU, board, and RAM are fine. CPUs rarely go bad, and are also rarely bad out of the box.

Again, to be sure something is bad/dead, the best way is to test with other spare parts. I agree, blackscreens are usually vidcard related. So, try another vidcard and PSU.
 
If you go into the BIOS, what does it say your CPU temp is? 52-62C sounds pretty hot. My X2 @ 3GHz only gets that hot when fully loading the system.
 
BEEP BEEP BEEP - WRONG!?!?!?
Ram issues in memtest can occur due to faulty chipsets or CPU's as well, so they DON'T rule out all the other options.
TO op, why did you decide formatting was the solution?
It sounds like a hardware problem, I'd check out the VideoCard, screen blackouts are usually related to VC problems.
Your CPU is also kind of hot - but not to the point of crashing.

What does BEEP BEEP BEEP mean? You doing motherboard error code impressions?

You can rule out the CPU and other components with Memtest by swapping in and out sticks of memory. If a person gets errors one on stick repeatedly but passes with other sticks, you can bet the memory went bad.

It's always a good step to test your memory with Memtest when done doing the initial build so you know your memory was good or is compatible, so that later on, when it goes bad you can be sure that Memtest had passed on the system before.

OP, when you are done testing your memory system, test the PSU. Take a multimeter and plug it into some empy molex connectors and watch the voltage with it. Try different connectors if your PSU has two 12volt rails.
 
the power supply is brand new, bought it a while back and never switched it out. When i first started having problems that is the first thing i changed,

Last night i had a friend bring a video card out of one of his running systems, same thing so i have ruled out it being a video card problem.

I also tried another stick of ram out of a different computer and same thing, so i do not think it is memory.
I have already pulled the heatsink from the CPU and reapplied thermal paste.

I am looking in the bios right now and the CPU temp is reading 30-32, and just now while in bios.. BLACK SCREEN!!!!!

this is getting annoying :)

The computer has been off for several hours and lasted less than 2 min in the bios before black screening on me.
 
It looks like you have checked everything except the motherboard.

Do you have any USB devices plugged in besides a mouse and keyboard? (Long shot, but I did once have a USB device that shorted out my PSU from time to time)
 
right now i have only the mouse and keyboard plugged into the USB, should i try a different mouse and keyboard?
 
does your motherboard come with a d-bracket that has four flashing leds on it look the the system manual to see how it hooks up.it should tell you where in the "boot"process the problem occurs.
ps i have read your first post this is the only idea i can come up with.peace
 
Sounds like your board is bad. Got another CPU you can try, along with that other RAM and Vidcard? hehe
 
ok, i have completly taken machine apart and have it setup on my kitchen table.
I noticed that the fan on the northbridge is making some noise and it changing speeds during boot. Could this be the problem?
 
It could be a sign of voltage increases and decreases unless your motherboard has some kind of fan speed control that is doing it's job.
 
well i have kinda ruled out the northbridge getting too hot. I put a 80mm fan right on top of the northbridge fan, so even if the northbridge fan wasnt working properly the 80 right above it should have solved that.
 
after looking closer I do have 4 diagnostic LED.
I checked them and they are all working fine as they should be.
When the screen goes black there is no light lighting up as if there was no change and the computer is still running correctly.
 
True, but its usually the RAM thats bad, and not the board/CPU. And since most RAM sticks have lifetime warranty, its the easiest to replace out of the three. When RMA'ing with Corsair, memtest failure is enough for them to replace your RAM. I've yet to find a bad CPU with memtest. I've found faulty boards and RAM, though. I test RAM in more than one board/CPU setup, just to be sure. However, most people don't have this luxury.

There is no easy, yet definitive, way to test the motherboard other than deduction/elimination and a visual inspection. Memtest does not do a good job of testing a CPU, therefore it would be better to run prime95/orthos/etc small FFTs test. Still, if a setup passes memtest AND smallFFTs, I'd say theres a 99% chance your CPU, board, and RAM are fine. CPUs rarely go bad, and are also rarely bad out of the box.

Again, to be sure something is bad/dead, the best way is to test with other spare parts. I agree, blackscreens are usually vidcard related. So, try another vidcard and PSU.
I ran a PC lab for three years, I have seen my share of hardware failures. ONe of the first thing you learn is never to jump to conclusions with Memtest.
 
I ran a PC lab for three years, I have seen my share of hardware failures. ONe of the first thing you learn is never to jump to conclusions with Memtest.

Actually, if you run a PC lab, just use Dell or some other OEM, lol. They come over, find out whats wrong, and replace whatever they need to replace. ;) At least thats what we did when I worked for the university's computer lab as a student, lol. Life's much easier that way.

Experience teaches you to always double check what you can, and to test from all angles. So, regardless of jumping to conclusions with memtest, its still the most reliable test for memory. As Met-AL mentioned:

You can rule out the CPU and other components with Memtest by swapping in and out sticks of memory. If a person gets errors one on stick repeatedly but passes with other sticks, you can bet the memory went bad.

If tests are inconclusive, test from another angle.
 
next time it crashes, hit the num lock key repedidly and tell me if the numlock light comes on and off.

2nd vote for monitor or monitor cable.

Barring that, throughly inspect board for cracked, bulging, or damaged in any way caps.

If both are negative, test your components in your friends rig. Drop each component in seperatly.

Im betting that the board has just realized it really doesnt like your ram. Try putting each stick in the slot that has until now been unused. DFI boards have hundreds of known memory problems.
 
i will try to find some more monitor cables to try, but it would be unusual for both to go out at exactly the same time (I run dual monitors)

I tried the mun lock thing, but even when running the mem test and monitors are on i get no response. BUT i did find this out. when running mem test it says hit ESC to reboot. When the screen goes black, i can hit ESC and it will reboot. So i think the computer is still running, just no video signal.

thanks again for all the suggestions and keep them coming.
 
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