Problems loading windows for first time...Hardware issue??

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steven1110

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 12, 2004
Messages
271
I just bought a new computer (specs below) and started to install windows for the first time. At first it kept getting stuck at the first windows setup screen, getting to various points in the loading and then bringing up a screen that read IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR-EQUAL. So I restart. It did this a few times so I transferred in a different dvd drive.

Windows setup then got to the copying file portion and would get to various files and say that they couldn't be copied..push enter to try again or esc to skip. Pushed enter and finally got past only to get stuck again. It did this about 10 times throughout 80% of the copy setup only to then give me another blue screen saying to possibly check the hard drive for corruption. I haven't done this because I don't know how to get into a dos mode from the mobo splash screen. Anybody?

Any ideas on what to do or about what may be causing the issues??

AM2 4200 2.2ghz with 512 cache

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB Serial ATA II 7200RPM Hard Drive w/16MB Buffer

MSI K9N SLI Platinum nForce 570 SLI

OCZ OCZ520ADJSLI PowerStream 520W

BFG GeForce 7900 GTX PCI Express 512MB GDDR3

OCZ OCZ28002048ELDCGE-K 2GB Kit DDR2-800 PC2-6400 Enhanced Latency Gold Edition Dual Channel Memory
 
You can't get to a dos mode from your BIOS menu. If dos is not installed on your hard drive you would have to boot from a dos boot floppy. You can try running memtest from that floppy to test your ram. You should be able to download a free utility to check your hard drives from the makers site. Disconnect or remove any hardware you absolutely don't need to install windows, and try it again. I would also reseat your ram, video card, and any other add-in cards before you try again.
 
Ok, I've ran memtest and it came up with 800,000 errors. I still haven't gotten a hdd utitily to check hard drive...doing that now.
 
steven1110 said:
Ok, I've ran memtest and it came up with 800,000 errors. I still haven't gotten a hdd utitily to check hard drive...doing that now.
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I'd say you've got a bad memory stick there. I'd worry about that before the hard drive.
 
Ok a question about memtest and the memory.

First off, what are the chances of getting 2 bad sticks withing one package??

Second, I did the memtest will both sticks installed, does the result of having 820,000 errors say that both are bad or possibly just one? I was watching test #5 being run and 99% of the errors occurs here and happened from 1mb scanned clear until 2000mb scanned. Does that concluded that both sticks are bad??

Thanks for the replies btw
 
steven1110 said:
Ok a question about memtest and the memory.

First off, what are the chances of getting 2 bad sticks withing one package??

Second, I did the memtest will both sticks installed, does the result of having 820,000 errors say that both are bad or possibly just one? I was watching test #5 being run and 99% of the errors occurs here and happened from 1mb scanned clear until 2000mb scanned. Does that concluded that both sticks are bad??

Thanks for the replies btw
Click to expand...

If your running in dual channel the sticks addresses are interleaved I think. so the errors might be occuring when the system tries to access the bad stick after each time it access the good stick. Try testing with each stick in by itself.
 
do memtest one stick at a time so u'll know w/c one is bad. WD drives come w/ their own CD Software utility for the HDD- it's called western digital data lifeguard tools CD.
 
rysher said:
do memtest one stick at a time so u'll know w/c one is bad. WD drives come w/ their own CD Software utility for the HDD- it's called western digital data lifeguard tools CD.
Click to expand...

unless he bought it OEM.
 
rysher said:
do memtest one stick at a time so u'll know w/c one is bad. WD drives come w/ their own CD Software utility for the HDD- it's called western digital data lifeguard tools CD.
Click to expand...

I've downloaded the data lifeguard tool and am running it now...Thanks...next is to do memtest again one stick at a time.

Question: Does what slot it's positioned in really matter? Could the slot be bad on the motherboard?? I've had it in postion 1 like it's supposed to so do you think that I switching slots could make a difference?
 
steven1110 said:
I've downloaded the data lifeguard tool and am running it now...Thanks...next is to do memtest again one stick at a time.

Question: Does what slot it's positioned in really matter? Could the slot be bad on the motherboard?? I've had it in postion 1 like it's supposed to so do you think that I switching slots could make a difference?
Click to expand...

if the a slot is bad it could very well produce errors. if you get error on both stick try them in another slot. If only one stick errors out you can almost be gauranteed that you've got a bad stick.
 
I just ran memtest of each stick individually and neither of them returned any errors. This is really odd since while memtesting both together it had 800000. explanations?? Any idea what to do next?
 
No that was just slot 1. Go ahead and try slot 3 then since it was the one that had the other stick while in dual channel??
 
The cd did not have scratches on it.

I manually set the timings to 5 5 5 15 and ran memtest on each stick without any errors and had no trouble setting up windows. I guess whatever the bios had the settings for on auto were too tight or something because that seemed to be the problem.

Thanks for all the help and support.
 
steven1110 said:
The cd did not have scratches on it.

I manually set the timings to 5 5 5 15 and ran memtest on each stick without any errors and had no trouble setting up windows. I guess whatever the bios had the settings for on auto were too tight or something because that seemed to be the problem.

Thanks for all the help and support.
Click to expand...

You know I actually thought abuut that for a minute. For some reason my feeble mind just forgot to mention. D Glad you got it going, hope it works out for you.
 
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