XP, The Mobo Replacement, and the Predicament Now

Z

Zedekiah

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Joined
Nov 26, 2005
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A few weeks ago my computer went awol on me. I was in the process of burning a cd on the go when the burning process stopped and smoke came out from the cracks between the optical drives - long story short, computer wouldn't boot up again (it would barely make it to windows, and on the occasions that it did, it would render only the mouse cursor). I never quite figured out what exactly blew up, but after doing some testing (swaping out parts and rebooting), i came to the conclusion that the mobo had finaly gone out. Enter, the search for a replacement socket a 462 mobo. In the end I found a NF7-S Abit from a online retailer whom i had do a burn in/update bios/ etc. After finaly getting everything (set up today), i backed up my files from my system drive and booted up (knowing full well that w/ a hardware swap, windows would lock me out but half hopping it would go through). It didn't. In fact it started showing a few symptoms of the previous problem (windows loading screen, then freeze). I then decided it best to reformat. Heres the issue:

Attempting to install SP2 - system reaches beyond *press f2 to enter etc etc* then just stops.
Changed hd w/ another hd - no dice (but theres a posibility of hardware failure on this hd)
Attempted to replace ram, changed optical drives, removed slave from optical drive, remove pci ide controller and coresponding hds - nothing.

My best guess is....im locked out due to windows protection. Beyond that i haven't the slightest idea why windows isn't installing.

system specs:

AMD Athlon 2000
Abit NF7-S Rev. 1.1
512 meg Corsair XMS Ram
Xtacy GeForce 4 4400
LITE ON 16X-DVD
LITE ON 48X-CDROM
Western Digital 40 Gig (system drive).

Any help beats none at this point - thanks again.

Notes: I was thinking that formatting the system hd on another computer then trying the install might work (this being contingent on the windows protection lock *theory* lol). Really given this as much thought as i can but i'm drawing a blank.

I also ran into the guide on the forums about doing a mobo transition (but i think that was if you were upgrading - else i wouldn't know how to access the system to install the program).
 
You're sure that the CPU and RAM is ok? (aka tested in known good configuration)

-E

 
Zedekiah said:
My best guess is....im locked out due to windows protection. Beyond that i haven't the slightest idea why windows isn't installing.
Click to expand...

There is no "windows protection" that would prevent you from installing Windows on a computer. Look elsewhere for your problem.
 
Well the reason im saying the cpu and ram are ok are that im getting past post...perhaps that isn't the only way to detect cpu and ram failure (but i did remove the one ram dimm at a time and booted but froze at the same place at the install).

The windows protection Im talking about is that windows recognizes that your hadware changes and locks you (anti-piracy measure). at least thats what i was told which lead me to try to re-format.
 
Zedekiah said:
The windows protection Im talking about is that windows recognizes that your hadware changes and locks you (anti-piracy measure). at least thats what i was told which lead me to try to re-format.
Click to expand...


Again, it does *not* prevent an installation or reinstallation of the OS.
 
Zedekiah said:
Well the reason im saying the cpu and ram are ok are that im getting past post...perhaps that isn't the only way to detect cpu and ram failure (but i did remove the one ram dimm at a time and booted but froze at the same place at the install).

The windows protection Im talking about is that windows recognizes that your hadware changes and locks you (anti-piracy measure). at least thats what i was told which lead me to try to re-format.
Click to expand...

To test your RAM use Memtest86+ to ensure your have a solid system, booting up is no garanti(SP?) for a stable system.
Read the instructions and info on the page before you use it, so you understand the results.

Good luck

-E

 
EinsteiN said:
To test your RAM use Memtest86+ to ensure your have a solid system, booting up is no garanti(SP?) for a stable system.
Read the instructions and info on the page before you use it, so you understand the results.

Good luck

-E
Click to expand...

Alrighty - ran Memtest86 for 2 passes, no issues - according to the guide 1 pass is a pretty good indication of memory health, so at least thats covered... Any other guesses? Oh and my windows install cd is okay (no scratches etc), so thats out. Perhaps it really is a hard drive issue...only thing else i could think of is perhaps the cpu...but i don't see how.
 
verified psu is alright - checked bios PC Health status. The voltage readings are nominal.
 
Odd question:
Did you make sure the virus protection for the hard drive wasn't enable in the bios? With this option selected windows is unable to write to the boot sector of the hard drive. Weird errors will show up with this esp since you just replaced the motherboard.
 
One thing that hasen't been mentioned...Which I think may be the problem.....I know this is a dumb question....But sometimes you have to revert to dumb questions after everything else has been done....Ok...Are you sure your IDE cables are good? Do you have your optical drive set to the right settings? Have you tried updating your bios? Have you tried formatting your hd and then installing xp instead of running a repair install? If that didn't work...Try to find a program that will write zeros to your hd and overwrite it 3 times (government standard) then try reinstalling XP....And before you say it, no I don't think your an idiot, I've been in the same place many 'o times, so I def understand the frustration going on here....Good luck and let us know if any of this works!
 
Lol, not at all - in fact im all out of ideas so anything is better than nothing Rtstrider. Um, I was actually going to do the format of the drive on another computer then try the install of xp today (the thing is I didn't even try to repair the old windows install, I just wanted to start over, but the install freezes right at the begining when it starts to load the files - think "loading kernel debugger.dll" - right about there). I did actually end up replacing the optical drive with another and that didn't seem to help, the bios was updated to the latest by the online retailer when I asked them to do the burn in and inspection of the mobo before shipping...and yea, it could very well be the cables (of all things). Sigh...trying trying.

shefron, yep, made sure virus was disabled before installing - still no luck. thanks though.
 
Also I know this may be redundant....But simply try unplugging the ide cables and plugging them back in on both ends, Motherboard and Optical drive.......
 
Ok, so I formated the hd on another computer....now the ide doens't want to recognize the optical drives!

I reach: NTLDR is missing (ctrl-alt-del to restart).

Sigh.
 
After looking over the setup with a friend and carefull consideration, we've come to the conclusion that the optical drives have shorted/destroyed the ide controller on the new mobo (and possibly the previous mobo). Wheater only the burner or both of the two drives are to blame will probably not be acertained. The mobo is going to be rma'ed, a new optical drive bought, and i'm replacing my pci ide controller just to be certain. Hopefully, this is the ultimate cause...

i'll update when all the parts have come in (est. time - 2 weeks).

Until then, thx for the responses.
 
Umm you could aways put the HD thats having the problems in an other computer, boot to the computers HDD as a slave drive, and copy and replace the missing/corrupt file. (at least that what I have done in the past and it worked.)
 
Okay, update:

mobo came in, plugged it all up, still hangs on the install right after "press f2 for system restore". to be honest, im starting to think this is all proccessor. I tried installing linux and it hanged on the install too. im almost certaint hat once the proc. hits a certain load it just dies. any takes?
 
Stranger things have happened, and you've tried most other things, so why not.
Can you get hold of another one to see?
 
It's common, unfortunately, that when a motherboard dies, it can also take the CPU down with it.
 
I think this is a PSU issue. Have you tried a different PSU on the system? Just go with different PSU, mobo, one stick of RAM and CPU/heatsink/fan. Nothing else other than the keyboard. If that boots up fine, then put the hard drive on it and see if it recognizes it. If there is an OS on the drive but gives an error about no OS or anything like that, it's fine. Then put one known good optical drive in. Try to boot from the optical drive. A Live CD is good for something like this. If that all works, then try to install an OS on the system.

You must test all the parts in another system to make sure they are working or use other parts that you know are good that weren't in the system when it released the magic smoke. It's the only way you will be able to properly troubleshoot the system. The best thing to do is put your parts one by one in another system to make sure they work right. Personally, I would not trust the optical drives or the PSU. To test them, I would hook them up to a system you really don't care much about. I always have an old mobo/CPU/RAM combo around to do just this. If I lose part of the system, it's not going to bother me much.

 
Issue resolved: faulty cpu. determined after slipping in test amd duron cpu. New barton core installed - runs awesomely. Unknown dmg if any caused to mobo or other components a possibility? Anyway, good call and thanks again for the help guys.
 
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