redasphalt

I just put together a brand new computer and right when it gets to the point that it would try to read a boot device it hangs completely and the code "00A1" (without quotes) appears in the lower-right.

It's an ASRock ALiveNF6G-DVI Socket AM2 NVIDIA NF6100-430 board with an Athlon 64 X2 4000+, 2x1GB DDR2 800 dual channel pair (installed correctly).

Before it gets to the point where it would start to read a boot device it seems to be working fine -- the memory test completes OK, all the disks are properly detected, and everything else is perfectly normal.

If I hit F2 to enter the BIOS menu it lets me change BIOS settings just like it should, but after exiting it has the same problem, hanging with "00A1" in the corner.

If I turn on RAID it gives five seconds to hit F10 and change RAID settings which works just like it should, but after that or if I don't hit F10 it does the 00A1 crash as well.

So far I've tried changing around lots of settings, resetting the BIOS to factory settings, resetting it to "optimal" settings (which I assume means some sort of auto-detect), swapping out a different DVD drive in case it wasn't able to read it to boot from, swapping out the video card, using onboard video, underclocking the memory, and nothing has changed what happens.

There doesn't seem to be any cooling problem, I left it on the BIOS temperature monitor screen for about half an hour and it never went above 40C, and all the fans are running. Everything is connected properly and the power supply is a brand-new 500W one.

The only reference I could find anywhere on google was to a post on this forum three months ago, but the suggestion there (to run memtest for a while, which I'm not sure worked for the other poster either) is impossible for me because it never gets to the point that it would read a boot disk.

I notice that both my and the other poster's boards are nforce4 ones, so if anyone can refer me to where I might find a comprehensive set of nforce4 documentation I would really appreciate it. I'm sure there's a technical manual somewhere that says exactly what code 00A1 means in this case and would make troubleshooting way easier.

Thanks!

mattlock

Hello, and Welcome to TSF.
In order to assist you better could you post your system specs as outlined in the link below.

http://www.techsupportforum.com/hard...tem-specs.html

__________________
Matt

redasphalt

* Power Supply – COOLMAX CP-500T EPS12V 500W Power Supply
(+3.3V@30A, +5V@50A, +12V1@18A, +12V2@18A, -12V@1A, +5VSB@2.5A)

* Motherboard – ASRock ALiveNF6G-DVI Socket AM2 NVIDIA NF6100-430 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

* CPU – AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ Brisbane 2.1GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor

* RAM – G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
(Installed in the slots the motherboard manual says to put matching pairs in)

* Video Card(s) – SAPPHIRE 100196L Radeon X1950PRO 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card
(Just one, not using SLI/Crossfire)

* Hard Drive(s) – Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600JS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive x2
(Planning to use RAID 1, but get the same problem whether using RAID or not)

* Operating System - Microsoft Windows XP Home Sp2b
(But haven't yet gotten to the point where I can begin installation)

mattlock

OK. Since you plan to setup a raid you'll need to have a floppy disk with the SATA driver on it before you start the windows in install. If you don't have it already you can download the driver from hear.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/download.as...=ALiveNF6G-DVI

Follow these instructions. (Copied from ASrocks.com)

SATA RAID Driver is for users who plan to install Windows OS on SATA / SATAII HDDs with RAID functions. To use RAID functions, you need to make a SATA RAID Driver floppy diskette before you install the operation system, such as Windows XP. If you do not plan to use RAID functions, it is not necessary to make a SATA RAID Driver floppy diskette. Please follow below steps for the usage of SATA RAID Driver:

1. Copy the SATA RAID Driver from our website to your SATA HDDs. Unzip it, and copy all the files and folders to an empty diskette.

2. Make sure that the “SATA Operation Mode” option in BIOS setup is set to RAID mode.

3. Install Windows OS to your system. At the beginning of Windows setup, please press F6 and insert the SATA RAID Driver floppy diskette you just made. Then you are allowed to select the required driver to install after your system reading the SATA RAID Driver floppy diskette.

4. After Windows OS installation, use the RAID tool in our support CD to configure RAID arrays under BIOS or Windows environment.
For the details of RAID operation procedures, please refer to our user manual in the support CD or quick installation guide for further information.

So far you've been unable to boot to your XP cd. Once you have your SATA driver disk ready do the following to boot to cd.

Insert your XP install cd and reboot.

During POST at the beginning of system boot-up, press <F11> key, and then a window for boot devices selection appears and select CDROM as the boot device.

Post back and let me know if this method works for you.

__________________
Matt

redasphalt

I downloaded that file and made a driver disk, but I'm still having trouble getting it to boot.

When I press F11 it says "boot selection menu opened" on that line instead of "press F11 for boot selection menu", but it doesn't actually open any menu and just goes ahead and hangs at the same point.

I tried going in the BIOS and setting the DVD drive as first boot device and later on removing all the rest so the DVD drive was the only boot device, but it still doesn't boot off it.

It detects it (even the model number) so it seems to be connected properly, but it doesn't even try to boot off it -- the light on the drive never even lights up except for blinking the second power first comes on and any time I put in a new disc.

I'm starting to think maybe the motherboard is bad, but I really hope there's something simple I'm missing so I don't need to go through all the hassle of returning it.

redasphalt

Hooray, problem solved!

I was actually looking for RMA procedures when I read one of the reviews of this board where someone posted the solution.

I had to turn on the "AM2 Boost" option which by default was disabled, because apparently this board entirely fails to boot without it. After doing that it worked like a charm and I was able to follow your directions about the RAID to get that going.

Thanks!

mattlock

Good Job.

__________________
Matt