Wolfpackalex

I previously had a thread going trying to troubleshoot a bad BIOS flash, but I ran out of ideas and decided to go ahead and replace the motherboard. It's not an exact replacement, but its very close.

At any rate, I've come across a whole new set of issues. I have installed everything but cannot get past the initial boot phase. I have tried a bare bone boot where all that is connected is the hard drive and one stick of RAM, but still no go. I can get into the BIOS options but cannot get very far past that. If I reset the CMOS and have the hard drive unplugged, I can boot from the floppy and get a command prompt (but still cannot boot from the XP CD-ROM). If I have the hard drive plugged in, the boot process halts at random spots right after the "logo" screen (where I can get into the BIOS options).

I've flashed the BIOS to the newest update, but still no luck. I don't have any extremely important information on the hard drive, and wouldn't mind formatting, if only I could some way get the ability to do that.

Anyone have any ideas?

Wolfpackalex

Bit of an update here- after playing around a bit more I've gotten to the point where I can boot from the floppy drive and the CD drive while the hard disk is plugged in. I've tried to boot from the XP install CD a couple times, it gets about halfway through the boot process and the blue screen of death appears with what appears to be a memory error. I've got a few different sticks of RAM I'm about to swap in and out to see if (hopefully) its just a bad stick.

Like I said, I'd be willing to format my hard disk, but when I boot from my floppy it seems the hard disk is not being recognized (even though from the boot diagnostic screen it clearly is).

Wolfpackalex

Well after switching around the RAM a bit the blue screens went away (might have been coincidence) and the locking up continues. The program will load for a minute or two and lock up at random spots.

I'm no computer expert by any means, but would these symptoms be characteristic of a system having a bad power supply? I've currently got a PSU less than a year old but only around 300w. It worked perfectly fine with the old motherboard which is almost identical to the new one, with my graphics card as well. I tried checking the online motherboard manual, but it doesn't say anything about a recommended power supply.

Wolfpackalex

I got to the point where the XP cd would finish loading all the drivers, it woudl say "starting windows" and would just restart without saving anything. So, I installed a new hard drive to test it out and now it won't boot from the CD, so I can't begin to install windows on it. It gets to "boot from cd..." and locks up. Anyone have any ideas?

Madcatz

it very well could be a bad power supply, I actually just got done fixing a desktop with a very similar problem, it wouldn't lock up but would just shut the display off and looked like it would enter standby mode when it was only at the bios screen.

If you have another desktop around, you could try using the PSU in the other PC or using it in yours. but to recommend a power supply could you post your sytem specs?

Wolfpackalex

Unfortunately, I don't have another system around but I'm debating about just going ahead and buying a new PSU, since I'll probably need a higher wattage one in the future anyways. As for what I'm running-
AMD Athlon XP2100+
2GB RAM
Radeon HD 2600 pro AGP vid card

I'm hoping it is the PSU if I buy a new one, I'm just shaking my head at the thought of dropping 300 bucks in a new hard drive and PSU and have the problem still unsolved.

Madcatz

well, you could actually take the PSU to a PC repair shop and they would be able to test it very quickly and tell you if its working properly or not. But the Radeon HD2600 Pro video card requires a minimum of a 400w PSU, I'd probably try finding a 500-600w to be safe.

Hard drive wise, you can test that youself with drive fitness test or the diag utility from the HDD manufactuer.

Wolfpackalex

Of course, silly me went and purchased a new PSU thinking that would solve the problem. Nope! Same crap still happening. New motherboard, new HDD, new PSU, still can't get to Windows. This is starting to get irritating.

dai

what psu did you buy

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Wolfpackalex

Antec EarthWatt EA 500

http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=27500

dai

clear the cmos
turn the computer off
remove the power lead from the back
take the side off
remove the cmos battery
move the cmos jumper from pins 1 and 2 to pin 2 and 3 and the back to pins 1 and 2
replace the battery
put the side on
replug in the power lead
boot the computer
set it up out of the case on a piece of cardboard with
cpu
ram
video
speaker
and see if you get post

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Wolfpackalex

Ok, I've officially given up unless someone else has any ideas. This is too much of a headache, and I'm just going to bite the bullet and send it in to someone on Monday. I've tried so many different configurations I've forgotten which ones I've already tried.

Wolfpackalex

I'll try that and get back to you.

On second though, what am I exactly looking for, and which hard drive should I use? I've got a clean hard drive, and right now if I clear the CMOS and set it to boot to the hard drive it gets hung at "Verifying DMI pool data". Actually, the same thing happens if I use the HDD with XP already installed, but I'm not really expecting the XP installed HDD to get very far.


I'm beginning to think there is an issue with my motherboard communicating with my hard drives, although I'm not quite sure why. I've flashed to a new BIOS and the motherboard recognizes the HDD in post. I don't know, I'm probably just making things up since I'm stumped as it is.

Wolfpackalex

Maybe this will be at all helpful in the diagnostic...

It seems I can boot from the floppy drive and get a DOS prompt the first few times after a CMOS reset, but if I fool around too much with the boot sequence or XP install CD I won't be able to get back to a DOS prompt until I reset the CMOS again. Instead I either get a I/O read error or an invalid system disk error when I do try to use a floppy boot disk.

Also, with my new HDD came an install CD, but when I try to use it, it loads for a bit and then it hangs. These are the last two lines before the hang=
Int 13 Level Communication: Attempting Int 13 IO to drive 80 No Response

ATA Level Communications: Attempting PM ATA Identification

dai

try a new cmos battery
is the h/d ide or sata

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Wolfpackalex

CMOS batter seems fine unless my old motherboard's battery was bad as well, because I switched in the old one and I get the same problems.
The hard drive is IDE.

dai

are you using an 80 wire cable with the new h/drive on the end black plug jumpered as master
if it's a wd drive single master is with the jumpers removed
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000474.htm

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Wolfpackalex

I finally figured out the problem. It seems to be a RAM issue now- I found an old 512 mb stick and decided, what the hell I'll give it a shot. And for some reason that did the trick, I am currently on my computer with a brand new XP install, and am able to access my old files on the old hard drive to boot.

Thank you all very much for helping me troubleshoot. Now I've got a new issue for you, heh. Upon inital testing, the computer will not boot with 2 gigs of ram, and will only boot up until the window's loading screen using a 1 gig strip. Using the 512, like I said, works perfectly. I know all these strips work properly, as I used them in my old setup just a couple days ago. I'm in the process of downloading all the new drivers for my motherboard and will get back to you with that. Again, thanks for the help!

dai

check the voltage range for the 1 gig sticks,the m/b may default to low and you may need to raise it
you need to check the old sticks as well if the voltage range is different you will not be able to use them together

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