[cassandraeidyia]

I am building a new system with the following "target"configuration:

P4C800Deluxe
P4 3.00ghz 800FSB
2x512 Kingston PC3200 KVR400X64C3

36G WD Raptor SATA
200GB WD 8MB
40GB WD 2MB
Samsung dvd/cdr combo drive
Samsung SFD321B 1.44MB floppy

ATI Radeon 9500 Pro (non xxxx-30 version or later, it is a
xxxx-00)
SB Audigy2 PlatEx

First time around, I tried to install WinXP onto the unformatted Raptor Drive with the following components installed:

P4C800Deluxe
P4 3.00ghz 800FSB
2x512 Kingston PC3200 KVR400X64C3

36G WD Raptor SATA
Samsung dvd/cdr combo drive
Samsung SFD321B 1.44MB floppy

ATI Radeon 9500 Pro (non xxxx-30 version or later, it is a
xxxx-00)

However, after i press F6 to install a SCSI driver, when i insert the floppy when instructed,it says "txtsetup.oem not found"
I tried another floppy drive (Sony one) another floppy disk and I get the same problem.
If i dont press F6, installation either freezes at the "setup is starting windows" screen(sometimes turns red)
or it gives me an error that says setup cannot detect multiple drives message and prompts me to reboot.
BUT when i flash the bios with EZflash, it was successful in accessing the .ROM file on the floppy, thus the bios wasu pdated succesfully.
BUT when i try to boot from a bootable floppy it says to insert bootable media and does not boot from it.
Also when i remove the floppy from my board, the bios still detects a floppy.
The above information was given to an ASUS technician and he concluded that my board was bad thus i RMAed it through ASUS and they exchanged my old board for a new one.

HOWEVER, with the new board i seem to be having the exact same problems, cannot find txtsetup.oem
cannot boot from floppy
ALSO this time i was unsuccessful in using EZflash to flash the bios, it says .ROM file not found.......
(I have used 2 floppy cables and multiple disks and a third floppy drive at this point)

So i tried the following configuration:

P4C800Deluxe
P4 3.00ghz 800FSB
2x512 Kingston PC3200 KVR400X64C3

40GB WD 2MB (formatted and has data, no OS)
Samsung dvd/cdr combo drive
Samsung SFD321B 1.44MB floppy

ATI Radeon 9500 Pro

Since XP should have no probs recognizing the 40gb, I did not press F6, however installation would again freeze at "set up is starting windows" and the screen would turn red
(by the way i have tried multiple XP insstallatin Cds and they work fine on my old computer)

Next, I changed the vid card to my old GEforce2MX, and this time around XP installation actually got past the part where itusually freezes, so I decided to give the SATA another shot since i swapped video cards but that did not work.
So i decided to go back to the PATA 40GB that worked earlier, and install Xp on it,however it does not want to work anymore.
It again freezes at "setup is starting windows"and it sometimes turns red.

I called ASUS RMA dept and confirmed that they sent me a new board... I am out of ideas... is there some kind of compatibility problem that I am not aware of?? or a setting in bios that I am overlooking??
I've called ASUS techsupport several times as they havenot been much help...
Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated...thanks so much for reading .....

 

[cassandraeidyia]

F6 during install:
hmm.. so you're saying that when i want to install XP onto the SATA hd i dont need to press F6 to provide the driver either?


As for flashing the bios....
yup! it was specifically for the P4c800 deluxe, however, that was the old mobo that i RMAed, the one im working with now is not updated. (floppy problem.... says .ROM file not found)

the disk i tried to boot from:
I actually used the western digital data lifeguard tools disk that came with the 200GB hD, i wanted to use it to see if it can format the SATA.. and then try to install XP.. because that was the same disk i used to partition and format my 200GB (although this was done on my old comp)


Eventually i would really like to install my OS's onto the SATA,
but since I have no idea why my floppy drive seems to be not cooperating, i am hoping that if i successfully get XP to install on the 40gb PATA, the floppy will start to behave... then i can hopefully get the XP cd to recognize the drive somehow...

wow this is great advice..i'll try them all and let you know how it goes..
i called asus last friday and they said that their technicians are all busy and they'll call me back... havent heard back from them yet....

thanks a lot clintfan

 

[cassandraeidyia]

well, good to know it works...
but...
i tried everything you said and nothing worked...

i'm using one dimm, moved it around the sockets...
turned off Raid, disable hyperthreading.
didnt work.. gave me red screen at "setup is startingwindows"

then did the "standard PC"stuff.. same results..
sometimesi it freezes with a blue screen instead of a red tho..

its strange cuz when it freezes red, the power on/off buttonworks,
but when it freezes blue, the power o n/off button doesnt work,
so i'd have to unplug the power cord.....

 

[cassandraeidyia]

So I disconnected all my HDD's, then re-plugged my H: drive (SATA) to the "SATA1" port (not the "SATA RAID1", mind you). So this port had the only HDD in the machine.

yup, this was what i did before i decided to just install on the PATA becuase i thought it would be less problematic.
however, when I do specify a driver which i shouldnt, it fails to find the files from the floppy, when i dont hit F6, it freezes at "setup is startingwindows".
Also i think the reason you did not need to specify any drivers is because all the components on your mobo already have the updated drivers...
when i called ASUS tech support they said i needed to supply a driver for the SATA to install XP.... does that sound about right to you?

 

[cassandraeidyia]

ya..i've been working with a geforce2MX..
I've only got it to get past the "starting windows" screen once last week, and it prompted me to install.. this was RIGHT after i switched from the 9500 pro to the Geforce2Mx. (this was on PATA)

I did not install becuase iwanted to give SATA a shot, since
i thought i solved the problem with changing the vid card...

but.. the SATA did not work.. and when i switched back to PATA..
never worked again...


Might i have bad RAM??

 

[cassandraeidyia]

the Geforce2/MX400 came with a dell dimension 8100,
and the specifications say the video type is either AGP4X or PCI,
so the card is AGP4X.
As for the voltage it runs at... I am not sure yet...

Right now i'm only using one stick of RAM in B1...

 

[cassandraeidyia]

ok so...

HDs:
Sata: jumper across pins 1, 2
40, 200GB PATA: i've been trying to install XP onto both, one at a time, so they are primary master in the bios,
jumper settings "single"(across pins4, 6)

updating bios:
I tried it with both AFUDOS, and EZflash, but neither works.
AFUDOS does not boot from the floppy and when i try to do EZflash, it says ROm file not found... (this is consistent with the problems i had before)

Vid card: there are no apparent jumpers (the card is 32MB, so in bios it is set to 16MB right now)... although I am going to see if i can find the G550

RAM: one stick on A1( ihave moved this around). Also going to compusa to see if they have the -A ones...


Thank you so much for all your suggestions....

 

[cassandraeidyia]

I created an MSDOS bootdisk with XP, and copied AFUDOS.exe and the ROM file on to the floppy and tried to boot from that, did not work.

I could not find the G550 anywhere locally, so i tried a Geforce4 mX400, but it gave me the red screen and froze as well so i switched back to the geforce2.
I could not find the RAM anywhere locally either.

HOWEVER, I did have a breakthrough! kinda of..
when unplugged all the hds... the installation actually got past
the freezing spot and asked me if i want to repair or install..

but i dont seehow the hds could be causing the problem since i'm sure the cable is oriented correctly (BIOS are detecting them)
Are there IDE settings that I might need to change?
I should also try to boot from the floppy without the hard drives attached...

 

[cassandraeidyia]

i created the boot disk in XP using right click->format-then I checked quick format and create MS-DOS startup disk.


i tried to boot from the floppy without the hds connected.. no luck..

i also tried connecting both the 200 and 40GB PATA as master and slave respectively on primary IDE.
windows installation gave me this error:
"Setup either detected multiple disks in your machine that are indistinguishable or detected raw disk(s).
Setup has corrected the problem but a reboot is required.
Set up cannot continue. Press any key to exit."


I've gotten thiserror message before. However when I reboot it still gives me the same error.

At this point do you still think it is the video card?( no more red screens just freezes)

 

[cassandraeidyia]

oh btw,
the 200GB has two fat32 partitions, the 40gig is one fat32 partition.

 

[cassandraeidyia]

the first board i used EZflash, i jsut copied the .ROM file, and it worked. but with this board no good at all. the whole ALT+F2 busines, and i did rename the file to P4c800.ROM

yes the XP boot disk works on this computer.. as does the WD diagnostics tool disk i tried with the new one

also, i've tried two other floppy drives...one with my old board another with my new board...

i'm sure they sent me a new board because the serial is different..

ur right I am going out of my mind.. but in a way i'm kinda used to it.. spending hours and hours in lab debugging circuits etc..

I really want to get this up and running before school starts next monday~
but i'm going home, in Fremont.. so i can go to frys and get a new mobo and new ram.. and see what happens... and maybe go to Asus headquarters and yell at them

 

[cassandraeidyia]

IN FREMONT!
sigh...two defective mobos with the same problem... what are the chances of that...
I really hope its not the mobo that is the problem...
otherwise i dunno if Asus will accept a second RMA..
I did not get my first board from frys but online from ComputerBrain (do not order anything from them)... and they only accept 7 day returns...

oh well we'll see, fry's first thing tomorrow morning!!

~thanks again clintfan

 

[cassandraeidyia]

wow... got another p4c800-deluxe this morning..
everything works liek a charm now...
updated the bios..
with the 9500 pro...
installed windows onto the sata smoothely just like you said..
i tried to install red hat 9 onto the second partition of the sata.. it couldnt recognize the hard disk tho..well thats for some other time..
i gotta go figure out what to do with this bad motherboard...i really dont want to spend another $279 dollars on another board..

this is great!
:angel: :winkgrin:

 

[cassandraeidyia]

well, great news..
went to asus, got an RMA, board works,!! returned the other board to frys!
could i put my system as a "working" example!?