In short, I installed a new motherboard and processor and now xp doesn't work. To elaborate:
Heres what I used to run:
Mobo: Asus P4T
CPU: 1.7 p4
Ram: 1 gig of samsung RDRAM
GPU: Radeon 9700 pro
Windows XP Pro
Over the weekend I upgraded the mobo and cpu as follows:
Mobo: Giga-byte GA-8IHXP bios F7
CPU: 3.06 P4
As briefly explained above, after switching my mobo and cpu, I cant get windows xp to install, and when I can, it wont boot. I've spent the last 20 hours working on this problem and my attempts are outlined below:
My first step was to strip the system. I took out everything that wasn't absolutely necessary. My base setup is: CPU, Mobo, GPU, RAM, Hard drive, and cd. I tried both with and without the floppy connected and with and without my extra mobo features enabled (on board sound, lan, raid etc.)
Changing Hard Drives
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-I kept the same hard drive without reinstalling windows. When I tried to boot I received an error to the effect of "No boot record found on IDE-0"
-I threw in the xp setup cd. It found my hard drive, I wiped it clean and reinstalled. Copying of files goes fine, but when I restart, I get the same "No boot record found on IDE-0"
-I thought it might be a MBR error, so i booted off a floppy and ran fdisk. I got something to the effect of no fixed disk was found
-I switched to another hard drive with xp already on it. Same problem both before and after a reinstall.
*note, both installations of xp on the above two hard drives were installed while connected in my original setup
-Found a third hard drive with only 98 on it. Wiped and installed xp. Now, XP boots into setup, and the screen is on step three (or four) "installing windows, 39 in remaining" but then everything freezes.
-Tried a fourth hard drive with xp on it (but from a friend's system) Same problem as the third drive
-For the following trials, I kept the 4th hard drive in
Current status: Succeeding in preliminary install, but freezing at the "installing windows" screen.
Video cards
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-ATI Radeon 9700 pro
-ATI Rage 128 ultra
-Nvidia g-force 2 ddr
- These are all 4x video cards. I know that some say a 2x video card fixes xp problems, but my mobo wont support one
Status: unaffected
Cd drives
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-Pioneer AO3
-Generic cd 52x
-Generic cd burner 4x4x32
-DVD-rom 10x
Status: unaffected
Bios update
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-I was using the most current bios already, but i flashed with the one on giga-bytes site anyway
Status: unaffected
Mice
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-USB mouse
-P/S 2 mouse
-No mouse
Status: unaffected
Install CD
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-My XP pro cd
-Friends XP pro cd
-Nero copy of my cd
-Rip I found online
Status: unaffected
Front Side Bus
---------------
A had been running with the factory recommended settings anyway, but in a last ditch effort I changed my FSB to its very lowest setting effectively underclocking my system. Strangely enough (after also switching to the rage 128 ultra) setup completed. When I ran windows those, it was very unstable and kept restarting (to be expected). I returned to the default FSB setting and now windows freezes on the boot screen.
My initial thought was it was a heat problem, but i doubt it as I have 9 fans installed
Status: Installed, but frozen
The strangest part of this all is that windows 98 works flawlessly. I can install and run it off the 3rd and 4th hard drives without problem. The 1st and 2nd ones, though, still will not boot.
I know this is a lot of info, and I thank anyone who has even made it this far. Hopefully one of you out there has some idea. I'm willing to try anything.
Thoughts:
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-Call microsoft
As much as I dred it, I'm doing this right now, and will probably be for the next many hours. I wouldn't be surprised if you guys solve this before them.
-I'm considering returning the mobo and getting the asus P4T-533
OR
-buying new ram
I don't want to do either though as both are expensive options.
Thanks in advance,
Mike Cobelli
