Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Erthe]

I built an identical system with an IDE HDD and had no problem at all....(without using a disk at F6)
But no matter which IDE HDD I use with this motherboard, I get serious instability when installing XP.
Admitedly none of the HDD's I am using are new, one is an 80GB the other a 40GB

your thoughts...

[TheBoy]

I built an identical system with an IDE HDD and had no problem at all....(without using a disk at F6)
But no matter which IDE HDD I use with this motherboard, I get serious instability when installing XP.
Admitedly none of the HDD's I am using are new, one is an 80GB the other a 40GB

your thoughts...

Ahhhh, the fog clears.

Did you use a proper antistatic strap when building them?

[pete1666]

hi try checking the bios settings, make sure they are the same. have you tried both ide channels.
as you have identical systems swop over the cpu  memory psu oine at a time.

Pete

[Erthe]

Yes, I did use a proper antistatic strap (have made that mistake before)

[TheBoy]

Yes, I did use a proper antistatic strap (have made that mistake before)

I suspect faulty memory, but could be PSU. Failing that, mobo.

[Erthe]

Ok, silly move I know but......

I put my SATA HDD into the suspect machine (well it is identical so it should have just booted up) well it did boot and then had errors...
End result being that it rebooted and ran a CHKDSK..... :-/
It told me all my files were corrupt and started "fixing" the problem

From this point onwards I was unable to get XP to boot in at all....I tried changing the RAM and also putting a brand new 500W PSU in the damn machine
No joy  

Needless to say it screwed up my SATA HDD.....yes, I did back up all info before trying this  

I have now put the IDE HDD in this machine and installed XP, all drivers and have even got online.....no problems at all.

Should I be inclined to think mobo?

[JamesV6CDX]

Not read any of the replies, but...

Instability and rebooting/lockups even during text based installation of windows, indicates iffy RAM or CPU usually.

[JamesV6CDX]

Motherboard is possible, but slightly less likely

I'm inclinded to think hardware though.

[TheBoy]

Not read any of the replies, but...

Instability and rebooting/lockups even during text based installation of windows, indicates iffy RAM or CPU usually.

CPUs rarely fail intemittently (unless overheating, but AMD's that overheat tend to cause permenent failure).

Also, if not onboard, change the video adapter - ATI have a bit of a reputation for instability/intolerance, but usually only in hires/hicolour...

Failing that, doesn't leave much left but mobo.


I did have a curious one a few weeks ago, whereby the CD drive would cause lockups...  ...never seen that one before...

[pete1666]

i`ve had the cd problem a few times now, but last time i had this problem was a bios problem on a dell?

[phil her up]

what's a computer?