Cannot get XP Pro to load

[RobS]

I have built a new pc. I'm pretty confident that everything is installed and wired correctly, but I could have made a mistake. I am trying to load Win XP Pro. I boot from my CD, it's the first boot drive. XP analyzes my system, then begins loading. I can see files flying across the bottom of the blue screen. I get past the point where you can press F2 or F6, but I never get to the page where I can select to install XP. Prior to getting to that point, the computer auto-reboots and I hear two long beeps. I have a new OEM copy of XP and am trying to install it to a Western Digital 250G hard drive with 16MB of cache. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[pip_seeker]

list everything you have installed in your system... mobo, psu everything.

my crystal ball is on the fritz. :roll:

 

[RobS]

Thanks:
DFI Lanparty UT nF4 939 socket
Sapphire 1900XTX Video
Antec 550W True Power supply
AMD Athlon 64 x2 4400+
2 gig Corsair twin 2048-3200c2 RAM
Lite-on combo drive CD/CD-RW/DVD
Sound Blaster XFI
keyboard and mouse
Cooler Master Praetorian case

 

[RobS]

Ok, now I have another error as follows:
A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.
Check to be sure you have adequate disk space. If a driver is identified in teh stop message, disable the driver or check with the manufacturer for driver updates. Try changing video adapters.
Check with your hardware vendor for any BIOS updates. Disable memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use safe mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup options, and then select safe mode.
Technical Information:
*** STOP: 0x0000008E (0xc0000005, 0x808c445e,0xF78D1BB8, 0x00000000)

Does this help ID what is causing my problems?

 

[TabrisDarkPeace]

Thinking RAM or Video Card problem myself.

(2 long beeps at POST, during a reboot = Video Card or RAM)

If it never gets into the graphical section of the installation, it could be video card, or configuration of said video card by the system BIOS / mainboard.

 

[pip_seeker]

I am going to guess here that the error you got was

Page_Fault_in_nonpaged_area

my first guess would be the memory, take one stick out and try again with one stick in the proper slot. If the same thing occurs take that stick out and put in the other + try again.

Also only put in necessary components to install windows, take out the sound card and other unnecessary garbolage til after windows is working.

Same thing with the harddrives only put in one for now. What does your HDD set up look like any ways? no raid or anything like that?

 

[RobS]

ok, I removed my RAM chip from slot 3. I had a 1 gig chip in slots 1 and 3. When I removed that chip, windows got to the install screen. Would it do me any good to try and move the chips to slots 2 and 4 and seeing if slot 3 is just screwed up? Or is it just this chip that's having problems? Also, when the chips come as a set, should I send both back or just replace the single one? Thanks again for the suggestion, it looks like it did the trick.

 

[RobS]

boy, this is frustrating. Now with the one meg of RAM, I get thru and am able to select to install windows XP. However, I then am given the error about Windows stopping the install because it has detected an error. I have only one hard drive and my video card. I took the sound card out.

 

[mdd1963]

Check your manual to see which slot is preferred for single stick operation, and then try boosting DDR voltage from 2.6 to 2.7, which is still safe...

Set mem to Auto/spd initially, to avoid any tight timing issues...

 

[Fox_granit]

Also try switching the sticks of ram, that could be the problem too.

 

[pip_seeker]

yeah you have to remember when memory fails it doesn't always die 100%, sometimes it will work for 15-30 min and then die and it will keep doing that.

switch sticks and try, try again. If it does it with the second stick then you are either really unlucky OR there is a different problem OR more than one problem.

 

[JLHedges]

What HD are you using? That's a critical component missing from your list. With SATA drives, you often have to insert a floppy and hit F6 when Windows installation starts. However, if you got the license agreement, that means that WinXP found the drive.

 

[Lan]

What HD are you using? That's a critical component missing from your list. With SATA drives, you often have to insert a floppy and hit F6 when Windows installation starts. However, if you got the license agreement, that means that WinXP found the drive.

In most cases this is not true. You only need to press F6 for a RAID setup. For SATA as long as the BIOS sees the drive you don't need to do anything in the setup program.

 

[RobS]

Ok, I took the XP Pro software and put it into my laptop and the Win XP Pro screen came up just fine. I switched my memory modules and got on the phone with DFI(my mobo) and ran thru some testing. Whenever the HD is connected to the mobo, we get the error when the OS is trying to load from the CD. Before the first blue windows screen comes up. However, when the HD is disconnected, windows XP comes up and starts loading the files for install. I get to that blue screen. The guy at DFI was very cool, but didn't know what else he could do to try and fix it. So he had me send an email to a guess the next tier of tech support for DFI. He said there may be a setting in the BIOS that will get us past this problem Just wondering, for the more enlightened folks out there, by removing the SATA connector from the hard drive and being able to get past the first error, does that necessarily mean I have a bad hard drive? Also, if anyone has any other info based on this troubleshooting, I'm all ears. Thanks again.