[crunch]

I recently aquired a motherboard from a Gateway PC. It is MS-6330 version 2.1 from what I have found they were only in Gateways. I bought a processor for it and turned it on. The BIOS work, even flashed them successfully. Boot can even show Gateway symble during POST. I've tried to install operating systems with it to no avail. I've tried 2000 Pro full, XP Pro SP1 full on new hard drives. XP Home upgrade on preloaded HDDs. Reinstall repairs on preloaded HDDs. So far it has always stopped when it gets to windows is starting or around there, about ten minutes into it on all trys. Tried several different RAMs, Hard drives, Drive cables, DVD drives. IDE light always goes out five to ten minutes in! Left on for hours but never changes display or advances. WHAT'S WRONG? Do I need OEM OS dedicated for GATEWAY.

Edited by crunch, 16 July 2006 - 12:21 AM.

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Don't really know about the newer ones but i installed Win ME on a gateway athlon 1 giger with no problems. I used a oem Win ME cd i bought from from directron.

Something you can try is to use a win 98 boot disk to fdisk and format the drive and then see if a windows CD will start installing after rebooting. Also you might try replacing the cmos battery as a weak one will barely get you into the post screen like you have stated.

SRX660

[SRX660]

Don't really know about the newer ones but i installed Win ME on a gateway athlon 1 giger with no problems. I used a oem Win ME cd i bought from from directron.

Something you can try is to use a win 98 boot disk to fdisk and format the drive and then see if a windows CD will start installing after rebooting. Also you might try replacing the cmos battery as a weak one will barely get you into the post screen like you have stated.

SRX660

[crunch]

I have tried several Operating Systems and every part replaced. Total tear down and reinstall everything. Still works exactly the same. After two days and dozens of trys it always stops at 5 plus minutes into install. On a blue screen that says "WINDOWS SETUP" at top and at bottom 1/2 inch grey stripe it says "Setup is Starting Windows" It always locks up there, no matter which OS I try. Got two more OS today to no avail. Makes it through post, and has BIOS. Boots from floppy "98 Boot Disk" has DOS with it. Floppy RAM tester works fine. Screen stays on for hours. But IDE activity light goes out when it locks up at "Starting Windows". Please Help!!! My boys brought me a big hammer tonight, I think gasoline and match will be more soothing, prehaps hammer to release anger then fire to calm anxiety. Its clock is ticking down or first one to pay shipping plus $4.00 for a six pack can have it. I seen these mommyboards on the net still availible new over $50.00 bare.

[SRX660]

If you try a fdisk and format with a win 98 floppy and there is a bad sector on the HD you will get a error message when you try the fdisk and format. If it does format(fat32) any win 98SE,ME or XP cd should boot and start installing on the drive if you have the boot order set to boot from the csdrom drive first( which i think you do). If it still stops installing i would take a look in the bios for any temp readings for the processor. It may be getting hot enough to stop doing anything in the 5 minutes.

SRX660

[crunch]

Day three of ultimate tormentation........... These BIOS do not show any temps that I can locate. Last night I added another fan on graphics and CPU, but this CPU has VERY NICE LARGE COPPER HEAT SINK and largest fan I've ever seen on a CPU. I used good heatsink paste all three times I had it apart. Also as long as I stay in my 98 boot disk, I can run processes for hours, did all sorts of things with it yesterday and never lost graphics or functions. When I've lost CPUs in the past they did alittle more negative than just freeze with an image remaining on monitor forever, they went BLACK. If anyone wants the board PLEASE let me know ASAP. Any suggestions would be great too!!! Tried three BIOS batterys all above 3 volt, current one shows 3.06 volts. Please HELP!!!