[scottb]

Hello,

hope you can help me.

I have a pc that keeps freezing when i try to re-install win xp pro. to cut a long story short this pc is my friends, he tried to do a repair install of xp. he ended up with a dual boot system on one drive his original xp and an xp repair setup option. niether of which worked. so i took his pc away an formatted the hard drive and tryed to re-install xp but on setup screen pc freezes. i've checked the hard drive using external caddy with nortons no errors, i've checked the memory using memtest86 memory passed. i downloaded a xp bootdisk reformatted the harddrive to fat 32 and copied setup files to harddrive from cd copied ok tried to run winnt.exe but same system freezes. i've also tried removing all pci cards (except graphics card) one at a time and running winnt.exe same thing happens. i only recieve 1 short beep on startup. could the problem be the cmos settings ? do you think he has screwed them up when he tried the repair ? or could the motherboard be on its way out.

can someone please me i'm beat on this one

don't want to do anytthing to the cmos without advise

thanks in advance

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Hi,

List the system specs or comuter brand and model number. It could be cmos/bios not set correctly.

How long did you run memtest for? It should be run for at least 3 passes for a quick ckeck but with this I would let it run 6 hours or so.

Rick

[Doby]

Hi,

List the system specs or comuter brand and model number. It could be cmos/bios not set correctly.

How long did you run memtest for? It should be run for at least 3 passes for a quick ckeck but with this I would let it run 6 hours or so.

Rick

[scottb]

Hi Doby,

i will re-run memtest it ran for about 4 and a half hours. although i did try removing one module at a time and running set up but this didn't work either.

Sysyem speck is mobo(mainboard M848A rev2.1), amd athlon 2500xp, x2 cruical 512ddr 333 cl 2.5 memory modules. seagate 120 GB hdd(serial st3120026a) xfx graphics card( wil have to get exact spec for this) and creative labs sound blaster live 5.1digital sound card. samsung dvd/cdrw combo, and 7 in1 internal flash card reader/writer, thats pretty much what he has in his system it was a custom build not shop bought.

any help would be gratefully received

will post results of memtest later.

thanks

[scottb]

Hello again,

re-ran memtest whilest out today 10 and a half hours, passed 11 tests. graphics card is GForce FX5200 with 128mb

can you please

[Doby]

Well the memory should not be the problem then.

I went to pcchips website to download the manual for the board but all I get is a error. I ain't familar with the sis chipset, I want to see how the bios setup is for that board but can't so I am working in the blind but will try and help.

Go into bios, I am not sure what key try delete. Look for something like "load defaults" and load them.

Make sure the cpu is set at the right frequency 1833 MHz or close to that or that it lists the correct cpu as a 2500 or the fsb is 166 and the multiplyer is 11. It could be listed as either of these I ain't sure.

Make sure the dram clock is 166 or it may say by spd

After seting make sure you save and exit.

Sorry I can't be more clear but with out the manual can't help it. I will try to get the manual again later.

What power supply is in it and why did he have to try the reinstall in the beginning of all this? I am looking for clues

Usually when a os won't install the problem is either Ram witch we pretty much ruled out, the psu is bad or a bad hard drive.

If possible I would swap the psu to try and eliminate that.

Rick

[scottb]

Hi doby,

thanks for the input will check this, the mobo is M848alu rev 2.1 got his box for it off him i was reading it from the board. this may help finding the manual.PSU say Encer model atx 400w, does it have to be another 400w psu i try in it. will try to get another psu to try this. if i restore the bios will this also clear the cmos cache. the reason he tried the install was his pc was freezing up on him when he was using it. he thought he had a bug in it he did scan but found nothing so he thought a fresh install would cure problem!!!!!!!!!

if only he knew !!!!!!!

thanks 4 help

[groove18]

hi mate another option is the xp 'five rule' in which (this is the case in home edition) you can only change five things ie add extra hard drive etc...after that the thing will not load (whoever thought up the five rule idea needs shooting with the brown stuff lol)

mike

[Doby]

Leave the bios be for now unless a setting is way off, I have a better understanding on what lead up to this.

Try swaping the psu first

I don't know the full specs but

If you are going to borrow one any atx 350w or better should work just for a test but I would not leave it in.

If you are going to purchase one a name brand 400w or better, I recomend a Antec true 430w but again I would need the full specs to be sure.

Rick

[scottb]

hi groove18,

as far as i'm aware he hasn't changed anything in his system all he has done is add another stick of memory a while ago ?


hi doby,

checked psu and same thing happens,windows does not get past the first setup screen just freezes on blue screen, screen is not complete though black band around the outside so do not see usual white task bar at bottom. dvd-rom continues spinnong for a while then eventually stops everything then just sits like this looked at bios and nothing obvious out of place.

[scottb]

Hi doby,

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA how stupid do i feel, finally cracked it. reading reviews on this board on ebuyer to see if i could get some tips and low and behold their is this post saying if installing windows xp on this do not have any card reader attached as the computer sees the card reader as the main drive and tries to install o/s on this.

when i removed cards one by one and tried to install never thought about disconnecting the card reader what a pain

thanks for all the help chears mate

[groove18]

np mate

pleased to hear its up and running

mike

[Doby]

Glad you got it going and without costing you anything, Great!

Rick