Er, faulty Win XP installation disk?
Sadly no, I have two original XP discs and both fail, but work in other machines.
Windows XP won't install any more
- Thread starter Cheule
- Start date
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Sadly no, I have two original XP discs and both fail, but work in other machines.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I think you've discovered the slowest and most expensive way of buying a new computer!
Maybe not, I've just been delving as deep as I can go into Google's archives and found a thread from 2002 detailing people with this exact problem. The thread ran for three years before several solutions came out.
The main problems people had back then arose after upgrading from an XP1800+ to a 2400+ (I went from 1900+ to 2400+). Apparently, it's a known problem where the 2400+ FSB prefers PC2700 ram and above whereas the earlier chips were ok with PC2100. Having looked again at my system, I have a stick of 512mb PC2700 and another of PC2100 in there. I've removed the PC2100 and moved the 2700 to slot three (another recommendation).
I've gone back through the BIOS with a fine tooth-comb, rebooted, and it's now formatting the disk ready for XP (never used to get that far even). If it finishes I'll do it a couple more times just to be sure, then start benchmarking the sausages out of it.
I'll update soon as to how it all went
The main problems people had back then arose after upgrading from an XP1800+ to a 2400+ (I went from 1900+ to 2400+). Apparently, it's a known problem where the 2400+ FSB prefers PC2700 ram and above whereas the earlier chips were ok with PC2100. Having looked again at my system, I have a stick of 512mb PC2700 and another of PC2100 in there. I've removed the PC2100 and moved the 2700 to slot three (another recommendation).
I've gone back through the BIOS with a fine tooth-comb, rebooted, and it's now formatting the disk ready for XP (never used to get that far even). If it finishes I'll do it a couple more times just to be sure, then start benchmarking the sausages out of it.
I'll update soon as to how it all went
Ghost Donkey
Guest
+1 to the cd but could well be an onboard chip cooking. If you can get your hands on sone bootable cpu/ram/motherboard stress testing or bench marking software you may be able to replicate the problem and diagnose it. I don't know of any free software, which doesn't help. The only one I've used cost $1000US per license.
Ghost Donkey
Guest
Oops. Didn't see there was a second page to this thread.
Don't worry, I do that all the time
My last idea didn't pan out, stability did indeed increase but I still couldn't quite get to a working machine. The install finished, but just getting as far as the desktop loading before it abruptly cuts back to the BSOD.
The only thing remaining is to replace the original CPU in the faint hope it may restore balance, otherwise the motherboard is for the bin.
the snail
Guru
- Location
- Chippenham
do you get any error messages booting linux? try entering dmesg in a console and see if there's a hardware fault?
2Loose
Guru
- Location
- Loughborough, Leicestershire.
I think Ghost Donkey is likely right, see if you can point a desk fan or something at the motherboard (side panel off, obviously) and try again.
I do remember that certain boards had very hot northbridge\southbridge chips and barely got away with little heatsinks stuck on the chips to cool them when they were new. If it works, you've caught the sucker and maybe able to get a replacement heatsink\fan for that chip.
I do remember that certain boards had very hot northbridge\southbridge chips and barely got away with little heatsinks stuck on the chips to cool them when they were new. If it works, you've caught the sucker and maybe able to get a replacement heatsink\fan for that chip.
MossCommuter
Guru
- Location
- Salford
Long shot (I've had similar but not quite the same). The thing that makes me think it might be the same problem is that XP went on with the floppy drive disconnected then only ran for a couple of hours.
It could be dodgy 3rd party SATA drivers. If have SATA on this mobo (whether connected or not) then read on, else, ignore...
Get XP installed as you did before (with the floppy disconnected) then keep an eye on automatic update - do not allow it to install any SATA drivers or patches.
Alternatively, it could be heat - make sure the CPU is seated properly (with conducting paste) and make sure the CPU fan is spinning at full speed (you might be able to adjust the speed in BIOS or even with a dial on the fan itself). Install as you did before and then monitor CPU temperature (plenty of freeware about).
It could be dodgy 3rd party SATA drivers. If have SATA on this mobo (whether connected or not) then read on, else, ignore...
Get XP installed as you did before (with the floppy disconnected) then keep an eye on automatic update - do not allow it to install any SATA drivers or patches.
Alternatively, it could be heat - make sure the CPU is seated properly (with conducting paste) and make sure the CPU fan is spinning at full speed (you might be able to adjust the speed in BIOS or even with a dial on the fan itself). Install as you did before and then monitor CPU temperature (plenty of freeware about).
