can't install/boot winxp
 

the problem:
i cannot install winXP, nor boot into it with an install from another system (blue screen during load, or hang during install)
however, i can install and boot win98 albeit not stable

the system:
abit NF7 v2.0 (non-S)
amd athlon xp 2100+ AIUHB
2* 512Mb pc3200 takeMS

this i already did:
rma'd mobo -> problem remained
another cpu (2200+) -> same problem
exchanged ram -> problem is still here
tried diffirent hd's -> did not help

except for the graka, everything is new
and the graka is working fine for 3 weeks now in another system (gaming, 3dmarking, ...)


so eh, anyone any ideas?

change PSU.

antec truecontrol 550 watt
voltage rails are fine
and adjustable
but ok, i'll give it a shot

would be a shame though, such a nice psu

PCI-slots : only essential stuff, no nics/sound/modems/...
BIOS : disable all non-essential onboard stuff, use most safe settings for cpu/ram

... try again

psu change didn't help

pci slots are empty
loaded fail safe defaults
disabled all onboard ****

problem still here
very strange indeed

nf7-s worked fine
but i fried that one

edit: i'm even using stock cooling

Try to use one memory at the time, that is mostly the problem,
Is it PC3200?

www.bytesatwork.be/forum

tried www.memtest86.com already.
Most likely memory failiure. Have you tried another BRAND of memory, or just had the ones you have replaced?

no errors after 3 passes

Re: can't install/boot winxp
 

This is pretty normal, unless you install it on an identical system. The error you should get is "unmountable boot volume". WinXP looks for a drive on a specific controller to boot from. If you installed an XP on a via platform, it not going to find the via IDE controller on the nForce board.
Only way around this is to change the IDE controller to the default windows driver BEFORE you remove the harddrive.

Still, problems with installing XP and stability issues under 98 point to a core problem, CPU-memory-mobo. A faulty CD(-drive) could cause the first, but once win98 in installed it should work fine.


If possible you might try another approach, instead of replacing the parts of the system, take a working system, and replace it's parts one at a time. (motherboard, see above, unless you have another NF2 board, set the IDE controller to default)
The only problem is that this requires another -working- system.

And small addition to the memtest thingy. Press c, 2, and the key for "full test" or something similar. It takes ages but if it passes 2 of those, it's OK
BTW never seen memory fail on the extended tests that didn't fail on the standard tests, but it might happen. Also I've seen memory without errors in memtest, but still causing problems. Most often this happens on intel platforms.

back from holiday
i'm going to save some money and buy diffirent ram
but in the meanwhile i messed around a bit with the system, and i'm getting a little further with the win install
however when it's almost done i get this error: