Xp freezes during install / boot -- tough question

[cobelli]

In short, I installed a new motherboard and processor and now xp doesn't work. To elaborate:

Heres what I used to run:

Mobo: Asus P4T
CPU: 1.7 p4
Ram: 1 gig of samsung RDRAM
GPU: Radeon 9700 pro
Windows XP Pro


Over the weekend I upgraded the mobo and cpu as follows:

Mobo: Giga-byte GA-8IHXP bios F7
CPU: 3.06 P4

As briefly explained above, after switching my mobo and cpu, I cant get windows xp to install, and when I can, it wont boot. I've spent the last 20 hours working on this problem and my attempts are outlined below:

My first step was to strip the system. I took out everything that wasn't absolutely necessary. My base setup is: CPU, Mobo, GPU, RAM, Hard drive, and cd. I tried both with and without the floppy connected and with and without my extra mobo features enabled (on board sound, lan, raid etc.)

Changing Hard Drives
--------------------
-I kept the same hard drive without reinstalling windows. When I tried to boot I received an error to the effect of "No boot record found on IDE-0"
-I threw in the xp setup cd. It found my hard drive, I wiped it clean and reinstalled. Copying of files goes fine, but when I restart, I get the same "No boot record found on IDE-0"
-I thought it might be a MBR error, so i booted off a floppy and ran fdisk. I got something to the effect of “no fixed disk was found”
-I switched to another hard drive with xp already on it. Same problem both before and after a reinstall.
*note, both installations of xp on the above two hard drives were installed while connected in my original setup
-Found a third hard drive with only 98 on it. Wiped and installed xp. Now, XP boots into setup, and the screen is on step three (or four) "installing windows, 39 in remaining" but then everything freezes.
-Tried a fourth hard drive with xp on it (but from a friend's system) Same problem as the third drive
-For the following trials, I kept the 4th hard drive in

Current status: Succeeding in preliminary install, but freezing at the "installing windows" screen.

Video cards
-----------
-ATI Radeon 9700 pro
-ATI Rage 128 ultra
-Nvidia g-force 2 ddr
- These are all 4x video cards. I know that some say a 2x video card fixes xp problems, but my mobo wont support one

Status: unaffected

Cd drives
---------
-Pioneer AO3
-Generic cd 52x
-Generic cd burner 4x4x32
-DVD-rom 10x

Status: unaffected

Bios update
------------
-I was using the most current bios already, but i flashed with the one on giga-bytes site anyway

Status: unaffected

Mice
-----
-USB mouse
-P/S 2 mouse
-No mouse

Status: unaffected

Install CD
---------
-My XP pro cd
-Friends XP pro cd
-Nero copy of my cd
-Rip I found online

Status: unaffected

Front Side Bus
---------------
A had been running with the factory recommended settings anyway, but in a last ditch effort I changed my FSB to its very lowest setting effectively underclocking my system. Strangely enough (after also switching to the rage 128 ultra) setup completed. When I ran windows those, it was very unstable and kept restarting (to be expected). I returned to the default FSB setting and now windows freezes on the boot screen.

My initial thought was it was a heat problem, but i doubt it as I have 9 fans installed

Status: Installed, but frozen

The strangest part of this all is that windows 98 works flawlessly. I can install and run it off the 3rd and 4th hard drives without problem. The 1st and 2nd ones, though, still will not boot.


I know this is a lot of info, and I thank anyone who has even made it this far. Hopefully one of you out there has some idea. I'm willing to try anything.

Thoughts:
----------

-Call microsoft
As much as I dred it, I'm doing this right now, and will probably be for the next many hours. I wouldn't be surprised if you guys solve this before them.

-I'm considering returning the mobo and getting the asus P4T-533
OR
-buying new ram

I don't want to do either though as both are expensive options.


Thanks in advance,
Mike Cobelli

[Electro_Gloop]

When you say, it freezes on install, do you mean the blue 'Windows setup' screen that comes up and then nothing happens because if it is I may know how to fix it.

[prs4u]

cobelli,

You can't use XP with an orginal install on a Drive and then install a new Mobo.

You need to to a complete re-install (hoped you backed up you important DATA) that's it. By the way windows also writes files on your partitions, delete (if you can) the recycled folder and any other mysterious files traceable on any partitions.

XP analyses you equipment when it installs, and also writes files to confirm it is booting up with the same computer, this is a copyright issue. Anything from 2K also does this. If I'm wrong I'll stand to be corrected. I did a simlar thing in win98SE and could'nt understand where is got my name from?

[Play_The_0dds]

looks like you covered the main things...what ribbon cable are you using on the hard drives, if you used a ide cable from a cdrom or old ones from the 66/33 days it will do what you describe because 100/133 cables look just like the older 33/66 cables but the shielding is different and will not work properly on 2k and xp but 9x systems will install and run. as for prs4u you must be using a recovery cd if it keeps your name and info...if you do a full format, secure erase, or delete and recreate the partitions that info will be gone.

[Xanex]

Originally Posted by prs4u

cobelli,

You can't use XP with an orginal install on a Drive and then install a new Mobo.

You need to to a complete re-install (hoped you backed up you important DATA) that's it. By the way windows also writes files on your partitions, delete (if you can) the recycled folder and any other mysterious files traceable on any partitions.

XP analyses you equipment when it installs, and also writes files to confirm it is booting up with the same computer, this is a copyright issue. Anything from 2K also does this. If I'm wrong I'll stand to be corrected. I did a simlar thing in win98SE and could'nt understand where is got my name from?

Small correction, Yes you CAN use the original XP with a new mobo, what causes problems are the differing chipsets, these core things have specific drivers loaded from them, the same chipset shouldnt cause u a problem, all that is needed is a repair installation not a complete wipe, tho in some cases a complete wipe and reinstall is advised to make sure u dont get any crap left over. Swtiching from p4 to amd or vica versa will always cause problems, switching from SiS to nforce as well will for example.

Too my knowlege 2k does not implement the rule of 5 changes as XP does with regards to activation/copyright, this was a new feature introduced for xp

what you can try is loading up the xp cd rom and entering the recovery console, log into the installation and type

"fixmbr"

failing that you need to slap the drive into another machine as a SLAVE if you can and make a small 3 gig partition, and then install XP on the smaller partition on ur newer machine, you only need to go as far as the 1st reboot, then you can load up the 1st partition again and all should be well, i had similar errors when i was messing around with linux and it destroyed the partition table.

[Play_The_0dds]

there are many hardware/software setups, and several types of XP install cd disk...there is no one, chiseled in stone , general rule for installing xp.
some motherboards have a boot manager and you have to either set the bios to the setup option, or use whatever key allows the boot install to take place. some boards have jumpers that need to be set to allow a setup mode so the system knows it's ok to allow a program to write to the mbr, seagate drives used to come with a boot manager that if you didnt wait for it's boot loader to tell you to hit F8 it would allow a install but the mbr would not allow a write and there would be a unbootable os sitting on the drive. someone had a PC chips board in a post earlier..they have a boot loader that works like that. then you get down to what cd you have. retail full install and upgrade disk are identical with one exception..a upgrade disk needs to see a copy of a previous windows os, either on the drive, or it will ask for the cd or floppy to verify you have one...you can clean install with a upgrade disk, just have a 3.1,nt4,95,98,me,or 2k disk handy...it will even see a different copy of xp as a previous os. XP corp people download off the net has to be made bootable or installed as a upgrade from a loaded windows OS. system disk that come with proprietary computers are all different you never can tell what they will be or do. Dell uses a oem XP disk that works like a regular oem...and they install just like retail versions...I have seen dell disk install on other machines but will not activate. HP and now Compaq use on-board system restore and you have to select advanced options to be able to format and reinstall, or else it just does a repair install. emachines has the shittiest...yes i said it recovery disk there is, it is a ghost install that does a halfass install and if you ever have to use it your computer will not want to run correctly..or atleast as good as it did when you bought it. Sony has a drive image restore disk set that is great, like compaq used to before hp bought them out...Compaq got cheap and started using quick restore cds that formatted the C drive and used files from the D partition to aid the cd in restoring the software bundle...Gateway is odd, they either give you a oem like disk or a restore cd...never can tell. some computers like IBM and hp's onboard restore can be booted from power on by using the F10 key or some other key they decide to use...when i see people give advise in the forums i sometimes have to laugh a bit...because you can tell they have not seen to many when they say they mic jack is always red...or some other proprietary thing that may be true on a few models. I am in a ranting mood, please forgive me....

[Testament X]

Ok here is how this went from start till now..I figured the more info I give on here the better someone might be able to help me.

One day the computer died wouldn't turn on or nothing so I got a new power supply. When I was installing the power supply I seen that chips on the mobo where broke off...So i got a new mobo. When I started up the computer with the new stuff in windows wouldn't boot...safe mode or nothing would work. (this may seem newbish but I lost the oem cd that goes with the computer so I just built another computer and I tried usen its oem disk to install it...could this be the isssue? ) So I tried doing a full reinstall and that doesn't work... after reformating the HD and installs some of the files to the install folder on the hd and it needs to reset..it will try to resest it shuts off and sits there I have to hold in the power button to get it to shut off then hit it again to turn it on (reset button don't work like it should at all...i've tried rehooking up the wires on the mobo ) then it gets to installing devices about 33-34 mintues left the screen just goes blank. So I thought maybe it was my cpu...cause this comp is a build of my own and its about 4 years old. I get a new cpu update the bios on my mobo and I still get the same results. I've even deleted the partion off the hd and reformated it (something like prs4u said ) I'm at a lose here I don't understand what could be going on...any help and I would be very thankful...

Here is whats in my old computer now...
the xp cd i have is sp2 but the key is for an sp1 cd
abit nf7-s2 mobo with bios 1.4
amd sempron 2200
2x 333 mhz 256mb sticks and one 128mb
maxtor hd (can't remember the model name and what not)

[Maxim2735]

Update*your*BIOS,*should*work*great.*Jesus*bless*= )

[MigraineBoy]

Originally Posted by Electro_Gloop

When you say, it freezes on install, do you mean the blue 'Windows setup' screen that comes up and then nothing happens because if it is I may know how to fix it.

I have this exact problem... Can you help me?