Re: P5PE-VM - Problem installing XP SP1 - Crashes at first reboot
- From: "Geoff" <geoffpugh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2007 11:59:02 +0100
"George" <gh424NO824SPAM@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:qDhOi.13395$495.3643@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I'm trying to help a friend get XP installed on a P5PE-VM system.Had a lot of problems with this board a few months ago, which I initially
The install appears to be going fine, with the HD being formatted
successfully, and the files are copied ok. But when the system
reboots to the hard drive for the first time as part of the install
process, it hangs up.
The XP flash screen comes up ok, and the little left-to-right lights
dance like they should, but nothing happens after that. No HD
activity, no CD-ROM activity. The NUMLOCK key no longer functions.
Sometimes it may get a bit farther, with a blue screen, a cursor, or
maybe an hourglass showing, before freezing. There was actually one
time when I got all the way to the screen that estimates how many
minutes are left in the install process - before crashing there.
This is his standard XP-SP1 cd-rom. The processor is a 3GHz Pentium
D, and the RAM is 2 each Kingston KVR400/512R. The HD is a 15GB
P-ATA.
Between the two of us, we've established:
1. Installs of Linux and Win98SE work just fine on this system.
2. My friend says both the processor and the RAM work fine in
another system running XP, but with a different model MB. But when
the processor and RAM from the other system are put into this one,
it still crashes.
3. By process of substitution on working systems, I've confirmed
that the power supply, the HD cable, the CD-ROM cable, the CD-ROM
drive, the keyboard, the mouse, and the display are good.
4. The same problem occurs whether both RAM sticks are used, or
either is used alone in the first slot.
5. Using his HD, HD cable, and XP disk, XP installs just fine on my
computer - an older system running an AMD Athlon64. So as far as I
can tell, all that stuff is good.
6. The voltages look fine.
7. I've tried every conceivable variation of BIOS settings, to no
avail. I've tried flashing the newest BIOS, to no avail.
8. My friend has another of these P5PE-VM motherboards, and it
behaves the same way.
So it seems to me that there's an incompatibility of some kind
involving the motherboard, the processor, the RAM, and/or SP1.
Either that, or both of his motherboards of this model are bad,
which I would think is unlikely.
Can anyone suggest what might be going on here, or what we might do
to solve this problem?
put down to the graphics cards I was trying to install (FX5200 & FX5600 AGP
graphics cards). It was that bad one board got RMA'd, but to start off the
replacement was no better, but eventually managed to get up running.
I no 'expert' but there appears to be a memory problem with these
motherboards (not sure whether it is an addressing problem or a problem with
the default memory settings in BIOS). On both boards with 2 sticks (in my
case 2 x 1Gb, but also tested with 2 x 512mb) of matching RAM (Asus approved
Kingston RAM) the boards would not boot with either of the above graphics
cards installed. Replaced the two sticks of RAM with 1 x 512 mb stick in
DIMM Socket 1 and it booted straightaway (obviously in single channel).
Once I had got the machine working with the one stick of RAM I started a lot
of testing (didn't want to RMA a second board) and one thing I did discover
is that in memory settings in BIOS the default setting 'Configure DRAM
timing by SPD' is [Enabled] and defaults to CL2.50 even when the installed
RAM (Asus approved Kingston RAM) is CL3.00. Changed this setting to [Manual]
and changed the DRAM CAS Latency to 3, the DRAM RAS Precharge to 3, and the
DRAM RAS to CAS Delay to 3, reinstalled the 2 x 1Gb RAM and the system
(including both graphics cards) started and apart from one unassociated
problem no problems since.
So if you have two sticks of RAM installed, try removing the one in DIMM
Socket 2 and at the same time check the speed of your RAM (if it's CL3.00
change the settings to Manual in BIOS). Might not work for you but it
certainly did for me.
Just a word of advice, a CMOS reset reproduces the problem exactly and you
will need to start from scratch (mine would not boot to POST until I had
changed the memory settings in BIOS).
Hope this helps
Geoff
.
- Prev by Date: Re: P5PE-VM - Problem installing XP SP1 - Crashes at first reboot
- Next by Date: Played with A8N-SLI BIOS and now no startup
- Previous by thread: Re: P5PE-VM - Problem installing XP SP1 - Crashes at first reboot
- Next by thread: Re: P5PE-VM - Problem installing XP SP1 - Crashes at first reboot
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
