the_outsider38
Microsoft Poster Child
+83|7146|Vancouver BC Canada
My buddy recently upgraded his system from an old Socket A to a 939, which he managed to get dirt cheap. However when he goes to install windows it takes forever to get past the scanning system hardware configuration to the blue screen, then when it finnaly complestes the first part of the installation and goes to restart it will just sit there and do nothing!!! We let it go for 15-20 minutes and it continued to sit there!!!!

Its a real bummer because he had bought the system to play 2142 and now he can't even install windows, any help?

I lent him my ram to see if that was the problem as well, and it wasn't. He is running PC2700 in a similar board to mine, the ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe.


ASUS A8N-E
AMD Athlon64 FX-55
EVGA 7900GTO
2x 512mb PC2700 ram
80Gb 7200RPM 8Mb IDE HDD

We just can't find whats wrong with it.
DeCon_1
Member
+16|6972|Atlanta, Georga U.S.A.
Could be his hard drive but can't be too sure about it though.
the_outsider38
Microsoft Poster Child
+83|7146|Vancouver BC Canada
Well thats what I had thought it was, but the BIOS clearly recognizes it, and windows began its installation on it. It just seems it wont boot from it the second time around, the BIOS is set to try to boot from the HDD but it never does.
DeCon_1
Member
+16|6972|Atlanta, Georga U.S.A.
Did you try unplugging all your other drives like CD or DVD drives and leaving just the hard drive plugged in?
the_outsider38
Microsoft Poster Child
+83|7146|Vancouver BC Canada
No, but removing the windows CD gave us a "Disk Boot Failure"
UNDIESRULES
Member
+4|7132
Try using a different cd/dvd drive.
DeCon_1
Member
+16|6972|Atlanta, Georga U.S.A.
Then I would have to say that you would either have to switch cd drives or that you would have to reformat your hard drive.
theknuck
It's pronounced Knuck, like in Knuckle!!
+45|7064|balls
could be shitty cd/dvd drive.  i once tried installing a game but couldn't due to the drive being so shitty (probably 5 years old).  once i bought a new one install was no prob.  dunno, is the install disk all banged up?
the_outsider38
Microsoft Poster Child
+83|7146|Vancouver BC Canada
No, brand new disk, will try dif CD drive.
the_outsider38
Microsoft Poster Child
+83|7146|Vancouver BC Canada
Ok, we tried a different disk and a new drive (from my functioning machine) and still no go. Did a full format too.
dubbs
Member
+105|7083|Lexington, KY

DeCon_1 wrote:

Did you try unplugging all your other drives like CD or DVD drives and leaving just the hard drive plugged in?

DeCon_1 wrote:

Then I would have to say that you would either have to switch cd drives or that you would have to reformat your hard drive.
DeCon_1, think before you post.  He could not remove all of his drives, because he needs one to install from the Windows CD.  Your second post was telling him to format the drive.  He is trying to install Windows on the hard drive.  Since he is installing Windows he would be having a fresh install so he would have to format it, compared to reinstalling Windows.  Your two suggestions would be useless.

@ the orginal post, try reseating all of the devices in the computer, ie processor, hard drive, video card, etc.  Then try to install Windows.  You may also try updating the BIOS to see if this may solve the issue.
DeCon_1
Member
+16|6972|Atlanta, Georga U.S.A.
You know, if I wanted a personal comment from someone I would ask my girlfriend. And anyway the reason I said to format the drive was because if windows fails on the setup and cant boot to the main installer the only way to try to fix it would to reformat the drive to wipe off the original installer and try again.

Last edited by DeCon_1 (2006-10-31 23:39:36)

the_outsider38
Microsoft Poster Child
+83|7146|Vancouver BC Canada
We tried reseating everything, it seems like everything else is working. Its a new board but would it need a BIOS update to run the older HDD? It says on the specs sheet it can run a UltraDMA 100, which is what the drive is. I think i'll just go pick up a pair SATA2s to replace my 2 Maxtor 160Gb 7200RPM 16Mb UltraDMA133 HDDs and give them to him. I hear two decent quality 160Gb HDDs in RAID 0 run pretty fast.
max
Vela Incident
+1,652|7019|NYC / Hamburg

did you try zeroing the drive with the manufacturers tools? i also once had the boot disk failure and a normal format and reinstall didnt cut it. zeroed the drive, formatted, installed win and all was good again
once upon a midnight dreary, while i pron surfed, weak and weary, over many a strange and spurious site of ' hot  xxx galore'. While i clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning, and my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour, " 'Tis not possible!", i muttered, " give me back my free hardcore!"..... quoth the server, 404.
DoctorFruitloop
Level 13 Wrongdoer
+515|6998|Doncaster, UK
Have you tried running fdisk to remove the old partition information and and then formatting?
joker3327
=IBF2=
+305|7050|Cheshire. UK
OK is this a SATA or PATA drive.... is it a single drive or in a master slave config?????
dubbs
Member
+105|7083|Lexington, KY

the_outsider38 wrote:

We tried reseating everything, it seems like everything else is working. Its a new board but would it need a BIOS update to run the older HDD? It says on the specs sheet it can run a UltraDMA 100, which is what the drive is. I think i'll just go pick up a pair SATA2s to replace my 2 Maxtor 160Gb 7200RPM 16Mb UltraDMA133 HDDs and give them to him. I hear two decent quality 160Gb HDDs in RAID 0 run pretty fast.
Just because it is new, does not mean that it has not sat in a warehouse, and the BIOS has been updated.
the_outsider38
Microsoft Poster Child
+83|7146|Vancouver BC Canada

the_outsider38 wrote:

80Gb 7200RPM 8Mb IDE HDD
IDE = PATA

Its a single drive, we used the windows CD to reformat it into a single partition.

Board footer

Privacy Policy - © 2025 Jeff Minard