Continuous Reboots During XP Home Installation

[Charlie]

I'm running out of ideas on how to troubleshoot an XP Home installation and
need some help. I've clean installed XP Home on a new hard drive (SATA
160GB) and have proceeded through the part where all the files are copied to
the hard drive. When the machine reboots to start the Windows portion of the
installation, I get a black screen (no error information) and it reboots
again. It's stuck in this cycle.

So far I've tried the following without success:
Reformatted the hard drive twice and recopied the files.
Turned off all on-board components (audio, lan, video).
Swapped RAM.
Used the recovery console and verified the hard drive is OK with chkdsk.

I've searched google and Microsoft for two days to no avail.

Has anybody run into this and worked your way through it? Is there a way I
can get some error codes to help torubleshoot this problem?

Thanks in advance for the help on this!

 

[LVTravel]

I'm running out of ideas on how to troubleshoot an XP Home installation
and
need some help. I've clean installed XP Home on a new hard drive (SATA
160GB) and have proceeded through the part where all the files are copied
to
the hard drive. When the machine reboots to start the Windows portion of
the
installation, I get a black screen (no error information) and it reboots
again. It's stuck in this cycle.

So far I've tried the following without success:
Reformatted the hard drive twice and recopied the files.
Turned off all on-board components (audio, lan, video).
Swapped RAM.
Used the recovery console and verified the hard drive is OK with
chkdsk.

I've searched google and Microsoft for two days to no avail.

Has anybody run into this and worked your way through it? Is there a way
I
can get some error codes to help torubleshoot this problem?

Thanks in advance for the help on this!

Have you either hit the F6 key when prompted to install the SATA drivers for
the computer early in the setup or have you modified the SATA setup in the
BIOS to mimic an IDE drive? If you have done neither then the computer on
the first reboot probably can’t find all the drivers needed to install the
rest of the OS.

 

[Rich Barry]

Charlie, does the new SATA drive need drivers? Bios antivirus
disabled?

 

[Charlie]

The motherboard is an ASUS M4A78-E with American Megatrends BIOS. There is a
BIOS option for the "OnChip SATA Type" and I have it set to IDE. (other
options are RAID or AHCI). That should do it, right? Otherwise, I do not
have any drivers for the SATA drive. I don't think I got a CD when I
purchased the OEM drive from Newegg.

If I can read the drive in the Recovery Console, doesn't that mean that
Windows should be able to read it as well?

Thanks for the help on this.

 

[Charlie]

Hi Rich,

No options for anti-vrius in the BIOS. Using Amercian Megatrends v2.61

I don't recall getting any drivers when I purchased the OEM hard drive.
I've got the BIOS set for the "OnChip SATA Type" to be IDE rather than AHCI,
so would I need special drivers?

This is a new machine that I built for my son and I had it running fine for
2 weeks. During the inital start-up, there were no issues and XP loaded
fine. I did not use any sepcial drivers during the XP installation and used
the ASUS driver disk once XP had loaded.

My son left it on overnight and in the morning it was stuck at a Windows
screen that said the machine had been shut down "abnormally" and it gave
several options (safe mode, etc.) on how to proceed. Each option resulted in
the same thing, black screen and reboot. So after not being able to resolve
that issue, I just decided to start over from scratch (not a lot of new files
in the last two weeks) with a clean xp install. That's when I ran into this
problem. It's making me think there may be a hardware issue, but I've tried
most avenues. Could it be a power supply issue?

Thanks for the help!

 

[Paul]

Hi Rich,

No options for anti-vrius in the BIOS. Using Amercian Megatrends v2.61

I don't recall getting any drivers when I purchased the OEM hard drive.
I've got the BIOS set for the "OnChip SATA Type" to be IDE rather than AHCI,
so would I need special drivers?

This is a new machine that I built for my son and I had it running fine for
2 weeks. During the inital start-up, there were no issues and XP loaded
fine. I did not use any sepcial drivers during the XP installation and used
the ASUS driver disk once XP had loaded.

My son left it on overnight and in the morning it was stuck at a Windows
screen that said the machine had been shut down "abnormally" and it gave
several options (safe mode, etc.) on how to proceed. Each option resulted in
the same thing, black screen and reboot. So after not being able to resolve
that issue, I just decided to start over from scratch (not a lot of new files
in the last two weeks) with a clean xp install. That's when I ran into this
problem. It's making me think there may be a hardware issue, but I've tried
most avenues. Could it be a power supply issue?

Thanks for the help!

Run the SATA disk diagnostic ? For example, for my Seagate disks, I have
a "SeaTools for DOS" floppy I downloaded from the Seagate site. That
can be used to verify there is a disk there, and it is working. Depending
on the brand, some disk makers have better utilities than others.

You can also try miving the disk to a different SATA connector on the
motherboard. Sometimes, when there are six SATA connectors total, they
break down into a set of four and a set of two. The characteristics
could be different, between the two groups. You might try moving
the cable.

Also, check the boot priority in the BIOS, and see whether the
disk in question, is what is first in the hard drive list. It
could be, you're booting from something unexpected, like a USB
card reader.

The file system could have been scrambled during the "event",
and I think you can run CHKDSK from the recovery console,
assuming the disk is still detectable.

Paul

 

[Richard Urban]

Download the drive manufacturers disk check utility from their web site. You
will have to use another computer to burn it to a CD. Then boot the
malfunctioning computer using the test CD. Run the tests.

 

[Gerry]

Charlie

Posting a complete copy of the Stop error report would help.

Disable automatic restart on system failure. This should help by
allowing time to write down the STOP code properly. Keep pressing the F8
key during Start-Up and select option - Disable automatic restart on
system failure. Do not re-enable automatic restart on system failure.


--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Mark Adams]

Hi Rich,

No options for anti-vrius in the BIOS. Using Amercian Megatrends v2.61

I don't recall getting any drivers when I purchased the OEM hard drive.
I've got the BIOS set for the "OnChip SATA Type" to be IDE rather than AHCI,
so would I need special drivers?

This is a new machine that I built for my son and I had it running fine for
2 weeks. During the inital start-up, there were no issues and XP loaded
fine. I did not use any sepcial drivers during the XP installation and used
the ASUS driver disk once XP had loaded.

My son left it on overnight and in the morning it was stuck at a Windows
screen that said the machine had been shut down "abnormally" and it gave
several options (safe mode, etc.) on how to proceed. Each option resulted in
the same thing, black screen and reboot. So after not being able to resolve
that issue, I just decided to start over from scratch (not a lot of new files
in the last two weeks) with a clean xp install. That's when I ran into this
problem. It's making me think there may be a hardware issue, but I've tried
most avenues. Could it be a power supply issue?

Thanks for the help!

Boot the machine with a Knoppix CD, and see if you can read the hard drive.
If the Knoppix won't run, you have a hardware problem. Run the diagnostics
for your hard drive as suggested by Richard Urban and test the RAM with
Memtest86. Disconnect any peripherals (PCI cards, USB devices) while running
the tests.

 

[Anna]

I'm running out of ideas on how to troubleshoot an XP Home installation
and
need some help. I've clean installed XP Home on a new hard drive (SATA
160GB) and have proceeded through the part where all the files are copied
to
the hard drive. When the machine reboots to start the Windows portion of
the
installation, I get a black screen (no error information) and it reboots
again. It's stuck in this cycle.

So far I've tried the following without success:
Reformatted the hard drive twice and recopied the files.
Turned off all on-board components (audio, lan, video).
Swapped RAM.
Used the recovery console and verified the hard drive is OK with
chkdsk.

I've searched google and Microsoft for two days to no avail.

Has anybody run into this and worked your way through it? Is there a way
I
can get some error codes to help torubleshoot this problem?

Thanks in advance for the help on this!

The motherboard is an ASUS M4A78-E with American Megatrends BIOS. There
is a
BIOS option for the "OnChip SATA Type" and I have it set to IDE. (other
options are RAID or AHCI). That should do it, right? Otherwise, I do not
have any drivers for the SATA drive. I don't think I got a CD when I
purchased the OEM drive from Newegg.

If I can read the drive in the Recovery Console, doesn't that mean that
Windows should be able to read it as well?

Thanks for the help on this.

Hi Rich,

No options for anti-vrius in the BIOS. Using Amercian Megatrends v2.61

I don't recall getting any drivers when I purchased the OEM hard drive.
I've got the BIOS set for the "OnChip SATA Type" to be IDE rather than
AHCI,
so would I need special drivers?

This is a new machine that I built for my son and I had it running fine
for
2 weeks. During the inital start-up, there were no issues and XP loaded
fine. I did not use any sepcial drivers during the XP installation and
used
the ASUS driver disk once XP had loaded.

My son left it on overnight and in the morning it was stuck at a Windows
screen that said the machine had been shut down "abnormally" and it gave
several options (safe mode, etc.) on how to proceed. Each option resulted
in
the same thing, black screen and reboot. So after not being able to
resolve
that issue, I just decided to start over from scratch (not a lot of new
files
in the last two weeks) with a clean xp install. That's when I ran into
this
problem. It's making me think there may be a hardware issue, but I've
tried
most avenues. Could it be a power supply issue?

Thanks for the help!

Charlie...
First of all, you really should have included in your first post the info
you provided in your subsequent posts since the latter info substantively
changed the nature of the problem you originally delineated and (more
importantly) provided potential responders to your query with a more
complete understanding of the true nature of the problem you're
experiencing.

With that out-of-the-way...

1. We're assuming this is a non-RAID configuration so that no auxiliary SATA
controller driver should be necessary to install in your son's PC.

2. The current (default) BIOS "OnChip SATA Type" setting of IDE is correct.
All BIOS settings relating to SATA devices should be set to the default
setting. So carefully re:check that aspect.

3. Probably one of the first things you should do at this point is check out
the HDD with a diagnostic utility you can download from the disk's
manufacturer. The fact that the chkdsk command indicated no problem
affecting the HDD is *not* a definitive indication that the drive is
non-defective. It may very well be so but the disk should be checked out
with the manufacturer's HDD diagnostic utility. In any event we'll assume
for the time being that the HDD is non-defective.

4. Since you've built the machine for your son you're obviously familiar
with its components. So do this...
After shutting down your machine, remove (disconnect) all peripheral
devices from the machine including your hard drive(s), optical drive(s),
sound card, etc. Disconnect all storage devices, printers, and any other
devices connected to the machine.

So that all you'll be working with is your motherboard, processor, heat
sink, RAM, video card, keyboard, mouse, and power supply. Better yet, since
your motherboard is apparently equipped with onboard video/graphics
capability, disconnect your video card from the system (assuming you
installed one). Just make sure your BIOS setting (should there be one)
reflects that onboard graphics/video is enabled. (I'm not clear on your
statement that when you were troubleshooting this problem you "turned off
(the) video". I'm assuming you simply were indicating that you uninstalled a
previously installed video/graphics card in order to work with the onboard
graphics capability of the system. Is this right?). In any event, I assume
you've worked with both capabilities but experience the same problem, yes?

Reconnect your A/C cord and power on the system. Of course you've checked
all your data/power cable connections to determine they're properly
connected, right?

What happens? Do you get a "normal" screen display? No error messages or
strange notations?

Can you access your BIOS without any difficulty at this point and review the
CMOS settings? Can you check the hardware monitor in the BIOS to determine
that all temps are within normal range? Keep monitoring the temps while the
system is running to determine whether there might be an overheating
problem.

Assuming all is well at this point leave the system powered on for the next
hour or so, continually checking to see if anything untoward shows up,
particularly temperature-wise.

Using your reset button, try powering down & up a few times to determine if
there are any problems there.

Should all appear well at this point this is an indication that there's
nothing wrong with the basic components of your system. While it's not
absolutely definitive that this is so, it's a very strong indication that
something else is amiss - possibly involving an operating system corruption
of some sort. I'm assuming you've made *multiple* attempts to fresh-install
the OS but all ended in failure as you have indicated.

If it is a hardware problem as it appears to be, the only definitive way to
determine the defective component is through substitution on a
component-by-component basis which of course is obviously a problem for most
end-users.
Anna

 

[Charlie]

Hi Richard,

I just finished running the diagnostic tests on the hard drive. I used
SeaTools for DOS and ran both the short test and the long test. Both passed.
I'm moving on to check memory now.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Charlie]

Hi Gerry,

I'm working on some of the hard drive and memory tests now (it's taking
quite a while). I'll try to get the stop error report per your suggestion
tomorrow.

Thanks!

 

[Charlie]

Hi Mark,

I ran the diagnostics on the hard dribve (SeaTools for DOS) and they passed.
No I'm running Memtest86. it's running fairly slow so I'll probably let it
go overnight and check the results tomorrow.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Charlie]

Hi Anna,

Thanks for the ideas below. I'm in the process of following up on all the
suggestions, but thougth I'd address some of your questions. See the
responses below.

Charlie

First of all, you really should have included in your first post the info
you provided in your subsequent posts since the latter info substantively
changed the nature of the problem you originally delineated and (more
importantly) provided potential responders to your query with a more
complete understanding of the true nature of the problem you're
experiencing.
Agreed.

With that out-of-the-way...

1. We're assuming this is a non-RAID configuration so that no auxiliary SATA
controller driver should be necessary to install in your son's PC.

That's correct. Non RAID configuration.

2. The current (default) BIOS "OnChip SATA Type" setting of IDE is correct.
All BIOS settings relating to SATA devices should be set to the default
setting. So carefully re:check that aspect.

I rechecked the SATA BIOS settings and they are all on the default
setting.

3. Probably one of the first things you should do at this point is check out
the HDD with a diagnostic utility you can download from the disk's
manufacturer. The fact that the chkdsk command indicated no problem
affecting the HDD is *not* a definitive indication that the drive is
non-defective. It may very well be so but the disk should be checked out
with the manufacturer's HDD diagnostic utility. In any event we'll assume
for the time being that the HDD is non-defective.

The hard drive is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 160GB SATA drive. I used
the SeaTools for DOS diagnostic from Seagate and ran both the short and long
tests. Both passed.

4. Since you've built the machine for your son you're obviously familiar
with its components. So do this...
After shutting down your machine, remove (disconnect) all peripheral
devices from the machine including your hard drive(s), optical drive(s),
sound card, etc. Disconnect all storage devices, printers, and any other
devices connected to the machine.

So that all you'll be working with is your motherboard, processor, heat
sink, RAM, video card, keyboard, mouse, and power supply. Better yet, since
your motherboard is apparently equipped with onboard video/graphics
capability, disconnect your video card from the system (assuming you
installed one). Just make sure your BIOS setting (should there be one)
reflects that onboard graphics/video is enabled. (I'm not clear on your
statement that when you were troubleshooting this problem you "turned off
(the) video". I'm assuming you simply were indicating that you uninstalled a
previously installed video/graphics card in order to work with the onboard
graphics capability of the system. Is this right?).

The video card I'm using is on the motherboard. To test to see if that
was causing a problem, I turned it off using the BIOS and restarted the
computer. During the post, it gave me the beeps to indicate no vga device
was detected (one continuous beep and three short beeps) and then hesitated
and beeped once again, then rebooted. The hesitation, beep, rebooting
sequence was simllar to what I was seeing when I had the video enabled, so I
concluded the on board video was probably not the problem. I do have another
video card I could use (4 other computers in my house), but won't take that
step unless I have no other options.

In any event, I assume
you've worked with both capabilities but experience the same problem, yes?

Reconnect your A/C cord and power on the system. Of course you've checked
all your data/power cable connections to determine they're properly
connected, right?

Yes, I rechecked them and don't see anything that came loose or is not
connected correctly.

What happens? Do you get a "normal" screen display? No error messages or
strange notations?

Can you access your BIOS without any difficulty at this point and review the
CMOS settings? Can you check the hardware monitor in the BIOS to determine
that all temps are within normal range? Keep monitoring the temps while the
system is running to determine whether there might be an overheating
problem.

Assuming all is well at this point leave the system powered on for the next
hour or so, continually checking to see if anything untoward shows up,
particularly temperature-wise.

Using your reset button, try powering down & up a few times to determine if
there are any problems there.

I'll do the process you've outlined here tomorrow and let you know the
results.

Should all appear well at this point this is an indication that there's
nothing wrong with the basic components of your system. While it's not
absolutely definitive that this is so, it's a very strong indication that
something else is amiss - possibly involving an operating system corruption
of some sort. I'm assuming you've made *multiple* attempts to fresh-install
the OS but all ended in failure as you have indicated.

Yes, multiple clean installation attempts, but always the same thing-
black screen and reboot after copying all the files to the hard drive.

If it is a hardware problem as it appears to be, the only definitive way to
determine the defective component is through substitution on a
component-by-component basis which of course is obviously a problem for most
end-users.

That's a good thought. I've got enough bits in my other computers to
do this. Thanks very much for the time you spent posting!

 

[Charlie]

Memtest86 passed, so it looks like it is not memory. I'll move on from here.

 

[Anna]

(PORTIONS SNIPPED)...

Hi Anna,

Thanks for the ideas below. I'm in the process of following up on all the
suggestions, but thougth I'd address some of your questions. See the
responses below.

The hard drive is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 160GB SATA drive. I used
the SeaTools for DOS diagnostic from Seagate and ran both the short and
long
tests. Both passed.

The video card I'm using is on the motherboard. To test to see if
that
was causing a problem, I turned it off using the BIOS and restarted the
computer. During the post, it gave me the beeps to indicate no vga device
was detected (one continuous beep and three short beeps) and then
hesitated
and beeped once again, then rebooted. The hesitation, beep, rebooting
sequence was simllar to what I was seeing when I had the video enabled, so
I
concluded the on board video was probably not the problem. I do have
another
video card I could use (4 other computers in my house), but won't take
that
step unless I have no other options.

Charlie:
By all means install a known working graphics/video card as long as you have
one available. Forget about the "beeps" signifying this or that situation -
positive or negative. If & when you do install the graphics/video card,
ensure that you disable the onboard graphics setting in the BIOS assuming
that setting is listed.
Anna

 

[Charlie]

Hi Anna,

I installed another video card and it worked fine, but still have the reboot
problem. On to the next possible cause.

Charlie

 

[Charlie]

Gerry,

I was able to press F8 and choose "disable automatic restart on system
failure" but it did not seem to change the startup behavior. It still posts,
then goes to a black screen and reboots. I chose safe mode with command
prompt and watched the drivers load. It stopped at mup.sys. That's the next
thing I'll search to see if others have run into this. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Charlie

 

[Anna]

Hi Anna,

I installed another video card and it worked fine, but still have the
reboot
problem. On to the next possible cause.

Charlie

Charlie...
I'm still not entirely clear as to the specific troubleshooting steps you've
taken. So just to clarify...

Are you indicating that when you power-on the PC as I had previously
suggested - with *only* those minimal number of components that I
specified - there's no problem insofar as a display is concerned, and that's
what you mean when you state "I installed another video card and it worked
fine", but that the system still reboots after some period of time?

If that *is* the case then it would indicate that there is indeed a
hardware-type problem affecting the system - possibly with the PSU or the
motherboard itself.
Anna

 

[Charlie]

Hi Anna,

To check if the onboard video was the problem, I installed an old PCI video
card, disabled the onboard video, and rebooted. This time the machine posted
just like it has been and then went to the black screen and rebooted itself.
So, there was no different behavior with a PCI video card versus the onboard
video.

Now I've moved into the process you advised about disconnecting all
components (DVD Drive, hard drive, lan connection, speaker connection) and
letting it post. The machine posts with no problems (as it has been) and I
have it now with the BIOS screen up so I can monitor temperatures. I'll let
that run for a while and check temperatures. Right now the CPU is 89.6 F and
the motherboard is 86F. I'l also reset it a couple of times and see if that
triggers any different behavior.

Not sure if you saw my post to Gerry, but I did try to disable the automatic
system restart to see if I could get an error code (F8 after the BIOS welcome
screen). I don't think I disabled the auto restart though (no change in
startup behavior). I did try to start in safe mode with a command prompt and
the system stopped loading drivers at mup.sys. Seems to me that I've seen
some posts on that in the past, so I'm going to research that while I'm
waiting for the temperatures to rise. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks!

Charlie