Need help finding a fix for my hardware problem for XP-Pro

[Joseph]

It has been a very long struggle to load XP-Pro on my
newly assembled PC. I used a Abit VT7 Mobo and a Abit
Radeon 9200SE-DT Video card and a Corsair 512Mb,PC3200,
CL2.5 DDR RAM. I have just found that the Mobo Abit VT7 is
not XP compatable. I would really appriciate if some one
can find me a fix to install XP-Pro on my new PC.

 

[Joseph]

Well after I got my PC put togather I was installing XP
Pro and while installation error messages like such-n-such
file could not be copied and gave me an option to retry or
escape to skip the file. This went on for many files.
Finally when I got XP installed. It was very unstable. So
I tried to reinstall XP again and it started going to blue
screen error messages and would not let me install XP. I
tried 98SE. I had the same kind of problems though they
were not as sever as XP error messages. 98SE was unstable
often going to blue screen messages. Then I changed the
RAM as I have tried changed everything else except RAM.
This time it seem to be stable with occational hangs. I
checked the XP hardware compatability list on Microsoft's
web site and I could not find Abit's VT7 Mobo listed. I
got disappointed. So I thought Mictosoft might have some
patches or fixes for this. Could you please suggest me a
good solution please.

Thanks

 

[Guest]

Thanks. I will try disabling the virus protection in BIOS.
I have tried every option I can think of, and looking at
the blue screen error messages I received while
installation I strongly believe that this is a hardware
compatability issue.

Thanks for the help.

-----Original Message-----
Hi,

Firstly, boot into BIOS and then change the boot sequence

to that the CD-rom to be the first boot device. Also,
disable virus protection in BIOS, if any. Then save and
exit BIOS setup.

Insert the XP CD into the CD-rom drive and then restart

the PC, after POST, when you see "Press any button to boot
from the CD", press the space bar immediately.

You only have one to two seconds to do this, if you

missed the chance to boot from the CD, restart the PC
again and then press the space bar continuously until it
boot from the CD.

After it boot from the CD, it started to load setup

programs, press the Enter key to enter setup when
prompted. Press the F8 key to accept the licence agreement.

Follow the prompt for format and partition of the Hdd

and then clean installation of XP.

After XP is successfully installed, restart the PC and

boot into BIOS, enable the virus proterction in BIOS if
you have disabled it. You may also change the boot
sequence that the HDD is the first boot device then save
and exit BIOS setup.

Install the latest XP compatible chipset drivers for the

mobo. Reboot the PC, then install sound card drivers,
vedio card drivers, etc. After all, enable the built in
firewall then go on-line to install SP1 if it is not
included in the original XP CD from the windows update
site. Update all the critical patches as well.

 

[Nathan McNulty]

That board is compatible and the problem you are having is getting
Windows XP to install? Just boot off the Windows XP CD and install it
from there. Though XP may not have the drivers for your motherboard
right off the bat, you can just download and install them or use the CD
that came with your motherboard.

 

[Nathan McNulty]

As I stated earlier before I saw this post, this board is compatible
with XP. It sounds to me like you may have bad hardware components. I
am leaning toward a bad power supply since it seems the CD-ROM is acting
up, the RAM is acting up, and everything is unstable. What exactly are
the specs of this machine?

Also, this is extremely critical: Do you have everything set up properly
in the BIOS? Make sure your CPU settings are correct, make sure your
drives are set to the proper DMA Setting, etc.

Here is what I would do if I were you. I would go here and download
Bart's PE:
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

Use this to make a new CD of your XP install CD. What this will do is
make copying the files to the HD more efficient and hopefully the
Install will go better. You can copy all of your XP CD to the harddrive
and install it from there instead of reading off the CD which will make
sure you get a good copy of the files.

It sounds like it wasn't copying the files fast enough from the CD-ROM
drive. What speed is your drive? I have installed XP with a 16x CD ROM
drive and it gives me the same error a few times every 10 minutes or so.

 

[Joseph]

Thanks a bunch for all the help. I have some good news. I
have replaced my RAM with a different brand in fact two
sticks of 128MB, DDR333, CL 2.5
I have installed Windows 98SE in just 15 Minutes and I was
able to upgrade it to ME with not much problem. Now my PC
is running ME with a good stability. It will be tested for
stability the whole day today. I pray that it performs
well and stay stable. With this sucess I am going to
install XP tonight. I will try the web site you have
suggested before 'http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder' while
installing XP.

Thanks once again for your time.

Joseph