operating system problems

[r-man_j]

just recently i switched out my motherboard, cpu, and ram. for the
most part they are working well but when i went to restore windows xp
it stops at the examining hardware setup screen, i also tried to
reformat it all together but it will not work. the wierdest part is i
have tested all of my hardware on my friends computer and it all works
fine. the only thing untested is the motherboard its the m860 from
pc-chips

 

[Linux Geek]

just recently i switched out my motherboard, cpu, and ram. for the
most part they are working well but when i went to restore windows xp
it stops at the examining hardware setup screen, i also tried to
reformat it all together but it will not work. the wierdest part is i
have tested all of my hardware on my friends computer and it all works
fine. the only thing untested is the motherboard its the m860 from
pc-chips

Switch to Linux.

--

__________________________________________________________________
Linux Geek

Saying that XP is the most stable MS OS is like saying that
asparagus is the most articulate vegetable. (Dave Barry)

 

[Frank McCoy]

just recently i switched out my motherboard, cpu, and ram. for the
most part they are working well but when i went to restore windows xp
it stops at the examining hardware setup screen, i also tried to
reformat it all together but it will not work. the wierdest part is i
have tested all of my hardware on my friends computer and it all works
fine. the only thing untested is the motherboard its the m860 from
pc-chips

XP looks at the system and decides that it isn't the same system it was
originally installed on ... so it *deliberately* craps out. Part of
their "copy protection". ;-{

If you've already gone the route of reinstalling and reformatting, you
have to go one step further and use FDISK or a similar partitioning
program to remove *all* signs of previously installed software,
particularly a previous version of XP, before trying again.

Find any previous partitions on the drive and delete them. If
necessary, even go so far as to repartition the drive, reformat it as a
data-only partition, and *then* delete the new partition.

Crappy M$ bullshit ....

Oh yeah: Then, before installing XP again, remove *all* other hard
drives; and make that single empty drive your MASTER at the end of the
drive cable, if IDE, or better-yet, "drive-select" at the end. Make
your CD installation drive SLAVE or (again) drive-select; only in the
SLAVE position on the secondary cable.
Sounds weird, but ....

 

[Paul]

Switch to Linux.

While that may sound like a strange suggestion, there
is a minor grain of truth to it.

I use Linux "live" CD distributions, for test booting.

For example, Knoppix (knopper.net) or Ubuntu CDs can be
booted and run, without installing anything on a hard
drive. It allows test booting a computer. And as long
as the CD has drivers for the hardware, it should work.
The chipset on the M860 has been around long enough,
that a recent download of Knoppix should work. Either
of the two above distros are 700MB downloads, which is
not practical over dialup, but takes me about an hour
or so over ADSL.

This page gives a suggestion as to what driver is needed
for VT6420 (hardware logic block inside the VT8237 Southbridge).

(Driver notes)
http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=5&ArticleID=467&P=2
(Install procedure)
http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=5&ArticleID=93

If I use MMtool on the PCChips 050629S.ROM , this is one of
the two add-in ROM modules in the BIOS.

Copyright (C) VIA Technolo
gies, Inc. All Right reser
ved..VIA Technologies, Inc
...VIA VT6420 RAID Controll
er.VIA VT6420 Serial ATA R
AID BIOS Setting Utility V
4.50.VIA VT8237 Serial ATA
RAID BIOS Setting Utility
V4.50

The presence of that module, is consistent with the VIA
Arena article.

So you can test with Linux first, and if the board "falls
over", return it and get another. If it passes, move on
and try a VIA driver via F6, early in the Windows install.

I'm not currently using Linux for day to day stuff (no games
of interest), but it sure makes a great test CD.

Paul

 

[johns]

Basically, you can't do that. If you just kept the old
hard drive with drivers, they are failing and locking up.
If you can't delete the partition, it might be you need
to do the floppy driver trick ( assuming SATA drive ).
Also, this could just be you have the drive(s)
connected wrong ... like a SATA on sata1 and
and IDE on ide0 ... like your cd.

johns