Serious Problem Installing New MB on WinXP Pro SP2 System

[\ AA Smith\]

I'm struggling to install a different motherboard on one of my computers.
It's being installed on a working computer that has been running WinXP Pro
just fine for several years.

I tried to install it several weeks ago. However, after installing the MB
and booting the system, for reasons I can't explain, things went haywire
immediately after the Windows Logo appeared on the screen. A message popped
up, claiming that a hard disk inconsistency existed on the C: drive. So, it
informed me that it would run CHKDSK unless I pressed any key within a
certain number of seconds. Since I knew there was no problem with the hard
disk or the Windows installation on that hard disk, I tried to cancel CHKDSK
by pressing ENTER and several other keys, but it continued running anyway.
Before I could stop it, that process had completely screwed up my hard drive
to the point that I could not get it to boot. I tried reinstalling WinXP
with a Repair, but that didn't work either. I tried it several times, but
every time, Windows Setup crashed at different points in the Windows Setup
process, and it never finished the installation successfully. Ultimately, I
had to yank the MB out, replace it with my old MB and reinstall WinXP Pro by
reformatting the hard drive. I was not a happy camper.

Today, I tried again to install the newer MB and again Windows thought there
was an inconsistency with the C: drive. So, after flashing a message about
the alleged inconsistence and giving me a certain number of seconds to
cancel CHKDSK, I tried pressing ENTER and several other buttons on the
keyboard, but Windows Startup ran CHKDSK anyway. To prevent it from
trashing my hard drive again, I killed the computer's power.

My old MB is an ASUS P3B-F. The MB that I'm trying to install is an ASUS
P3V4X. The computer has two 7200 RPM Western Digital ATA/100 Caviar hard
drives connected to the MB through a Promise Ultra ATA/100 PCI controller
which has always worked fine on the P3B-F MB. So, I can't imagine why it
would not work with the P3V4X.

The computer that I'm using to type this posting, has an ASUS P3V4X MB that
also has a Promise Ultra ATA/100 PCI controller that drives two Western
Digital Caviar 7200 RPM ATA/100 hard disks just fine. It has worked without
a flaw for several years. So, the hard drive, controller and MB combination
is valid.

As it now stands, I cannot get around the crazy CHKDSK problem. It's like
the computer simply will not respond to my keyboard attempts to bypass
CHKDSK. I know the MB will respond to the same keyboard because it did when
I reinstalled Windows after CHKDSK messed up my hard drive before. So, I
can't imagine why it ignore my keyed input when I attempt to cancel/bypass
CHKDSK.

So, I would very much appreciate help in overcoming this most annoying
problem. Is this a serious MB problem? Or something else? In either case,
I'd very greatly appreciate suggestions as to what might be causing this
problem, and how it might best be solved.

 

[Ron]

Dick,

I've only had one experience like this myself, and the results were just
like yours. I don't believe you can change a MB without reinstalling
Windows. The MB is to radical of a change for Windows to tolerate. I
reinstalled WinXP with my new MB and everything was fine. I would call Asus
first to confirm this, Good luck.

Ron

 

[\ AA Smith\]

Thanks, Ron!

I appreciate your feedback. Maybe swapping out a MB would require
reinstalling Windows. However, if so, I don't understand why WindowsXP Pro
Setup would not run through to successful completion while this MB was
installed--even when I had it format the hard drive during WinXP Setup.

 

[Rattleon]

Hello;
Did you try Clearing the BIOS, and then choosing the "Default" BIOS
settings??
Why don't you try just hooking the ATA Hard Drives up the the IDE
Connectors on the MB?
I believe the problem is with the "Promise Ultra ATA/100 PCI controller ".
When you booted to the XP CD did you Press F6 and Install the Promise
Controller Drivers?
I would say that is the problem.
Good Day

 

[\ AA Smith\]

Hi, Rattleon;

Thanks for your feedback.

I did not try clearing BIOS to default settings. Maybe that would help. I
did not hook the hard drives up to IDE 1 & 2 on the MB because, as I
understand it, the MB only supports up to ATA 66 Hard drives. That's why I
have the promise card. There's no problem with the Promise card. It works
fine with the P3B-F MB, and has for years. So, it should work fine with the
P3V4X MB. I have installed various versions of Windows on several computers
that had Promise cards installed. I have never pressed F6 to install the
Promise card drivers because Windows doesn't need them. It installs the
Promise PCI controller without a hitch.

 

[Leythos]

The computer has two 7200 RPM Western Digital ATA/100 Caviar hard
drives connected to the MB through a Promise Ultra ATA/100 PCI controller
which has always worked fine on the P3B-F MB. So, I can't imagine why it
would not work with the P3V4X.

When you get to boot again, if it's not already trashed, you need to do
a repair-reinstall using the F6 option to load the drivers for the card.

A simple test would be to take a spare drive and install Win XP on that,
as a test, to see if the board can boot.

In some instances, moving a PCI card to a different slot can result in a
stable system due to IRQ issues with motherboards/card combinations.

 

[Charles C. Drew]

As Leythos wrote below, you should do a repair-reinstall. In fact, you must do a repair-reinstall or a console repair whenever you install a new motherboard. It is the only way all the correct hardware drivers will install. In your case, the Promise card drivers probably need to be reinstalled or properly configured for the new MB. The only clean way to do this is with a repair-reinstall or a console repair.

The computer has two 7200 RPM Western Digital ATA/100 Caviar hard
drives connected to the MB through a Promise Ultra ATA/100 PCI controller
which has always worked fine on the P3B-F MB. So, I can't imagine why it
would not work with the P3V4X.

When you get to boot again, if it's not already trashed, you need to do
a repair-reinstall using the F6 option to load the drivers for the card.

A simple test would be to take a spare drive and install Win XP on that,
as a test, to see if the board can boot.

In some instances, moving a PCI card to a different slot can result in a
stable system due to IRQ issues with motherboards/card combinations.

 

[Alias]

As Leythos wrote below, you should do a repair-reinstall. In fact, you must
do a repair-reinstall or a console repair whenever you install a new
motherboard. It is the only way all the correct hardware drivers will
install. In your case, the Promise card drivers probably need to be
reinstalled or properly configured for the new MB. The only clean way to do
this is with a repair-reinstall or a console repair. >>>

A clean install would work too.

Alias

The computer has two 7200 RPM Western Digital ATA/100 Caviar hard
drives connected to the MB through a Promise Ultra ATA/100 PCI controller
which has always worked fine on the P3B-F MB. So, I can't imagine why it
would not work with the P3V4X.

When you get to boot again, if it's not already trashed, you need to do
a repair-reinstall using the F6 option to load the drivers for the card.

A simple test would be to take a spare drive and install Win XP on that,
as a test, to see if the board can boot.

In some instances, moving a PCI card to a different slot can result in a
stable system due to IRQ issues with motherboards/card combinations.

 

[\ AA Smith\]

Thanks for your feedback, Alias!

I appreciate your suggestions. In this case, I can't do a Repair install
(which I have done many times before on other computers) because whatever
happened with CHKDSK messed up C:\Windows\System32 to the point that the
existing Windows installation was no longer recognized by Windows Setup.
So, it tried to force me to do a clean installation after formatting the
hard drive. Only, I've been there several times before with this same MB;
and every time Windows Setup crashed, and it did so at various different
points in the installation process. It never crashed in the same place
twice.

So, I wasn't willing to go through all that again. I removed the P3V4X and
reinstalled the P3B-F which works fine with the same PCIs, etc. except
whatever happened to the C: drive while I had the P3V4X MB installed messed
up Windows so badly that I was left with no choice but to run a fresh
install of WinXP Pro, formatting the hard drive in the process.

Life does get tedious in the computer world at times.