Soyo SY-5SSM Windows 2000 installation

[Richard Hammond]

I have been trying to install Windows 2000 on a PC with the Soyo SY-5SSM
motherboard (K6-2 500Mhz). After the first reboot in the installation
process, the 'starting windows 2000' progress bar 'counts' up. Just as the
Windows 2000 splash screen appears, the PC reboots - this starts an endless
loop. I've read about other people with this problem all over, but have
nowhere found a resolution. I have the latest bios - the conflict must
purely be with the motherboard.

I have also read, in a couple of instances, that people have Windows 2000
installed with this motherboard - and so it would seem it is possible.
Maybe they have a newer version of the motherboard?

I hope someone can help,
Thanks,
Richard.

 

[Jonathan]

Since you have the latest BIOS, it sounds like a driver issue... especially
since it happens when the splash screen appears. This is the point at which
your video card's drivers "take over." Try booting into Safe Mode and
removing/upgrading the current video driver.

 

[Richard Hammond]

Since you have the latest BIOS, it sounds like a driver issue... especially
since it happens when the splash screen appears. This is the point at which
your video card's drivers "take over." Try booting into Safe Mode and
removing/upgrading the current video driver.

The computer won't even boot into safe mode, or any of the options provided
for boot in Windows 2000. This particular motherboard has onboard graphics.
Surely at this stage, no graphics drivers will be installed - that would
require the OS to run and me to set it up - would it not just be the generic
driver provided by Windows?

Thanks for your help,
Richard.

 

[Jonathan]

I think I misunderstood you the first time...
It reboots when the splash screen comes up, not the login screen. That
makes more sense now. So the reboot is right after the text-mode progress
bar with the black background. Hmmm.

Yeah if it won't boot into safe mode, that's a big problem. Can you do a
"logged" boot, and see if it gives you any clues as to where it tanks? (Not
that you will have easy access to the log to view it though.)

Well I only have one other thought at the moment, but it's a little bizarre.

My PC had its power supply go bad. And the symptom was, when the graphics
card was put into anything other than text mode, the PC would actually shut
off! So I could boot Linux up just fine into text mode, but if I typed
"startx" and hit return to bring up X-Windows, the machine would power off.
A new PS fixed that. I would think it unlikely that this is your problem,
but it did happen to me.

good luck,
Jonathan

 

[Richard Hammond]

I think I misunderstood you the first time...
It reboots when the splash screen comes up, not the login screen. That
makes more sense now. So the reboot is right after the text-mode progress
bar with the black background. Hmmm.

Yeah if it won't boot into safe mode, that's a big problem. Can you do a
"logged" boot, and see if it gives you any clues as to where it tanks? (Not
that you will have easy access to the log to view it though.)

Well I only have one other thought at the moment, but it's a little bizarre.

My PC had its power supply go bad. And the symptom was, when the graphics
card was put into anything other than text mode, the PC would actually shut
off! So I could boot Linux up just fine into text mode, but if I typed
"startx" and hit return to bring up X-Windows, the machine would power off.
A new PS fixed that. I would think it unlikely that this is your problem,
but it did happen to me.

good luck,
Jonathan

I've just tried using an old PCI graphics card that I had lying around,
instead of the onboard graphics, but I still get the same reboot. If I do a
logged boot, how would I view the log afterwards? Can I get to it in dos,
and if so, what would it's location be? I've heard people talk of problems
like this related to power supplies but I can't believe this is the case as
I've read of so many people with the same problem with the same
motherboard - I can't believe they all have faulty power supplies?

Is it likely to be the chipset that is at fault - it's the SiS 530 chipset.
Is there anyway of installing the windows 2000 drivers before the first
reboot in the Windows 2000 installation. Maybe the generic Windows 2000
drivers it is using are causing the problem?

Thanks for persuing this,
Richard.

 

[Jim Turner]

I have been trying to install Windows 2000 on a PC with the Soyo SY-5SSM
motherboard (K6-2 500Mhz). After the first reboot in the installation
process, the 'starting windows 2000' progress bar 'counts' up. Just as the
Windows 2000 splash screen appears, the PC reboots - this starts an endless
loop. I've read about other people with this problem all over, but have
nowhere found a resolution. I have the latest bios - the conflict must
purely be with the motherboard.

I have also read, in a couple of instances, that people have Windows 2000
installed with this motherboard - and so it would seem it is possible.
Maybe they have a newer version of the motherboard?

I hope someone can help,
Thanks,
Richard.

Have you tested your ram? memtest86 seems to work well. 2000 is hard
picky about ram. Also, how much ram do you have? There are limits on
what the SY5SSM can cache.

 

[Richard Hammond]

On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 13:35:32 +0100, "Richard Hammond"

Have you tested your ram? memtest86 seems to work well. 2000 is hard
picky about ram. Also, how much ram do you have? There are limits on
what the SY5SSM can cache.

Haven't tested the RAM - but will do. I only have 192mb RAM on that
machine, which shouldn't be a problem. Again, I can't believe it is a RAM
problem though as I have read of people with the same problem, with the same
motherboard.

Thanks for the input,
Will let you know how I get on,
Richard.

 

[Richard Hammond]

Haven't tested the RAM - but will do. I only have 192mb RAM on that
machine, which shouldn't be a problem. Again, I can't believe it is a RAM
problem though as I have read of people with the same problem, with the same
motherboard.

Thanks for the input,
Will let you know how I get on,
Richard.

Decided to play around with the RAM sticks - have three 64mb ones. I took
two out and after trying various combinations, if I put one of the RAM
sticks in the first slot, and seat it so that it isn't fully pushed in, the
Windows 2000 splash screen displays, and then the progress bar updates.
Then, however, it reboots, as before (just at a later stage).

I really have no idea where to start on fixing this. I reckon if I could
get hold of an AGP card for the motherboard, it may fix the problem
(installing an AGP card seems to be the only way to disable the onbaord
video).

I'll get bored and give up soon, I'm sure.

Thanks,
Richard.

 

[Jon Danniken]

I really have no idea where to start on fixing this. I reckon if I could
get hold of an AGP card for the motherboard, it may fix the problem
(installing an AGP card seems to be the only way to disable the onbaord
video).

I'll get bored and give up soon, I'm sure.

Go in to the BIOS and choose the "load fail safe options" and see if it starts
up.

Jon

 

[Richard Hammond]

Go in to the BIOS and choose the "load fail safe options" and see if it starts
up.

Jon

Have loaded 'setup' defaults and 'bios' defaults - under both, the
continuous reboot occurs.

Richard

 

[Jim Turner]

Haven't tested the RAM - but will do. I only have 192mb RAM on that
machine, which shouldn't be a problem. Again, I can't believe it is a RAM
problem though as I have read of people with the same problem, with the same
motherboard.

Thanks for the input,
Will let you know how I get on,
Richard.

Also, try dropping it down to just 128MB Ram, as I think that
motherboard probably didn't cach over that, and some OS installs have
trouble with motherboards with both cached and uncached ram. Worth a
try.