Weird hardware problem... Windows won't install

[Pan]

Hi everybody

I've recently brought a set of new parts to upgrade my old Athlon 750
computer, essentially a new motherboard, processor, power supply, RAM and
video card. I actually brought two of each, a family member wanted a new
system as well and we agreed that it would make sense to buy the same.
Anyway, after minor teething problems with his, it's now operational.
However, I'm having major problems with mine. None of them as explained
below occurred on the other machine I built, which has identical core
components.

The components I brought for the upgrade are as follows:-

Gigabyte K8NS Pro Motherboard
AMD Semptron 3300+ Processor
Levicom 450W PSU
Leadtek A6600GT Graphics Card
Two Corsair 512MB Memory Modules (Packaged Together Retail)

After upgrading the machine, there seems to be no immediate problem with
it. However, when I try to install Windows XP Professional, things start
to go wrong. When I approach the stage in which the hard disk is
formatted, one of the following always occurs

1) Blue screen "PFN_LIST_CORRUPT" error 2) Blue screen
"PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA" 3) Blue screen "IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" 4)
Blue screen "BAD_POOL_CALLER"
5) Blue screen error with no distinct error message 5) Immediate reboot
without warning

At times, the system has crashed in one of these ways even before the hard
disk formatting stage is reached. But it normally occurs immediately after
a file format has been chosen. Errors 1 and 3 are the most common from
what I've seen.

I have absolutely no idea what the problem is. I've never seen anything
like this. For debugging purposes, I've tried all of the following.

1) I ran the memtest86 tool to test all the memory on the system. No
errors were found after several passes.

2) The installation problem nearly always occurs at the hard disk
preparation stage. Therefore, I attempted every combination of IDE device
(The only type I'm using) connection I could think of and still the
problem persisted.

3) I stripped the system to a bare bones configuration to try and find out
what was causing the problem. The error still occurred even at this time.

4) Upgraded the BIOS to the latest revision. No effect

5) Used a LiveCD to access both hard disks manually and read/write. No
problems at all in doing so. The system booted fine with the LiveCD too,
Knoppix is the one I was using.

6) Switched the graphics card from the order with one I had previously.
This didn't make any difference.

7) Removed each RAM chip and ran the system with one or the other. Changed
memory slots on the motherboard for each, no effect whatsoever.

8) Tried installing the OS with a different CD-ROM drive and onto a
different hard disk. No difference.

At this stage, I'm open to suggestion. I have no idea *what* the problem
could be. I assume it must be hardware related, perhaps the motherboard
and/or processor is faulty. It could be the power supply too, but I doubt
it given the situation. Does anybody have any idea of what it could be?

I've heard that changing the voltages to the RAM or processor has solved
problems like this before. But I'm very sceptical about trying this since
the items are under warranty and would rather avoid it if it's risky. But
if anybody has any additional information about this, I'd be interested to
hear from you.

Thanks

Regards,

Pan

 

[Chris Hill]

Hi everybody

I've recently brought a set of new parts to upgrade my old Athlon 750
computer, essentially a new motherboard, processor, power supply, RAM and
video card. I actually brought two of each, a family member wanted a new
system as well and we agreed that it would make sense to buy the same.
Anyway, after minor teething problems with his, it's now operational.
However, I'm having major problems with mine. None of them as explained
below occurred on the other machine I built, which has identical core
components.

The components I brought for the upgrade are as follows:-

Gigabyte K8NS Pro Motherboard
AMD Semptron 3300+ Processor
Levicom 450W PSU
Leadtek A6600GT Graphics Card
Two Corsair 512MB Memory Modules (Packaged Together Retail)

After upgrading the machine, there seems to be no immediate problem with
it. However, when I try to install Windows XP Professional, things start
to go wrong. When I approach the stage in which the hard disk is
formatted, one of the following always occurs

1) Blue screen "PFN_LIST_CORRUPT" error 2) Blue screen
"PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA" 3) Blue screen "IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" 4)
Blue screen "BAD_POOL_CALLER"
5) Blue screen error with no distinct error message 5) Immediate reboot
without warning

At times, the system has crashed in one of these ways even before the hard
disk formatting stage is reached. But it normally occurs immediately after
a file format has been chosen. Errors 1 and 3 are the most common from
what I've seen.

I have absolutely no idea what the problem is. I've never seen anything
like this. For debugging purposes, I've tried all of the following.

1) I ran the memtest86 tool to test all the memory on the system. No
errors were found after several passes.

2) The installation problem nearly always occurs at the hard disk
preparation stage. Therefore, I attempted every combination of IDE device
(The only type I'm using) connection I could think of and still the
problem persisted.

3) I stripped the system to a bare bones configuration to try and find out
what was causing the problem. The error still occurred even at this time.

4) Upgraded the BIOS to the latest revision. No effect

5) Used a LiveCD to access both hard disks manually and read/write. No
problems at all in doing so. The system booted fine with the LiveCD too,
Knoppix is the one I was using.

6) Switched the graphics card from the order with one I had previously.
This didn't make any difference.

7) Removed each RAM chip and ran the system with one or the other. Changed
memory slots on the motherboard for each, no effect whatsoever.

8) Tried installing the OS with a different CD-ROM drive and onto a
different hard disk. No difference.

At this stage, I'm open to suggestion. I have no idea *what* the problem
could be. I assume it must be hardware related, perhaps the motherboard
and/or processor is faulty. It could be the power supply too, but I doubt
it given the situation. Does anybody have any idea of what it could be?

I've heard that changing the voltages to the RAM or processor has solved
problems like this before. But I'm very sceptical about trying this since
the items are under warranty and would rather avoid it if it's risky. But
if anybody has any additional information about this, I'd be interested to
hear from you.

Thanks

Regards,

Pan

Look in pc health and see what the voltages are. My first guess would
be the power supply; I don't care what the wattage number is on a
power supply, if I've never heard of the brand I'm not buying it.

Swap supplies and see what happens.

 

[Pan]

Look in pc health and see what the voltages are. My first guess would
be the power supply; I don't care what the wattage number is on a
power supply, if I've never heard of the brand I'm not buying it.

Swap supplies and see what happens.

Unfortunately the BIOS doesn't give direct voltage readings, it merely
notes that all those available are OK.

Levicom are a new maker in power supplies and the reviews I've seen have
been quite good for this particular supply during testing (which is one
of the reasons I bought it). However, I will test another supply if
that's the only option I get from here, although the other supply I have
is weaker and also not a great make.

I doubt it's power supply personally though for both the two reasons above
and also because I ran the system under bare-boned conditions. I doubt it
would consume much power under this situation and yet the problem remained.

Thanks

Regards,

Pan

 

[Chris Hill]

Unfortunately the BIOS doesn't give direct voltage readings, it merely
notes that all those available are OK.

Levicom are a new maker in power supplies and the reviews I've seen have
been quite good for this particular supply during testing (which is one
of the reasons I bought it). However, I will test another supply if
that's the only option I get from here, although the other supply I have
is weaker and also not a great make.

I doubt it's power supply personally though for both the two reasons above
and also because I ran the system under bare-boned conditions. I doubt it
would consume much power under this situation and yet the problem remained.

Thanks

Regards,

Pan

Things reviewed sometimes turn out to be different than things
purchased. If you built a machine exactly the same, borrow its power
supply to test with; it won't take ten minutes and at least that'll
rule out a power problem.

 

[David Maynard]

Hi everybody

I've recently brought a set of new parts to upgrade my old Athlon 750
computer, essentially a new motherboard, processor, power supply, RAM and
video card. I actually brought two of each, a family member wanted a new
system as well and we agreed that it would make sense to buy the same.
Anyway, after minor teething problems with his, it's now operational.
However, I'm having major problems with mine. None of them as explained
below occurred on the other machine I built, which has identical core
components.

The components I brought for the upgrade are as follows:-

Gigabyte K8NS Pro Motherboard
AMD Semptron 3300+ Processor
Levicom 450W PSU
Leadtek A6600GT Graphics Card
Two Corsair 512MB Memory Modules (Packaged Together Retail)

After upgrading the machine, there seems to be no immediate problem with
it. However, when I try to install Windows XP Professional, things start
to go wrong. When I approach the stage in which the hard disk is
formatted, one of the following always occurs

1) Blue screen "PFN_LIST_CORRUPT" error 2) Blue screen
"PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA" 3) Blue screen "IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" 4)
Blue screen "BAD_POOL_CALLER"
5) Blue screen error with no distinct error message 5) Immediate reboot
without warning

At times, the system has crashed in one of these ways even before the hard
disk formatting stage is reached. But it normally occurs immediately after
a file format has been chosen. Errors 1 and 3 are the most common from
what I've seen.

I have absolutely no idea what the problem is. I've never seen anything
like this. For debugging purposes, I've tried all of the following.

1) I ran the memtest86 tool to test all the memory on the system. No
errors were found after several passes.

2) The installation problem nearly always occurs at the hard disk
preparation stage. Therefore, I attempted every combination of IDE device
(The only type I'm using) connection I could think of and still the
problem persisted.

3) I stripped the system to a bare bones configuration to try and find out
what was causing the problem. The error still occurred even at this time.

4) Upgraded the BIOS to the latest revision. No effect

5) Used a LiveCD to access both hard disks manually and read/write. No
problems at all in doing so. The system booted fine with the LiveCD too,
Knoppix is the one I was using.

6) Switched the graphics card from the order with one I had previously.
This didn't make any difference.

7) Removed each RAM chip and ran the system with one or the other. Changed
memory slots on the motherboard for each, no effect whatsoever.

8) Tried installing the OS with a different CD-ROM drive and onto a
different hard disk. No difference.

At this stage, I'm open to suggestion. I have no idea *what* the problem
could be. I assume it must be hardware related, perhaps the motherboard
and/or processor is faulty. It could be the power supply too, but I doubt
it given the situation. Does anybody have any idea of what it could be?

I've heard that changing the voltages to the RAM or processor has solved
problems like this before. But I'm very sceptical about trying this since
the items are under warranty and would rather avoid it if it's risky. But
if anybody has any additional information about this, I'd be interested to
hear from you.

Thanks

Regards,

Pan

First possibility that comes to mind is the power supply but booting
Knoppix would seem to eliminate that possibility. Still, since you have a
second identical system I'd try swapping that for a direct, rather than
subjective, elimination.

Past that, it would seem the only differences that haven't already been
addressed are your case, fans, and cables. Swapping the IDE cables should
be rather easy and you could try running the motherboard out of the case.

My mentioning (case) fans might seem odd but a faulty fan can induce noise
onto the power rails so try unplugging them.

Trying to imagine what might make Knoppix different than XP brings to mind
that Linux talks directly to the hard drives while Windows systems go
through the BIOS so double check the BIOS IDE/Hard Drive settings.

 

[johns]

Athlon 750 is pretty old. That says to me you probably have
a hard drive with bad spots. Even when the drive is not being
accessed, it will try to seek, and will hang the system. Slave
that drive in the other computer and scan it.

johns

 

[Pan]

Athlon 750 is pretty old. That says to me you probably have
a hard drive with bad spots. Even when the drive is not being
accessed, it will try to seek, and will hang the system. Slave
that drive in the other computer and scan it.

johns

The system has two hard disks in it, both are newer than the system. In
fact, one is only four months old. In addition, I have attempted to wire
up only one of each and had no luck with that either. As they are both
Western Digital drives, I thought it might be an incompatibility, but then
I shouldn't be able to access both normally with a LiveCD.

In addition, I have noticed on-line that some people have my motherboard
and hard disk and I haven't seen any complains. Therefore this doesn't
seem to be an issue.

Thanks for your suggestion.

Regards,

Pan

 

[Pan]

First possibility that comes to mind is the power supply but booting
Knoppix would seem to eliminate that possibility. Still, since you have a
second identical system I'd try swapping that for a direct, rather than
subjective, elimination.

Yes, I can't understand how it would boot Knoppix and yet not be able to
install Windows, very odd.

Unfortunately I no longer have the second system available or that would
be the obvious thing to try. But I do have another power supply available,
so I guess I'll have to try it out if I have no other luck.

Past that, it would seem the only differences that haven't already been
addressed are your case, fans, and cables. Swapping the IDE cables should
be rather easy and you could try running the motherboard out of the case.

I'm not sure how the case could make any difference, I have ensured that
the board is properly anchored and screwed in place with spacers, but I've
eliminated the cables by trying all three in different combinations to no
effect. I've also tried running with only one hard disk and one optical
drive.

My mentioning (case) fans might seem odd but a faulty fan can induce noise
onto the power rails so try unplugging them.

I tried unplugging all three case fans and running the system, but it
seemed to make no significant difference. But it was worth a try.

Trying to imagine what might make Knoppix different than XP brings to mind
that Linux talks directly to the hard drives while Windows systems go
through the BIOS so double check the BIOS IDE/Hard Drive settings.

Excellent suggestion, never occurred to me to try this However,
again, it made no difference. I tried disabling IDE DMA transfer support,
changing the addressing method and fiddling with the RAID settings.

However, one thing you might be interested in is that the errors no longer
appear to be totally static. When I was changing the hard disk settings, I
was getting IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL errors at the "Press ENTER to install
Windows XP" (The initial compulsory interaction screen), even when I
returned the setting to auto. However, when I started playing with the
fans, it waited until the formatting started before crashing, again with
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL errors. It did reboot instead of displaying any
error once.

The errors were more varied in name and consistent in occurrence than when
I started.

I do recall there was one blue screen error that gave a filename, it was
PNP<something>.SYS. I wish I'd made a note of it now, but I've only seen
it once. Might be significant. I think it was paired with an IRQL error.

Thanks

Regards,

Pan

 

[Pan]

Things reviewed sometimes turn out to be different than things
purchased. If you built a machine exactly the same, borrow its power
supply to test with; it won't take ten minutes and at least that'll
rule out a power problem.

Unfortunately I no longer have the second system here and won't be able to
get hold of it's power supply. However, if the actual Levicom units
aren't the same as the reviewed unit as seems possible, then my old power
supply should be able to run it fine in bare-bones configuration and I
should then be able to determine if the power supply is responsible or
not. My gut feeling is that it's not, but I could be wrong.

Thanks

Regards,

Pan

 

[Alan]

--

--
Alan KAKAREKA
Data Recovery Services
Customer Service Manager
phone: 786-253-8286
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)
http://www.247recovery.com
Miami, Florida, USA

Yes, I can't understand how it would boot Knoppix and yet not be able to
install Windows, very odd.

knoppix does not use HDD at all, win - use it for good.

check your hdd

 

[David Maynard]

Yes, I can't understand how it would boot Knoppix and yet not be able to
install Windows, very odd.

Unfortunately I no longer have the second system available or that would
be the obvious thing to try. But I do have another power supply available,
so I guess I'll have to try it out if I have no other luck.




I'm not sure how the case could make any difference, I have ensured that
the board is properly anchored and screwed in place with spacers, but I've
eliminated the cables by trying all three in different combinations to no
effect. I've also tried running with only one hard disk and one optical
drive.




I tried unplugging all three case fans and running the system, but it
seemed to make no significant difference. But it was worth a try.




Excellent suggestion, never occurred to me to try this However,
again, it made no difference. I tried disabling IDE DMA transfer support,
changing the addressing method and fiddling with the RAID settings.

However, one thing you might be interested in is that the errors no longer
appear to be totally static. When I was changing the hard disk settings, I
was getting IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL errors at the "Press ENTER to install
Windows XP" (The initial compulsory interaction screen), even when I
returned the setting to auto. However, when I started playing with the
fans, it waited until the formatting started before crashing, again with
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL errors. It did reboot instead of displaying any
error once.

The errors were more varied in name and consistent in occurrence than when
I started.

I do recall there was one blue screen error that gave a filename, it was
PNP<something>.SYS. I wish I'd made a note of it now, but I've only seen
it once. Might be significant. I think it was paired with an IRQL error.

Thanks

Regards,

Pan

All that suggests the power supply with the difference between Windows and
the Knoppix live CD being how much of a load they present.

 

[Pan]

All that suggests the power supply with the difference between Windows and
the Knoppix live CD being how much of a load they present.

I removed and replaced the power supply with the old one I had (which
worked perfectly in my old machine with 2 HDD's, 2 CD's and several PCI
cards). I also ran the machine in barebones configuration, with only a
graphics card (without additional power connector), 1 HDD and 1 CD drive.
Exactly the same thing appears to be happening. There is some variance in
the errors, but nothing I haven't already seen or mentioned to date. Given
the consistent of the errors and the completely different power supply,
there is no real indication that the power supply is at fault.

Thanks

Regards,

Pan

 

[Pan]

knoppix does not use HDD at all, win - use it for good.

check your hdd

Already done so. Not only can I read/write properly from both hard disks
and store substantial data on either, but SMART testing on both concluded
with no errors being found. These hard disks also worked perfectly in my
previous computer (which I also built from scratch). I'm convinced this
problem has got nothing to do with them.

Thanks

Regards,

Pan

 

[Pan]

On Wed, 01 Feb 2006 17:35:25 +0000, Pan wrote:

There is one additional thing that might be an interest. When the computer
starts up from cold, it emits a short beep, not like a POST beep from the
BIOS, but more of a very short blip. It occurs a second or two after
the initial power-on, before the BIOS screen even appears. Any idea what
might causing that, or what it might mean? It happens with both power
supplies and occurs on nearly every power-on. I did notice that it
didn't happen on one occasion. Unfortunately, the Windows installation
errors still appeared.

It doesn't happen on reset, either from keyboard, or from the reset switch.

Regards,

Pan

 

[JAD]

unplug USB devices during install

reset CMOS and turn off shadowing of video bios

 

[Pan]

unplug USB devices during install

reset CMOS and turn off shadowing of video bios

I haven't had anything in the USB ports, apart from one pendrive when I
needed to store some data I'd collected using the LiveCD. But I removed
that as soon as I finished with it.

I have also tried resetting the CMOS to no avail. There are no BIOS
options available to disable video BIOS shadowing, so I can't try this
unfortunately.

Given that it doesn't happen on every boot-up though, I don't think it has
anything to do with configuration.

Thanks

Regards,

Pan

 

[JAD]

I haven't had anything in the USB ports, apart from one pendrive when I
needed to store some data I'd collected using the LiveCD. But I removed
that as soon as I finished with it.

but was it in the usb port when installing?

I have also tried resetting the CMOS to no avail. There are no BIOS
options available to disable video BIOS shadowing, so I can't try this
unfortunately.

Given that it doesn't happen on every boot-up though, I don't think it has
anything to do with configuration.

memory timings are notorious for this stuff...BTW the board is recognizing
the cpu correctly and your not OC'n?
disabled the boot sector antivirus?

Thanks

Regards,

Pan

at this point I would guess the Hard drive, run diag from the manufacturer,
if you have swapped this, then cable or controller...switch to secondary.

 

[Terry Turnip]

When i have had these install errors in the past it has allways bee
unstable memory sticks or cd/dvd rom not reading/installing operatin
system properly
When i swapped the memory and cd/dvd roms the install went in fine

 

[Pan]

but was it in the usb port when installing?

No. As I said, I removed it as soon as I'd finished with it. But thanks
for the idea, at the moment, I'm willing to consider almost anything.

memory timings are notorious for this stuff...BTW the board is recognizing
the cpu correctly and your not OC'n?

Memory was my guess as well, but I've been unable to expose any problems.
I've heard fiddling with the voltages can solve problems like this, but as
the equipment is under warranty, I'd prefer to return it rather than work
around any problems.

The CPU is correctly detected and I'm not overclocking anything on the
system.

disabled the boot sector antivirus?

This BIOS doesn't seem to have that option. I generally disable it anyway.

at this point I would guess the Hard drive, run diag from the manufacturer,
if you have swapped this, then cable or controller...switch to secondary.

I have two different hard disks in the machine and neither is working. I
think that conclusively rules out any hard disk problems.

I have swooped cables to no avail. Switching to the secondary controller
also had no effect.

Thanks

Regards,

Pan

 

[JAD]

When i have had these install errors in the past it has allways been
unstable memory sticks or cd/dvd rom not reading/installing operating
system properly.
When i swapped the memory and cd/dvd roms the install went in fine.

I think he did do a memory swap....but right about the obvious...the
CD/drive could simply be damaged