Windows XP SP2 installation hangs on restart

[Anthony Travis]

I've built a PC from scratch and am installing a new copy of XP SP2.

It goes through the setup okay until the first automatic reboot. At this
point, I get the XP spalsh screen and then the machine hangs with a black
screen.

I have deleted the partition and reinstalled, but keep getting the same
problem. have also tried swapping video card with one I know that works, and
swapping out memory too.

I can boot into safe mode, but this si no use as it appears to me that the
problem lies with an incomplete installation.

I tried to access the KB Article entitled "Computer Stops Responding After
It Restarts During Windows XP Setup" but it's not available.

I suspected the problem might be with the VGA drivers (have tried swapping
video card with one I know works), and have read the article here
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324764/en-us .

However, I can't get Recovery Console to start up when I boot from the CD.

Am now at tearing hair out stage. Any ideas/help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Andrew Leith]

I've built a PC from scratch and am installing a new copy of XP SP2.

It goes through the setup okay until the first automatic reboot. At this
point, I get the XP spalsh screen and then the machine hangs with a black
screen.

I have deleted the partition and reinstalled, but keep getting the same
problem. have also tried swapping video card with one I know that works, and
swapping out memory too.

I can boot into safe mode, but this si no use as it appears to me that the
problem lies with an incomplete installation.

I tried to access the KB Article entitled "Computer Stops Responding After
It Restarts During Windows XP Setup" but it's not available.

I suspected the problem might be with the VGA drivers (have tried swapping
video card with one I know works), and have read the article here
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324764/en-us .

However, I can't get Recovery Console to start up when I boot from the CD.

Am now at tearing hair out stage. Any ideas/help would be greatly appreciated!

Can you give us more info. re your system?

Motherboard, memory, cpu, power supply, hd, graphics card and anything
else you can think of. Is it a stock Microsoft CD-ROM or a custom job?

Regards,

Andrew Leith.

 

[Anthony Travis]

Hi Andrew

System details are as follows:

Mobo; MSI Neo2 875P F1S2R
Processor; Intel P4 3.2 Ghz 800mhz FSB 1mb L2 cache
Memory - Crucial 3200 - 2x 1gb
Video - Matrox Millenium P650 Dual DVI passively cooled - Driver version
1.6.1.2
PSU - Seasonic S12 500W
+3.3V: 30A / +5.0V: 30A
+3.3V & +5.5V Combined: 180W
+12V1: 17A / +12V2: 16A
Total: 500W
LG DVD RW IDE1
LG DVD RW IDE2
Samsung Spinpoint 250 GB SATA 1
Samsung Spinpoint 250 GB SATA 2

The CD is a brand new MS Win XP Professional (SP2) retail box (not upgrade)
that I just opened yesterday

Hope this helps

 

[Anthony Travis]

Have also tried to run Recovery Console (as per KB article "Problems when
Windows XP tries to load the Agp440.sys service" to disable possible
incompatible motherboard chipset video driver during setup) from the CD, but
I don't get a "welcome to setup" screen when I boot from the CD.

 

[Andrew Leith]

Have also tried to run Recovery Console (as per KB article "Problems when
Windows XP tries to load the Agp440.sys service" to disable possible
incompatible motherboard chipset video driver during setup) from the CD, but
I don't get a "welcome to setup" screen when I boot from the CD.

OK,

first I'd like to ask you if you've done a BIOS flash on the
motherboard, if you've never done this then try to do a hard reset on
the BIOS. Unplug all power and follow MSI's instructions on resetting
the BIOS. I wouldn't recommend flashing to a new BIOS until this problem
is resolved. While you're in the there it wouldn't hurt to double check
the seating of any and all cards. Your Spinpoint hard drives could be
SATA-2 drives (SATA-300), if so, make sure the compatibility jumper is
installed to make the drives 150 compatible.

Last but not least, this motherboard only supports AGP 3.0, which means
only 1.5 volt, 4x and 8x cards will work. If your card supports AGP 2x
then I'm afraid your out of luck. A new video card is in order.

Regards,

Andrew Leith.

 

[Anthony Travis]

OK,

first I'd like to ask you if you've done a BIOS flash on the
motherboard, if you've never done this then try to do a hard reset on
the BIOS. Unplug all power and follow MSI's instructions on resetting
the BIOS. I wouldn't recommend flashing to a new BIOS until this problem
is resolved. While you're in the there it wouldn't hurt to double check
the seating of any and all cards. Your Spinpoint hard drives could be
SATA-2 drives (SATA-300), if so, make sure the compatibility jumper is
installed to make the drives 150 compatible.

Last but not least, this motherboard only supports AGP 3.0, which means
only 1.5 volt, 4x and 8x cards will work. If your card supports AGP 2x
then I'm afraid your out of luck. A new video card is in order.

Regards,

Andrew Leith.

Hi Andrew

Thanks for your reply.

I haven't flashed the BIOS on this motherboard.

Not quite sure what you mean by a hard reset, do you mean clearing the CMOS
using the jumper? If this is what you mean, yes I have done that - got an
error message when I first started it all up to say CMOS settings were wrong.
I then cleared the CMOS (with all power disconnected) and made the settings
in the BIOS according to the manual.

However, if you mean something else (flashing the BIOS from a floppy?) I
haven't done this.

I've had all the cards and memory out of their slots to check they're
seating, and swapped the video card for one I know works (it's in my other
machine, which also has an MSI 875 mobo, but version 1 not two).

You're right about the SATA drives - they're SATA-300. I went and bought
some pin jumpers, and set them to SATA-150, but unfortunately this didn't
make any difference. The installation still hangs at the system restart.

Mightit be an issue with only having SATA disks? Or might it be the type of
video card?

i'd be very interested to hear your further thoughts.

Best wishes

Tony Travis

 

[Andrew Leith]

Hi Andrew

Thanks for your reply.

I haven't flashed the BIOS on this motherboard.

Not quite sure what you mean by a hard reset, do you mean clearing the CMOS
using the jumper? If this is what you mean, yes I have done that - got an
error message when I first started it all up to say CMOS settings were wrong.
I then cleared the CMOS (with all power disconnected) and made the settings
in the BIOS according to the manual.

However, if you mean something else (flashing the BIOS from a floppy?) I
haven't done this.

I've had all the cards and memory out of their slots to check they're
seating, and swapped the video card for one I know works (it's in my other
machine, which also has an MSI 875 mobo, but version 1 not two).

You're right about the SATA drives - they're SATA-300. I went and bought
some pin jumpers, and set them to SATA-150, but unfortunately this didn't
make any difference. The installation still hangs at the system restart.

Mightit be an issue with only having SATA disks? Or might it be the type of
video card?

i'd be very interested to hear your further thoughts.

Best wishes

Tony Travis

Hi Anthony,

well I did check on the Matrox site and hence the info. in my last post,
re. your video card. Did you read the end of my post?

Here's the web page for your motherboard:
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=875P_NEO-FIS2R&class=mb

Here's the download site for your motherboard:
http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=proddesc&prod_no=544&maincat_no=1&cat2_no=170&cat3_no=4

Here's the download site for your video card:
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/corpo/support/drivers/home.php

I would recommend that you first try stripping your system to a bare
minimum. In other words remove every card you can from the system except
for you video card. If you've gotten creative with your BIOS settings
return them to default. Disable any onboard peripherals that you're not
using. If you want to try a BIOS flash, I'd recommend that you remove
the Matrox and install some video card that will boot up normally. Can
you borrow some old PCI card? You can flash with an AGP as well, the
real issue is a having card that will boot properly. BTW, what do you
have connected to your video card.? DVI or VGA with adapter(s)? One
monitor would be the way to go until it's working.

Even though you haven't seen an improvement, you should leave the
jumpers on your hard drives.

Let me know.

Andrew Leith.

 

[Andrew Leith]

Anthony,

a couple more things, when you swapped video cards was it with an identical
card?

Try turning off Legacy USB support in you BIOS, and make sure that your
optical drives (jumpers) are configured properly, Master at the end of the
cable. Don't use CS (Cable Select).

I hate to say this, but one of the reasons this can happen is that some of
the necessary boot file on the HD have become corrupted. You may want to try
another install, now that you have the drives jumpered for 150. BTW, are
installing in RAID mode?

Regards,

Andrew.

 

[Anthony Travis]

Thanks for your reply Andrew.

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, for some reason I have been
unable to access the forums.

I will try what you suggest and also try to find another video card - the
one I used was the same model.

Will get back to let you know how I get on.

Thanks again.

Best wishes

Anthony

 

[Anthony Travis]

Hi Andrew

First of all a big thank you for your help and advice.

I couldn't find my old VGA card, so persevered with an extremely stripped
down system and all SATA drives disconnected.

The problem eventually seemed to be with the default VGA driver Windows was
using on restart; the output to the screen was switching off after the
restart, and I knew something was still going on because I could now hear the
IDE drive I was using (temporarily - to discount SATA problems) chattering
away.

At the restart during installation, I caught the machine and put it into
Safe/VGA mode. I was then able to load the latest drivers for the video card,
which enabled me to adjust the resolution to the panel's native setting
without it switching off (which it did if I tried to alter the resolution via
display properties before I managed to instal a driver - which confirmed the
diagnosis) .

Windows is now installed and working on the SATA disk, complete with an SP3
update.

Thanks again for takling the time to help me.

 

[Andrew Leith]

Anthony,

happy to be of service. Glad you got things going.

Best of luck.

Andrew.