XP Pro install is stopping at 29%...

[John Doe]

Define "proper load"?

Provide the citations.

If you're right, you should submit your story to electronics
publications, instead of just posting to USENET some sort of
personal experience with some unknown brands of mainboards and some
unknown test equipment under some unknown circumstances. If true,
what you're saying deserves a better telling and better recognition.

Good luck.

 

[Bill Eversole]

I have to believe it is the cpu at this point ... either that or two
bad mobos (asus P4PE BP and Intel D845EBG2).

RATS!!! Do I buy a new socket 478 cpu just to test this problem???

What were the symptoms of the Asus MB you are replacing? Similar?

It seems somewhat of a coincidence that both MB's are bad. I agree
that the CPU is the more likely culprit. Find a used 478 CPU to test
for confirmation.

Bill

 

[Bill]

What were the symptoms of the Asus MB you are replacing? Similar?

It seems somewhat of a coincidence that both MB's are bad. I agree that
the CPU is the more likely culprit. Find a used 478 CPU to test for
confirmation.

Bill

Not to throw another wrench in this already long post, but I had a similar
problem to this a few months ago, and believe it or not the cause was the
Northbridge chip on the motherboard. After replacing almost every part of
the computer, I grabbed the northbridge chip and it was WAY hot. I rigged
a huge heatsink and fan onto it and was able to get XP to finish the
install. But the board only lasted a few more days after that.

Later,
BillP

 

[Mill]

It was the video card. The PCI card was dying. I put in
an AGP GeForce FX 5200 and XP installed right away!!!!\

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Victory dance around chair!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry for being so slow to get back to everyone. I got sick.
Just now well enough to put in the new video card and try it.

 

[Mill]

What were the symptoms of the Asus MB you are replacing? Similar?

That was my thinking Bill. But thank goodness it was the video card which
was also common to both situations.

 

[John Doe]

It was the video card. The PCI card was dying. I put in an AGP
GeForce FX 5200 and XP installed right away!!!!\

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Victory dance around chair!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry for being so slow to get back to everyone.

Did replacing the BIOS battery keep your boot priority settings on
reboot?

 

[Mill]

Did replacing the BIOS battery keep your boot priority settings on
reboot?

Hi John, I will check tomorrow.... oh what the heck, I will do a restart
right now.
Okay, in setup and headed to boot,....
NO, it did not. Very strange. To what do you attribute that????

 

[John Doe]

Hi John, I will check tomorrow.... oh what the heck, I will do a
restart right now.
Okay, in setup and headed to boot,....
NO, it did not. Very strange. To what do you attribute that????

Maybe that boot sequence isn't acceptable for some reason, maybe
according to the cable arrangement or whatever. I dunno. A low
battery sounded like a lot better lead.

I guess it would be a separate problem, but conceivably how the BIOS
handled the old video card could also be the cause for failure.
That's easy to test by trying the video card on another system, for
what it's worth. I'm sure you know, but there are also several video
card related settings in the typical PC BIOS. A garbled screen can
have other causes besides a failing chip.

If it's not the video card, and if it's not some BIOS setting (or
maybe even if it is), this would be a good example of how very
complicated setting up a system can be.

Get well and have fun.

 

[Mill]

Maybe that boot sequence isn't acceptable for some reason, maybe
according to the cable arrangement or whatever. I dunno. A low
battery sounded like a lot better lead.

I guess it would be a separate problem, but conceivably how the BIOS
handled the old video card could also be the cause for failure.
That's easy to test by trying the video card on another system, for
what it's worth. I'm sure you know, but there are also several video
card related settings in the typical PC BIOS. A garbled screen can
have other causes besides a failing chip.

If it's not the video card, and if it's not some BIOS setting (or
maybe even if it is), this would be a good example of how very
complicated setting up a system can be.

I found the answer for you John. In the BIOS setup, under the Boot tab,
the Boot sequence offers three choices, 1 Removable 2, Hard Drive, 3 CD Rom.
I had been simply changing 1 to CD Rom by space bar, then cursor to CD Rom
choice. BUT,.... there is a little bug in the software. If you change the
priority that
way, it won't retain the change. Ha!! You must disable 1 and then change
the Hard
Drive choice to CD Rom. It will then retain the change.

Life is always more complicated when there are two problems acting together.
Doctors
face that problem often. In my situation, the Asus mobo and the PCI video
card both
died. I would normally think the video card killed the mobo but of course,
when I moved
the video card to the new mobo, it worked. So, who knows. The Asus mobo
now says
BIOS checksum error.

But the video card would not let me complete my XP Pro installation on the
new mobo.
And by replacing the video card, I was able to regain joy. This problem was
really
bothering me so I the relief is HUGE!!!

Many thanks to all who stayed with me through a seemingly endless thread.
Maybe we
all learned something.