XP Install Problems, BSOD'S, chkdsk hangs,files not copied, etc

OK, that woudl be fine under normal circumstances. Default for that CPU is 1.65 and its rare to find one that is dead on the money. Two hundreths is about as close as it gets. What I'd like you to do is go to the (I think it will be the first or second page of your BIOS) power setup and change from auto to user defined. Then (and you should see 1.65 listed as the core voltage setting) change the core voltage to 1.675. then save your settings upon exiting the BIOS and try your installation again. If you get any "file couldn't be copied" messages, post back but if not, finish your installation and then load motherboard drivers starting with the SIS drivers. Same holds true with your namesake Blue Screen - post back. I will provide further instruction if it becomes necessary and don't fear, I won't take you into a danger zone.

 

First things first, my mobo doesn't have a 4-pin female connector on it, with or without anything plugged in to it. I also looked on my memory for what voltage it asked for, and found nothing that even remotely resembled a figure for this. The only documentation I got with it was a standard "how to install your memory" leaflet.

Ok, I went to BIOS and changed the core voltage, my only options were +3%, +6%, or minus the same values. I chose +3% (which puts it to 1.6995 V by my calculations). I also removed the single primary dos partition and created a partition using the XP CD. The install seemed to run fine, no "file cannot be copied" errors, and I have installed my motherboard drivers. The only other thing I have installed is modem drivers to get this connection, the AOL software is still in its box.

I can't give you a definitive answer on blue screen, as it sometimes runs for a while (it ran all day today with no problem till about 8:00pm, IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL), sometimes hardly any time.

I hope you've found a solution, if you have can you explain how this works? I presume that, if it does work, it will work when my other drive is back in? I don't want to jump ahead though, it's softly softly from here on in!

 

Can I assume this was before and not after your reformat and clean installation?

Pete: A lot of socket A boards had 12V 4 pin connectors. Just trying to cover all bases here, because I've seen boards where they weren't hooked up and I probably don't need to tell you what happens when they aren't.



Edit: Dumb question on my part re: Time of last Blue Screen - there's a 7 hour time difference between us so it would have to be before last reformat and install.

 

Pete: Hot here too & we lost the upstairs air conditioning last night. Slept downstairs in the den.

bluescreenpeter75 : OK, I know you are impatient and I don't blame you - you've done a great job of "holding those horses" and slowing down. I think your larger drive is more than likely to have abunch of software errors on it so when you do get around to it, who knows whats going to happen. However, in the interest of getting you back to some degree of normalcy, I'm ready to see whether or not that hound can hunt. Leaving the small clean drive in the machine, go to your power settings (screen saver, power, advanced - all that stuff - and turn off hibernation), set your power to never re: turn off hard drives and then follow this link. Download and run this puppy and take a break for a good half hour if it continues running and then close the program. Then go do whatever but start it again before you go to bed and check it in the morning. Turn it off its still running and let us know if you have a computer or if you have a problem. I'll explain everything later if we are lucky.

 

bluescreenpeter75, I like it. Think I might have to adopt that name until this is all sorted out!

I have run the test for 29 mins, I have to go to work now, but it's done a 5 min CPU heat up, a 9 min Whetstone test and 2 x 1 min whetstone, 2 x 1 min MMX test and one 7 minute MMX. It's now back to a 9 min Whetstone.

I'm going to set it going again and go to work now, I won't have results till about 9.5 hours time.

Speak later

 

bluepeter75 - don't get too comfortable with that alias ......

Based on the first 29 minutes, it looks like (with the current hardware configuration) your computer is almost [SIZE= "4"]GOOD TO GO ....[/SIZE] I'll hold my official congratulations until you get home from work and we get another reading.

Regards,

 

Just when I've changed all my headed stationery!

I hope you're right, if you are I'm dead impressed. If so, I take it I'll be running ok when I get home, churning along on it's test? Will you be available for an update in about 4 hours time (I don't do time differences!)?

My temptation would be to plug everything back in but I WILL NOT do anything else without advice.

 

Ok, I'm home from work now. When I came in, my computer was switched off, my wife says it ran for "at least half an hour" then switched itself off, no BSOD. I tried the power button on my case, but it wouldn't come on. I switched it off and on at the plug, and powered up as normal (using button on case). I didn't think to watch and see if it ran chkdsk, but I don't think so as it booted up too quick (I heard Windows start). There are no 'recovered from...' errors.

I'll run it again now, I have to take my baby for a check-up, back in about an hour.

 

OK, couple of ways to interpret this and we'll have to check a couple of settings. Thats a pretty intense little torture test so its possible we hit a heat threshold causing a shutdown. We could also have a couple of items that temporarily need to be set to never off but I'll await your return from the doctor. As you might have already concluded, the fact that you made it for 29 minutes without any evidence of errors gave me the confidence necessary to proclaim a Good to Go victory. I hope that holds up but we're pretty darn close if not already there. I have a couple of suggestions depending on what we see next and I'll have a couple of questions for you upon your return.

 

Ok, I'm back, sorry I took so long. I set the test going again before I went, and it has been running since (2h 7 mins at the moment) with no apparent problems. Not really sure what happened this morning but there is a 9 month old baby in the house (hmmmm...?) who is quite capable of reaching the power switch if left unattended. This may not be the case though, do you think it's worth exploring the settings you mention? One question, if the voltage is the cause of the problems, why was it stable before? Or is the voltage a work around to bypass the actual cause? (Sorry, that was two questions )

 

bluepeter75 aka (formerly) bluescreenpeter75:

OK Dad, you can terminate that program and have at it. If you have any more problems, we'll tackle them one at a time but your current configuration is rock solid and you no longer have a hardware problem. If you want to try things like your ATI card or whatever, feel free to do so but remember - one step at a time.

One thing you might want to check either in your BIOS or using Everest is to look at your temperatures again. Longer term, and we can save it for another day, you may want to upgrade to a better heatsink fan for your CPU and use artic silver thermal paste. I'd also encourage you to look into a couple of case fans - one exhast and one intake and my recommendation is something like CoolerMaster under 27db. Ideally, you want to get that temperature down a bit to remain rock solid regardless of what you are doing. You can also get some canned air and make sure your current heatsink is free of dust and other particulates.

All we did after getting some decent memory in there was to bump the core voltage (voltage to the CPU) slightly to ensure that you would be getting enough power to the processor at all times. Sometimes there is enough variance to cause a low voltage problem that impacts read or write errors. As a caution, that ATI video card (especially at startup) will pull a heavy power load and this may cause you additional problems - I think we are OK but talk is cheap - it takes money to buy whiskey so lets try it and find out. I know you said you just replaced the power supply but this is where a quality PSU can make a big difference in machine performance. Athlon socket A's draw some juice and although the Barton core isn't as bad as the thoroughbreds and thunderbirds were, it never hurts to have a little extra.

I hope all goes well for you and I have enjoyed working with you. Glad it looks like we accomplished something and still left enough money in the bank that you can get that college fund started for your daughter.

Regards,


Edit: And, Congratulations - you did a heck of a job and are a tribute to all - you listened well, followed instructions and used your own intuition to resolve your own problem. My hats off to you and I will tip a single malt in your honor tonight.

 

Rockster2U - I salute you.

I will try plugging things back in now - one at a time - with this small clean drive installed, see how it goes. Assuming everything goes ok, I will plug the Maxtor 120Gb drive back in, so look out for a new thread in the 'software' section!

I checked BIOS, CPU temp 62C, mobo 30C after 3.5 hours of running that testing program. A bit high but it coped, but I will definitely look at getting some better cooling.

I thank you sincerely for sticking with this for so long, your knowledge and experience are phenomenal, and without them I would have a fairly expensive computer sized brick in my house! I cannot thank you enough for solving this problem for me, you're a legend!

Also thanks to mattman, PeteC, Arie and kiwicolin (thanks for the XP disk mate), for your contributions, they have all been helpful and informative at all stages of this problem.

To you all, I have perversely enjoyed this, and have learned a great deal, so thanks again.

p.s. It might be a small token, but I'm off to become a contributing member of this site. I have tried the same thing on other sites and got no farther than a few posts in and everyone has given up. (kiwicolin, thanks for pointing me in this direction - you were right, they are good!)

 

I think anyone who reads through this thread will understand that it was a combined wealth of knowledge from several individuals that got bluepeter75 running - thats what makes this board what it is. And, perhaps one of the big differences in this thread compared to some others is that ol' bluescreenpeter himself was an exceptional listener, questioner, do'er and thinker.

 

And the last post on this thread: a quick update.

I have reinstalled all IDE drives (including 120Gb Maxtor), floppy drive and graphics card (not dial-up modem though, it's staying out, I don't use it) with no problems, everything is running smoothly. Edit: It even ran sfc /scannow without a problem. I am having a slight problem installing my new sound card, but I'm not even going to post what the problem is because I spent zero time trying to solve it, and should be able to solve it myself after work today. (Besides, I think you guys have done enough listening to and solving my problems). I think this is quite a straightforward problem though, so should be easy enough.

Thanks again everybody, it's GREAT to have a stable system again.