Windows 8 fails to get past splash screen.

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Antony Woolmer

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Jul 1, 2013
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After much tinkering around in my BIOS I finally got a Windows installation DVD to load past the splash screen/starting windows part and managed to install it to my 150GB IDE hard drive. However here comes the problem, no matter which version of windows I install it hangs on the splash screen. In XP it couldn't load MUP.SYS, in 7 it couldn't load CLASSPNY.SYS and in Windows 8 and 8.1, well I don't have a clue. So I'm assuming it must be something in my BIOS that needs changing because I did have Windows 7 working on this system prior to resetting the BIOS to optimised defaults after installing a new DVD drive.
Any help would be appreciated. It should be noted I have Ubuntu running on an 80GB hard drive, so Windows doesn't like something.
It appears that Windows 7 still doesn't get past the "Starting Windows" splash screen right at the beginning of setup, but both Windows 8 and 8.1 do.

SYSTEM SPECS:
Motherboard: MSI K8N SLI Platinum (MS-7100)
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (2.2GHz)
RAM: 3GB (2x1GB + 2x512MB)
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GT 220
HDDs: Samsung 150GB IDE and IBM 90GB IDE (contains ubuntu)
BIOS: Phoenix AwardBIOS (latest supported version)
PSU: Coolermaster 700W
PCI: USB x 2 and Sound Card

If any BIOS info is needed then let me know, I can supply info.
 
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kewlguy239

kewlguy239

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Sep 9, 2012
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the main issue seems that you are putting new software onto VERY old hardware. every new windows installation puts generic drivers into the system, and when it boots you have to put the chipset, audio, video, and lan drivers in. im willing to bet that windows 7 and 8's generic drivers aren't compatible with this old hardware. IDE is way old, and I'm surprised you even have a working drive at this point as I believe the last manufactured (that isn't refurb) IDE drive was made in 2004. I would recommend getting a new SATA hard drive, if your motherboard supports it. the best solution is to get a whole new system, to be honest. old hardware doesn't like new software, new hardware doesn't like old software.
 
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Antony Woolmer

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Jul 1, 2013
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10,510
I did have Windows 7 running stable on this hardware before, in fact it ran quite smooth, and I successfully had Windows 8 enterprise edition running on it for 3 months. The problem came when I reset the BIOS and now it doesn't work. If I even so much as enable UDMA mode on the IDE drives it causes my entire system to hang. If there's no way for me to configure the BIOS to install any version of Windows/any method that doesn't require a hardware change than I'm just going to build a new system (this one is very old but it's been functioning well for the past 9-ish years).
 
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kewlguy239

kewlguy239

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Sep 9, 2012
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its possible the installations need the IDE bus driver from the original mobo disc in order to install correctly. also did you perform a bios reset (setting mobo to factory shipped bios version) or did you update it? a reset might have removed a vital update that allowed the mobo to work with those operating systems. if it was an update, the update might have been corrupt.
 
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Antony Woolmer

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Jul 1, 2013
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10,510


I never thought of that, now I just need to find the disc... I performed a CMOS reset after restoring failsafe defaults (reset CMOS to try and solve a different issue). What confuses me is that Windows installs, it just won't boot. It finishes the installation but then just hangs on the start screen. I'll check what version my BIOS is on, and if it's got an update I'll flash the update, although I don't recall doing that before, not sure though. Right now I'm willing to try anything!
 
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Antony Woolmer

Honorable
Jul 1, 2013
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10,510
I just updated the BIOS (from 3.0 to 3.12) and suddenly there were much fewer options. It appears that enabling DMA mode causes the system to hang verifying DMA pool data and disabling it causes Windows to hang on "Starting Windows" after loading the files. So I imagine this is the culprit. I'm not sure how to work around this however.
 
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