Getting a strange error on my new system (Help!)

[BleedTheFreak]

Yesterday I assembled a new PC for my cousin, here are the general parts:

A8N-E w/ Athalon 64 3800+ x2 core
eVGA 7800 GT PCIe
512mb (x2) dual channel PC3200
80 GB SATA Western Digital
Lite On DVD/CD burner
Windows XP Pro (error happened in XP 64 bit edition as well)

It started with the .exe install for the Call of Duty 2 demo. I wanted to see how screaming this would be, but the download failed with an Install Shield error. So did the 3dMark2006 install. Odd.

Looking the errors up it looks like I need to rename the Install Shield folder and try again. No go. Hell, I created a brand new admin account and logged in and still got the error. Tried in safe mood as well. In fact, I get this error on any installation I try to run that seems to involve self-extracting files.

I can get this error if I try to install something that I know to fail immediately after I install XP Pro SP1. I mean, right after the first boot up to the desktop. I get it after I do all my hardware driver updates that came with the motherboard, the 1.2.2.2 dual core processor upgrade, and the newest NVidia drivers, as well as all the MS updates for the OS.

I can install some things, like Nero, Adobe Reader 7, WinZIP9, but I don't think they were self-extracting anything.

Does anyone have any ideas what could be causing this? A BIOS setting? The processor cores being out of synch or anything?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I'm really banging my head against the wall on this one.

Thanks,
Scott

EDIT: Another piece of the puzzle I had forgotten, it also seemed like every .zip file I pulled down would be corrupted or have a bad CRC table. If I used WinZIP9 to create a zip it would be fine, and there was one file I was able to download from the internet and extract successfully, but most of them didn't work. Could be un-related, but it's awful suspicious.

 

[MadModMike]

Yesterday I assembled a new PC for my cousin, here are the general parts:

A8N-E w/ Athalon 64 3800+ x2 core
eVGA 7800 GT PCIe
512mb (x2) dual channel PC3200
80 GB SATA Western Digital
Lite On DVD/CD burner
Windows XP Pro (error happened in XP 64 bit edition as well)

It started with the .exe install for the Call of Duty 2 demo. I wanted to see how screaming this would be, but the download failed with an Install Shield error. So did the 3dMark2006 install. Odd.

Looking the errors up it looks like I need to rename the Install Shield folder and try again. No go. Hell, I created a brand new admin account and logged in and still got the error. Tried in safe mood as well. In fact, I get this error on any installation I try to run that seems to involve self-extracting files.

I can get this error if I try to install something that I know to fail immediately after I install XP Pro SP1. I mean, right after the first boot up to the desktop. I get it after I do all my hardware driver updates that came with the motherboard, the 1.2.2.2 dual core processor upgrade, and the newest NVidia drivers, as well as all the MS updates for the OS.

I can install some things, like Nero, Adobe Reader 7, WinZIP9, but I don't think they were self-extracting anything.

Does anyone have any ideas what could be causing this? A BIOS setting? The processor cores being out of synch or anything?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I'm really banging my head against the wall on this one.

Thanks,
Scott

EDIT: Another piece of the puzzle I had forgotten, it also seemed like every .zip file I pulled down would be corrupted or have a bad CRC table. If I used WinZIP9 to create a zip it would be fine, and there was one file I was able to download from the internet and extract successfully, but most of them didn't work. Could be un-related, but it's awful suspicious.

Let's knock some things it can't be out:

1) Not the CPU's being async
2) Not likely a RAM error
3) Not likely a GPU error
4) Not OS since you said you've done multiple installs
5) Not probable to be DVD-RW


Possibilities:

1) Hard Drive
2) Motherboard

Try a different Hard Drive or plugging the hard drive into a different port.

~~Mad Mod Mike, pimpin' the world 1 rig at a time

 

[BleedTheFreak]

Let's knock some things it can't be out:

1) Not the CPU's being async
2) Not likely a RAM error
3) Not likely a GPU error
4) Not OS since you said you've done multiple installs
5) Not probable to be DVD-RW


Possibilities:

1) Hard Drive
2) Motherboard

Try a different Hard Drive or plugging the hard drive into a different port.

~~Mad Mod Mike, pimpin' the world 1 rig at a time

Okay, I did try a different SATA port but that didn't work. Next up was to try a new hard drive, which I did. I have a 250GB Maxtor here in the office, I formatted and installed XP Pro on it and used the same install FEAR SP Demo I'd been trying, still a fail on the install.

Most things I did try to install do work (on the first hard drive) like Google Mail Notifier, iTunes, Spybot, Ad-Aware, and Bit Comet 0.6, all of which I installed so I could have a smaller file to test with. But so many other things aren't working, like anything with InstallShield I guess. I even copied the installshield folder from my other (working!) PC and overwrote the folder on the new one but still get that error.

I thought about updating BIOS but I didn't see anything in the release notes about my issues. I do have a newerver version of the SATA drivers for this hard drive, maybe I'll re-install the OS with those, and grab a new copy of the FEAR SP Demo from my home and make double sure it works on that PC and try it again. 3dMark2006 as well, that one didn't work either.

Crazy.

 

[swifty_morgan]

Did you go into the device manager and see what updates you are missing

Also, don't install sevice pack 1, install sevice pack2

Did you go to microsoft update and get other things you may need to get system up and running right

You may need to install net framework 1.1, and directx 9c to get games to work properly.


Are you absolutely sure you didn't forget to install some kind of driver off the disc that came with your motherboard.

I don't think it's a hardware problem, I think it's "operator error" ........

When you try to install new items, are you turning off your antivirus and anti spyware apps.

Keep pluggin at it...let us know..............

Try a different driver for the chipset..... newer not always better.

 

[BleedTheFreak]

Did you go into the device manager and see what updates you are missing

Also, don't install sevice pack 1, install sevice pack2

Did you go to microsoft update and get other things you may need to get system up and running right

You may need to install net framework 1.1, and directx 9c to get games to work properly.


Are you absolutely sure you didn't forget to install some kind of driver off the disc that came with your motherboard.

I don't think it's a hardware problem, I think it's "operator error" ........

When you try to install new items, are you turning off your antivirus and anti spyware apps.

Keep pluggin at it...let us know..............

Try a different driver for the chipset..... newer not always better.

The installof XP I have is SP1. The very firs time I ran into this error I had (as I usually do) done the SP2 update then all the rest of the critical and optional updates, all 49 of them (including dot net 1.1 and 2.0 and dx9c). Then I installed all the drivers off the mobo CD and the video drivers of Nvidias web site (81.98). Then I tried installing various things and started getting the error.

I don't disagree about operator error, since it's such an obscure problem but I'm using pretty common hardware.

No anti-virus or spyware is running. I get this problem both after a fresh virgin install AND after updating everything.

I did find newer drivers on the ASUS page for the hard drive, I'll try those.

 

[BleedTheFreak]

I got it.

I realized what was happening when, this morning, I had brought a freshly downloaded (and tested) copy of the same software I was getting errors with. I downloaded them onto my old computer, ran them no problem. Put them on the new computer... ran them no problem.

Ah ha. So it wasn't the hard drive, it was (indirectly) the motherboard. I suspect a problem with the onboard NIC card. Looking back at the list all the things that did not work DID have a strong common theme: I had downloaded them all from the internet on the new PC. The things that worked, I had brought over on my thumbdrive from previous computer setups.

I put a new NIC card in and will test this theory by downloading the FEAR SP demo onto this new machine with the 3COM nic rather than the onboard one. The motherboard had the drivers installed for the chipset that came with the disk, which I assume is what most folks are running with no problem, so I suspect an actual hardware error. I think the NIC is not able to negotiate the last few bits of some downloads, or something like that causing a CRC checksum error.

I'll keep everyone posted, thanks for the replies and feedback!

 

[TabrisDarkPeace]

Your RAM might be bad, overclocked, or misconfigured

Run MemTest86 or 86+ on your system for 3 full extended passes.

Any error counts above zero, then try different RAM.

Confirm RAM is installed correctly (eg: dual-channel, vs two DIMMs working in single channel as installed in wrong slots).

Confirm memory timings are correct, force 2 CMD RATE in BIOS and run tests to check if zero errors occur. (May just be config).

Tip: If NICs go faulty you can't download 100 MB without it aborting, but yes they also use CRC32 at a hardware level. The ZIPs going corrupt but downloading OK would point towards RAM and not the NIC, this is a common misconception and often misdiagnosed.

 

[Hawkeye22]

If you installed the NV Firewall/ActiveArmor, try uninstalling it. It's been know to cause issues with corrupting data over the onboard NIC.