Please Help!! Very Frustrated!

[joe_967]

I built a new system, everything went together well, here's my problem.

I have an OEM version of windows xp home, and once it does a few things and gets to a screen which says something like "examining 194098 MB on disc on bus 0 on atapi" anyway, the hard drive light is on, but not flickering, and nothing is moving on the screen, I'm not sure its crashed, but I'm pretty sure it is. Is this a hard drive problem? What should I do? I've formatted it using the cmd prompt on this new pc, but it didn't help? This was my first build, temps looked good, and etc. No idea! Please help me!

A8N-SLI
2x512 ocz
BFG 7800 gtx
maxtor 200g sata 2
samsung dvd rom
amd 3700+

 

[pscowboy]

Your Maxtor drive should have come with a cd, (or at least a floppy) containing PowerMax diagnostics. Run their utilities to verify the hard drive.

But I'm assuming if the format proceeded, and completed, and did not report any problems, then the hd is okay. If the format did not go, you may have a SATA connection issue. Check your Maxtor documentation carefully to make sure you have done this right. Nearly half the posts in the Hard Drive section are about SATA drive problems.

 

[joe_967]

I bought it oem, so no cd's came with it, what should I do? And yes I just formatted using the very pc I'm havng problems with using the same windows cd booting to cmd prompt. I wanna cry, I was so excited about this system.

 

[pscowboy]

Go to a friends' house, and use his (her) comp to download PowerMax from Maxtors' web site. Also download any info about SATA setup so you can learn for yourself. Follow the instructions to create the floppy. (Hope you have a floppy drive.) If not, see if they have a file to create a bootable cd disc with their utility on it. Hope your friend has a burner.

You have to find out if your hd is okay before you can proceed.

You didn't answer the question as to whether the format ran okay. Nor, did you answer the question about the SATA connection.

If you received no documentation on any piece of hardware, why did you buy that way with your inexperience???

 

[joe_967]

ok I changed the sata port that I had the drive attached to and it didn't freeze at the inspecting hardware part, but on the first restart it froze at the windows xp screen, any suggestions?

Thr format went fine by the way.

Ok, I now know I need to install drivers to get a sata drive to work, fine I'm qa newb, I know, I don't have a floppy drive though, is there a way to use a cd, or should I go out and buy a floppy drive, they're not too expensive.

And finally, once I figure out what to do with the cd or floppy, what other problems with sata should I look out for?

 

[pscowboy]

No way to use a cd. You must install the SATA drivers at F6 via the floppy drive.

Happy to see that you are doing some reading, and picking up stuff. Good work!!!!!!!!!!!!

Go out and buy that floppy drive; install it; feed the XP installation the drivers at F6, and I'd be willing to bet you will get your desktop up & running.

There should be no other problems other than, do you have the drivers?
Or, do you know how to get them?

 

[joe_967]

Once I put in the cd in and boot off of it, it gives me 9 options to making the disk, I'm guessing its the second option named :make sil3114 32bit sata/raid driver disk" am I right, I only ask b/c I have no idea what the "sil3114" stands for.

the other options are either 64 bit, or options for raid drivers.

Are the problems I'm running into normal, considering of course I didn't do the whole f6 thing. Is there anything else anyone can forsee me having problems with with my setup?

 

[pscowboy]

The reference to sil is the SATA port. Yes, that is the option to choose.

Make the diskette, and you're good to go.

One caution though; format the floppy first to make sure it has no bad spots. You must use a "clean" disk.

 

[joe_967]

is it true when people say that nforce 4 MB and diamondmax sata HD's are having problems?

 

[pscowboy]

Those forum postings are not a condemnation of those two products. Those problems are most likely 1% to 3% of those sold. A lot of those guys are overclocking; and some others are just inexperienced & suffer through setups. Don't create a mountain yet.

 

[joe_967]

well I did the f6 thing, it will either stick at the examining stage of setup unless I plug the sata cable into sata 2 port, and even when I do that it crashes at the windows splash screen again, with the blue bar still moving. I give up, is there anything I can do? I just want to get this pc running.

 

[joe_967]

OK, new update, I got windows to install, installed the motherboard drivers disc once I got into it, and now it hangs on the windows splash screen every time. On trying to enter safe mode it stops at Mup.sys. What is the problem?

 

[joe_967]

I'm in windows, if I install the ide driver from the a8n-sli cd it won't let the pc boot. The pc will only boot from power on, and there is an uknown device listed in the device manager. Are these related or separate issues, thanks for the help.

 

[pscowboy]

Now that you've amassed this great experience, I want you to try this:

Wipe the drive, and start over. You know how to do everything.

When you get your desktop, FORGET ABOUT THE MOBO DRIVERS. You have a SATA hd; IDE drivers will corrupt the HAL.

Unless you have a compelling reason to install a particular driver, the native drivers in XP will do fine.

 

[joe_967]

wow I don't know if I could take that, the only reason I even got past all the crashing was because I kept switching where the Sata cable was plugged in, and somehow it got past the examining phase. Wipe everything huh? lol. I'm still stressing about the first install. Do you think it will help? It seems like windows is running fine other than not restarting and the unknown device. I'm surfing the net and everything on it atm.


Edit: I did a windows update and that unkown device says it working properly even though its unkown, seems all I need to figure out is the restart problem.

 

[KennyG]

Once you get into windows, is it stable? Or are you getting any error messages?

 

[joe_967]

Thanks to the help of some great people on this forum, I have everything working almost perfectly. All hardware is AOK and the system is stable.

I cannot reboot however. I have to physically power off and on, no waiting needed to boot into windows. I have no temp problems, I have the current bios loded now, and all drivers are up to date.

As soon as the screen after the a8n-sli splash is gone, so I see my drives and the info on irq or something like that, the next screen is blank, and it hangs there. I have never had a problem if I simply fick it on and off. It even does this if I don't even go into windows. If I simply enter the bios, and restart it that way, by going by the bios again, it sticks again. All I have to do is flick it on and off, everything else works fine. ANy suggestion other than reinstallation of windows?

 

[CcXD]

I didn't know that SATA HDD needed drivers for windows! (ive never used SATA in ma life, only IDE)

Ur rebooting problem, it means that u cannot reboot the system using the shutdown menu?

I can only assume jumper problem. Then again I didn't know that SATA needed drivers. :?

 

[fsbo]

Look in the BIOS for a boot setting like "display logo" or "display POST messages". Get rid of the logo (A8N splash screen) and get the messages (at least for now) - they might give some clue to the situation.

Does the PC have a reset switch? Does pushing it help when the PC hangs with a black screen?

Are the meesages about IRQs just about one of the IRQs or a list of what device is using what IRQ?

It's poosible that the BIOS and XP are fighting about how the PC should be configured - letting the BIOS take care of it all might resolve the problem. Look in the BIOS for a setting like "Plug and Play OS" and set it to No or Disabled.

 

[joe_967]

Tried both those ideas, neither helped. Yes it has a reset switch, and it works, but the pc still just shows a black screen where the windows xp logo should be. It only happens on restarts though. I mean any kind of restart, whether it be by start menu, the reset button, or even enetering the bios on startup, altering it, and having to re-POST. On every single type of restart all I get is the black screen.

But every time it powers off, and I power back on, it will boot up no error every time. I don't have to wit to cool down or anything, just have to turn it off and on real fast. Otherwise everything in the PC is fine. Runs games like a dream. Is there a way could test for a bad motherboard maybe? Or does anyone else have any ideas?

 

[fsbo]

To clarify the situation:
scenario 1
- PC has been powered off for awhile
- use the power switch to turn it on
- it does the POST and boots to XP fine

scenario 2
- PC has been powered off for awhile
- use the power switch to turn it on
- it begins the POST, you hit DEL or whatever to get into setup (BIOS)
- you change nothing at all, just exit setup
- the PC does the POST again with no errors, but XP doesn't boot at all
- using the reset switch doesn't help - only power off/power on and leaving it alone (like scenario 1) gets XP to boot again

Is scenario 2 happening exactly as I described it - or does the no boot occur only if you change something in the BIOS settings?

I'm thinking somehow a BIOS setting is being changed by you (maybe without even realizing it) or by XP once it gets booted and this setting prevents the boot and maybe even the POST from happening until the power is turned off/on which changes the setting back to a default that does work.

 

[joe_967]

You are almost spot on, except it doens't have to be powered off a while, it can be powered off for just a moment, and it will reboot fine. Using the start menu to restart does the same thing. other than that exactly right. I don't have to change anything in the bios.

 

[fsbo]

Well I'm kinda stumped, but here's a couple more things to think about...

At some point did you clear the CMOS? Did you have to remove the battery and/or move jumpers? Check to make sure the battery is nice & tight in the holder, make sure the jumpers are back in their normal position.

I (and others) have had problems with other Asus boards that would not even POST every time they were powered on or reset (with the reset switch). After fiddling with some BIOS settings my problem became solid - wouldn't POST at all. I cleared CMOS to get POST to work and kept the more advanced BIOS settings at the defaults to prevent problems. I know this isn't your exact situation but maybe your problem is along the same lines.

I also had a problem with XP PRO with SP2 failing to reboot when I used Start > Shut Down > Restart. XP would seem to shut down okay but I would be stuck with a blue screen (no error message) becuase XP couldn't do the reset to start the POST and boot. I tracked this down to being related to the Windows drivers for the HD audio on the motherboard. With the onboard audio enabled in the BIOS and the drivers installed, XP would shut down to a blue screen but there was no reboot. I would have to power off/on or use the reset switch to boot again. With the onboard audio enabled I could go into Device Manager and disable the HD audio device so that XP would unload the drivers and then the reboot would work okay. The device I had to disable had a name like "Microsoft UAA Bus Driver for High Definition Audio". Maybe you have the same problem or a similar one - a driver for some device that doesn't really shut down the way it should and prevents the reboot.

If you have any fancy devices other than the video card, unplugging or disabling them may allow the restart to work. Then add them back in one at a time till restart doesn't work again to identify the device or the driver that's causing the problem. A good way to see everything that's on the PC in Device Manager is to use View > Devices By Connection.

Does Start > Shut Down > Shut Down (or Turn Off Computer) turn off your PC? Mine wouldn't turn off the PC when it was having the problem with restart.

In any case, if you do find a solution please let us (me) know!!

 

[joe_967]

The problem still i unsolved if anyone has any other suggestions it would be appreciated.

 

[billscarnage]

Don't have too much to add that hasn't already been mentioned, but i can add a few past experiences...

Clear the CMOS (as mentioned)... For the drive problem you might check the BIOS and make sure the SATA drive is set to primary drive. When i first put my box together - a few years ago - it had both IDE and SATA, but the BIOS for whatever reason was wanting to select the IDE even though i didn't have an IDE.

But back before that I was running into problems with the XP install. It would go for about 5min and then just lock up. I'd reboot and start again. At almost the exact same spot it would freeze. WTF. So i took the assembled computer to the place i bought the parts and we did some testing. Low and behold the P4 was bad and over heating REAL fast.

Don't have any experience with the AMD's, but you might keep an eye on the temps.