Got everything put together and booted up. Couldn't believe there were no problems. Got to the point of installing Vista 64. Installed Vista 64. Got into Vista and started to try to install drivers. Started getting blue screen. Told my family 'I knew it was to good to be true'. I didn't know what the problem was until the thing just happened to crash when I hit the button to open the CD drive. I changed the SATA port for the CD drive and crashed again. Totally unhooked the CD drive, navigated a bit through Vista, rebooted normally several times and had no problems . So my common sense tells me that I probably got a bad CD drive. COuld a bad cd drive continually crash me? Could I have damaged anything else by continual crashes? (I know they call it the blue screen of death). Should I re-install Vista since it was installed with a screwed up drive? Also, how do I get the thing to boot directly into Vista without getting the choice in BIOS to hit F1 to continue or Delete to enter Setup? Is it normal for the CPU fan to run continually? I checked the temperatures in the bios and the cpu was a steady 44C. Thanks in advance for your help and also for all the good info I have gotten from you guys for my almost perfect first build.
Message edited by coco savege on 03-22-2008 at 06:14:57 AM
Sure, it's possible for the drive to screw up the system. It's unlikely, but I've seen it happen before. If it works without it, though, then you've got your problem - move on. It's very normal for the CPU fan to run continually...if it wasn't, I'd be worried. (at least, this is for a desktop). That your BIOS says continually press F1 or delete worries me, though. It must give some kind of error to go along with that...does it say anything just before the message? Did you clear your CMOS before you booted the motherboard for the first time? That and your CD error may be linked.
So every time you access the optical drive, vista crashes to what? bsod? If so, note the 0x000000?? code & any offending program. Google them.
It lools like you haven't read the mobo manual cuz one of the section tells you to load default in bios. The message asking you to go to bios indicates something hasn't been set up correctly in bios. Do it. Load default. Better yet, clear cmos, load default, set up boot order.
Last, burn this on floppy/cd/dvd & reboot for 5 passes:
Sure, it's possible for the drive to screw up the system. It's unlikely, but I've seen it happen before. If it works without it, though, then you've got your problem - move on. It's very normal for the CPU fan to run continually...if it wasn't, I'd be worried. (at least, this is for a desktop). That your BIOS says continually press F1 or delete worries me, though. It must give some kind of error to go along with that...does it say anything just before the message? Did you clear your CMOS before you booted the motherboard for the first time? That and your CD error may be linked.
It recognizes the components and then says 'Floppy Disk Fail (40)'. I had googled this and found that one of the reasons this comes up is because there is no floppy drive- which is the case. I guess I do need to clear the CMOS. I've read the easiest way to do this is to remove the battery from the motherboard for a few minutes??
I'm in the process of googling these. Any help is appreciated. By the way, I did fix the 'not booting to Vista' problem. For some reason the BIOS was looking for a floppy drive- I went in and changed the settings to reflect no floppy drive. When I turn the machine on, it boots fine, goes into Vista and is good. The minute I connect the CD drive though, blue screen. I am using a sata cd drive, if that matters.
try to use a different sata port on your motherboard. i had a problem similar to this and just changing where it plugged into the mobo fixed it. it's worth a try.
Well, still stumped. I am able to boot up in safe mode and use the cd drive as normal. In fact, installing a game right now, with no hitches. Does that provide any clue as to what the problem might be- that I can use the drive in safe mode but it crashes the system in normal mode?
That would tell me that the CD driver is to blame, if it boots in safe mode. That, or some other driver conflicting with it. Did you use updated drivers for your motherboard instead of the ones bundled with it? Did you upgrade your BIOS if needed? the CMOS can usually be reset by unplugging the computer, setting a jumper for a few minutes, and then plugging it back in. Consult your motherboard manual for specifics.
You said you are getting a message that says floppy drive fail but there's no floppy? Go to your bios, in your bootup menu, tell it to boot to your hard drive as the first option, then the number 2 as your cd drive. Then disable the other boot options. Agreed though, reset the CMOS, then try what I just said, maybe look online see if there are any drivers available for your cd/dvd drive, install those, rehook the drive, and see what happens. Also, have you run any tests on your memory or anything like that just to rule it out?
Message edited by ohiou_grad_06 on 03-23-2008 at 04:52:35 AM
My main problem is that I'm juggling dealing with this problem with remodeling a house, so its hard to keep an uninterrupted train of thought for long. I was able to load LOTRO with the cd drive in safe mode last night and actually played a bit this morning. I'm actually playing on Ultra High settings after playing for so long on a laptop. Beautiful game. Too bad the pc is a tangled mess of wires on the dining room table. Wife walked by and said 'you are playing that game on that computer?' She just shook her head.
It's fixed!!! I am keeping my fingers crossed however. The microsoft download seems to have fixed it. I have both cd drives connected and working. Seems it was some sort of problem with Vista and more than 3gb of RAM or something included in that update. It makes sense-I was initially able to install Vista with the suspected bad drive, but then once Vista was installed and rebooted, the same drive was crashing the system. So I guess Bios liked the drive but Vista had to be talked into it. Thanks to everyone for the help.
