PCPartner RS485MKM-A94S -- Will not install Vista! HELP!!!

[EllH]

Hi Guys, This is my first post on this forum and I am really hoping someone can help me,
I am having problems installing any version of Vista on my system and I am totally stuck as to the solution!

I have been on the motherboard manufacturer website as I suspect this is the problem area, but there is no information at all, and no help files to say the least!

I will try to be as informative as I can and I hope you can bear with my while I explain my problem and also give you as much info as I can relating to my system..

Here are my system details as best as I can establish from CPU-Z..

Motherboard: PCPartner RS485MKM-A94S
CPU: AMD Athlon64 3500+ (AM2 chip)
RAM: DDR2 Single Channel 512MB x2
Onboard Graphics Chipset: ATI Xpress 200 (RS480)
Bios Version: Phoenix Technologies V6.00PG (07/Mar/2006)
Hard Drive: Sata2 320GB + Sata2 250GB
DiskDrive: IDE Asus DVD/RW DL
Monitor: Hanns.G 19" Widescreen running 1440x900 Res

Right, Firstly the system installs windows XP 32/64Bit perfectly and runs fine, No problems or complications at all.
I want to upgrade to Vista Ultimate and have carried out the test using the microsoft application to establish if my system is compatable, It is and had no hardware issues what so ever. I have tried to upgrade from within windows and I simply get a box saying installation faulure before i get the chance to go through the installation process. ( i get the vista installation wallpaper in the background and thats as far as it goes )

I then decided to try and install from boot up, I make sure the disk is in the drive, turn the system on, and tell the pc to boot from cd, I get a black screen and a bar in the middle of the screen which is loading the installation files, the ones you get before your given your choice of installation options..

Aprox half way through this bar loading I get a blue screen and some random numbers and letters in one corner, there is no error message displayed, and nothing to tell me where the problem is aside from the blue screen and these random letters and numbers.

I have tried several variations on install and nothing has any effect on the installation itself. I first tried to remove one stick of ram and install that way, i tried this swapping between the two sticks of ram i have and it had no effect what so ever.

I have tried to increase the onboard graphics card memory from bios, I have set this from 64MB up to 256MB, this change is detectable at boot up as it tells me the memory available for graphics, however this didnt get rid of the blue screen either.

I have been on the manufacturer website and had a look for bios updates to see if this will cure anything but there appears to be no bios files available at all!

I have emailed the motherboard manufacturer and had zero responce!

I have heard that there may be a conflict with the onboard graphics chipset and windows vista on various other forums, although other than being a suggestion there seems nothing concrete to back this up!

I have also read that it may be an issue with sata hard drives on my particular motherboard, I will explain, for windows xp to install as i am lead to understand it, i have to make sure the hard drives are set as "ide" in bios, otherwise xp simplay cannot detect the hard drives at all. also I am finding that i need to have them on this setting for "bios" to recognise they are connected also.. Like I said I have read that there "may" be an issue with this, but again no one has been able to say one way or the other and I find it hard to beleive also that vista would have trouble detecting something that XP picks up very clearly.

I am totally out of ideas as to what i can do to get vista to install on my system, microsoft tells me my hardware will support and run vista however it just does not seem to want to work no matter how many different copies of vista i try to use!

please please please, can someone help as i dont want to have to resort to buying a new motherboard unless i am absolutly forced to!


ps, here is a direct link to the mobo manufacturer website with all the details of my particular board..
http://www.pcpartner.com/product_de...2832-448913&category_id=20060511183206-057952

 

[EllH]

here is a screen shot of my boot up.. not sure if it is of help, but it cant hurt to post it up i guess!

 

[EllH]

pps... this post on the forums... is exactly what is happening to my system..
and the code displayed is the same code i get with the blue screen!

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/236278-34-install-vista

 

[koss64]

Hmm when we usually cant get a Windows OS to install a few things cold be happening, you board might have a fault,your hard drive has bad sectors, your processor is frelled, your memory is bad,the dvd drive or media is bad or your psu is dying.You said you have tried the mobo manufacturer(pcpartners?I'm sorry who the heck are they?)my next guess could be the hard drive, connect the drive to a XP machine if you can and do a full format on it and try again.If it still fails run memtest for a half hour 45 minutes.If that fails get another copy of vista and/or another dvd drive.Get yourself a copy of the ultimate boot cd (http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html) to help you out with most of the tools needed or get them individually.

P.S.Reset your CMOS to the factory default, just to get a clean slate.

 

[EllH]

Hey, thanks for the reply and takin the time to help me,

I dont think the hard drive(s) have errors as it happens with both of em and I have tried to fomat them both, they are both working ok with XP also?

PC partners i am lead to believe are a division of Sapphire.

I have tried the microsoft mem test application and let it count up to 23 with no errors found as that was one of my thoughts also.

I have a few images of vista I have tried on different disks however they all have the same result be it the 64bit or 32 bit versions..

I have also gone into bios and made sure ACPI support is enabled and that ACPI XSDT table is turned on, as I have read this could be a possible cause.. Im still getting a blue screen or occasionally since doing this I get a black screen saying windows protection and pc shut down to prevent damage etc..

I am virtually certain that the problem I m having is to do with the motherboard somewhere, I just dont know where.. The rate things are goin though I can see it coming to me having to purchase another board and possibly ram..

I really hope someone can help

 

[koss64]

Well what you can do is if you can get your hands on another AM2 board you can take your processor,memory,hard drive, dvd rom and run it in that and see what happens.