New build problems...or is it the buildER?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
J

Jeff68

Distinguished
Apr 1, 2012
19
0
18,510
Hello,
I am very new at the computer building game and I seem to have bitten off more than I can chew.
I'm attempting to build a somewhat competent gaming system on a budget for my wife. I'll list the new components.

mobo- ASUS M5A78L-M LX PLUS
PSU Corsair GS600
CPU FX-4100 w/ Cooler Master V8 heatsink and fan
older Radeon HD 4550 graphics card
1 older LG sata cd/dvd drive
1 TB HDD formatted
1 500GB HDD (win xp serv pack 2 from old system
1 recently damaged and apparently unusable copy of Windows XP that I'm now using as a coaster for my coffee cup

All are installed in a new Antec case.

On system power up, everything behaves normally, posts, enters windows load screen, that annoying little blue bar starts to scroll and then stalls and reboots.

I'm at a loss as to what I need to do to get windows to load. I assume it has something to do with trying to load from the old Hard drive but unfortunately I now don't have an XP disc to put a fresh install on the 1 TB drive.

Please rescue my brain. It may be all that's left after my wife is done with me.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
g-unit1111

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator
Jul 27, 2011
42,548
824
104,940
1 500GB HDD (win xp serv pack 2 from old system
Click to expand...

There's your problem right there - you're running an older installation of Windows on a new system. You absolutely have to run a clean format of your primary HD and install a fresh copy of Windows every single time you build a new system. The reason being is that the drivers that were used on the existing installation - Windows will look for every time. You can go through the registry and clean out the existing driver installations line by line but that's a whole other can of worms when opened and could seriously damage your OS.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
g-unit1111

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator
Jul 27, 2011
42,548
824
104,940


The best thing would be to get a new license of Windows, you can score the Home Premium edition for $99 and it runs everything you need it to. If you have the existing serial number you can borrow a disc and reinstall it using your existing serial number - I've done that before.

On the other hand one thing you can try if you don't want to pay for a new Windows license and run your PC in safe mode and delete all the existing drivers from the Add / Remove Hardware control panel.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
J

Jeff68

Distinguished
Apr 1, 2012
19
0
18,510
Is it possible to make a bootable flash drive that would allow me to get windows running and deal with the old drivers later? Not sure if I need a working copy of XP to accomplish this.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
J

Jeff68

Distinguished
Apr 1, 2012
19
0
18,510
Well, I have the working computer but the working copy of XP is the stumbling block. Ok, looks like I'm left with attempting to run in safe mode and remove all of the previous drivers from the old hard drive as gunit suggested. I'll report back with the results. Wish me luck.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
g-unit1111

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator
Jul 27, 2011
42,548
824
104,940


You can only if your motherboard's BIOS allows you to boot from USB. Most modern motherboards do, I can't think of any off the top of my head that don't.

I'd suggest booting your PC and running it in safe mode and clearing all the old drivers out that way through the add / remove programs dialog box.

Ah yes, sorry, forgot to list the memory. Running 1 4G stick of Corsair DDR3, 1333.
Click to expand...

Is it XMS or Vengeance? The XMS line is more prone to failure than the Vengeance is.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

Maxor1

Distinguished
Dec 12, 2011
218
2
18,715
Jeff I hate to recommend this but it sounds like you have a valid OS licsense so with your working PC, please download from somewhere a clean copy of an OS I personally don't care if its linux, unix, what ever big cat apple is on now, or some flavor of windows outside of vista and ME. Put it on a flash drive or dvd, and install it on the old hard drive you are wanting to use as a boot/os drive. Trying to go into safe mode, clear out a bunch of old drivers and registry keys as well as program installations is going to result in a huge amount of time wasted at best, and an unstable system if you can get it to properly boot and load at all.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

Maxor1

Distinguished
Dec 12, 2011
218
2
18,715
You stand a good chance of having to reformat the old drive so be prepared to loose any data saved on it. Just letting you know. I doubt your ram is the problem if you are getting past ram check in bios and failing at the OS loading flash. I am not certain bad ram isn't your problem in theory bad ram could make it to there but of your various possible issues a jumbled os is more likely than ram.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
J

Jeff68

Distinguished
Apr 1, 2012
19
0
18,510
The ram I have is a brand new stick I just purchased for this build. /input sarcasm(whoever heard of a bad stick of ram straight from the box?) It's XMS3 corsair DDR3 1333. I hope it's a valid stick. I took a look at the add/remove list and registry keys in safe mode and got extremely dizzy. I think I might try to get a copy of XP downloaded onto flash and try that route.
What have I gotten myself into...this was supposed to be a birthday present for my wife on the 31st and is turning into an April fools joke.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
g-unit1111

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator
Jul 27, 2011
42,548
824
104,940


If it POSTS you should be fine once you get Windows cleaned up.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom