Put PC together, Start up problems

[jaraldo]

CPU= Intel Core i5 2500K CPU
MOBO= ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3
SSD= Patriot Pyro 120GB
PSU= CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W
ODD= ASUS 24X DVD Burner
RAM= CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB

So at first nothing started up except for a light on the motherboard. That was because I had something plugged in the wrong place.

Now when I turn the power on, The PSU runs, the Case fan, CPU fan, all lights on the Mobo light up, ODD works for 10 sec...then the CPU LED light flashes and the computer reboots. After that it runs continuously, but my screen doesn't show any BIOS.

I've tried reconnecting plugs and using different amounts of RAM(4,8,16) in the correct channels to no prevail.

***UPDATE***
It was faulty ram, got a new set and it will start up now in BIOS mode. But now I'm having more issues.

Ok so now I got into BIOS mode tried installing Windows XP and as it says "Windows is now setting up.." at the end, a blue screen with an error comes up.

It tells me a problem has happened, to check my computer for viruses, remove any newly installed hard-drive or hard-drive controllers.
Check my hard drive to make sure it's properly configured and terminated.(unsure what it means by that)
Run CHKDSK /F to check for hard-drive corruption and then restart my computer.
(tried this, nothing)

Techincal Information:

*** STOP: 0x00000078 (0xF780663C, 0xC0000034, 0x000000000, 0x00000000)

This is way over my head now, any help?

Only thing I can think of is a faulty SSD, but hoping not

 

[jaraldo]

Anyone?

I've been browsing on tom's and other forums for awhile now and can't find anything to help me.

 

[suteck]

While doing the windows install when you get to the load windows on which hard drive do you then select options and install the drivers for the ssd first? I would try that.

 

[jaraldo]

I'm not 100% sure what you mean by that.

So far all I've done is pieced my computer together and turned it on and put in the XP disk, nothing else.

Am I missing an important step?

This is my first PC build and I have no clue what to do when it comes to what drivers/software are needed to get my system going.

I always thought drivers/updates were needed after the OS was installed.

 

[suteck]

Mostly yes, mostly. Computers built, you turn it on, then during boot you should go into bios, (usually hit the delete key a few times, sometimes the F2 key instead), then you look around in your bios settings. you don't really change much if you're not sure what you're doing. But you probably will want to make sure that the hard drive settings are set to AHCI instead of IDE. While you have the pc on put in the operating system disk, wait for the light on the cd/dvd goes out. Go to the boot section and select the cd/dvd drive as 1st boot device then hit F10 for save and exit. (you can probably just hit the F12 key during start up and it gives you a boot menu option and you can choose from there but it's not always F12, doesn't hurt to try one way or the other. Anyway, computer restarts and if there is something on the hdd then you get a hit any key to boot from cd/dvd, hit it. If the hdd is blank it should automatically start loading windows. During this process it will ask you if you have any drivers you want to install, usually I think it asks about raid drivers but your motherboard should have come with a drivers disk? You want to hit whatever key that is and then insert your mobo drivers disk and find the ACHI drivers. I think your getting the error because of the SSD, XP wasn't exactly designed for SSD, so it might not have the proper drivers loaded in it's database, (windows stock drivers that come with all windows OS). Sorry if you already knew most of this stuff, sometimes I have to walk thru it by steps to keep it straight. It's been a long time since I've installed XP so it might still be a little off. Looks like you're gonna have a smokin little machine there, I hope this gets you through this part> I do know that the Xo78 code is usually hardware/drivers related and since it's all new equipment, I'm betting it's the drivers for that equipment. And those new drivers should be on that mobo drivers/utilities disk.

 

[nekulturny]

Out of curiousity, why did you get 16GB or RAM if you're running Windows XP? It can't use any more than 4 on 32 bit, and 64 bit from what I understand is glitchy.

 

[jaraldo]

It is in AHCI mode forsure.
Should I get Win7 then if SSDs dont work well with XP? (I ordered a hdd 2 days ago, so I can see if the SSD is DOA)

Now when you talk about it asking about installing certain drivers while the OS is setting up, Only 2 options come up for this:

f6 for third party SCSI or RAID drivers
f2 for automated system recovery
(although clicking them does nothing anyways, unsure why)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Now I do have the disk that came with my mobo. I put it in and it installed things like data/memdisk and data/boot.ima (boot takes about 6 seconds to set up), the rest goes too fast for me to see.

So after a few seconds it gets to a menu.

"Welcome to ASUS Motherboard Make Disk for DOS menu
1) Intel AHCI/RAID 32bit Driver Disk
2) Intel AHCI/RAID 64bit Driver Disk
3)FreeDOS command prompt"

it tells me to choose one.

Unsure if this helps any

@Nekulturny
Well the plan was to use XP now since I had some old disks laying around and get Win7 later. A friend told me he could get a Win7 disk from his work place.
Aside from that the plan was to get 8gb, but I changed my mind because:
-I was told the more ram the better (I know that's a bad reason haha)
-It was on sale for $69+$11 shipping = $80, which seemed pretty cheap so I caved :lol:

 

[suteck]

If you have an old platter hdd lying around somewhere I would give that a try. It's an easy way to test the theory.

 

[jaraldo]

Well I tried my old laptop hdd, and at least got the repair screen to come up, so problem must be the SSD.
That new hard-drive should be here within 1-2 days, so i hope it works then.

I was reading in an article and saw something about with Win XP you want to be in IDE and not AHCI.
http://lifehacker.com/5827928/how-to-build-a-computer-from-scratch-lesson-4-installing-your-operating-system
Is it correct in saying so? Could that be causing my problems?

 

[suteck]

Could be, I'd try both ways and see which one works best. I forget the xp is older and so is ide. Some things just work better together. And remember, the problem isn't the ssd per-say, it's the compatibility. But yeah, try it in all modes. I don't think you will see a speed difference as long as it's attached to a sata port. Sata just gives you things like hot swap.

 

[jaraldo]

Well I tried in RAID before and it never worked, but I'll try IDE now.

*it is setting up*

Well this is good!

So now that I finally have my OS going, I need to install drivers and I should be fine after that?

Also, with the SSD compatibility, once I get Win7, things should be smoother to set up?

 

[suteck]

Should be because it will be recognized correctly during win 7 installation. Once windows installs the very next thing you do is insert the mobo disk and install those drivers, or go online and get the most uptodate drivers and install those. But if you have it running smoothly now you can hold off as you originally intended.