WinXP won't play with A7N8Xdlx

chad_n

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Hi, as a first time poster, I'd like to say I've found these forums extremely valuable and full of knowledgable people!

My problem (of course): I have just swapped a MB from a Shuttle AK31/1900+ to an A7N8X deluxe/2700+. Now WinXP starts to load (white bar expanding at bottom) but after that I get a pause and then a Stop Error/blue screen .

All drives are recognized by the BIOS(2 maxtor on Primary, 1 WD + CD on secondary), XP just won't load. Safe mode didn't work either.

- I'm using BIOS 1002.

- I put my old board back in and all works fine so I don't think it's the cables/drives.

- I've tried underclocking the RAM/CPU to make sure there were no probs.

- ODD: The IDE light seems to be 'on' all the time when I am using both primary + secondary IDEs but if I pull off the secondary, the IDE light comes on only during drive access. This still did not effect the Stop Error in any way.

I thought safe mode was to use built in drivers, so I don't know if it could be a driver conflict???

Any ideas would be appreciated. Right now I've got a $600 pile of junk.

Thanks,
Chad_N
 

Rob423

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for some reason, there is a really sick problem with the a7n8x board and anything over the 2600+

alot of people are having a hard time getting it to run right, including me!

Is THG Slightly Slacking??
 

chad_n

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I've read through many posts on this board about it. I haven't heard of this much trouble with a mobo since the epox kx7a or whatever it was.

I've never been forced to do a clean install, and my current PC is running top notch with all the right drivers.

I am running at 2700+ (I though I'd be spending my time overclocking it but I guess not). I have corsair XMS 2400 ram (yeah 2400 :) It runs ok at 166 optimal, but if I want aggressive I have to go to 133.

I'd spring for the Abit NF7-S board but I don't know if it's an Nforce2 problem, bios problem (they appear to use award too, but maybe they have it working better). I've always had good luck with abit/asus boards...

I wish the Stop Error would give a tad more info than 'Reboot'. It should at least be able to tell the user what ticked it off....

I can only guess that it is the ViaIDE driver trying to start an Nforce controller but that's a guess. I renamed the ViaIDE.sys file but it didn't help...


It is comforting (in a twisted sense) to know that I am not alone...

Chad_N

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by chad_n on 01/14/03 03:12 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 

KWPLunchbox

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I had the same problem when upgrading from my Intel 815 chipset. The Nforce2 blue screened every time I tried to boot. This includes safe mode as well.

Boot from the WinXP CD and choose a new install of Windows at your first choice. It will then give you the option to wipe and start clean, or repair the existing install. Choose repair the existing install and it will delete all the existing windows files while leaving your installed programs intact as well as all your settings. It will then reinstall WinXP and you won't have any problems.

Make sure after the install is complete, install service pack 1 BEFORE installing the Nforce2 drivers. This stops a possible conflict with your USB V2.0 from arising.

Remember, don't choose repair at the first option like you think you should because all this will do is give you a command prompt. Good Luck.

<font color=purple> You know its bad when license plate letters all look like file extensions </font color=purple>
 

Makaveli

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You have to do a fresh install with a new board. I've have tried putting in a new board without a new install and sometimes it works and other times u just get a blue screen. I suggest u pull out all your PCI devices. DO a fresh install and put them in with the drivers one at a time.

You always need a fresh install when swapping motherboards for best performance.
 

dave9420

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I tried everything, including a clean install. 2 different flavors of Linux installed just fine, as did Windows 98. The installer would freeze with a blue screen and stop error. Even bought new RAM. Nothing seemed to work until I found a clue on the ASUS forum. Someone had suggested changing the front side bus setting in the BIOS to 100. My install went fine. When finished, I changed the bus setting back. Everthing seems to be working OK. Office 2000 install froze up as well, same trick worked.
 

ejsmith2

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You people have got to be God Damn kidding me.

I mean it.

You slap new mainboards in, and moan/complain about it not working with your old OS load?

Where, in the name of Christ Jesus the Lord, have all of you been living for the past 10 years. Hell, <i>MS-DOS</i> required a reload for a new mainboard.

Linux does, but you can do it completely manual while the system is still running, simply because Unix and Multix were designed like that.

"I personally think filesystems should be rewritten from scratch every 5 years..." --- Hans Reiser
 

KWPLunchbox

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Of course, a clean install is always best, however my above method worked just fine and all my benchmarks are on par with posted results and I don't notice anything out of whack. A great alternative if you have many installed programs without the originals to re-install.

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chad_n

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Thanks for the tips! The repair option worked fine. I will continue with SP1 and then with the Nforce2 1.16 drivers.

EJ, yes, actually I do expect to be able to swap motherboards and get the OS to boot in safe mode, where it is supposed to load generic IDE drivers. I've done it many times before.


Chad
 

KWPLunchbox

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I'm glad you had success!

About the generic drivers in safe mode, I noticed as my box booted up, it had the generic drivers for the maker of my chipset. So, if I went from one Intel chipset to another or one Via to another Via then it would probably work. I guess there are too many differences for there to be an all in one IDE driver. Anyways, when I installed my A7N8X board, booting in safe mode loaded a generic Intel driver and BAM, BSOD. It would be nice for Microshaft to include a driver replacement option in the setup in the next release of Windows but I guess that would make too much sense.

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KWPLunchbox

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Oh yeah, Nvidia has the 2.0 Nforce2 drivers on their page. Install those.

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