[Peggers]

I had an Asrock K7S41 motherboard lying around so decided to make a comp for the kids....I bought an AMD Sempron 2800 FSB333 processor to go with it.. also have a samsung 80GB hard drive....and a standard CDROM and floppy..

I have done a BIOS update and have also changed the FSB selection on the mother board to coincide with the processor...I have only the very minimal of everything on the computer atm..Disabled USB in the BIOS, power managerment...ect ect..

I have done just about everything I can think of and more LOL but for some reason I cannot install any OS at all....with 2000 and XP I get as far as a blue screen with " setup is starting windows" and thats it..the dang computer hangs....

Ive changed RAM...checked the hard drive and am now totaly lost as to why Windows setup will not work

Anyone have any ideas to save my sanity ??[/FONT]

 

[rmay635703]

Did you try windows 98?
Seriously though, your problem can be caused by many things in roughly this order

1. Power Supply is insufficient, a bad brand, or simply dying

2. Processor is overheating, you need better cooling or arctic silver (occasionally it isn't overheating and is just a dud)

3. RAM has issues, test with Memtest86 to find out

4. Motherboard is a pile, 1 out of 10 usually are, RMA and get another if this is the case

5. HD has bad sectors or is simply a dud (manufacturer test usually won't find trouble until it is too late)

6. Video card or other devices are either dying or overheating

This is VERY RARE but sometimes the Motherboard has a poor implimentation of PNP and is setting devices up incorrectly, solution is to remove some unnecessary devices and set PNP OS to NO. But that is very unlikely


Sometimes you can check if its caused by instability by simply setting your processor to a lower FSB for example you are currently using it at 166/333mhz set it to 133/266 or 100/200mhz if it runs fine at a lower FSB it means SOMETHING is unstable but you don't know exactly what It could be

You would have to figure out if its your RAM, CPU, or Motherboard if reducing the FSB helps.

Good Luck

 

[Peggers]

LOL actually I did try 98 as well...in fact I had to use the 98 cd to boot to dos to upgrade the bios...I know the hard drive is ok..I also know the memory is fine..so am guessing it is possibly the Processor or Motherboard..both were bought new..just the Motherboard bought a little earlier than the rest..

I have also tried a lower fsb setting with no result...The cooler is an arctic and is designed for the sempron..its seems to be working ok but you never can tell...

Will try a few of the things you have suggested pnp ect..and get back to you....

Thanks so much for your quick reply...

 

[rmay635703]

That makes things more complex

If a lower FSB doesn't help usually its the powersupply or the hard drive. (or something physical like a flakey ide cable)

The processor "may" still be overheating but at a lower FSB this is less likely.

The motherboard "may" be flakey as well, but again usually you end up with the lock ups coming later and less often with a lower FSB.

What does your thermal monitor in the bios say the chip is running at temp wise?

Also you might want to humor me and run memtest86 overnight and see if there are any problems, you might surprize yourself, this may not mean the memory is bad but is not fully compatible with the board.
I can't tell you how many times I've had a board that just wouldn't use any modules until I found that right one. Asrocks tend to be picky on memory (at least compared to other boards).

If you have one, Try a smaller older hard drive once and try a different IDE cable, sometimes its a simple problem.

Good Luck

 

[Peggers]

Sorry it took so long to reply, my comp gave up completly lol....anyhows it turned out to be the Motherboard..I replaced it with a new one of the same specs and its working fine....the other one is off to be checked out...probably see it again some time next year..

Thanks so much for your help and suggestions