XP won't install - BSOD frenzy

[liquid-fix]

Hi all,

I bought a load of brand new components which arrived yesterday spec:

AMD x2 5000+ socket AM2
1 gig of ram 667mhz - generic
ASUS Vintage V2-M2V890 AM2 Barebone
new optical drive
8600GT

I can't install Windows at all! It blue screens galore!

For the HD I am using an existing IDE HD, which I formated through Windows. I have tried 3 hard drives to no avail with similiar symptoms.

The most common sympton is that after windows has finished loading the setup and I press the button for new windows install it BSODs and I get the 0x...7B error.

Otherwise it sometimes gets to the 'colourful' GUI part of the install and breaks before it starts.

Once it has progressed further then it started giving me errors about failing to intilise the CDROM and diskdrive installers, it continues through this but then dies on the "Installing network" phase.

I have now taken out the 8600gt and using onboard gfx.

I actually ordered 2, 1 gig sticks of ram, one didn't work at all (display wouldn't initialise if it was plugged in) so my next mission is to replace the remaining one.

Could it be the HD's? They were stored together and haven't been used for a while so its semi feasible they have all broken. Yet they work in an external caddy on other machines.

Any ideas? The board has sata and I have tried disabling it and get the same results.

Thanks in advance

Fix

[directhex]

check for overheating, or for fans not spinning

[liquid-fix]

Have a budget cooler on the cpu atm:

Akasa AK 860SF

Not overclocking or anything, does this need to be a better cooler?

Fix

[MD]

is the XP disc SP1 only?

Try a slipstreamed SP2 XP install - I had this with a newish motherboard recently, also make sure you reset the BIOS to default before installing.

Matt

[liquid-fix]

It is an SP2 disk, ta for the suggestion. Tried with a few disks and a fresh burn of the sp2 one with similar results.

[directhex]

Have a budget cooler on the cpu atm:

Akasa AK 860SF

Not overclocking or anything, does this need to be a better cooler?

Fix

are you using an appropriate thermal compound? right after a BSOD, if you hit the bios, what does it report the CPU temp as?

[liquid-fix]

It has thermal compound applied, have taken it off and checked it has applied properly. Haven't checked temps, will do that as well.

[liquid-fix]

Additonal note: sometimes it doesn't BSOD it will just restart or the install hangs.

[dangel]

Tested the memory yet?

Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool

Always a good place to start (if the memory's not working properly nothing ever will).

Just sounded suspicious what you said about the memory (assuming it was new) not working at all with both sticks fitted. Check you've set the correct memory timings/voltages in the bios too!

[vinnyT]

If the above doesn't shed any light, is the new optical drive sata. SATA dvd drives have been known to cause bsod's on attempting a windows install, try using an IDE drive, see if that works.

[godsdog]

I'd do memtest as well.

give that a quick run through too: Advanced troubleshooting for "Stop 0x0000007B" errors in Windows XP

[liquid-fix]

Nope IDE, the HD's and the DVD are all ide, not using the sata ability at all (could that be a problem in its own?)

Will run the mem test when I get back.. will it defo come up if the memory is faulty?

Trying to source yet another HD as well for a fourth test victim.

What are the odds its the cpu/Mobo?

[vinnyT]

"(could that be a problem in its own?)" No, I seroiusly doubt it.

[dangel]

Will run the mem test when I get back.. will it defo come up if the memory is faulty?

Should do - in the main if it passes all the tests (100&#37 once it's generally going to be ok. Sometimes it's necessary to leave it running overnight to be sure. You should (if possible) stick a fan over the RAM whilst doing prolonged testing (as it may get very hot). As I said, check timings and voltages in your bios too.

On some ASUS boards you may need to disable 'usb legacy' support in the BIOS (memtest used to have an incompatiblity with this setting and you would see loads of errors whilst testing which weren't really there - so no harm in disabling it whilst testing).

Rule of thumb: always check your RAM first if you've got problems. It's probably the most common fault I see.

[Paul Adams]

STOP 0x7B = INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

As you are getting this during setup, your boot device is your CD/DVD drive, so unlikely to be a problem with all 3 hard disks.

The random nature of the freeze/reboot/bugcheck you describe is classic of a hardware problem such as:
- faulty RAM/CPU
- overheating CPU
- faulty IDE controller (i.e. your CD drive suddenly "vanishes" to the OS installer, so it cannot continue)

... and a couple of times I have experienced that same symptom through incorrectly-seated IDE cables - check they have a good connection at both ends for the HDD and CD drive, test with alternative cables if possible.

[liquid-fix]

Ta for suggestions so far.

Memcheck showed 0 errors and I have switched that mem with some other to make sure with same problem.

Checked temps and it's not overheating, what should the voltages be for the ram?

Will fiddle round with cables now, see what happens!