New build freezing at start-up: possible PSU or RAM issue?

cactusdust

Hello all- a call out to the techy minded here at MSE.

Been a niggling issue for a while, just gotten around to dealing with the problem. These are my system specifications:

Intel Core 2 Duo 3 GHz Processor
Gygabyte GA-EP35-DS3
Indescribable RAM/Two sticks
Very generic 400W PSU
Nvidia 8400GS Card (to be replaced with something better anyway)

The computer will boot from the Windows XP install CD, go through the formatting/extracting without issue. However, when it reboots to enter the actual system install screens (when it gets graphical), it freezes and hangs.


Could this be a weak PSU issue, or perhaps because the RAM is crappy?

Thanks for all inputs!

weegie.geek

I wouldn't trust a very generic 400w psu with my hardware, so I'd replace that anyway, whether it turns out to be the problem or not.

a decent 400W psu would handle that kit without problems, but a cheap psu might start to struggle.

Apart from that it could be a lot of things unfortunately. Ram, bios settings (i've seen this kind of hang happen when SATA was set to AHCI - turning AHCI off let it fly straight through), or faulty hardware. Like you say, it's just when It starts making the video card do something a little more complicated.

I'd check out the AHCI thing first tbh.

cactusdust

Thanks weegie.geek,

Do you mind me asking how I'd change those settings? Thanks!

GeoffX

The point where XP goes from the black background to the blue screen with Welcome on it is where XP proper starts. Up to that point it's examining the machine and loading drivers, so it's a not uncommon point for it to fail. If you have access to a Linux CD or DVD you could try seeing if that will work, in which case you'll probably need to focus on repairing your XP installation.

Can you get into Safe mode? Reboot the machine and press F8 a few times until a text menu appears. If the black background with the XP logo appears then you're too late. Another option would be to use your XP CD - if you have one, not all machines are supplied with one sadly - and repair your current installation. A potential issue with that is that if your CD is, say, a Service Pack 2 one and you have updated to Service Pack 3 it might not work.

Generic PSUs are a big problem, not just in terms of their inefficiency, noise and the heat they generate, but also their stability, so it could be a problem. Regarding memory, you could try switching them over or try to boot with one stick only - I'm not sure if that will work or not with your machine.

cactusdust

Thanks again to the poster above.

Just had a vague bit of success.. managed to swap the RAM around and its booted into the Windows XP install screens. This is the bit where it says "39 minutes left" etc, and scrolls through features. Its now crashed again though! Does this make it any easier in diagnosing my problem?!

Richie-from-the-Boro

- take one stick of memory out
- make sure the remaining stick is in the first slot
- do the install
- what happens ?

cactusdust

One stick= won't pass motherboard 'branding image'.

ddoris

Do you mean that you tried both sticks of memory seperately and same result?
Have you set bios to failsafe defaults?

cactusdust

No, I have not. I assume thats achievable through pressing F8 on boot?

ddoris

Not f8 - probably del or f2 I have a gigabyte m/b that needs del to enter bios or "set up"

Richie-from-the-Boro

cactusdust wrote: »

One stick= won't pass motherboard 'branding image'.

"" won't pass motherboard 'branding image ""

It could be short on the turrets / cabling of peripherals / so many things, but you start from :

- memory
- PSU
- CPU

- where did you get ' won't pass motherboard 'branding image ' from / 25 years building / never seen it before. can I assume the BIOS is printing that message to the screen ?

- always change memory then PSU or you could be chasing a solution for weeks - 90%+ are down to PSU (1) memory (2)