Which is at Fault? Motherboard or Processor?

Lawbag_2

My PC has died, or I thought the hard-drive had, but that was replaced, along with a new Graphics card just to be sure clean install of Windows XP Pro.

Got all the way through to the set up right to the end, and then the machine rebooted and wanted to start again with installing Windows XP.

Now I have narrowed it down to the Processor or the Motherboard - Which is the likely culprit, as there is no way to find out - or at least to me there isnt.

Any ideas???

colin79666

you may want to test your ram
this is free: http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

are you sure its a problem though? When you install windows you run the installer from the CD and after it copies the files it will reboot - this time it must run off the hard drive or the cd installer will kick in and it will start over

dollarjon

Its probably the memory as stated above. Use memtest86 - burn the image to a cd then boot from the cd it will then highlight any errors with the ram or CPU's cache

Jon_01

You can download test utils from places like Winfile, boot the system into dos and run them from there (so windows dosen't confuss things). That should give you a good idea where the problem is.

CHR15

Assuming the memory tests are okay...

Is the new Hard drive a SATA ir IDE drive?

XP doesn't support SATA Drives natively so (depending on your Motherboard) may have to install third party drivers when you install Windows.

Quite early on during the install it mentions third party raid drivers, Press F6 or something similar.
That is the time to install the SATA drivers from a floppy disk (you download those from the motherboard manufacturers site).

This problem sounds likely as upon reboot, it doesn't appear to be aware of any previous install.

crox

CHR15 wrote:

Assuming the memory tests are okay...

Is the new Hard drive a SATA ir IDE drive?

XP doesn't support SATA Drives natively so (depending on your Motherboard) may have to install third party drivers when you install Windows.

Quite early on during the install it mentions third party raid drivers, Press F6 or something similar.
That is the time to install the SATA drivers from a floppy disk (you download those from the motherboard manufacturers site).

This problem sounds likely as upon reboot, it doesn't appear to be aware of any previous install.

I'll stick my neck out and say that it's actually unlikely as you wouldn't be able to select partitions, format partitions or write files to the harddisk if that was the case - hence why the option to install third party drivers before it does anything. just my 2p worth

crox

Just a thought, but do you take the cd out of the drive after your install? Second thoughts that problem really only occurred with older versions.

CHR15

crox wrote:

I'll stick my neck out and say that it's actually unlikely as you wouldn't be able to select partitions, format partitions or write files to the harddisk if that was the case - hence why the option to install third party drivers before it does anything. just my 2p worth

Whilst I agree with you. You only get the options of partitioning etc if you opt for an advanced installation.
Leaving everything on default setting breezes through this option assuming it is a bare drive and simply dumps onto C: (or what it thinks is C:)

I could be wrong, been ages since I did a default install of anything.
I just don't get a feeling of bad ram in this case, the install normally fails much earlier in the install if the ram is bad.

Of course you could have hit the nail on the head if it is still booting from CD first and the disk is left in.

SilverScooby

A long shot - are the tops of the capacitors on the motherboard bulging?
Bad capacitors can cause bootup preblems and random reboots.

I've had this on 2 PCs recently - my Dell Optiplex at work where it's a known problem, and more recently at home with an Asus motherboard.

Lawbag_2

Thanks for the advice.

Ive changed everything attached to the motherboard except the Processor. So thats new memory as well.

And it still gives me the same result on the install.

colin79666

perhaps the install CD is a dud?

Try giving it a good wipe clean (from inside to out, not in a circular pattern) with a lint free soft cloth.