Okay. I replaced an Vantec Aeroflow heatsink with a Zalman CNPS7000AlCU on this system. I also had to pull the 9600Pro's fan because it was buzzing. Replaced the little fan with a low-speed 80mm fan, didn't replace the heatsink. None of the other parts changed. A7V8X Deluxe 2500+ Barton Radeon 9600Pro 128MB No-name IDE two-port controller -> 2 160GB WD IDE drives 2X 512MB PC~3200, One corsair, one not 80GB WD IDE drive w/ Win2k installed 250GB WD SATA drive, w/ WinXP installed Thermaltake Purepower 360W power supply Generic CDRW drive. This sytem was booting up fine on either Win2k or WinXP. After the change, I put it all back together, and now I get either "Verifying DMI pool data...." or "Verifying DMI pool data...update success", and depending on drive configuration (eg. disconnect all drives except one system drive) I get my boot menu, after which if the XP drive is connected, I get a blank screen, or with 2k I can (occasionally, maybe 1/5 tries) get into windows, after which it shortly freezes. Safe modes, most recent working, etc. do not work. Checked bios readings of temperatures, just to make sure I wasn't killing the cpu with the new HSF, and it never got over 30 degrees celcius. MB header reads 22 degrees celcius. I tried a different graphics card (TNT2 32MB PCI) no change. I tried the WinXP CD for recovery, and it got to the "starting windows" bluescreen, and froze repeatedly. I tried booting to a floppy and got "Disk I/O error" on multiple floppies. I tried resetting the CMOS, no effect. Um...is there anything else to try? My current theories are: RAM fried somehow? MB fried? CPU core cracked? (Although I would think it just wouldn't work at all then) Something else entirely? Thanks for reading...
80GB (connected directly to MB header) has always been on auto. I've tried the IDE 80GB Win2k disk on both IDE channels, but automatic only. Should I try manual? 160's are done through single IDE cables to the PCI controller (but they shouldn't matter for booting purposes, particularly if I disconnect them). They therefore do not show up in BIOS, but only on a later screen. Uh...SATA drives don't show up in A7N8X bioses....They detect a couple seconds later.
You mean CMOS (eg. unplug, remove CR2032 battery, flip jumper, flip jumper back, replace battery, plug in)? If so, yes. Otherwise - do you mean reflash BIOS? I'm somewhat scared of doing that: If my floppy is giving I/O error, what will a BIOS flash do if the problem is in the I/O (southbridge?) of the board? Edit: I've now tried swapping out the floppy...same I/O Error. Also tried the floppy cable...it's not that either. Nor is it the RAM.
UNplug all your RAID cards and see if you can get a boot, also get rid of any non-core devices. Have a minimal spec.
I've tried it with no raid card, no floppy, no cd, one hard drive, [One of: 9600 Pro AGP/TNT2 PCI] and still no boot on either of Win2k/80GB or WinXP 250GB. I'm leaning toward it being a motherboard problem now. Maybe I crushed something while mounting the new HSF?
I would think you borked your HD's data somewhere (maybe turned it over a bit too hard?). Tried reinstalling Windows? Or maybe try to boot from a Live CD and do a checkdisk.
I'd think it was the hard drive...but... 80GB PATA - Win2k - screwed, will 1/10, 1/20 times boot then crash (had _1_ good boot..?) 250GB SATA - WinXP - screwed, will never boot. Would both drives be screwed up? When trying to boot to safe mode (if I can get to the boot menu without the Verifying DMA pool data error/freeze) both die during the driver loadlist, each at their own reliable spot. (Eg. The list freezes at TDI.sys) I can't do a repair, because I can't boot from a floppy. I can't load the WinXP install/repair disk, because it freezes saying "Starting windows now..." I'd love to just reinstall windows...Hell, I've got a less-than-week-old ghost file for XP. Well...I guess Friday is time to take off the HSF and see if the CPU's okay. If it looks good, then I have no idea whatsoever what could be wrong. I think it may just be a dead MB, maybe the southbridge got screwed, or maybe I bent a pin/broke something putting on the new HSF...I'll look at that too. It may just come down to buying a new system and parting this one out one piece at a time. It is sorta older now though, so that's not such a bad thing. An E6300OC/2GB/7900orX1900XT isn't looking so shabby... Thanks for all the suggestions.
Well, I've secured a friend's AXP system for this friday, to do a swap-and-check attempt to isolate the failed component (assuming there is one). This is what I intend to do: [Legend: 1 = My (screwed) computer, 2 = known working computer] (In sequence, assuming everything is coming back negative) 1-Test Hard Drives from Computer 1 in computer 2, see if Win2k1/WinXP1 will boot. IF success, move to Step 2. IF failure, hard drives are broken/data damaged, etc - move to Step 4. 2-Remove CPU 1 out of Computer 1, insert CPU 2. Test with original drive(s), Vcard, etc bare minimum. IF success, CPU 1 is broken. (Oops with the new HSF installation, I guess.) IF failure, CPU 1 should be fine. 3-Insert CPU 1 into Computer 2. Test with Win2k1/WinXP1. IF success, MB1 is broken, but CPU1 is fine. IF failure, CPU1 is broken along with MB1. 4-Test Computer1 with Live Linux CD. IF failure, MB (I/O?) is broken (which may account for the screwed HDs). Any other suggestions/corrections or order changes? Thanks for all the suggestions so far.
Ok...this is getting a bit messed up. I've fixed the floppy drive: My round cable works, my two flat cables don't (wtf). Kubunutu liveCD will boot. WinXP install CD will not make it into the install menu with APIC mode Enabled. Unfortunately I think I sort of need it. It looks like all my hardware is ~ok, but I still can't figure out why it worked before, and now it doesn't on two separate OS installs on two separate harddrives. I've tried resetting CMOS, defaults, etc, but I still am having Windows Setup freeze on "Setup is starting Windows" right before I would have the partition list. APIC Disabled fixes this...but...er...I am given to understand that installing WinXP with APIC disabled is not a good thing. Or is it doable? Particularly if I just want to get to the point where the drive is bootable, and then reimage the drive from the ghost file...? Question: Is there a way for a Norton Ghost boot disk to extract a ghost file onto a single partition, instead of a full drive, erasing all partitions? I found out that this is what Ghost does the hard way Thank god for GetDataBack.... Any suggestions? All I want to do now is reinstall windows.
Well. It's fixed. Basically, my motherboard's APIC is broken. Kubuntu live 6.06 won't even boot with APIC Enabled. Since I have a single core AthlonXP processor, however, I do not need APIC. I disabled APIC, reinstalled WinXP and all is good with the world. No hardware appears to be dead, but APIC Enabled wouldn't work after all my hardware switches and BIOS reflash, so I'm thinking somehow APIC died for my motherboard. Thanks for the help, all.
