Resurrecting old pc - Stop Error

ShiverinEskimo

I'm trying to resurrect an old pc to be used for simple net/email access for my dumb family. that way i imagine they won't cause havoc on my primary pc.

While trying to install a op sys (tried windows 2000 pro and XP pro) I get stop error blue screen whenever it tries to actually load the op sys. it gives me an address list e.g. xx0000000E3 and the like.

The mother board worked about 6 months ago but i haven't touch it since. Its a old p2 350 and a intel mobo. i have a hdd that i am 100% certain works because its fine on my primary pc.

I have never had a blue screen stop error outside windows (i.e. if i ever got a blue screen i had been within windows and in the middle of something (usually important))

Any ideas what could be causing the above? Bios fecked perhaps?

mrhappy42

Can you boot into Dos from a floppy? Can you boot into one of the Linux OS that boot from CD? what else have you tried? Did you f2 or whatever to check BIOS settings...did you add the new hd but BIOS but not set the slave? etc...info needed

Champ

Have you tried flashing the BIOS? Or trying to install one of the 9x systems?
I personally would favour the Linux solution; if your family is rather hard on the treatment of a computer system; Linux would be pretty tough to break and could probably run the system a little more smoothly.

Inspector Gadget

Try running diagnostics on your hard disk(s) and RAM - they're the most likely culprits here, I'd imagine.

Gadget

ShiverinEskimo

My family aren't complete idiots (most of the time) but i just wanted to let them do what they want on this machine.
I haven't flashed the bios and i can't boot into dos from floppy as i have no spare floppy drive.
I wanted to avoid ripping my primary one apart to get it done. Whats the best way to check the disks/ram?

ShiverinEskimo

Oh, and i set up the bios for the set up of the drives. it is picking them up fine in the bios and in the correct order (pri - master then slave as jumpered)

Inspector Gadget

Each hard disk manufacturer has their own suite of diagnostic programs (Maxtor/Quantum = Powermax, IBM/Hitachi = Drive Fitness Test, Seagate = Seatools, Western Digital = Data Lifeguard, ) so you'll have to check what drives you've got, and get the appropriate tools. Some (such as the IBM one) have downloadable ISOs as well as the more usual bootable floppy creator programs. Go to the support pages for the relevant manufacturers and you'll find a link - make sure you're looking in the IDE section though

A good tool for testing RAM is Memtest+ ( http://www.memtest.org ) - this is definitely available as a bootable ISO image you can burn to CD (it's a few megabytes).

Alternatively, if you've got broadband, I'd highly recommend the Ultimate Boot CD ( http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ ), which packages all of the above (and much more) on a single CD. It's even smart enough to use an RAMdisk-based floppy emulator to run those programs that would normally insist on being run from floppies. It's a 100MB+ download, but it's well worth it.

Hope this helps,
Gadget

tomk

Get the latest BIOS, if you don't already have it.

Burn a copy of System Rescue CD. This includes MemTest+ and FreeDOS as virtual boot floppies. and a load of other rescue and system preparation tools.

If you absolutely have to use Windoze, you should be going for 98SE at the latest - your box may (eventually) take 2000 (never XP) but it will run like a three-legged blind dog.

The main Linux Live CDs - Knoppix, Gnoppix, etc - are fairly hungry too, and if your P2 still has the original CD-ROM, they won't be much good to you. If you want to go this route, have a look at Damn Small Linux or Feather Linux.

IMO, your best bet would be an optimised (i.e. slimmed-down) Linux install. I'd go with Debian - install the base system, and build it up from there.

Whatever you decide to do, stick as much RAM as you can fit/afford into it.

ShiverinEskimo

thanks guys. I'm not linux experienced so i'll take gadget's advice. I do have broadband so i'll go with that ultimatebootcd. should do the job.

The last os i had on this machine was xp pro with 394 (i think, 128 times 3) MB ram. was slowish but it went. now though can't even get that far. its no biggie if i can't get it but was just getting annoyed with the blue screen stop error.

Thanks folks.

Shiv