Bloody Hard Problem to solve (XP install related)

Shiny

Ok I have googled for this and very hard to find anything
Specs

Abit Fatal1ty A64 939 pin board
A64 3000 Venice CPU
OCZ 4000 REV 2 Gold Edition Ram
Maxtor 250 gig Sata HD

Initial Problem:
Installing XP onto 250 gig HD
Error message during OS install "This disk may be damaged......etc etc"
ok so assuming it was damaged i used a different IDE hardrive.

This time a 40 gig Quantum HD.
Installing windows xp pro SP2.
I have installed XP countless times on loads of PC's but this
time i have an annoying error.

Everything goes as normal and it loads the setup files.
It then restarts, it should then say "boot from CD press any key".
I dont press anything. (as usual)
But instead of resuming the installation (ie setup 34 min remaining etc)
it just starts installing all over again as if the HD didn't exist.

Attempts to fix the above:

Made sure boot priority in bios was correct.
Harddrive is definately detected in bios/startup.
Bios also reset for good measure.
Tried a different IDE hardrive (Hiachi Deskstar)
Tried 3 different IDE cables
Formatted all hardrives using FAT, NTFS (quick and normal)

I have spent the best part of 2 days trying to get this working
and only posted her as a last resort before considering sending the
motherboard back to komplett.

Hope you can help

tman

have you tried ejecting the cd straight after the first reboot?

astec123

or returning boot order after the cd is finished with?

Shiny

Yes and Yes.
I removed the CD and when removed it said Error loading
operating system.

I also changed the order in the bios after loading the setup
files and it gave the error "invalid system disk" press Ctrl Alt Del
to restart.

There is no floppy drive to give the invalid disk error.

I even changed the boot priority to
Hardrive
Disabled
Disabled
Disabled
to give it no other option but it make no differnce.

At the moment there are now setup files installed on 2 IDE hardrives
the Hiachi and the Quantum in a master and slave config but it still
wont boot from any of the 2/

Balfa

Try manually entering drive specs (cylinders, heads) in BIOS.
Try fdisk /mbr.
Try updating BIOS

You're getting two different problems with two different drives, right? So you can't rule out either drive as the cause of the problem(s).
Try same drive(s) and install CD in another computer?

vibe666

are you using an unattended xp installation cd?

had a very similar problem with something like that myself a while ago.

basically unless you have the specific SATA drivers installed as part of the CD (which i didn't) you get an error after the first reboot.

used a standard sp2 manual install and it worked after that.

Diss

XP is a bitch when it comes to SATA.

Firstly you have to get SATA drivers from the MB cd if they have them or off the manis website.

Put them on a floppy,

When XP is loading the stock drivers preinstall and asks if you want to put in any SATA/misc drivers say yes, it'll search the floppy and hopefully all will be well.

CiaranC

CD or CD-Rom itself damaged?

smeggle

go into bios/set your boot order to 'boot from cd-rom. disable your L1 & L2 cache (scroll down in advanced cmos settings.
run install and format drives as ntfs (Follow Diss's advice if third party scsi/sata drivers are needed during install).
On re-boot - immediately re-enter your bios and reset your boot order. It should be
1. floppy
2. HD
3. cd-rom
4. use other boot devices (This should also have been disabled for initial install)

scroll down and re-enable your L1/L2Cache.

exit and save. computer should now boot from the set-up files on your hd and not cd-rom.

The disk errors are probably showing up because of your L1/L2 caches - it happens with AMD's from time to time.

Hagar

This happened to me too.
I set disk drive jumper to cable select and plugged in master plug on ide cable to disk.
No problems since.
Makes no sense I know. Windows bah.

KdjaCL

SOunds like your disc is buggered, can you make a copy of it and see if it has any errors whilst copying?


kdjac

Shiny

Ok sorry for delay, was working.

I think the disk is fine as i managed to get the OS
installed the first time i tried on the SATA.

Somehow that installation got corrupted and hence i
tried to reinstall. Then i got the disk damaged error
message.

I then tried the different IDE hardrives.
Basically i would be delighted if i could even get it to
work on one of the IDE hardrives but as i said above
it only loads the setup files and for some reason wont
continue the installation after the initial reboot.

So im going to take some of Balfa's advice and update the
bios.

Diss I will try and load Sata drivers but i didn't think they were
needed cos the SATA drive was recognised straight away
during the windows installation.

This happened to me too.
I set disk drive jumper to cable select and plugged in master plug on ide cable to disk.
No problems since.
Makes no sense I know. Windows bah.

This could also be one of the problems.
Will mess around with the jumpers on the drives now.

thanks for the help guys.
will report back soon.

Stephen

I had a similar problem when I built my new A64 system with an Abit AN8 board last night. Installed XP and then after the reboot it just kept coming up with errors about no bootable partition being available. The solution is this:
Although you have it set to boot off hard disk first, there is a further configuration screen in the BIOS where you can prioritise which hard disk to boot off. By default it was trying to boot off the disk that I did not install XP on, so once i reconfigured the HD priority in the BIOS it was grand.

$lash

Whats your boot order in BIOS ?

jaggeh

maybe the ide port on your mobo is buggered?

Stephen

My boot order is something along the lines of "removable devices" (usb?), cdrom, hard disk.

Shiny

Stephen wrote:

Although you have it set to boot off hard disk first, there is a further configuration screen in the BIOS where you can prioritise which hard disk to boot off. By default it was trying to boot off the disk that I did not install XP on, so once i reconfigured the HD priority in the BIOS it was grand.

I suspected that could have been a problem when i had the 2 hardrives in
at once, but I have tried to get this working with only 1 drive in at a time
and it still made no difference.

I reinstalled last night with the jumper set to cable select and still same
error "invalid system disk" in the same place.

I have tried 3 boot orders.

CDROM

---

HARDRIVE

---

HARDRIVE
HARDRIVE---- CDROM

---

DISABLED
DISABLED---- DISABLED

---

DISABLED
DISABLED---- DISABLED

---

DISABLED

Each one of those lead to the same error, except for
the first one.
Where is says "press any key to boot from CD" (i dont) and
then it says "error loading operating system"

maybe the ide port on your mobo is buggered?

I suspected that also so i switched around the cables leading to the
CDROM and HARDRIVE but if it was busted would it let me load the
setup files?

This morning I'm going to try a different CDROM drive.
I have to get a floppy drive and load a new bios.
And then see what happens after that.
Thanks guys for your help so far.

WizZard

Is the windows cd genuine?
If not the CD may have deteriorated over time (plus we couldn't help as that would be condoning [strike]piracy[/strike] copyright infiringement).

At any rate I would remove EVERYTHING from the mobo except 1 graphics card, 1 stick of RAM, CPU, mouse + keyboard,1 hard drive, 1 CD-ROM drive and PSU and try installing with just a minimal config.
Turn off all optional components in the BIOS, eg. USB, Firewire, onboard sound aswell.

Boot order should be CDROM -- Hard Disk -- Disabled

Do not use a quick format when prompted in windows setup, use the full format (takes longer).

You don't need SATA drivers since the BIOS automagically handles that (non-RAID only).

Try using the SATA drive. Maxtor have a tool with which you can boot from a floppy that can help with setting up your drive, and also diagnostics AFAIK. Read about it and download it here

toffo

Had the exact same issue a few months back, turned out to be a bad memory module. Try different RAM in the machine.

Shiny

Ok, I have tried a different memory module. no change.

Tried a different CDROM drive. no change

also installed XP using a completely different genuine
Disk (which has installed fine on other PC). no change.

At the moment we are trying to figure out how to diable
the L1/L2 cache, although i dont see how that will make
any difference.

CuLT

I've heard that the Fatal1ty mobo is atrocious, might want to look into the motherboard's compatibility with everything you have, I know a mate of mine bought one and sent it back in disgust because of how finnicky it is with other hardware.

Shiny

CuLT wrote:

I've heard that the Fatal1ty mobo is atrocious, might want to look into the motherboard's compatibility with everything you have, I know a mate of mine bought one and sent it back in disgust because of how finnicky it is with other hardware.

To be honest i have to agree with you.
As you can see from the thread i have replaced absolutely
every component bar the motherboard and graphics card.

Its really really annoying having to send back a motherboard
though.

Shiny

To conclude, this problem was never solved,

I just installed XP on a hardrive on a seperate PC
and i then put that hardrive into the PC that was
causing the problems.

It boots and is working ok so far.

If I could go back in time I definately would not
buy a Fatal1ty motherboard again.

Let this be a warning to any potential buyers.

I also emailed OCZ a few days ago about their ram
as i origionally thought that was the problem.
They replied back offering to sort the whole situation
out and were very helpful. Just a thumbs up to the
OCZ team.

The SATA drive is definately damaged and I will have
to return that to komplett/Maxtor. It crashes any PC
that it is connected to.

Thanks again guys.
Everyone helped in my time of desperation.

Sid71

Had the same problem with a new maxtor 250gb disk. I googled and I found a cure! I did a low level format of the drive and hey presto! that was the problem.

zuma

You got a Maxtor ehhh???

Got a 200GB IDE at Christmas and the bloody thing failed Smart the first time I tested it...minutes after first setting it up in the machine!!!

Gave them a bit of attitude and they refunded me my money and cost of return shipping....though I had already ordered a 300GB Maxtor before I got the refund.

Im not saying that maxtors are more prone to problems than other HDD's(I have 4 of them!)...what I am saying though is that every once in a while you get a dud.
RMA it and get them to refund return cost to your credit card.
Choose yourself if you want to stick with the same model or not(pick a different size mabye?).