Help!!! WinXP installation setup crashes / produces errors

davidstone28 · Post by **davidstone28** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 10:44 am

I've plugged together a new system:-

1. A64 3200+ Venice
2. Asus A8N Premium
3. Nvidia 6200 PCI-E graphics card
4. 2 x 512mb DDR ram
5. Silverstone 30NF 300W PSU (with 20>24pin adaptor)

I've plugged in the bare minium of peripherals (DVD-ROM drive, IDE HDD, fans) and also all the power cables - 20/24pin connector, 4 pin CPU connector, and a molex near the PCI-E cards, but everytime I install windows, I get variations of the following errors (all in the WinXP blue DOS screen setup page).

1. When XP copies across files during setup, it keeps on saying it can't read certain files such as .dll .chm .exe etc and it gives me the option to retry or skip the file. No matter how many times I retry, some files simply won't copy across including critical files such as win32.dll etc which leads to a half-installed non-working installation of XP. I have tried 4 different XP CD-ROMs and 2 different optical drives so I don't think its the CD or drive thats faulty.

2. Other times, even before the setup file copying stage, I get various error message such as *** stop: 0x000007E (0xC000005, 0X801908393, 0xF89D5C94, 0xFB89D5994) and the dreaded BSOD.

3. *** Serial.sys - address F85C63F base at 0xF85C638F, Datestamp 3d6de48b

4. BSOD - "A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.....check for adequate disk space....disabled drivers...check for driver updates...try changing video adaptors.....check your hardware vendor for any BIOS updates. Disabled BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use safe mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options and then select Safe Mode."

I suspect (but am not 100% sure) that the RAM is causing the problems because when I ran memtest it produced over 100,000 errors in the hexidemical format. I relaxed all the RAM timings to the slowest that the motherboard would allow me, and also used 1 DIMM plugged into the exact DIMM slot stated in the manual but to no avail.

I remember having a similar setup/installation problem on my old Duron700/Abit mobo/Crucial RAM but that was solved when I relaxed the RAM timings and only used 1 DIMM.

Someone suggested it could be a PSU problem. However, the PSU works fine in my nForce2 system. Could it be the 20>24 connector power irregularites?

Any help would be appreicated

Aris · Post by **Aris** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 11:22 am

if you cant pass memtest without error's then you have your answer. your stick or sticks are bad, send them back for replacements.

mg1394 · Post by **mg1394** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 11:28 am

Well, the problem may be memory, or it may be the P/S or the motherboard, or some other board not seated properly, or a mounting problem with the motherboard, and on and on. However, it you can't run a clean memtest, don't waste your time trying to install XP or any other OS. Fix low level problems at that level with the simplist diagnostics possible.

If you need a bootable CD with pretty much all diagnostics on it, try here

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

davidstone28 · Post by **davidstone28** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 11:45 am

Okay, managed to find the problem. The 4 pin P4 power connector was plugged in but not "clicked" in, therefore causing the problems. Thanks for taking the time though.