Computer won't start Windows....help!

[Knottscott]

Is the Memory(Ram) in the right slot(s)? Was the M.Board new or used? If used, it could be defective (not saying a new board can't be defective, thats why there are warranties), I have seen bad M.Board Capacitors give M.S. errors and cause all kinds of other erratic issues. Did you format the Hard Drive before you installed the O.S.? Was there fresh thermal paste applied to the CPU Heat Sink? Is the CPU fan running at the correct speed(s), overheating can cause erratic O.S. conditions. The Power Supply not suppling enough power at the right times can also cause erratic O.S. conditions . If the version of XP O.S. does not have a Service Pack update included, then you must use a PS type mouse and keyboard, then install the Service Pack for them to work and DO install the latest Service Pack before going online if you don't have anti-virus and an external firewall (like zonealarm) you will get hit with viruses in seconds!

There are 4 dimms...I've tried booting with all and with just two in the 1 and 3 slots...same result.

The MOBO is used, but guaranteed from the supplier.

The HD came loaded with Win XP on the old Dell, and we've just been using it as received, so "no" I haven't formatted it. It worked fine with that system.

Yes, fresh paste on the CPU, and a new cooling fin/fan.

I have no way of knowing what speed the fans should run at, but they're running.

The PSU is not ideal for this...it's a fairly heavy 300W supply. I do plan to replace it once I'm up and running. Hopefully it's not actually the cause. The symptoms aren't erratic at all...they fail very consistently.

I'm pretty sure the XP has service pack 3. I'm using the USB type connections for the mouse and keyboard.

Thanks.

[dbhost]

The easiest thing to do is stab a new hard disk in it, load Windows, and all, and then just copy your data over from the old HDD...

Typically BSOD errors are caused by memory problems, and I don't mean memory modules, but a program or device driver that is incorrectly accessing memory and faulting the Windows Kernel. IF you can get it to come up to the F8 screen and do a selective boot, bring it up one driver, and program at a time until you find the one that crashes it, then next time bring it up without that driver or program, and either update or remove same said driver or program...

Of course if you can't get it that far, or whatnot, the problem may be in the memory module. Try running memtest86 from a CD, it takes a while to go through all the tests, but you will know for sure...

[geeoh]

"The MOBO is used, but guaranteed from the supplier."

The guarantee is kind of there way of giving it a warranty, it could be from DOA or 3 days or more, etc.. I would look at each capacitor to see if any of them are bulged (sides are not straight), or if any have stains on there tops (shows there is leakage) either condition is a failed or failing capacitor. There could also be other problems, Voltage Regulators etc. which can not be checked visually. Now I am not saying the M.Board is bad, just indicating what could be causing your problem(s).

"The HD came loaded with Win XP on the old Dell, and we've just been using it as received, so "no" I haven't formatted it. It worked fine with that system."

This is most likely the problem! It has different software drivers installed and won't work correctly with the current hardware; M.Board, Graphics, etc. etc.. You need to either use a new Hard Drive (which will need formatted as well in the very beginning when you install the O.S. but does not have other software drivers installed to cause conflicts) as dbhost indicated above or format the Hard Drive you have when first installing the O.S., the O.S. install lets you know when to do and it can be the quick format unless there is a virus... on this Hard Drive. Good luck

[Knottscott]

I'm working 6am to 6pm today and tomorrow, so there's not much time left to work on it. I'd prefer not to spend more money on a HD if I don't have to. Is there any way to add the drivers I need to HD I planned to use if I drop it in another operating PC first?

[geeoh]

I do not know of any method of adding drivers that way. If you could/can log on then you might be able to delete the unwanted drivers in device manager and then install the correct drivers doing either a restart or update drivers, still not the best way to do this. You have a smaller hard drive, is that one available to format? This way you could use the larger one for data storage which does not need to be formatted.

[LinuxRandal]

"came loaded with xp"

Besides the driver issues, that means it may have been a limited XP that was fixed to that motherboard. (no longer valid in that system/WGA)

[Knottscott]

I do not know of any method of adding drivers that way. If you could/can log on then you might be able to delete the unwanted drivers in device manager and then install the correct drivers doing either a restart or update drivers, still not the best way to do this. You have a smaller hard drive, is that one available to format? This way you could use the larger one for data storage which does not need to be formatted.

Yes, it's a SATA drive that's interchangeable with the larger drive.

[Knottscott]

"came loaded with xp"

Besides the driver issues, that means it may have been a limited XP that was fixed to that motherboard. (no longer valid in that system/WGA)

It was loaded on the HD but they also sent the install CD.

[LinuxRandal]

Look at the install cd on another pc. It can be one of several things, from a cd that points to a hidden partition on the hard drive (sol), to a full install, ONLY on a new Dell (SOL), to a regular os cd.

[Knottscott]

I'm taking to a guy I used to work with tomorrow. He's into this stuff, so fingers crossed!

[Knottscott]

Update

Made some progress tonight. One of the many suggestions I've gotten was to check the HD for shunt jumpers. I checked the Western Digital website for the default configuration and removed the shunt from my HD....and low and behold something happened! Got past the blue screen of death! I was able to go through an entire installation of Windows XP, but progress finally stalled after the desktop wallpaper appeared....no desktop icons would appear. I'm about out of time and patience tonight, but at least something happened! I'm still going to take it to be looked at tomorrow.

[pelligrini]

Cool, didn't think of the drive jumpers.

[Knottscott]

Update

My buddy "Bob" and I spent nearly 4 hours trying to diagnose the monster today. He discovered that the 3V battery was loose in the board and causing the intermittent keyboard issues, so we soldered that, but it still didn't like the USB keyboard much, so he hooked up an old style DIN keyboard, which worked much better...we were then able to get it to boot from the hard drive. Then we struggled to get the correct drivers installed. First it wouldn't read the CD of downloaded drivers I brought, so we redid them from the Gigabyte website on his CD burner. Then it accepted some but not all the drivers....he's going to run a program to fix that. We also tried the XP install, but determined that he'd need to wipe the entire drive and do a fresh install (which many of you suspected). We ran out of time today, but Bob's gonna do some more magic over the next couple of days. This thing had more issues than I would have ever been able to solve!

[Knottscott]

Hooray!

I'm pleased to inform you that I'm typing this post from my new homebuilt PC!

Thanks to all those who offered help!

Now that there's some upward potential, I'm sure that some upgrades will follow. Win7, more RAM, faster processor, video card...who knows, but upgrading is definitely the nature of the beast!

[chopnhack]

Good job in persevering Scott! Welcome to the world of building pc's - dollars the limit, but you can often build a way better rig for the same money as some of the big box store's sales ads. One other thing to do before building that will help alot (for the future) is to check out the manufacturer's website - like AMD and Intel - they often have a list of compatible hardware, stuff that works well together.