PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

Hello,

I've got all my new PC parts:

Asus P4B533
P4 2.4 533 Intel (Retail)
2x 512mb Corsair XMS CAS 2 pc2700
2x WD 120JB Drives
Sony CRX1610 CDRW
380w Antech PSU

First off, one WD drive came D.O.A. - The bios wouldnt even recognize it. I've got bad luck with drives, every time I order them in pairs, one is always dead...

Now, when I run WinXP installer, about 35% through (in the same spot every time), the computer locks up. I've tried 1 stick of ram, both sticks, increasing the voltage to the memory, re-seating all the parts, nothing works.

The working drive was partitioned and formatted, nothing else.

I'm trying to install with nothing but the motherboard, drive, cdrw and agp card.

What gives?

I also tried the latest Asus BIOS revision. I'm completely lost?!

HELP!

- sinix

A bit puzzling is that one, could it be a stray bios setting?
As I remember if a system is otherwise working, there was one setting in the bios that would cause a install to hang and that was if you had something like; "Virus protection" enabled in the bios, as it stops the install writing to the MBR, but even then usually a warning msg would come up, try disabling it, its a long shot.

While in the bios try making sure you have all the memory timings set conservatively, there is usually an option to reset to default settings, try that, but make sure you go back and check that the settings are as you want them.

The other thing with Antec power supplies, is according to a review I once read, the manufacturer recommends a burn in period of about 50 hours to reach a stable output power, but that only applies if your power supply is new.

Where abouts does the install crash, in hardware detection? Or somewhere else in the install, please specify the exact point.

Good Luck