A possible hardware issue

[Julian4145]

Hey All,

I recently built a PC with a buddy of mine. Both of us were fairly inexperienced in such a task, (I hadn't built one before and he had only built one). We put it together fine and got it running. But I am having major issues with it crashing, particularily after I install drivers, most often with the video card driver. I have tried installing both WinXP and Win2000 Server (a guy at work loaned me a copy to see if XP was the issue) separately. So I am thinking that maybe we installed some hardware that doesn't get along well together. Here are the specs:

Mother Board: MSI 648FX Neo-L
Memory: 2 Mushkin DDRAM 512 PC-2700 990962
Video Card: VGA ASUS V9520 Magic/128MB FX5200 RT
CPU: Intel Pent 4/2.6G, 800M, 478P/512K HT RT
HD: 180 G/Hitachi 7200R/8MB
CDRW: MSI 52x32
DVD: Samsung 16x

When it crashes, it usually does a physical memory dump and either says the registry can't load the hive file (SystemRoot\System32\Config\Software) or says KMode_Exception_Not_Handled. Other times when it crashes, it loops, getting to WinXP's loading page, hitts a blue screen for a split second, crashes and then reboots to repeat the process. Once all I did was a fresh install of XP then rebooted twice, on the second reboot it went into a crash loop. Didn't even install anything. Does anyone have any ideas? They would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
Julian

 

[Julian4145]

One thing I forgot to add, the only constant I can think of is an update program that was installed for the Bios, called Live Update 2.

 

[kewlcoder]

Is it a new computer that you assembled for your-self, if yes try changing the RAM, i doubt that thing. please check it up ..... must not have been a problem with the bios or anything like that.

 

[SYAR2003]

Just do a repair install over XP.
When in the bottom of the display shows
" Press F6 For Raid or Third Party..."
PRESS "F5"
scroll to ACPI Multiprocessor,select it
and install over the previous install of xp.

This applies for P4 with Hypertheading (HT)
Hyperthreading must also be enabled in BIOS.

If you don't run HT(Hyperthreading).
Disable it in BIOS.
Select ACPI Uniprocessor insted ( the F5 setup )

 

[Julian4145]

Few more tidbits I found last night:

Power Supply: 360Watts made be Enlight
CPU Temp: 50 degrees C

I'll give the XP repair install a try. Thanks.

 

[ceh4702]

Some motherboards do not like certain types of RAM. When you buy RAM you may want to go to the manufacturers site and see what works for your motherboard. When I say certain types of RAM, I mean that even though it is PC2700 it can still be incompatible with your motherboard. This sounds like bad or incompatible RAM. I have had good luck with Crucial RAM, but it is not for overclocking. Corsair might be better for overclocking. I would still insure compatibility with the motherboard for any RAM purchase. You might be able to lower the RAM Timing and get it to work. Win2K and XP are a little less forgiving to marginal hardware. Microsoft has a HCL (Hardware Combatibility List) where you can look up hardware for compatibility.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[Julian4145]

Thanks for the ideas.

How would I lower the Ram timing?

Julian

 

[SYAR2003]

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_sys32.htm

Can not load registry hive.
( this is if corrupt registy file is the issue)

But if the crash fails with different causes,
my bet is the hardware abstraction layer HAL
and ACPI .
The P4 with HT is kind of a dual processor , so
the HAL windows installation should have choosen
during install is ACPI Multiprocessor .
But the ACPI bios isnt always being correctly detected by windows setup .
Thats why i recommend repair install with the F5 option
wich give the possibility to force the right HAL .
After all the hardware abstraction layer is called from either the OS's kernel or from a device driver.
So having this wrong cause a lot of "strange" errors.

 

[TheGoatMan]

Yes indeed its a ram issue. I have a MSI KT6 delta and I solved this by loosening the timings and raising the DDR voltage. Also having good ram helps. I run Kingston Hyper X PC4000. I had the same problem you described and I solved it by loosening my timings and raising voltage. Also you're running 333mhz ram of a brand I'm not too sure about. Try the above and if it doesn't work pick up some new ram. Kingston, corsair, and ocz are good.

 

[SYAR2003]

The RAM from mushkin is actually a desired type
in o/c circuits and is good memory.
Its also tested for compability by the manufacturer for
sis,via,intel,nvidia and amd chipsets.

http://www.3dxtreme.org/crucialmushkin.shtml

 

[Julian4145]

I'll check those out. Both sound like viable options. In another post here, was a link to a Microsoft utility to check out RAM so I'll run that. And I'm not sure if mulitprocessor was selected or not. Thanks for the help. I'll let you know what turns up.

Julian

 

[Julian4145]

Thanks everyone, turned out to be a bad memory module. Ran some memory tests and got all sorts of errors on one of the modules. I did do an install on the ACPI Mulitprocessor as well. Everything is running nicely.

Julian