Critical problems ______ someone please Help

[the_player]

hi,

I decided to format only the C: Drive of my system.


WHAT HAPPENED
I have a very strange problem.

when I format my system & run the setup of Windows XP , after some time my computer freezes, one blue screen comes and one short message comes

The Stop Error code which comes is --> 0x000000A

This happens everytime during XP installation(with the same error code). When 9 minutes are remaining for the setup to complete, the above Blue Scrren of Death(BSOD) appears.

HISTORY

3 months ago, it so happened that my system was not booting.

So I removed my Floppy Disk Drive from my system.

My system booted up & started functioning.(ie my problem was solved)

ALTERNATIVE MEASURE TAKEN

Since the problem refused to give way, I decided to install another OS in my system. Therefore, I decided to install KUbuntu OS on my system.

But after the occurance of KUbuntu desktop on screen, when I run the install.exe of Kunbuntu, my system hangs randomly after that .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once it so happened, that nothing showed on the monitor screen after the Power ON.

CONCLUSION
I suspect the following 3 components of my CPU

1. Pentium 4 1.9GHz CPU (_Its overheating______)(Probability : Low)
2. Mercury 300Watts Power Supply(_refer HISTORY written above)(Probability : High)
3. Corsair 512MB @ 400MHz DDR RAM(____because of the BSOD) (Probability: Medium)

SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS
HIS motherboard P4M266A/8235 @ 533MHz FSB
Intel Pentium 4 @1.9GHz
512MB Corsair DDR memory @ 400MHz
XFX GeForceFX 5200 128MB graphics card with AGP 8X
DLink 56Kbps Modem(standard)
Mercury Power Supply 300Watts
Samsung 60GB hard disk
APC 500VA UPS

Someone please help, as I am confused thoroughly & am getting frustrated with this problem.

SOS

[infra_red_dude]

Since you've narrowed down to the problems (I really appreciate that ), try eliminating it one by one. If you can get a stick of RAM and a PSU from a friend then test them out.

The GFX card may also be the culprit. Does your computer haf onboard video? If so then try installing the OS on that and adding the GFX card later. Remove all the PCI/AGP whatever etc. cards and try installing on a barebones system.

[the_player]

Originally Posted by infra_red_dude

Since you've narrowed down to the problems (I really appreciate that ), try eliminating it one by one. If you can get a stick of RAM and a PSU from a friend then test them out.

The GFX card may also be the culprit. Does your computer haf onboard video? If so then try installing the OS on that and adding the GFX card later. Remove all the PCI/AGP whatever etc. cards and try installing on a barebones system.

Thanks for the suggestion infra_red



I am writing down my observations on this post, so that these can give you(& others reading this), more idea. These were written before this problem was posted, but due to some reason I wasn't able to write in in post, therefore writing now.

These observations have been written the moment errors occured on screen

LEGEND

ob# stands for the observations____ Words in double quotes are the messages/errors displayed by the system____Words without codes denote actions taken by me

ON - system is powered ON through the power button
OFF - system is powered OFF through the power button

OBSERVATIONS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ob#1

ON
After the boot,
"Verifying DMI Pool Data",
then
"Remove disks or other media
Press any key to restart "

After pressing a key

"Disk boot failure Insert Boot Disk when ready"

OFF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ob#2

ON
Win XP Boot disk inserted, disk detected & XP setup began

System hanged at the XP initialisation screen, i.e. at the blue screen of XP set up when it begins to load drivers like ATAPI, IDE, etc.

OFF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ob#3

Removed modem from the CPU cabinet

ON

"Updating ESCD..............Sucess"

It asked for boot disk, inserted the KUbuntu OS CD

"Uncompressing Linux...................."

"crc error"

and the system became responseless

OFF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ob#4

Inserted modem in its proper place(PCI slot)
ON
RAM is not detected
OFF

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ob#5

same as ob#4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

ob#6(This scene appeared thrice at 3 different installations of KUbuntu)

ON
KUbuntu setup
KUbuntu desktop(setup not )
Hanged when clicked on "Install" of KUbuntu desktop
OFF

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ob#7
ON
Error at the MainBoard screen

"Primary IDE channel no 80 conductor cable installed

Floppy disk(s) fail(40)
CMOS checksum error - default loaded


Press F1 to continue "

After pressing F1

"Remove other disks or media
Press any key to restart "

OFF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ob#8
Removed & reinserted the power & data cable of Hard Disk
ON
Output same as observation #7
OFF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Removed both the power & data cable of Hard Disk
System started without Hard Disk
ON
same as ob#7
OFF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
All observations over
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


Someone, please help me.

[club_pranay]

i must appriciate the technical edge to your question and observation.
i had a similar problem on my system once.

1. Try installing Xp with only one HDD installed: loosly fit power cables, IDE/SATA connectors, misbehaving IDE/SATA Ports can contribute to the problem. Using only one HDD can realy drop the chances of error.
2. Try installing Xp on other HDD: When my Sata-Seagate crashed, my system would go slow, sometimes it would freeze with a ugly bsod.
3. U seem technicaly sound so cross check everything before drawing a conclusion. things like RAM slots, ram sticks are very critical. and try to strip down your system to a bare minimum spec.

i used to get realy realy fustrated with these type of problems, so keep your cool! best of luck!!

[iMav]

it seems that u have a lot of addon cards on ur machine .... remove all of them use onboard as suggested and install if the problem still occurs change ram and see if the problem still occurs it means that something other than the ram is the culprit so now change hdd and see (which i dont think shud b causing the problem)

[infra_red_dude]

Originally Posted by the_player

OBSERVATIONS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ob#1

ON
After the boot,
"Verifying DMI Pool Data",
then
"Remove disks or other media
Press any key to restart "

After pressing a key

"Disk boot failure Insert Boot Disk when ready"

OFF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Error is due to the fact that the system is unable to find any bootable media.

Originally Posted by the_player

ob#2

ON
Win XP Boot disk inserted, disk detected & XP setup began

System hanged at the XP initialisation screen, i.e. at the blue screen of XP set up when it begins to load drivers like ATAPI, IDE, etc.

OFF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Check the IDE/Power connectors on the HDD as well as on the mobo.

Originally Posted by the_player

ob#3

Removed modem from the CPU cabinet

ON

"Updating ESCD..............Sucess"

It asked for boot disk, inserted the KUbuntu OS CD

"Uncompressing Linux...................."

"crc error"

and the system became responseless

OFF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Kubuntu CD most prolly has gone bad and hence the CRC error.

Originally Posted by the_player

ob#4

Inserted modem in its proper place(PCI slot)
ON
RAM is not detected
OFF

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mostly due to loose connection.

Originally Posted by the_player

ob#5

same as ob#4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

ob#6(This scene appeared thrice at 3 different installations of KUbuntu)

ON
KUbuntu setup
KUbuntu desktop(setup not )
Hanged when clicked on "Install" of KUbuntu desktop
OFF

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Looks like a problem with hard disk.

Originally Posted by the_player

ob#7
ON
Error at the MainBoard screen

"Primary IDE channel no 80 conductor cable installed

Floppy disk(s) fail(40)
CMOS checksum error - default loaded


Press F1 to continue "

After pressing F1

"Remove other disks or media
Press any key to restart "

OFF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

You are using an old 40pin 40 conductor IDE cable. Get a new one which is a 40pin 80 conductor cable to get good transfer speed and performance (greater than UATA/33)

The floppy drive (if not gone bad) had the cable connected in the reverse way. Check it out.

CMOS error mostly means a drained CMOS battery. Replace that. Or check that the BIOS clear jumper is not set to clear the BIOS setting at every boot. Refer to the mobo manual.

Originally Posted by the_player

ob#8
Removed & reinserted the power & data cable of Hard Disk
ON
Output same as observation #7
OFF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Removed both the power & data cable of Hard Disk
System started without Hard Disk
ON
same as ob#7
OFF

Check your hard disk for bad sectors. It mostly appears to be a problem with the hard disk.

[the_player]

Thank You : infra_red, clup_pranay & iMax

Today I have performed some more experiments & have noted down below mentioned observations

LEGEND

ob# stands for the observations____ Words in double quotes are the messages/errors displayed by the system____Words without codes denote actions taken by me

ON - system is powered ON through the power button
OFF - system is powered OFF through the power button


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
DAY 4
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

ob#1

Replaced my XFX GeForce FX 5200 128MB AGP 8X with nVidia GeForce 2/MX 400 64MB AGP

ON

"Primary IDE channel no 80 conductor cable installed"
"Floppy Disks fail(40)"
"Press F1 to continue"

After pressing F1

"Remove other disks or media
Press any key to restart"

OFF

Conclusion#1 My Graphic card is NOT the culprit
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

ob#2

Removed the modem

ON
Inserted XP bootable CD when it asked for "Insert boot disk"
BSOD arose
The error it flashed :

"BAD_SYSTEM_CONFIG_INFO

STOP : 0x00000074
"

OFF
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ob#3

Put the modem back to its PCI slot

Win XP CD inserted as a boot device

System restarted unexpectedly at the XP initialisation screen, i.e. at the blue screen of XP set up when it begins to load drivers like ATAPI, IDE, etc.

After the restart same steps as above, this time system hanged at the XP setup initialization screen

OFF

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ob#4

Replaced my Corsair 521MB DDR400 RAM with Hynix 256MB DDR(Grahpic card is GeForce2 MX 400 64MB & not XFX)

ON

"Primary master : none
Primary Slave : none
Secondary master : Samsumg CD-RW
Secondary slave : none "

Still continued with the XP setup screen

"Setup did not detect any secondary storage connected to the system ___F3 to quit"

F3

OFF
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: ob#4 (i.e. Hard Disk not detected occured thrice, after reconnecting the connectors)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

ob#5

ON

"Primary master : SAmsung 60GB Hard Disk
Primary Slave : none
Secondary master : Samsumg CD-RW
Secondary slave : none "

"Remove other disks or media
Press any key to restart "
OFF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
All observations of the day are over
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

CONCLUSIONS

Since both the RAM & Graphics card after replacement don't behave differently, I think Hard Disk or my SMPS(PSU) are the problem causers

Also KUbuntu CD is working fine now


I suspect my Power supply, as its 4 years old now as against my Hard Disk which is 2 years old

Please help as I don't have extra Power supply & Hard Disk to perform any more experiments

SOS as I am confused

[sashijoseph]

Well you've tried almost everything......try swapping the hdd and cdrw cables.
Take out the hdd from it's bay and when you switch on the system,place your hand on the hdd lightly to feel for some vibrations etc which should signify whether or not the hdd is coming on.There should also be a light 'tick' sound when the hdd comes on.
I think it's a case of a loose hdd power supply connector......try a different connector.
And work with only the Hynix ram.
Good luck.

[realdan]

refer to my post below

http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/show...4&postcount=10

[club_pranay]

it's not the confusion of a ram type my friend "realdan".

anyways, as suggested by joseph, seems a problem in the IDE area(IDE ports, cables or even the drives)

u can try this conf too.
make the CDROM, your primary master, HDD your primary slave(check with the jumper settings). i mean on one cable only

if it doesnt work, change the IDE and POWER cables.

if it doesnt work, change the setup to secondary settings.

pls tell if this works or not.

[assasin]

borrow a psu from ur frnd and try.
i think ur hdd is the root of the prob.backup all ur data and do a full zero fill.this sud solve the prob.

[the_player]

Guys,

Thank You very much ________ especially infrared_dude.








WHAT I DID

Installed the same 256MB DDR Hynix RAM

Installed nVidia GeForce 2 MX 400 64MB AGP card

I purchased a new Data cable(the cable which runs from MotherBoard to HDD) & fit it in my cabinet________ & ______ bingo, the drive was recognised.

Plus all the contents in my other drive were undisturbed.

This problem of mine led me to purchase another 160GB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm IDE drive :-/ which cost me around Rs. 2225/-

I also had another problem_____ my pen drive was not recognized _____ now even this problem of mine is solved(Honestly I don't know how it got solved)



ITS NOT OVER YET

I am going to test my system for BSODs & sudden restarts. If everything works fine, then I will restore my XFX GeForce FX & Corsair 512MB RAM

On Sunday I will restore my graphics card & RAM ______ & will let all of you know through this post_____ till then, no games for the_player ((

Once again, Thank You everyone.

[club_pranay]

good job!! congrats!!
believe or not.. i had this strange system hanging problem.. the cause was power shortage!! ...i had too many things inside my cabinet. When i upgraded to a 500w smps, everything was up n running! even the thermometer, which never worked, started giving readings!! And the old 300W smps is happy in my older machine.