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  • #2074414

    New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

    Locked

    by ksearch ·

    I am building a new computer — I’ve done this dozens of times. Got everything assembled and computer seems ok, but locks up in Dos (6.22 full version) Would like to load NT Server, but keeps locking up midway through install.
    First, thought powersupply. Tested with multimeter and voltages seemed high. Returned it and installed a new one. Still problem.
    Thought, perhaps CPU or RAM, tried known good CPU and RAM (same type from another “good” machine) Still problem
    Replaced the motherboard. Still problem.
    Replaced CD Rom with known good. still problem.
    Hard Drive was the only other thing so I put in a known good hard drive with Win98 already loaded. Machine should have booted right up –locks up.
    I went into setup to see if therewas a power management setting awry, and locked up in there too!
    Help! Any ideas….

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    • #3766275

      New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

      by gareth hauber – hauber ·

      In reply to New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

      Have you double checked your motherboard jumper settings.
      ~Does The Problem Still Occur~
      List all Cards in the computer starting from the top to the bottom and try the computer after removing the 1st card then try with the second card. 1 at a time(note don’t remove any important cards i.e video card)THE PROBLEM COULD BE A CONFLICT
      If this doesnt help you e-mail me at hauber@btinternet.com and i’ll put more thought into it

    • #3766268

      New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

      by mckaytech ·

      In reply to New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

      Wow! What an ordeal… you’ve done all the things I would have done but it sounds like a motherboard problem. If both motherboards you tried were the same make and model, I would think that a configuration error is the most likely explanation (CPUor bus speed are two common errors) although I did once get two defective motherboards in a row.

      My only suggestion would be to really take it back to basics and start first with only the power supply, motherboard, keyboard, video card and floppydrive and see if it will boot to DOS. Then add the hard drive and then finally the CD-ROM and see where it stops working.

      One of my colleagues at work had a similar problem that turned out to be a defective IDE port on the motherboard which sheconfirmed by using an ISA IDE controller that worked fine.

      paul

      • #3789705

        New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

        by ksearch ·

        In reply to New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

        I’m taking your advice and going back to basics. I’m still in the midst of this (can only do a little at a time at night). I’ve disabled all onboard peripherals in the BIOS (USB, onboard Sound) I’ve disabled power management in the bios. Doing this much has already given me more “up time” I can wander around in DOS for 5-10 minutes now instead of locking up almost immediately upon boot.
        Now I will first verify every jumper and cable on the motherboard and then remove all unnecessary devices and try it with just video, then add floppy, then add hard drive (trying each IDE controller, trying with different IDE cables) and then the CD-ROM (again each controller and cable). Cross your fingers!

    • #3766267

      New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

      by curlergirl ·

      In reply to New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

      Since you’ve already tried everything else, it’s got to be something on the MB or an add-in card. Remove all add-in cards except the video card, and see if the system boots. If not, it’s got to be something on the MB. If you have KB, Mouse, videoor other integrated peripherals, it could be something is shorting out or not properly connected. Could be jumpers, too. If you’ve checked all these, I’d say the only thing at that point is to just replace the MB itself. Good luck!

    • #3766236

      New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

      by clover252525 ·

      In reply to New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

      Possibly the cable between the motherboard and the hard disk is faulty. One of the wires may be broken. Try replacing the cable with the known good hard disk and see if that works.

      clover

    • #3766219

      New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

      by kermit88 ·

      In reply to New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

      Sounds wackey!

      Are you useing on board video? Are you sure the motherboard jumper settings are correct? Is the CPU registering at the right speed?

      My money is on the video card. Either bad memory, conflict or configuration.

      Good luck!

    • #3766216

      New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

      by jun1cez1 ·

      In reply to New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

      The way you describe what you had done already on this particular unbelievable piece of ___. I could only say two things, mobo’s jumper pins and peripheral configuration. Or could it be defective IDE ports. You really need to get back to basics with this if you intend to really make this work.
      I would suggest to do some side homework to see if the peripherals you are using have any issues with them. I am pretty sure you just had overlooked something even though you had done many times before. In any case, goodluck.
      Jun

    • #3766200

      New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

      by avidetto ·

      In reply to New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

      I would look for the following first, do you have a nic built in ? if so is it looking for the network? if it is you will hang forever. Second, you said you tried a good motherboard.., so it’s not the board, HD is good, so it has to be one of two/three things.. One it’s a setting in your bios, two it’s the disks your using to install..(as for the HD, 9x doesn’t cry too hard with diffrent architecture, however it might be.)

      Try this: go back to the Bios, Make sure all the settings are exactlyhow you want them.
      Make yourself a boot floppy of 9x, not an install version,..just a boot copy. Then format /q the drive (if already format there), or format it full if not. SYS the C:
      reboot if it locks again, you may have 2 bad motherboards. (are the the same type, same company..same bios level?) may be a switch on them that is doing this..also check your jumpers on the MB. Good Luck- AL

    • #3766108

      New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

      by zeus who frags ·

      In reply to New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

      Check the temperature. Maybe a cooling problem. If not, check all cables and also the power supply (I mean the internal cables since you checked the voltage).

    • #3766025

      New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

      by bdgray ·

      In reply to New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

      Try turning off power management in BIOS. If you are using NT 4.0 make sure in bios that the Plug and Play OS option is set to No or none.

    • #3766023

      New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

      by bdgray ·

      In reply to New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

      Are you putting NT on the same partition? If you installed Win98 with the FAT32 Windows NT cannot be installed on that partition. Nt will only work on an NTFS or FAT16 partition.

    • #3766471

      New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

      by foxmulder_65 ·

      In reply to New PC locks up in Setup/DOS/Read HDD/Re

      Sounds like you are getting a conflict somewhere in your system. Check your motherboard jumper settings, if your jumpers weren’t set properly then your hard drive would not work properly. Check to see whether your motherboard is defective as well, your motherboard has 2 IDE ports on it, check both of them, if possible use another hard disk controller. A possible cause for your NT installation hanging halfway is because maybe you are trying to install it on the same partition with Windows 98 because Windows 98 uses a FAT32 allocation table while NT 4.0 uses Fat16 or NTFS and Windows 2000 uses FAT or NTFS too. Check your BIOS to make sure your Plug and Play BIOS is set to non-os2

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