Hi all,

I've been spending this week and bought myself a new pc (in bits) to build up, got it all built up today, however for the life of me I can't get it to boot into anything.

It post's and boots from the CD (MS Vista), it loads the files then displays the microsoft corporation writing with the bar which runs from left to right, and freezes.

Things I have tried so far....

Updated BIOS
Disabled unrequired onboard features on MOBO
Removed one stick of RAM
Tried RAM in different slots
Tried an IDE HDD
Tried to boot from UBCD4WIN which it loads the files then locks up on the Windows XP screen with the same Left to Right bar as the vista setup
Manually set the FSB to 800Mhz to match the RAM
Tried booting with no keyboard or mouse connected (seems to go further with no keyboard but still locks)
Tried moving the DVD drive to SATA3 instead or SATA2

Here's the Spec:

ASUS P5KC mobo
Intel Q6600 Quad proc
Corsair 2x2Gb DDR2 800Mhz
Inno 3D 9600GT 512Mb gfx
Antec 650W Modular PSU
CoolerMaster RC-1000 Cosmos case
Sony DRD/RW SATA
Samsung 500Gb SATA

Please help someone, really want to get back on LFS

Chris

Well, i'm certainly not a computer expert, but seeing as no one else has offered any advice, i'll have a go.

It could be a few things, so:

Check all connections, cables and components. It could be something as simple as that. Try resetting the CPU, perhaps you haven't used enough thermal paste ?
Boot into BIOS and leave it there for a while and check the temperature page to see if you have a cooling problem.
If you're having a problem with MS Vista it maybe a problem with the CD, or the CD/DVD drive. If you can get another OS, maybe WinXP or Linux and see if that works. (I'd recommend getting a Live Linux CD)
If you try all that and it's still the same, then it's obviously a hardware problem, but finding out which bit of hardware might be tricky. So if you can, try using a spare HD/soundcard/Graphics card/sound card etc.

Other than that i can't really think of anything else to suggest ?

So lets hope one of the computer geeks see's this thread and can give some real advice.

Start by removing everything the system doesn't 'have' to have.
That's floppy drive, extra hard drives, extra optical drives, sound cards, graphics card (if the motherboard has an onboard one), any more than a single single stick of RAM.
Reseat everything, all power and data cables and all add in cards.
Reseat the processor, redo the thermal paste on it, check the CPU fan is connected, working, and pointing the right way.
Check the power supply fan is working.
Reset the BIOS to factory defaults.
Let it sit in the BIOS for 30 mins, check the temps every 5 mins or so and see if it's locking up.
If you have a spare optical drive, try the install using that.
If you have a different OS disk, try with that.
If you have a spare PSU, try that.
If you have different RAM, which is compatible with the motherboard, test it with that RAM.
If you have a different processor which is compatible with the motherboard, test it with that processor.
If you don't have the spares available, try running memtest off a boot disk.

you need to turn off RAID on the mobo, as vista does not come with RAID drivers at the beginning, and it locks up trying to access the harddrives. if you are wanting to use RAID, you have to load the raid driver on a separate floppy to load up when prompted to press a keystroke to load the driver.

i had the same problem when i first got vista for my E6600, P5W DH DLX mobo. updated the BIOS and turned off the RAID, and it worked. i turned it off, as i wasn't going to use RAID.

I wasn't aware that any motherboard's came with RAID enabled by default.
Worth checking to be sure though.

well, it's probably mobo dependent. my P5W DH DLX had it enabled by default, but it's always the first thing when installing vista that you need to check.

Something else which is worth checking when setting up a new system with a quad core processor.
Check that the BIOS is enabling all 4 cores.
My new motherboard had cores 3 & 4 disabled by default, I wouldn't have noticed till I ran benchmarks if I hadn't been checking out the various BIOS options.

Quote from burnsy1882 :

you need to turn off RAID on the mobo, as vista does not come with RAID drivers at the beginning, and it locks up trying to access the harddrives. if you are wanting to use RAID, you have to load the raid driver on a separate floppy to load up when prompted to press a keystroke to load the driver.

i had the same problem when i first got vista for my E6600, P5W DH DLX mobo. updated the BIOS and turned off the RAID, and it worked. i turned it off, as i wasn't going to use RAID.

Thats not ture... i have used raid for awhile now so when i try to install xp it asks for the raid drivers to be installed but when i do the same thing with installing vista it does not ask for any raid drivers.

Vista has RAID drivers for some chipsets, but not all.
Your motherboard RAID chipset must be one of the ones it has a driver for.

i'd have to agree. the first time i ran into this problem was when i just got the P5W DH DLX, which also pretty much just came out, and i was installing Vista Beta. and after some searching, found out that i needed to actually get even newer BIOS for it.

Might also be worth checking what the voltage the RAM is getting.

By default my RAM timings were off and so was the voltage, had to increase the voltage and adjust the timings manually. When the voltage was to low it did the same kind of thing, got to the windows logos then crashed.

the fact that it's getting past the post says that the hardware is ok, it's a configuration problem. it's probs the raid setting that everyones talking about here. if not, you might want to re-seed the cpu and heatsync (new thermal paste).

P5KC = ICH9 SouthBrige = No RAID.

It features JMicron RAID, but this is so shit theres no point.

Burn Knoppix to a CD and look if it boots up, from there you can check your hardware a bit.
Clear CMOS first, make sure to have your SATA controller in BIOS set to NATIVE IDE, the other setting is better I know, but this might be the problem and you can then work on a solution if it is.

Next do not match the processor FSB to RAM speed, very bad if you don't know what you're doing. Since its an Q6600 it has an FSB of 1066MHz, so your RAM should be at 533MHz(DC gives 1066MHz then, sort of). This might be different depending on how the BIOS interprets it, but I think this is right, in any case verify how to set your specific BIOS. Maybe your mobo wants the real speeds and not the DDR speeds, the "real" FSB of a Q6600 is 266MHz per channel, so maybe you need to set this in BIOS, though i don't think so.

Also run memtest, but since it always seems to hang at the same spot I suspect it's something else.

right guys,

Many thanks for all the replies. Here is where I am at atm

All connections and cables are good, checked and re-checked
Raid is disabled in the BIOS in the matter of J-Micron eSATA/PATA Controller

Garph,
"Might also be worth checking what the voltage the RAM is getting.

By default my RAM timings were off and so was the voltage, had to increase the voltage and adjust the timings manually. When the voltage was to low it did the same kind of thing, got to the windows logos then crashed."

I don't suppose you can tell me how to check what the voltage on the RAM is? Looked all the way through the BIOS with no idea, should I be looking from something else other than DRAM voltage?

Stry90dis, tried all those settings mate and they dont make a difference

Thanks again for the on-going help guys

Chris

p.s DL'ing Knoppix now

Not got that mobo so not sure where it would be.

Are there any overclocking or advanced things to go into, then you'd be looking for DRAM/Memory Voltages, that kind of thing. If there are any system monitor options it might tell you what they are currently set to.

Mine was at 1.8v but it should have been 2.1v. Check your RAM for the right voltages.

EDIT - (NOTE: On most ASUS P5k motherboards there is no option for adjusting RAM voltages when the motherboard is in its default setup. You have to set Ai Overclocking to MANUAL in the Jumper Free configuration menu, this should then reveal the ram voltage further down the Jumper Free configuration page allowing you to change it to 2.3v)

http://www.buildyourown.org.uk ... /topic.asp?topic_ID=34176

yep, tried that to 2.1v still with no effect

Starting to think that something is broke? All parts were brand new.

The RAM is Corsair xms2 Extreme DDR2, is it worth trying any other voltages, higher or lower?

found the voltage on the side of the RAM which says 1.8v, however the spec sheet from Corsair says tested at 1.9v, however none work.

Just to note, when the machine locks up at the Microsoft Logo the keyboard also locks up, i.e can't toggle NUM lock on and off, this would point at memory/cpu?