[RESOLVED] BSOD During Windows 2000 Installation

[RobDog888]

Ok I know some decent amount of hardware troubleshooting but this one is

One of my kids has a PII 400 system with 2000 on it and it had a virus and spyware on it. So I wiped out the HD after upgrading the mobo to a better one and more memory and PIII 600 cpu. Now when I tried to install 2000 I get the blue screen of death saying something about disabling Caching and Shadowing.

The HD was low level formatted, all periphals disconnected except for CDROM, floppy, video, just the necessities. these are all the same periphals that were in the original installation. I even tried recreating the 4 install floppies. I even have now switched the mobo back so its only the RAM and CPU that are different now. Still BSOD.

Any suggestions?

[penagate]

caching and shadowing are BIOS options. Usually located in "Advanced configuration" or something. I think both are actually to do with storing BIOS/CMOS in local memory.

[RobDog888]

Yes, I changed the options and even loaded the setup defaults for the bios and tweaked a few non critical settings and still nothing.

The 600 CPU is from a known working system as well as the RAM but I think the RAM may be possible for further testing just in case. I guess I could switch the CPU ack to the 400 and see what happens in order to test the RAM.

All this work and time I ordered 2 new P4 3.0 mobo bundles with 2x512Mbs of DDR Dual channel RAM but they wont get here for about a week. I was trying not top upgrade their systems yet but the price was great - $174 for Asus mobo and P4 3.0 ghz 800 FSB (retail box) and then add on $ for the RAM. Just need to order 2 new PSU that are P4 compatible and about 350-430 watts - Antec TruePower. Then I wont have to hear about anymore hardware issues for another few years

I just wanted to get to the bottom of this as its bugging me not to know what the deal is?

[gigemboy]

does this cpu have a heat sink?? If so, did you make sure the heat sink was on nice and snug with thermal grease??

I had random problems on a new mobo with my XP system with it erroring out on bluescreens on a new install, not the same error message every time.. ended up being the darn stock frequencies on the mobo for the chip I had, they were screwey.. I underclocked my cpu (after hours trying to diagnose the problem) and it worked perfect after that.

Point is, hardware issues would give you all sorts of random windows blue screens... just a matter of testing out different things to try to isolate it...

[RobDog888]

Yes, I just cant pull myself away from MY computer

The 600 CPU is working fine and has the same heatsink on it and was not removed from the CPU. Same error using 2 different mobos. I ran a Maxtor HD test before and after I low level formatted the drive using their utility software.

The only thing left is the RAM or mobo setting for the 600 CPU.

[-TPM-]

If turning on/off the caching and shadowing BIOS options (as penagate suggested) doesn't help. Maybe try updating the BIOS. You could also try a BIOS reset using, there's usually a jumper setting on the MOBO to do it, otherwise just remove the battery for a few mins.

[RobDog888]

Clearing the BIOS like that is different from Loading Setup Defaults?

[penagate]

Caching and shadowing are usually on by default, so you probably need to explicitly turn them off.

[-TPM-]

Clearing the BIOS like that is different from Loading Setup Defaults?

Yes it'll totally clear it, it sould then load the defaults again. It may not make a difference but worth a try.

[RobDog888]

Ok, I'll try it today. The main reason I need it running is so I can use it as a test system after I get the 2 new systems for them next week.

[-TPM-]

You should check out VMware Workststion, it'd be less hassle....

[RobDog888]

Whats that? A virtual workstation on your own production system like a virtual system?

[-TPM-]

Yes exactly, they work great! That's what I use, that way you don't need to worry about duel boot. You can use a bunch of different OS's. Even make copies, so you can have a clean test 'system' in about 5 mins. Check it out; www.vmware.com

[RobDog888]

Hmm, I have Virtual workstation or server from MS somewhere I think. Maybe I should install it after I finish my main system upgrade. I'm getting tired of looking at all these computers around the house lol.

[iPrank]

I have seen this problem in 2 cases. If the RAM is corrupt, and if the CPU is not cooling enough, Win2K/XP will not load.

Some modern motherboards performs a 'fast' POST to speed-up booting. They don't throughly check memory in that mode. If there is similar option, turn it off and see what happnes.

Win2K/XP doesn't install if the CPU is not cooled enough. Check if the processor fan is working properly. Try installing Win98 and see what happens.

[RobDog888]

Sounds like a good test. I will switch out the memory and cpu alternatly. I know it has to be either of the 2 as the HD has passed it diagnostics tests and was low level formatted. Ill try it today. Thanks.

[iPrank]

This may also happen if the HDD is faulty. (I haven't seen it myself)

If normal Win98 installation fails, run setup by SETUP -is. This will skip scandisk.
Type SETUP /? for more details.

Edit: Didn't see your previous post while typing this.

[RobDog888]

It does hang at the same point all the tim. 4th floppy when it says "Setup is now starting windows" and hangs for hour+. Could the drive be bad even though it tested ok?

[iPrank]

Is it a Seagate drive ? You can download DiskWizard bootable CD image and some Windows diagonestic tools from Seagate site.
Don't know about any other manufacturars.

Seagate DiskWizard will not work on non-Seagate drives if there is only one non-Seagate drive in the system.
But if there is atleast one Seagate drive, it will work on non-Seagate drives too.

[RobDog888]

Its a Maxtor drive. I have the MaxBlast diagnostics and test floppy and thats how I LL Formatted it too.

[iPrank]

Are you sure it has LL formatted ?

I have a Intel motherboard. No matter what software I use, it never lets me LL format the drive. The only way is setting the bios in 'Setup' mode. Zerofill works though.

[RobDog888]

Yes, the utility is the only way to LL format it. It shows the blocks and sectors being reset back to zeros and takes forever to do, more then an hour or two.

[-TPM-]

I doubt it's actually doing a LLF, it's probably just resetting the data to zero's. I true LLF would also rewrite all the sector table's etc. and can only be done on older HDD's, and should only be done as a last resort! Even reset utilities shouldn't be used unless necessary, it's not good for the drive.

[RobDog888]

Well I used the HD utility that is supported by the manufacturer. The HD had a virus/spyware so it was necessary. Plus the test did result in a A-OK diagnosis.

[-TPM-]

You'd be better off using fdisk to delete and recreate the boot partition.

[RobDog888]

I had to LLF as I couldnt get fdisk. I created a startup disk from XP but as you know it doesnt include fdisk or format anymore.

[iPrank]

Always keep a Win98 boot disk/bootable CD handy. A Linux instalation CD will work too (for destroying vfat partitions).

Edit: -TPM- is correct. Low-level formatting and Zero-fill is not same

[RobDog888]

Ok, update time...

I got it to install after some trouble shooting. After changing all possible hardware configs I decided to change the floppies to different ones and regenerate the boot disks and viola, it installed. Guess even though the disks generated correcly and without error it still isnt enough to assume they are functional.

Just installed SP4 and 30+ Windows updates. Thanks for all the good suggestions.

Btw, it did do a LLF as described in the HD Utility and when I installed 2K it stated it was a "new" drive.