SoWat
Loyal Freddie
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2003
- Messages
- 305
Recently my Epox motherboard (8RDA+) failed with blown capacitors (a fate common to particular models of Epox boards due to a bad batch of components).
As everything of importance is backed up, it was no big deal... especially as I was considering upgrading anyway.
I ordered a new motherboard (MSI k8N Neo2), along with an AMD64 3500 (Winchester), a matched set of Corsair XMS memory (2 x 512mb) and a 250Gb Maxtor drive.
When it arrived I installed it all and powered up ready to install XP Pro... and it all went pear shaped.
During XP install I received numerous "cannot copy file" messages, until I gave up on that. Thinking it was the HD, I switched to an older one from my XP3000+ system. This seemed to get a little further, but eventually crapped out with an ntfs.sys blue screen (at the very end of the XP install).
Hmmmn, next step was to swap out the memory for some PC2700 stuff. Again, this seemed to work... but XP would not boot past the Windows boot screen. I tried installing from a different CD-Rom, with no difference.
This all points to the motherboard being the culprit, but I did run memtest150 test on the Corsair memory just so I had the complete story. This showed a bad 'bit' (on test 5 if anyone uses this).
To muddy the waters a little further, PowerMax (the Maxtor disk utility) says that the 250Gb maxtor is failing.
Sooo... my question is; is it possible that the only bad component here is the Motherboard, and it is affecting the other components when I test them, or is it likely that I have 2, or even 3 bad parts?
I will be sending the faulty parts back to Scan... once I understand which parts are faulty, but I naturally want to avoid sending good stuff back.
Any suggestions on how to proceed with further fault-finding? This is driving me nuts.
Cheers
As everything of importance is backed up, it was no big deal... especially as I was considering upgrading anyway.
I ordered a new motherboard (MSI k8N Neo2), along with an AMD64 3500 (Winchester), a matched set of Corsair XMS memory (2 x 512mb) and a 250Gb Maxtor drive.
When it arrived I installed it all and powered up ready to install XP Pro... and it all went pear shaped.
During XP install I received numerous "cannot copy file" messages, until I gave up on that. Thinking it was the HD, I switched to an older one from my XP3000+ system. This seemed to get a little further, but eventually crapped out with an ntfs.sys blue screen (at the very end of the XP install).
Hmmmn, next step was to swap out the memory for some PC2700 stuff. Again, this seemed to work... but XP would not boot past the Windows boot screen. I tried installing from a different CD-Rom, with no difference.
This all points to the motherboard being the culprit, but I did run memtest150 test on the Corsair memory just so I had the complete story. This showed a bad 'bit' (on test 5 if anyone uses this).
To muddy the waters a little further, PowerMax (the Maxtor disk utility) says that the 250Gb maxtor is failing.
Sooo... my question is; is it possible that the only bad component here is the Motherboard, and it is affecting the other components when I test them, or is it likely that I have 2, or even 3 bad parts?
I will be sending the faulty parts back to Scan... once I understand which parts are faulty, but I naturally want to avoid sending good stuff back.
Any suggestions on how to proceed with further fault-finding? This is driving me nuts.
Cheers