win xp issue-cant install a helthy system.Can't install anyt

[DMB2000uk]

That's plenty long for memtest, normally I leave it on for 8-12 hours (I'm impatient, and at least you were thorough). ^_^

Dan

[Merlin]

Mainboard gets my vote and possibly both....PSU blows out and takes Mainboard with it......NOW SOAPBOX AWAY Dicecca!!

[DMB2000uk]

You've got to admit though Merlin, DiCecca's message needs to be preached

Dan

[Merlin]

Oh yes without a doubt!! I do agree with him, the power supply you choose should not be an area that you look to save money. My main frustration before was how exactly does one tell what makes a good one? I mean I have had my Aspire ( a PSU that some would say "don't buy") for almost 2 years and it is now running a 24 pin mainboard off of 20 pins without a single problem. What seemed to be a PSU problem was actually a bad mother board. Anyway I am not looking for debate here...Dicecca and I are in agrement ...you should make as sure as you can that you purchase the best quality PSU that you can afford for your settup. I am sure there will be plenty said on the subject when it comes time to add it to the Basic Guide. Now I am just teasing Dicecca a little to let him know I have "nothing but luv for im".

[DMB2000uk]

Glad you are picking up on the way thinks work around here

Dan

[siicogamer]

for now ill just test another psu. But i've been looking at the 800W thermaltake psu's. If i were to save i could probaly buy a 1200W thermaltake psu. but i would have to save for another 6 weeks. i can't wait that long so ill just test
my friends and then probaly buy a 750 or 800W psu.

But is there any program out there to test motherboards?

thanks.

[Major_A]

You don't need 700+ watts for your system. Watts doesn't mean squat. You need to look at the 12V rail and the manufacturer. There is no program to test your motherboard that I know of.

[siicogamer]

yeah but if i had a 10W psu my computer would implode!lol wats do mean something ahhaha.

You need to look at the 12V rail and the manufacturer

yeah, do you know any good manufacturers?

[Major_A]

Watts mean squat. A 300W SeaSonic/Tagan will have more power/efficiency than a Powmax 580W power supply. If you are into car audio at all would you rather have a 1200W Boss amp or a 200W Eclipse? Also I've never seen a 10W power supply so that is a non-issue.

Powermax 580W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817163018
Specs:
+3.3V@32A
+5V@40A
+12V@24A
[email protected]
[email protected]
+5VSB@2A

SeaSonic 380W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817151021
Specs:
+3.3V@20A
+5V@20A
+12V1@8A
+12V2@14A
[email protected]
+5VSB@2A

Notice how the Powmax has really high +5V and +3.3V rails? That is because the power supply is junk and they can mark it as a 580W with the high ratings. The only computer that really used a high amount of +5V rail were P1's. Well since we're on P5/P6 basically you don't need that much. I have a fairly cheap Hipro PSU but it was made by Tagan and the rails are good. You don't have to spend a ton of money to get a good return. From what I've read about the newer Ultra's they aren't bad. If you want to learn about power supplies and get a good idea what to look for read some reviews. Here's a good place to start...
http://jonnyguru.com/index.php

[siicogamer]

i'm not from america , i'm from australia so newegg can't ship to my house.
and i haven't even tested my current one. What's the point of buying one if i Don't know if it's broken or not?
If i do have a problem i will look into buying one later.

[Major_A]

I was giving you an example. I didn't tell you to get a new PSU you said you were going to pick up a new one. I then stated you don't need 700W for your system. If you get a quality power supply you could probably get by with a 400W-450W.

[siicogamer]

ill probaly get round to testing my psu later this week.
i don't want to spend to much on this new psu. i probaly won't spend over $120.(with that money i could but another 2 ordinary ram sticks)

[vicaphit]

I had the same problem installing vista, and it was my RAM... I just took out the brand new chip I put in and got everything working immediately... try that if you havent already eliminated bad ram from the equation

[stev]

I read this thread from the start. There are some really good sugestions here.

When I had seen your posted error message image, I had thought back about three weeks ago when that error turned up on a rebuild in progress.

The CD looked great without any issues, the machine wasn't oc'ed, it ran Win98se for years just fine, plenty of space and the HDD was recently new (within the year), but the error kept coming up as the install files were loading. Sometimes it would stall on the same file other times another.

Well, something was going on. I checked the cables, PSU, and the drive. Nothing strange was visable. I called my IT technician, my brother. He said to clean the drive's lens. It worked!

The CD-ROM lens needs to be cleaned.

Get a CD-ROM/DVD lens cleaning kit.

[DMB2000uk]

I read this thread from the start. There are some really good sugestions here.

When I had seen your posted error message image, I had thought back about three weeks ago when that error turned up on a rebuild in progress.

The CD looked great without any issues, the machine wasn't oc'ed, it ran Win98se for years just fine, plenty of space and the HDD was recently new (within the year), but the error kept coming up as the install files were loading. Sometimes it would stall on the same file other times another.

Well, something was going on. I checked the cables, PSU, and the drive. Nothing strange was visable. I called my IT technician, my brother. He said to clean the drive's lens. It worked!

The CD-ROM lens needs to be cleaned.

Seems random that that would cause read errors in exactly the same place!

Dan

[Merlin]

well if you think about it, not to say you have not, IF one part of your disk had some imperfections or scratches on it it would take a little more "effort" to read which may not be possible with a dirty lens. Because of the oversampling rate of modern drives combined with variable refractability of the reading beam it is possible that the drive could read a bad part of the disk on one attempt but not on another. I am sure we all own a few DVDs that mess up on one scene most but not all the time...

[Methious]

Maybe a little off subject,

Buy a Uninterpretable Power Supply from Wally World, I use the APC brand, their about $40. They protect against electrical disaster and provide $40,000 insurance against electrical damage to anything plugged into it. (they bought me a new tv a few months ago)

We spend mega bucks on our systems and stick them on a crappy 6 dollar surge protector. Doah.

Surge protectors provide minimal protection against surges, what about the flip side; the brownout after the surge? They do squat.

Here's a real life example of APC protection. Couple months ago we had a lightning strike bout 70 yards from the house (as evidenced by the lightning burnt limb that fell out of a tree). I had most stuff unplugged cause it was so bad that lightning was shaking the house, but being a die hard my better half had the entertainment center plugged in. Bam goes the lightning, lights go down then right back up, the entertainment center comes back on (DVR, VCR, DVD, and TV), every thing appears normal except the power light on the TV is flashing but it's working. The next day TV comes on, but a minute later the picture goes and sound stays on, I jack with it a few minutes then poke around behind the TV, every thing but the TV is plugged into a APC, uninterpretable power supply (UPS). The wall socket is partially melted around where the UPC is plugged. Plugged the TV into the APC UPS called APC, bout a week later got a check for the TV.

Long story short spend a few pennies on a APC UPS or similar product and avoid the whole surge/undervolt scene.

If one of you goes out and gets a UPS the rant was worth it, I sell a bunch of computers and every one goes out the door with a UPS saves me a bunch of headache.

laters