WinXP keeps rebooting after h/w upgrade

[tod071]

Had: P3 1Ghz, 512MB RAM, 32MB Video, 30GB HDD w/ 160GB secondary

Upgrading to P4 2.8Ghz, ASUS P4R800W Mobo, onboard 128MB video, 512MB RAM (pc2700).

Moved the hard drives into the new box, fired up, and goes straight into improper shutdown options (SAFE MODE, SAFE MODE W/ NETWORKING, LAST KNOWN CONFIG, NORMAL). Whenever I choose anything, system reboots and loops into the same thing.

Sometimes, I get a quick BSOD flash, but too fast to read.

Any ideas. Going on 3 hrs and I could use some help before reformatting the entire hard drive.

Thanks in advance.

[m4a2t0t]

You changed all your hardware and didnt reinstall the OS? You are going to HAVE to do this. You can repair if there is something important on there but you should reformat the disk afterwards and install fresh.

[BaLa]

um yes....


reformat is necessary, don't listen to ppls that say it will work without one..

[YeOldeStonecat]

A fresh install is always the best method when upgrading something as major as your motherboard....there's dozens and dozens of new devices on there, not like simply upgrading your video card.

"Sometimes", changing your motherboard to another with a similar chipset, you can get away with it after reinstalling some drivers. But a change as big as yours.... Fresh clean install of the OS.

Now if there is data on there that you need, depending on some things, we can help you get through that. If there's nothing you really need on there, format the partition and reinstall.

Now some people can get by simply by reinstalling the OS on top of itself, or running a repair to replace the HAL, then installing the drivers for your new hardware. But, that computer will not run as 100% as a fresh clean install of the OS would, there's too many remnants of old drivers in there cloggin up things. For office users and AOL web surfers, that's OK. For those of us who like to game and prefer top performance from our rigs, that's unacceptable.

[tod071]

Did a clean install w/ a new hard drive. getting all these errors that WinXP can't find setup files.

So, I tried putting the hard drive on another mobo/cpu and installed XP fine. Tried to put the hd on the new hardware and I get the same original problem. Gives me the 1st Windows screen, sometimes goes into Windows, then reboots and loops.

I've narrowed the problem down to memory (which I've switched), mobo (ASUS P4R800-V Deluxe), or a BIOS setting. I don't have much experience w/ P4 mobos, so I'm just searching forums for help.

Anyone else had problems w/ this mobo before? Can anyone give me some direction? (like I said, I can get another P4 system up and running w/in 30mins. this mobo just doesn't like me.)

[YeOldeStonecat]

The memory...is it a specificy type/part number that's approved to work on your exact model Asus motherboard? Or just some rather generic pc2700? Oops...wait...you say a Pentium 4 2.8...that's most likely a "C" Pentium, wants an 800 FSB, which means you want PC3200. Which means you're running your PC2700 over speck!

When you boot up in BIOS, does your CPU list at the correct speed? List the RAM correctly?

Don't think you formatted the hard drive for nothing, if your hardware was running, you'd still want a fresh clean install.

[tod071]

Thank you to all!
Had purchased Kingston PC2700 256x2 RAM (because it was cheap). Switched it with several other RAM, finally found a 512x1 from Buffalo that worked right on this mobo. At first it didn't like the pair that I have in my other computer (512x2), but after just installing 1 chip, it worked fine.

Anyway, it's working so i'm not grumbling. Thanks again!