XP Pro Reinstall problem

[PeteB]

I have had problems with (in the order they have occured), distortion on my sound quality, the PC slowing down and then showing some display probems. The sound issue has cleared about a month ago. But then last week it was taking an age to get on to the Internet and starting applications. The HDD light was busy for nearly five minutes after loading windows. I used CCleaner to remove unnused junk, defragged and cleaned up but still very slow. Then the display started to suffer. It looked like a polarising effect on some screens or a slight breakdown on the consistency of the colours on others.

So, slightly miffed, I elected to repair windows. (I had thought of getting Vista Home Premium now that SP1 is on its way). Still I progressed to put the XP CD in and when I got to the options screen I selected the wrong option. I feel really, REALLY bad about this simple but stupid error. Instead of selecting Repair, I opted for install. So all went swimmingly until it came to the installing device part (37 mins to go showing) and it gets to 34 mins to go when it goes to a blue screen which does not appear for very long (2 secs). Attempting to read the message I have seen - but not in any order - something about devices, something about if this is the first install and to contact vendor. At this stage the computer powers down and restarts. It then repeats that installation is restarting and then gets to the point I have described above. The blue screen message is repeated and then the PC goes through the whole cycle again.

I have removed each of the graphics cards (I have SLI MB) and tried each them separately in the main PCI-E, I have disconnected the soundcard (XiFi) and anything connected by USB but none of this has not worked.

Could someone tell me what is happening and how I can get out of this vicious circle.

XP Pro SP2

Athlon Dual Core

Asus A8N-SLI-SE MB

2GB RAM

2 Asus 7900GT cards

XiFi soudcard

Cheers

PeteB

[Alan2273]

Are you formatting the drive before you put the clean install on?.

Also what make and wattage is your PSU?.

[PeteB]

Are you formatting the drive before you put the clean install on?.

Also what make and wattage is your PSU?.

Hi Alan

I am not formatting the C Drive. I pushed Install instead of Repair when I put the XP Pro CD in. Big mistake.

The PSU is an Atrix 500T switching power supply.

I forgot to mention I have 2 SATA HDDs. A 160GB ( C Drive) and a 300GB.

PeteB

[Alan2273]

Formatting the drive is best, normally when you select the C drive to install to it asks if you want to format it to NTFS. but upon reading about your PSU, I would guess that is the problem.

There are quite a few bad reviews for the Atrix 500T. (including a few where they have blown up and taken other hardware with them).

The fact that you have removed hardware and still have the same problem point to the PSU being one possibility.

[PeteB]

Formatting the drive is best, normally when you select the C drive to install to it asks if you want to format it to NTFS. but upon reading about your PSU, I would guess that is the problem.

There are quite a few bad reviews for the Atrix 500T. (including a few where they have blown up and taken other hardware with them).

The fact that you have removed hardware and still have the same problem point to the PSU being one possibility.

OK. Will replace PSU and see what happens. Will let you know. Thanks for assistance so far.

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

If the PSU replacement doesn't fix the problem, I would try a System Restore before reinstalling Windows. Can you boot into Safe Mode? And/or have you tried to boot into Last Known Good Configuration?

[PeteB]

If the PSU replacement doesn't fix the problem, I would try a System Restore before reinstalling Windows. Can you boot into Safe Mode? And/or have you tried to boot into Last Known Good Configuration?

My Windows is not functioning at all. It is going into a continuous loop during the re-install process - something about devices. The blue screen is not up long enough for me to read however - see earlier posts.

If the new PSU does not fix it, I need to know how to get into a position where I can format the C Drive after POST/MB and hardware info stage. Then I can do a clean install or even get Vista now that SP1 is coming.

[MANEMAN]

Hi Pete, I know that I am going to sound like a complete pessimist here, but the last time I had this problem (loop on install) it turned out to be the hard drive at fault. Actually, bad sectors on the drive.

You can run chkdsk from floppy/CD without an operating system this may help. It is a bit more difficult with SATA drives because you need to install drivers as well. Perhaps someone else here can guide you through it. In the meantime, have a look HERE

I hope it is not your HD Pete and that I am completely wrong on this one.

All the best mate.

[Brandon MHC]

If the PSU replacement doesn't fix the problem, I would try a System Restore before reinstalling Windows. Can you boot into Safe Mode? And/or have you tried to boot into Last Known Good Configuration?

My Windows is not functioning at all. It is going into a continuous loop during the re-install process - something about devices. The blue screen is not up long enough for me to read however - see earlier posts.

If the new PSU does not fix it, I need to know how to get into a position where I can format the C Drive after POST/MB and hardware info stage. Then I can do a clean install or even get Vista now that SP1 is coming.

Do a search online for a program called "Kill Disc" It's a free CD.ISO thats bootable. It will allow you to boot into DOS and completely erase the hard drive by writing a continuous string of "0000" on the hard drive, effectively erasing and overwriting everything on the disk. I use that program before I do any clean installs on a machine.

Good luck!

[PeteB]

If the PSU replacement doesn't fix the problem, I would try a System Restore before reinstalling Windows. Can you boot into Safe Mode? And/or have you tried to boot into Last Known Good Configuration?

My Windows is not functioning at all. It is going into a continuous loop during the re-install process - something about devices. The blue screen is not up long enough for me to read however - see earlier posts.

If the new PSU does not fix it, I need to know how to get into a position where I can format the C Drive after POST/MB and hardware info stage. Then I can do a clean install or even get Vista now that SP1 is coming.

Do a search online for a program called "Kill Disc" It's a free CD.ISO thats bootable. It will allow you to boot into DOS and completely erase the hard drive by writing a continuous string of "0000" on the hard drive, effectively erasing and overwriting everything on the disk. I use that program before I do any clean installs on a machine.

Good luck!

Have the bootable floppy set up and will try it after I replace PSU. Thanks for your assistance. Will let you know how I do.

Cheers.

[y2khardtop]

I would remove one of the graphics cards and the xfi car, then I would format the drive. Once done, you should do a clean install and try and get the system up and running in a basic mode. Then add the extra cards back in.

I would stay away from Vista....I've already upgraded a few machines BACK to XP.

Have the bootable floppy set up and will try it after I replace PSU. Thanks for your assistance. Will let you know how I do.

Cheers.

[PeteB]

Hi Pete, I know that I am going to sound like a complete pessimist here, but the last time I had this problem (loop on install) it turned out to be the hard drive at fault. Actually, bad sectors on the drive.

You can run chkdsk from floppy/CD without an operating system this may help. It is a bit more difficult with SATA drives because you need to install drivers as well. Perhaps someone else here can guide you through it. In the meantime, have a look HERE

I hope it is not your HD Pete and that I am completely wrong on this one.

All the best mate.

Hi back, Maneman.

I was thinking, for one horrible nano-second, that it may well be my HD now that you have mentioned it. The slow loading speeds and all that!! I will put in on my list for checking. Keep watching this space.

Cheers

[y2khardtop]

hard drive problems are hard to diagnose from within Windows. I keep several bootable CD's around for checking out my hard drives. I use Spinrite, UBCDWin (ultimate boot CD for Windows), Ubuntu, etc. It is much easier to look for problems on your C drive when it is NOT the drive you are operating from.

[MetalFRO]

If the PSU replacement doesn't fix the problem, I would try a System Restore before reinstalling Windows. Can you boot into Safe Mode? And/or have you tried to boot into Last Known Good Configuration?

My Windows is not functioning at all. It is going into a continuous loop during the re-install process - something about devices. The blue screen is not up long enough for me to read however - see earlier posts.

If the new PSU does not fix it, I need to know how to get into a position where I can format the C Drive after POST/MB and hardware info stage. Then I can do a clean install or even get Vista now that SP1 is coming.

Do a search online for a program called "Kill Disc" It's a free CD.ISO thats bootable. It will allow you to boot into DOS and completely erase the hard drive by writing a continuous string of "0000" on the hard drive, effectively erasing and overwriting everything on the disk. I use that program before I do any clean installs on a machine.

Good luck!

DBAN is also good (Darik's Boot And Nuke) - it can do a 7-layer DOD-standard drive wipe, great for eliminating any sign of a pesky malware or virus that may be hosing up your boot sector.

[PeteB]

hard drive problems are hard to diagnose from within Windows. I keep several bootable CD's around for checking out my hard drives. I use Spinrite, UBCDWin (ultimate boot CD for Windows), Ubuntu, etc. It is much easier to look for problems on your C drive when it is NOT the drive you are operating from.

Greetings

I know now that part of the problem I created when I pushed Install instead of Repair was that I did not have a bootable disk. I will certainly be creating one now for future use.

[PeteB]

If the PSU replacement doesn't fix the problem, I would try a System Restore before reinstalling Windows. Can you boot into Safe Mode? And/or have you tried to boot into Last Known Good Configuration?

My Windows is not functioning at all. It is going into a continuous loop during the re-install process - something about devices. The blue screen is not up long enough for me to read however - see earlier posts.

If the new PSU does not fix it, I need to know how to get into a position where I can format the C Drive after POST/MB and hardware info stage. Then I can do a clean install or even get Vista now that SP1 is coming.

Do a search online for a program called "Kill Disc" It's a free CD.ISO thats bootable. It will allow you to boot into DOS and completely erase the hard drive by writing a continuous string of "0000" on the hard drive, effectively erasing and overwriting everything on the disk. I use that program before I do any clean installs on a machine.

Good luck!

DBAN is also good (Darik's Boot And Nuke) - it can do a 7-layer DOD-standard drive wipe, great for eliminating any sign of a pesky malware or virus that may be hosing up your boot sector.

Hi MetalFRO

Thanks for your post. So noted.

[MetalFRO]

You can check to see if your PSU is underpowered using this PSU calculator:

http://www.journeysystems.com/power_supply...lator_popup.php

I used it to determine a customer's computer was under-powered & n eeded a new one.

[PeteB]

Hi Guys

Heads up on developments.

PSU has been changed. Running a 700w EZCool. New 300Gb Western Digital SATA drive installed and (sorry about this) Vista fully updated installed.

The issue about weird lines etc on my display still remains!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But it is only on certain applications.

It appears on the Windows desktop and I am getting it on when I view this site.

It does not appear when I am on my BT Yahoo Homepage or on ebay or Autotrader.

My sense of mifftication increases daily.

I have tried another monitor (using DVI - I have twin 7900GTs), another cable and another power lead, I have plugged the monitor into another PC and still the colour interference is there.

Me thinks the monitor (Philips 20" 200w Brilliance) is the problem. I have only had it since Christmas 2006.

Any final views from my Tech Angels (LOL) before I do something rash with the monitor - eg throw it to hell out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Warmest regards to all who have assisted before.