Help installing Vista Pleeeeeease

[Jaiidan]

Hi all

Ok I`ll try an keep it brief - I`m too fed up at mo.

Built new rig: Asus m2n32 sli-deluxe
Amd 6000+ x2
Asus Silent 8500GT PCI-e Card
2 x 1Gb Kingston 667 Ram

Ok No matter what I do I cannot get Vista Home Premium OEM to install without BSOD. I`ve tried 4 different HDD ( including SATA and ide), 3 x DVD rom drives, Moved ram around taken sticks out/in etc. have tried different sata connections, different cables for all, updated the mobo bios to latest, swapped PSU ( albeit for anotheridentical one- cooler master 430w). Ive only got one hdd and one dvd drive connected at a time and even disabled case fans one at a time in case its a power issue....

ALL TO NO AVAIL... vista gets to the expanding files then after that ( or sometimes during) wham...BSOD - various ones - irq less than equal...or just hex stop messages.Googling these doesn`t really nail anything down.
have checked Asus forums but again nothing really that helps. I am installing the nvidia sata drivers when asked during the install and have also turned everything off in BIOS to free everything up!
Thought id be clever and install mce2005 first then upgrade but still same probs though it would get into xp ok but the driver install causing reboots!
Its a very expensive door stop at the mo - any help much appreciated thanks ( WAF v low)

J

[space duck]

sounds like you've tried everything except swapping the motherboard. If it was me I'd be trying that next.

[ozbear]

Actually h hasn't tried quite everything.

1) Make sure you have installed the correct SATA drivers and...
2) The correct/latest chipset drivers.

Oz

[Jaiidan]

Hey guys

Thanks for the input...Ozbear I tried every driver possible that was on the driver dvd to no avail...

Now Ive had time to think about it - and also with some guidance from the Asus forums I reckon its the psu being underpowered.

The 8500 and athlon 6000+ needs a fair umph so i`m gonna strip down the mce rig at the weekend and try a 500w supply in there - theres just too many different random things going on for it to be anything but....hopefully!

I`ll report back later - thanks again

J

[pantonious]

I'd also suggest testing your RAM with memtest...

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

boot off that, and run Memtest+ and leave it going for a few hours...

[Jaiidan]

Memtest done - all ok with ram

[drewhiggins]

I know this sounds stupid but check your boot settings are actually right in the BIOS - CD, HDD0, Floppy or whatever - but HDD0 needs to be there. Same happened to me. BSODs like no tomorrow, checked the BIOS boot settings and they were wrong even though Vista installed to the drive fine. But this could be stopping it.

Did you try new cables for the drives? Are you able to catch the BSOD error number at all?

If nothing works drop it off to some reputable computer shop and see if they can work it out.

[pantonious]

an incorrect boot sequence will not cause BSOD...all the boot sequence does is tell the motherboard where to look for a bootable volume. If u are installing Vista (or any windows) and the HDD is not in the sequence, then it may stop the machine from completling the install, but it will not give a BSOD.

Are you installing onto a SATA HDD? or a RAID array?

If its just a single HDD, and not a RAID, then turn the RAID options off in the BIOS and you shouldn't have to install any extra drivers for Vista to see it...i just installed Vista on a machine with a NFORCE chipset and i didn't need any additional drivers to see my SATA HDD.

Did u have a chance to change the PSU?

Also, use the UBCD to test your HDD? and maybe try changing the IDE/SATA cables on your optical drive and HDD.

Do u have anything else installed in the machine? TV Cards, Sound Cards, wireless network? take all those out if possible and see if that helps.

[Jaiidan]

Hey guys

I`ve changed every cable possible, I`ve tried installing a raid array an a stand alone SATA - and as I mentioned earlier tried an IDE drive aswell - all with same results. the BSOD are varied - one can be irq related, next can be stop error which when googled relate to HDD or ram.

Boot sequences are all correct and I`ve even fdisk/mbr aswell as low level format etc etc etc

The fact that its not a consistent problem happening at exactly the same install point tells me its a random fault - leading me to the psu being underpowered.
Won`t have chance till Friday but gonna try new psu, different Graphics card. If this doesn`t solve it then I reckon its the board

If nothing works drop it off to some reputable computer shop and see if they can work it out

Its not in my nature - I like to solve these things myself - its a curse i guess

Thanks again for all your advise guys and I`ll provide feedback on Friday hopefully

J

[vlad]

I would try to remove one stick of RAM. Or put them to different slots.
Then try to swap mobo