Horrible problems, someone PLEASE help.

I am so tired. I am tired of this computer not working. Here are the specs:
AMD Athlon XP 3000+

Asus A7N8X
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
Creative Audigy Sound Blaster 2 ZS
512 or 1 gig ram (explained later)
120 gig Western Digital HD
40 gig Western Digital HD
8x Memorex DVD-r/rw
Huge case with 8 Case fans

I am having so many problems. I am getting so many freaking stop messages I am going to get sick. Ok let me explain.

I bought all this and put together my own computer. First time, but I have messed with computer components for a while. I put this all together, I use a 550w power supply, the fans on one "string" and the HD and CD and floppy on the other. I booted up, and it seemed ok. Worked fine for a while. Then I got some windows stop messages and sporatic reboots. Not cool. Stuff like "IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL" and "PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA". Naturally, I googled these and chaulked it up to a memory problem. Fine. I bought a different stick of 512 2100 ddr400 (I didn't understand the whole 2100,3200 until a few days ago, hence the poor decision). No help, still sporatic reboots and errors. Super! So, I borrow some more ram (again 2100, ddr400) from my sisters' stock machine. Again. Flaming stop messages. So I partition, test, partition, remove components, etc. Nothing. Same flipping messages. As a side note, my WMP54G Wireless PCI Card quite often didn't work, it was detected and drivers installed fine, but almost like it didn't have the power required to perform its mandatory operations. I don't know what's goin on. Some please try to enlighten me, and if more information is needed, I would be glad to provide it.

thamnmsho said:

I am so tired. I am tired of this computer not working. Here are the specs:
AMD Athlon XP 3000+

Asus A7N8X
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
Creative Audigy Sound Blaster 2 ZS
512 or 1 gig ram (explained later)
120 gig Western Digital HD
40 gig Western Digital HD
8x Memorex DVD-r/rw
Huge case with 8 Case fans

I am having so many problems. I am getting so many freaking stop messages I am going to get sick. Ok let me explain.

I bought all this and put together my own computer. First time, but I have messed with computer components for a while. I put this all together, I use a 550w power supply, the fans on one "string" and the HD and CD and floppy on the other. I booted up, and it seemed ok. Worked fine for a while. Then I got some windows stop messages and sporatic reboots. Not cool. Stuff like "IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL" and "PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA". Naturally, I googled these and chaulked it up to a memory problem. Fine. I bought a different stick of 512 2100 ddr400 (I didn't understand the whole 2100,3200 until a few days ago, hence the poor decision). No help, still sporatic reboots and errors. Super! So, I borrow some more ram (again 2100, ddr400) from my sisters' stock machine. Again. Flaming stop messages. So I partition, test, partition, remove components, etc. Nothing. Same flipping messages. As a side note, my WMP54G Wireless PCI Card quite often didn't work, it was detected and drivers installed fine, but almost like it didn't have the power required to perform its mandatory operations. I don't know what's goin on. Some please try to enlighten me, and if more information is needed, I would be glad to provide it.

Click to expand...

First off, PC2100 RAM is *NOT* DDR400. PC3200 = DDR400. PC2100 = DDR266. If you're trying to run DDR266 RAM at DDR400, that could be a problem right there.

Start with the basics. Strip everything out except the MB, RAM, CPU, the video card, and one hard disk (take out any extra fans, too; you certainly don't need *8* of them). Try running memtest86 off a bootable CD (www.memtest86.com); set it to "Full Tests" and let it run overnight to see if you have any low-level memory problems. If that passes, try Prime95's torture testing. If THAT works, but you still have issues with other programs, try reinstalling Windows with just that hardware installed; maybe your original install got FUBARed somehow.

Also, what kind of PSU did you get? If it's "550w", and you paid like $30 for it, it's junk.

Ok....thanks a bunch for informing me on the ram, thats a huge help (knowledge-wise). But that's not the problem. I have run memtest86 to death, and there are no apparent errors with any of my ram sticks. I will be sure to try Prime95's test. As far as the power supply is concerned, I have gone through 2, one being 120 dollars. So I don't think that is it either.

Which brand is it? Just because it's expensive doesn't automatically make it good.

Do as Matthias99 suggested, but also reset your bios to the default settings, then be sure to go in and disable the onboard sound and modem, if applicable. Format the drive, do a Windows install and then run your benches. If your MB, memory, processor and video are all OK, you should not have any problems.

Be sure to run the benches BEFORE and AFTER installing drivers. If, for instance, the system is stable before installation of the video drivers, then you can be sure that the problem is the video card. If, however, the system is unstable or does not even install Windows properly, your problem likely lies in your MB or CPU, since you've already isolated the memory. You may then try flashing the bios (to eliminate the possibility of corruption). If this does not solve it, your MB OR your CPU are at fault. Check your CPU temps!

Above all else, be patient and systematic. By eliminating hardware variables such as pci cards and starting from a good bios baseline (default settings). You can then adjust one variable at a time until you have isolated the problem. Sometimes you will find yourself doing the same thing over many, many times during the process.

Ok. Thanks a ton guys. I will see what I can do with this thing, and I'll try these suggestions. I am having even bigger problems now, as the computer will freeze during ANY windows install. I have tried 2000, XP home, XP Pro, and even longhorn. Nothing. Blue screens. I am going to go put my antec power supple back in and just plug in the mobo and the hd. well, and the vid card cause I run it off of the tv. I'll keep you posted, thanks a bunch.

More woes

Allow me to start off by saying thank you so much for al the help. I need it. I have done some things to determine where the faults are. Here are my experiences...

Gutted the computer, and then hooked up only the following:
-Memorex 8x DVD-R/RW drive (needed Windows XP Install CD)
-120 Gig Western Digital Hard Drive (Needed to install Windows somewhere)
-Cheap Ram 512 pc2100 (it's all I have, I have 2, only installed one)
-No fan (except the cpu fan on top of heatsink)
-POS PSU (Its got 2 fans and blue led's, total crap, but only one with 2 of those floppy-style power plugs, one for v-card and one for floppy.
-ATI Radeon 9700 Pro

With this configuration, I attempted an XP install, and got "DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" half way though install. Super.

So I took out the ram stick I had in there (by the way, it was in slot 3) and put in the other one I have (spectek select or something). Again, it's 512, pc2100. Now I tried again, and got "IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL". Different than before, because it didn't say driver at the beginning, but it no doubt correlates.

So I reset the BIOS settings to default, and saved to cmos and exit. This brought up another problem. If ever I tried to boot, one way or another, without manually switching off the whole system and then turning it back on, it would freeze at post. So I turned it off manually and restarted. Windows install got farther than before, I formatted the drive, and then it started installation. Shortly after I got "PFN_LIST_CORRUPT". So I reboot. Now I get "NTLDR is missing, press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to reboot". So I do. Gets stuck at post, which happens all the time now with a soft reboot.

So, I am licking my wounds and trying my hardest to get this thing up and running again. Please help me!

Try here. It is a forum dedicated to the nForce chipsets, and the links is to the ASUS forum within it. The FAQs and stickys there will help you out a lot. It could be a bad BIOS (the nForce2 chipset - particularly on an A7N8X - sometimes likes to eat its BIOS). How did you have the memory set when you booted the system? If the memory was being forced to run too high it could cause errors. In any event, there is plenty of knowledge about the A7N8X boards in the link provided.

Ummm...

I don't know how I had my memory set. I know, I should know what I'm doing, but i don't know what setting that refers too.

What MHz was the RAM running at? If you didn't change it then it should have defaulted to the rated speed of the RAM, I believe. If it was set to run at the same speed as the processor and your processor was rated higher then there could've been a problem. What is the default fsb of that processor? Did you make any changes to the BIOS (other than to reset)?

Memory runs at the frequency at which the FSB is set, and you can also loosen the memory timings. If you look through your bios settings you should be able to find some things like CAS latency, those things relate to memory timings.

The chip you are using runs at 200FSB and 10.5 multi right? That would mean you need DDR400 or pc3200 RAM - pc2100 is only rated to run at an FSB of 133.

IMOG, is that by default (because you can run them out of sync and even specify to run at rated speed)?

I feel bad for asking that question. I have two of these boards (dlx rev 1.04, stndard 2.0) and don't remember the bios defaults.

thamnmsho,

When I first setup my system i had problems similar to yours (only on a different board) i finally narrowed it down to some settings for the hard drive. Disable IDE HDD Block Mode & IDE Prefetch Mode. That fixed all of the problems I was having. If nothing else try setting fail-safe settings in the bios and try again, if that works then you can go in and make changes 1 by 1 until you solve the problem.

The one thing that stands out to me is that all of the Athlon XP 3000+ has a default FSB of 333mhz and the PC2100 mem is 266mhz. If the bios defaults the FSB to that of the CPU then he is trying to run bargain basement 266mhz mem at 333mhz. This will cause errors writing to the HD and would explain the errors you are seeing. You need to set the divider to 5:4 to make it stable at stock voltage or buy PC2700 and run at default settings.

I don't mean defaults, I mean this is what the settings need to be at.

Before any problem can be solved like this, you need to manually ensure your settings are correct for the hardware you are using.

He needs to set the FSB correctly, and use the PC3200 ram he said he had before.

Is the correct FSB setting for that chip 166mhz then?

The Athlon XP 3000+ has a default FSB of 333mhz so doesn't he need PC2700 or just set the divider to 5:4 and use his PC2100 (266mhz)?

Just saw your post after I editted my last one yelgnid, if the Default FSB is 166mhz for that chip then that is what he should set it at and he should use the pc3200 ram he said he had earlier. It's rated higher than the FSB he will be running so it will work fine, he doesn't need to purchase yet another stick of ram I mean.

Thanks for clarifying......

Try this:

1. be sure to use the PC3200RAM as suggested.
2. unplug the PSU and remove the battery from the MB. Momentarilly set CLRTC1 to pins 2,3 then back to pins 1,2.
3. Boot, go into the BIOS and disable the onboard audio.

If this fails, try flashing your BIOS. If flashing the BIOS fails, spend US$60 for an ABIT NF7 and then you can overclock and enjoy life.

Yet another edit From the looks of the A7N8X manual, there is no provision within the BIOS to set FSB, Multiplier, Dividers, or memory timings.

All of those settings are present, that I do know. I just don't remember the defaults.