maddening failure to install any OS.

**Baby Lee** · 02-07-2005, 05:24 PM

I'm trying to set up a new computer for my father and am having a dickens of a time with the OS install.

Here are the particulars.

Motherboard - Soyo SY-P4RC350
Processor - Intel Celeron D 320, 2.4 GHz, 533 FSB, 265Kb L2 Cache
Hard Drive - Western Digital 200Gb, 7200 RPM, 8 Mb Cache
DVD-RW Drive - Digital Max 16x DVD Dual Drive
Video Card - ATI Radeon 9100 Pro [on board]
------------ATI All in Wonder Radeon 8500DV [AGP] - this is the one I'm using.

OS - Windows 2000 CD boot, CD install [later tried XP Pro to similar luck]

I should also mention that he bought a cheapie case with an Austin 300W ATX power supply. I initially thought that might be the problem, so I swapped in my own Q-Max 350W power supply. No better luck there either.

-----

Anyways to the problem.

I use the WD bootable CD to partition the HD to the 137 GB limit the OS has until you install SP3-4.
I then restart with the Win2K bootable CD. It goes through it's initial file xfer and goes to "starting windows 2000." I get the initial pages about accepting the EULA and what partition I want to install the OS on just fine. Then it starts installing files [the blue DOS screen with the yellow progress meter]. Then around the time it's copying 'digimon.dll" it starts saying the read failed. Then the read failures come hot and heavy, until I get a different blue screen with a 'DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL' error, a bunch of reference #s and an instruction to check bios, disable new hardware, etc.
I've tried;
changing power supply
unplugging chassis fans and taking case sides off instead [to lessen power supply load]
changing from AGP card video to onboard video
changing IDE cables [several times]
putting both DVD and HD on the same primary IDE cable.
futtering with master/slave and cable select in most all iterations.
swapping out my dad's DVD writer for my own Liteon 811S.
Letting W2k format/partition the drive instead of the WD software.

Each time, I get the same problem.

Also, I used my own XP Pro installation CD instead. It would either [at around the same point in the installation process], restart the system right in the middle of file xfer, or come up with a 'xxxx file corrupt' message screen.

Also, on the off chance the CDs actually both crapped out at the same time, I successfully installed both OSes on a clean HD I have in my own ASUS P4-2.4G system.

I'm usually pretty good at applying the scientific method to diagnosing computer problems, but I'm out of ideas. Anyone have a direction I should go?

As I write, I came up with another avenue. Perhaps I shouldn't designate that the OS will be W2K SP3-4 when the WD software partitions. Since I'm installing W2K pre-SP4, then adding on with SP4 afterwards. I'll reassemble the other PC and let you know if that works. Otherwise, I welcome all input.

Thanks in advance.

02-07-2005, 05:24 PM	Topic Starter
Baby Lee Supporter Join Date: Aug 2000 Casino cash: $6838598	maddening failure to install any OS. I'm trying to set up a new computer for my father and am having a dickens of a time with the OS install. Here are the particulars. Motherboard - Soyo SY-P4RC350 Processor - Intel Celeron D 320, 2.4 GHz, 533 FSB, 265Kb L2 Cache Hard Drive - Western Digital 200Gb, 7200 RPM, 8 Mb Cache DVD-RW Drive - Digital Max 16x DVD Dual Drive Video Card - ATI Radeon 9100 Pro [on board] ------------ATI All in Wonder Radeon 8500DV [AGP] - this is the one I'm using. OS - Windows 2000 CD boot, CD install [later tried XP Pro to similar luck] I should also mention that he bought a cheapie case with an Austin 300W ATX power supply. I initially thought that might be the problem, so I swapped in my own Q-Max 350W power supply. No better luck there either. ----- Anyways to the problem. I use the WD bootable CD to partition the HD to the 137 GB limit the OS has until you install SP3-4. I then restart with the Win2K bootable CD. It goes through it's initial file xfer and goes to "starting windows 2000." I get the initial pages about accepting the EULA and what partition I want to install the OS on just fine. Then it starts installing files [the blue DOS screen with the yellow progress meter]. Then around the time it's copying 'digimon.dll" it starts saying the read failed. Then the read failures come hot and heavy, until I get a different blue screen with a 'DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL' error, a bunch of reference #s and an instruction to check bios, disable new hardware, etc. I've tried; changing power supply unplugging chassis fans and taking case sides off instead [to lessen power supply load] changing from AGP card video to onboard video changing IDE cables [several times] putting both DVD and HD on the same primary IDE cable. futtering with master/slave and cable select in most all iterations. swapping out my dad's DVD writer for my own Liteon 811S. Letting W2k format/partition the drive instead of the WD software. Each time, I get the same problem. Also, I used my own XP Pro installation CD instead. It would either [at around the same point in the installation process], restart the system right in the middle of file xfer, or come up with a 'xxxx file corrupt' message screen. Also, on the off chance the CDs actually both crapped out at the same time, I successfully installed both OSes on a clean HD I have in my own ASUS P4-2.4G system. I'm usually pretty good at applying the scientific method to diagnosing computer problems, but I'm out of ideas. Anyone have a direction I should go? As I write, I came up with another avenue. Perhaps I shouldn't designate that the OS will be W2K SP3-4 when the WD software partitions. Since I'm installing W2K pre-SP4, then adding on with SP4 afterwards. I'll reassemble the other PC and let you know if that works. Otherwise, I welcome all input. Thanks in advance.
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