Technohydra Posted September 24, 2006 Posted September 24, 2006 Hey folks. I'm having a serious issue with Windows XP Pro on the below listed build. Usually, the OS installs flawlessly, and boots a few times. Then on about the third or forth restart, I get a disk read error and cannot load the OS, and usually end up formating. For the instal, I have 1 dimm in slot 2, a single video card, a single optical drive, and a single SATA drive on NV Sata 1. All Ram settings are auto. I love the new system, but I can't work with it like this, obviously. If anyone can give me a heads up on what's going on here, please let me know. And if any other info will help, let me know, and I'll try to post it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
red930 Posted September 24, 2006 Posted September 24, 2006 Have you tried with a different hard disk yet? For some reason I'm always hesitant to put an OS on such a large drive, I feel it has a better chance of being corrupted. Try running memtest #5 and #8 5-10 times apiece as well to ensure it's running smoothly. if you install an OS with unstable memory you're gonna have problems. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidk21770 Posted September 24, 2006 Posted September 24, 2006 Have you run memtest overnight to make sure that you don't have any memory problems, or prime95 for 8 hours to check CPU stability? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuttlefish1212 Posted September 24, 2006 Posted September 24, 2006 You need to partition that HDD before loading an OS...500GB is too big and may lead to corruption. Also, you may need to slipstream your XP installation with SP2. Usually that's not necessary for XP/SATA but sometimes you need it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidk21770 Posted September 24, 2006 Posted September 24, 2006 Does XP need SP2 (or 1) to recognize and use that big an HD? (I seem to remember something about that). (More reason to slipstream). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technohydra Posted September 25, 2006 Posted September 25, 2006 Hey. My copy is a SP 2 release. Is it possible i need to set all my memory settings manually to avaoid this issue, or is it more likely a partition problem? I've had an OS on this drive at full cap. before with no problems. I really want to use this board, but I'm getting tired of of all the issues, hehe. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skull_Fire Posted September 25, 2006 Posted September 25, 2006 i just did my first NF4 Expert install. i had all my hardware installed & could not get os to start. after much banging of head on keyboard i finally stripped everything of the motherboard, i mean EVERYTHING, except hdd,mouse,keyboard, & 1 stick of ram in orange slot furthest from cpu. & bang os started. after that i shutdown & added 1 piece of hardware at a time,starting with 2nd stick in the other orange slot,start the os, shutdown,then add another. rince & repeat till rig was complete. then updated bios, clear cmos, load optimized defaults. then tweaked bios 1 or 2 settings at a time, always booting to os after each adjustment to make sure. alot of work,but the performance is incredible, as is the stability. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skull_Fire Posted September 25, 2006 Posted September 25, 2006 if ur os isnt completely installed try taking ur hdd out & loading the os completely to it from another pc. then install the hdd back on the expert board but disconnect the optical drive until after u get it fired up. i'd wait to activate windows online till ur back on the expert. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuttlefish1212 Posted September 25, 2006 Posted September 25, 2006 It's certainly possible that you may have to set the memory timings, but BIOS will usually auto configure the memory with loose timings, so I would say that it's probably not the issue. Even if you get the OS loaded on a 500GB partition, you're going to have slow performance because of the sheer size of the drive. Remember, the drive has to seek to find the data...the larger the drive, the greater the seek times. Then, when you get it full of data, your performance takes an even greater hit. It's best to split a drive like that into at least 5 partitions...even if you don't use half of them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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