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Build issues with OS, need advice.


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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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