Building a PC...Help?

[SnakeCharmer]

Issue solved!  Thanks!

See end of thread for newest problem! :P

[Trippy]

1)  Should the HDD go in the SATAII 0 and the Samsung go in SATAII1?

Doesn't matter. In the BIOS you can adjust the boot order.

2)  Does it matter that the mobo doesnt have SATAI connections?  Will it automatically adjust?

Doesn't matter either.

[SnakeCharmer]

I just winged it and followed my gut.  Worked out fine.  I think.

Having some random issues with the graphics card resetting to 640x400 resolution atm....And some MS framework issues...And some others, but otherwise, seems to be going well.

Tried to run 3dMark2005, but it crashed about 1/4 of the way through and reset my system.

Not sure if I am going to like this 27 inch LCD HDTV I'm connected to...Native resolution is 1366 x 768, and the closest I can get is 1360x768.  If I could get it set up to be sitting further away (I'm about 1.5 feet from the screen right now  ), I would probably be happier. 

Need to load up some games and see how it runs in leiu of being able to use 3dMark2005....

I have a nasty feeling something isn't set up right, or I am developing ALOT of heat.   There are four fans at work right now:  The CPU fan, a 120 mm case fan, one fan on something or other on the board itself, and the fan on the vid card.

But for first night, it's not doing too bad.  Just a few bugs to work out...Seems to be hanging up at the Windows XP splash screen a little too often....I'm wondering if I have a corrupt install....

[Trippy]

I just winged it and followed my gut.  Worked out fine.  I think.

Having some random issues with the graphics card resetting to 640x400 resolution atm....And some MS framework issues...And some others, but otherwise, seems to be going well.

Tried to run 3dMark2005, but it crashed about 1/4 of the way through and reset my system.

Not sure if I am going to like this 27 inch LCD HDTV I'm connected to...Native resolution is 1366 x 768, and the closest I can get is 1360x768.  If I could get it set up to be sitting further away (I'm about 1.5 feet from the screen right now  ), I would probably be happier. 

Need to load up some games and see how it runs in leiu of being able to use 3dMark2005....

I have a nasty feeling something isn't set up right, or I am developing ALOT of heat.   There are four fans at work right now:  The CPU fan, a 120 mm case fan, one fan on something or other on the board itself, and the fan on the vid card.

Are your case fans pointing in the right direction? Get some temperature monitoring utilities and check to see how hot things are getting. Also make sure you are running DirectX 9.0c. The NVIDIA control panel allows you to set custom resolutions though I don't remember if you need the CoolBits registry hack to enable it.

[SnakeCharmer]

Fans are blowing in the right direction.  But I've got more problems than that...

On a hunch, I reformatted the drive, and tried reinstalling XP.  I'm now getting all sorts of errors while copying files.  Mostly it's:

Setup cannot copy the file: cpqdap01.sys

To retry press Enter
If you are installing from a CD, makes ure the Windows XP CD is in the CD ROM drive
To skip this file, press ESC

CAUTION: If you skip this file, setup may not complete and Windows XP may not work properly

To quit Setup, press ESC

I've gotten that message, or some variation of for:
cyycoins.chm
diskcopy.dll
dvdplay.exe

and am now stuck on kodak_dc.icm

[SnakeCharmer]

And had 3 virii pop up on this computer this morning.  And Ive had problems with my 360 the last couple of days.  Coincidence?

[Trippy]

How are you connecting to the Internet? Does your comp have an IP address directly accessible from the Internet or are you using NAT? Do you have other computers on your network? A virus wouldn't affect the installation process unless your install disc itself is somehow infected.

[SnakeCharmer]

Using a router between the twp pc's and the 360.  Does that answer your question?  I have no idea what a NAT is....

[Trippy]

Using a router between the twp pc's and the 360.  Does that answer your question?  I have no idea what a NAT is....

Okay let me ask it like this: Does your working computer have a 192.168.X.X IP address or something else?

[SnakeCharmer]

How do I check in xp?

(I used to know this....)

[Trippy]

Bring up a command prompt window and type:

ipconfig /all

[SnakeCharmer]

When I do that, a small black box appears for a split second then disappears..

I *thought* the command was ipconfig, and I had tried it, but it did the same thing.  Which is why I thought I had forgotten it...

[Yegolev]

Try Start -> Run -> cmd , then type in the window?

[SnakeCharmer]

Try Start -> Run -> cmd , then type in the window?

That did it...

IP addy is 192.168.x.xxx

[Trippy]

Okay you are using NAT. Assuming you really are getting viruses/trojans/worms on your new computer it's probably coming from your other computer and not the Internet. Scan your other computer. You can also try turning it off/disconnecting it from the LAN while you try reinstalling XP on your new computer. Then patch up your new computer before reconnecting your old computer.

Also make sure your SATA connectors are properly seated. It's very easy for them to work themselves loose from their "slots" since there's no locking mechanism. E.g. if the cable near the connector is bent it could be pulling the connector loose.

[Yegolev]

Power supply up to the job?

[Trippy]

He has this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103937

so yes assuming it's not defective.

[SnakeCharmer]

Okay you are using NAT. Assuming you really are getting viruses/trojans/worms on your new computer it's probably coming from your other computer and not the Internet. Scan your other computer.

Did that this past weekend, but this morning three trojans popped up.  Then on reinstall of Windows XP, I get the above messages of files not being able to be copied.  Both computers are on the same network, so it's possible the trojans/virii infected the new computer?  Seems like too much of a coincidence to be ignored, yes?

You can also try turning it off/disconnecting it from the LAN while you try reinstalling XP on your new computer. Then patch up your new computer before reconnecting your old computer.

Will try that tonight...

Also make sure your SATA connectors are properly seated. It's very easy for them to work themselves loose from their "slots" since there's no locking mechanism. E.g. if the cable near the connector is bent it could be pulling the connector loose.

I'm thinking of taking it apart and reseating everything tonight.


As an aside, I ran a google search on the missing files.  Seems like it's indicative of bad memory, bad HDD, and/or bad XP disk...

Fucking.  Awesome.

[SnakeCharmer]

Something isn't jiving...

Now, as evidence by the above fantastically n00bular questions, I'm no pro at this...But...

Is the fact that my 360 is saying 'dirty disk/bad disk', my new PC not being able to copy files from a perfectly clean winxp disk, and the fact I had 3 virii on my 'good' computer this morning too much of a coincidence?

[stray]

Despite the 360 being a Microsoft product, it's a completely different beast from your PC's running Windows. I think it's unlikely that some kind of cross-platform virus is muddying things up.

So yeah, probably a coincidence.

[SnakeCharmer]

GODDAMNIT....

What.  The.  Monkey.  Fuck.

A problem has been detected and Windows has stopped this application to avoid any damage to your computer.

The problem seems to be caused by the following file: setupdd.sys

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

If this is the first time you've seen this error screen, restart your computer.  If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed.  If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any windows updates you might need and if the problem continues, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software, disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing.  If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Start Up options, then select safe mode.

Technical information:

*** Stop: 0x0000050 (0xE028ECEC, 0x00000000, 0xF74009B3, 0x0000000)
*** setupdd.sys - Address F74009B3 base at F73EC000
                                                                                                          Datestamp: 41107c8f

Pulled out the Samsung drive.  Put in an old (working CDROM drive) just to start trouble shooting.  RAM is seated fine (swapped places, tried loading in with one stick, then the other).  Vid card is seated fine.  Everything is where it should be.  When powering up the system, no matter what monitor I use, I initially get a screen that looks like the data image screen or whatever from the Matrix movies.  Then it loads up normally.

I'm also getting a NTLDR error. 

What the FUCK is going on and how do I fix it??!?!

I'm beyond fucking pissed right now....

And on top of it, I've got a virus on this computer that I CANNOT GET RID OF....
Trojan-PSW.Win32.OnLineGame that has infected C:\Windows\System32\dllms.dll

[Trippy]

Well it could any number of things including a bad stick of memory, bad drive, or bad motherboard. If it's easy to reproduce you could try it with just one stick of memory and then the other. Or if you can burn ISOs on your other machine and you have a relatively speedy Internet connection you can download a bootable Linux CD image that has a Memtest option like Ubuntu and have it check your memory.

Are you using a real Microsoft pressed XP install disc or is this something you created yourself? You aren't saying when you are getting infected so it's unclear how that's happening but you should disconnect your new computer from your LAN before doing the install again.

[SnakeCharmer]

Well it could any number of things including a bad stick of memory, bad drive, or bad motherboard. If it's easy to reproduce you could try it with just one stick of memory and then the other.

Done that.  Tried with one stick, then the other.  Swapped DVD drives.  I am STILL getting the Matrix looking graphic on start up, and consistently get messages such as this:

Setup cannot copy the file: cinemst2.sys
- To retry, press Enter
  If you are installing from a CD, make sure the Windows XP CD is in the CD-ROM drive
- To skip this file, press ESC
  Caution:  If you skip this file, Setup may not complete and Windows XP may not work properly
- To quit Setup, press F3

Or if you can burn ISOs on your other machine and you have a relatively speedy Internet connection you can download a bootable Linux CD image that has a Memtest option like Ubuntu and have it check your memory.

No idea how to do that.

Are you using a real Microsoft pressed XP install disc or is this something you created yourself?

Real MS press XP disk.  Full retail version.  SP2.  The disk is GOOD.  I actually just reformatted/reinstalled on this computer....

You aren't saying when you are getting infected so it's unclear how that's happening but you should disconnect your new computer from your LAN before doing the install again.

Done.  And I'm still getting error messages and blue screens.  Hell, some of them even say it's not a valid copy of Windows....

So it's been narrowed down to video card and mobo as far as I can tell.  The mobo doesn't have an onboard video chipset, so no way to test there.  Short of going and buying a el cheapo PCI card, I don't know what else to do or how to test which one it is.  I am LEANING towards it being the video card.  All the 'cannot copy files' seem to be video in nature.  This is an example of files that will not copy:

dvdplay.exe
kodak_dv.icm
rio8drv.sys
riodrv.sys
streamci.dll
vdmindvd.sys

And the above cinemst2.sys

[Trippy]

Not being able to copy files is more of hard drive/motherboard problem. When it's not able to copy a file is it your DVD drive that's thrashing/accessing or your hard drive? If your other machine has a PCI-e video card you could try that. You could also try connecting your hard drive to a different SATA port. You can also try a different SATA cable.

[SnakeCharmer]

Not being able to copy files is more of hard drive/motherboard problem. When it's not able to copy a file is it your DVD drive that's thrashing/accessing or your hard drive?

Both DVD drives (new and old) cause it to fuck up.

If your other machine has a PCI-e video card you could try that.

It doesn't, sadly....

You could also try connecting your hard drive to a different SATA port. You can also try a different SATA cable.

Tried both...No dice.

Tell you what...Just as soon as I get done updating this machine (about 10 minutes), I'll post up pics of the BIOS and some of the errors I am getting...

[Trippy]

Not being able to copy files is more of hard drive/motherboard problem. When it's not able to copy a file is it your DVD drive that's thrashing/accessing or your hard drive?

Both DVD drives (new and old) cause it to fuck up.

That doesn't answer my question. When it's having trouble copying a file is it the DVD drive light that's staying on and your hard drive is idling or is it your hard drive that's thrashing around?

[SnakeCharmer]

Not being able to copy files is more of hard drive/motherboard problem. When it's not able to copy a file is it your DVD drive that's thrashing/accessing or your hard drive?

Both DVD drives (new and old) cause it to fuck up.

That doesn't answer my question. When it's having trouble copying a file is it the DVD drive light that's staying on and your hard drive is idling or is it your hard drive that's thrashing around?

THAT I don't know.  I didn't think to look....

Anyhoot.

For your viewing pleasure

Initial powerup. I've entered the Matrix:


DIE ERROR MESSAGE FROM HELL:

[SnakeCharmer]

I am TEMPTED to yank the HD out of this computer and put it in the other one.  It only takes about 2.5 hrs from beginning install to full updated...

Also, I've managed to get into DOS mode after trying to use Windows Recovery Tool.  Ran chkdsk and the message "CHKDSK found one or more errors on the volume".

Bad HDD?

[Trippy]

Well assuming there's only one thing wrong I would say motherboard at this point. The garbled startup screen could be a video card problem but you can see the BIOS screens fine so there's something odd going on there and a bad video card doesn't explain the file copy problems.

I am TEMPTED to yank the HD out of this computer and put it in the other one.  It only takes about 2.5 from beginning install to full updated...

Even if you manage to get XP installed using the old computer you won't have the right drivers to run it properly on the new computer and you'll still need to use the new computer to install a bunch of stuff. Plus it sounds like your old computer doesn't have SATA.

[SnakeCharmer]

No, what I mean is...Take the HDD I KNOW works, stick it in the new one, reformat, try and install XP on the new mobo/vidcard/ram using the old HD

[Trippy]

No, what I mean is...Take the HDD I KNOW works, stick it in the new one, reformat, try and install XP on the new mobo/vidcard/ram using the old HD

Oh sure you could try that as long as you don't mind backing up the old drive.

[SnakeCharmer]

Already backed up...I keep important stuff on CD's anyway.  All i've done so far is reinstall and update windows and drivers since reformatting this machine tonight.

If I use this HDD and it installs fine, I know it's my 'new' HDD and I can have newegg send me another tomorrow.
If I use this HDD and it fails, then it should narrow it down to the mobo, yes?

[SnakeCharmer]

I just pulled the 'new' HDD from the comp...It's pretty damn hot...Normal?

[Trippy]

Already backed up...I keep important stuff on CD's anyway.  All i've done so far is reinstall and update windows and drivers since reformatting this machine tonight.

If I use this HDD and it installs fine, I know it's my 'new' HDD and I can have newegg send me another tomorrow.

No you don't know that unless both are SATA drives (it sounds like the old one is an IDE drive) and you use the same SATA port.

If I use this HDD and it fails, then it should narrow it down to the mobo, yes?

Not necessarily. We don't know if the XP disc is bad in some way (bad pressings do happen). If you can a CD copying utility you could try dupping it with "verify write" turned on on your old computer.

I just pulled the 'new' HDD from the comp...It's pretty damn hot...Normal?

Yes that's normal unless you have a fan blowing over it.

[Strazos]

Well, "pretty damn hot" doesn't exactly say a whole lot unfortunately. HDDs do get fairly warm, so they do need their own sort of cooling. On my case, the intakes blow through the HDD cage and into the main case.


Also, I'm no IT pro, but I'm guessing your mobo is fuxored. I had a bad mobo once when I was setting up a system in the past...you could get to BIOS and shit, but the Windows install would be corrupt, couldn't get any VGA display or anything...it was a mess, and there wasn't any network connection to worry about. Took a lot of parts swapping to narrow it down, too.

Also, depending on the HDD and if you want to risk putting it in another machine, you could download diagnostic tools to check the working status of the HDD in question.

EDIT: Sounds like putting the questionable HDD in another machine is not an option.