So I was trying to do a favor for my dad and finally upgraded his CPU from a XP 1700+ to a 2400+ and threw in a extra 256MB of PC2700 (256 added to the 256 I had in there before).

System posted fine, and then went to load Windows. My dad stupidly let the system go into hibernate so of course the machine could recover from it- no big deal - I just told it to delete the data and restart. That's when it hung on the pretty Windows XP Pro screen where the little blue bar goes scrolling across. The blue bar kept scrolling but no HD access.

So I tried safe mode and it hangs after loading mup.sys or something like that.


So I take a break (for buying BF sttuff) and attack the problem again. I switched the CPU back to the original XP1700+ and took out the extra RAM I added essentially making it back to original config. It booted into Safe Mode and I was happy.

So I reason maybe the chip is bad (I've used it before in my system no problem) or maybe the ASUS A7V8X-X board he has (Newegg refurb) didn't like the CPU or just needs a BIOS flash (the 2400 was a T-bred A I think).

Either way I try booting into XP normally with the extra 256 which I put back in and it hangs again. This time I'm like "Oh well maybe it was the memory".

So I take the memory out and even reset the BIOS and clear ESCD and still it won't boot into Safe Mode even - just hangs there with no HD access at the same point it was hanging last night.

Right now it has all the original Hardware it had to begin with.
OS is Windows XP SP 1 - was going to put on SP2 after the hardware upgrades.


Can Anybody please help!!!! I don't want to spend 20 hours reinstalling the OS and copying files.

Whenever you change mobo or cpu it's always best to do a reformat imo.

To get access to all the old data you could hook it up as a secondary drive to a different computer, or to that computer after you do a fresh install on a new hd.

Yup, I'd reformat as well. You would probably save time, rather than trying to work through the problem. Of course if you work through the problem its good experience. You could have XP setup and and updated in a couple hours. Unless you have tons of programs to reinstall it should not take that long. I'd reinstall XP, then install SP2 (assuming you dont have a cd with it preloaded), and then use http://www.autopatcher.com/autopatcherxp.html to install any other patches and misc. upgrades.

If you still want to try fixing, first thing I'd try is booting from XP cd and using the fix option to reinstall the OS options.

There are so many questions to ask. Some may be very elementary, but please don't take offense. They just need to be asked. I'll take it from the beginning, thinking through the process. I'm not looking for you to post answers here, just giving some things to think about.

When the 1700+ was replaced did you use a heatsink rated for the new processor? Was the old heatsink used? Was new thermal paste used? Was the old paste (or pad) thoroughly removed if you used the old heatsink? Was too much paste used...too little?

Was the mobo taken out of the case when replacing the processor? Due to room issues it can be a real PITA to install a heatsink for an Athlon processor inside the case. It is very easy to crack the processor or break the diodes on the processor surface when trying to secure the heatsink properly.

Was anything knocked loose when removing or installing the processors? Screwdriver hit the mobo? Was the system unplugged and power connector from the PSU removed from the mobo?

When the new chip was installed were there jumpers on the mobo that needed to be set? Were the BIOS settings changed?

Maybe it's an activation thing, where XP detected hardware changes and now won't boot because of it.

Well, I got the damn thing working again with the original hardware. Got it to boot into safe mode and did a system restore to a week back. I guess the registry got fubared along the way when it went into hibernate - maybe my dad did an update and didn't reboot. I forced it to run chkdsk on reboot to look for errors (which it did) and somehow it was able to reboot.

Thanks for the advice guys. I know a clean wipe is the best option, but I just did one for this machine just 2 months ago and did not feel like doing it again. My dad uses his machine for work and since he sometimes compiles code from home (he works for Northrup Grumann who contracts to the Amy) he has all kinds of security software and hardware stuff I would need to reinstall which is a PITA.

Alan, thanks for the tips. I thought of everything you said. I have yet to crack a core. I applied the silver paste well each time and I don't think the temps were running high. I was very careful not to drop any screws in the wrong place or short out anything (the only time I friend a device from static was a old SCSI HD I rubbed on the carpet to take off dirt - who knew that would create enough static to Fry it - some cheap redundancy I guess).

Still don't know what happened- but I'm guessing registry corruption. Swapping out a chip shouldn't really necessitate a reinstall. I don't think it's as invasive as changing a video card (right Alan?)

Guess I'll stick to working on humans

I've done it to my own computer.

I think you have to wipe the hard drive. A bit of installation code is probably on the hard drive. So you can f-disk it, using one of the startup disks from Western ?Digital, Maxtor ... whatever hard drive brand you have. Or you can use startup floppies from Ghost or Partition Magic. I think a startup floppy from Win 98 or ME also would work, but I haven't tried.

Anyway, I suspect if you F-disk it, you can restart the XP installation from scratch.

Let us know how it goes.

So the problem arose again. It was last running fine in Windows, so I decided to go ahead and upgrade it to SP2. It did so without problems, but when I went to boot it - the system got stuck at the same spot.

Here's the weird part. If I power it down, wait about 10-20 minutes, and then go into safe mode, tell it to run chkdsk on restart, check the system, then it boots into windows normally

There are too many variables and I don't really know what can be going on. The system is running stable. The hardware is working fine. Problem is just at boot-up.

System temps are all below 100F for CPU and under 90 for MB. So I don't think it's overheating (it's a huge case with a 14cm PSU fan for exhaust.

What would cause it to hang on warm reboots, but boot on cold reboots?

Are there ghosts in the machine? Maybe me fiddling around with it the first time damaged it somehow? I was very careful taking off the HS&F.

Just weird! Anyways I'm gonna leave the system up and running and just build him a new rig hahaha - at least I can be leisurely about that.

Easiest way for me to get a new system up and running - stick the disk into another machine (usually mine) and just create a partition. Then I put that freshly partitioned disk (not formated yet) into the new rig and just let XP format and install to it. I have XP Pro Corporate which I got from a buddy who works at MSFT, so I don't have to activate it. I do have to run SP2 after it installs though.

Gremlins I tell ya...gremlins.

So besides the gremlins (I think they're living with the dust bunnies inside the PSU) is there any possible reason why warm boots fail but cold boots work? I don't know if it's a heat/electrical problem or a BIOS/IRQ issue since I have it update the ESCD evey time it reboots.

Why have it update the ESCD every time? Did it always do this or just since changing the processors? It could be a conflict somewhere. But then there are many things it could be.

It may be as simple as a ribbon cable. Try reseating all ribbon cables on the mobo & devices and check the cable(s) for any breaks also. I had a situation where a ribbon cable had a very small cut exposing some wire. It was enough to make the system unstable. Replacing the cable did the trick.

Do yourself a favor and burn a slipstreamed update of that CD to XP Pro Corporate w/ SP2. There used to be a thread on slipstreaming here; however, I can't find it. A simple google search on "Slipstream XP" produced numerous hits. This one seems pretty thorough.

Diggler

P.S. Of course the above doesn't help you w/ your apparent hardware issue.

I was manually doing it since I figure if there's a IRQ conflict the machine should be allowed to move around whatever it needs to move to get things to work. I'm not sure if I have to do this to get it to boot to safe mode, but I don't have the energy to keep trying. The machine is up and running and will be that way until I give him his new rig hehe.

I use jacketed IDE cables so I doubt I nicked anything. I could have stressed some of the cables, but I was pretty clear of the single IDE drive in there. I did unplug the Molex, but it was firmly replaced.

Before internship I would have been sitting with the rig for hours to try to pinpoint what fixes it and where the problem lies - now I'm just to old to care