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The message <0fdrn4drfdkurk9k3b3lnd5gntu11tandg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
from Jaimie Vandenbergh <jaimie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> contains these words:
> On Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:34:51 -0000, "John Brown" <ha_lf@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
> >Well after the euphoria of gaining access to keyboard and formatting the
> >hard drive (just one SATA drive installed - the other
> >disconnected...and no
> >floppy connected) and Windows loaded from the CD...all went very
> >smoothly...seems like the damn thing is now stuck just at the end when I
> >expected fully loaded....on the page with a nice coloured Windows XP Home
> >Edition pic and words Please Wait as though its doing something...and the
> >mouse pointer as an hour glass...
> >..before I turn off or control alt delete would you expect this part to be
> >taking so long?...its been in this state for some 2.5 hours now?..one
> >thing
> >that may be relevant I created the C partition large...3200gb - dunno if
> >that would cause such a delay? Thanks for any advice.
> Hours is wrong. Something has got wedged, just reboot it and carry on
> (it's not like you have much choice!).
> 320gig (I'm autocorrecting!) is quite large for a C: drive, but not
> large enough that it should cause any problems. I keep mine under
> 32gig myself, I don't like mixing *my* stuff with Windows and program
> files for historical (MS incompetence) reasons.
Basically, "wot 'e said". All I can suggest, if a reboot lands up in
the same cul de sac, is that you go into the cmos setup and disable all
non-essential interfaces (ethernet, sound, floppy interface, com ports
etc) before rebooting again (although the winXP installer rarely comes a
cropper as used to sometimes happen with the win95 installer and
'strange hardware' ;-).
A couple of other things you might want to check in the cmos setup
menu, are to make sure you had ACPI Function and Plug 'n' Play enabled
(ACPI is normally enabled by default, but PnP, often. isn't). However,
if you started the install sans ACPI support, it's not a good idea to
change it afterwards (but PnP can be safely altered). You might also
want to reset the configuration data (sometimes shown as "enable Reset
Configuration Data").
Other possibilities are that a critical cmos setting not shown as a
configurable option could have gotten corrupted and can only be
corrected by forcing the full set of defaults to be reloaded after using
the cmos clear jumper (don't forget to disconnect the mains supply
whilst doing this).
I discovered this little 'gotcha' on a brand new 486 MoBo which had the
IDE and floppy interface built in and no amount of using the 'reset cmos
to defaults' option would get the floppy interface to work. Only an
inspired "Let me try the clear the cmos on the jumper option before I
ship this thing back as faulty" action sorted the problem. This taught
me not to take the 'reset cmos to defaults' option at face value.
One more thing. You say you've upgraded everything except the case. Did
your upgrade include a new PSU? I ask, because PSUs can sometimes create
a whole host of weird symptoms when they've been in service for a number
of years.
I once had an old ATX unit that would work perfectly on the test bench
until it was once more fitted into a case. It turned out to be one of
its PCB fixing screws going slack on the point used to provide the
grounding link for the mains filter caps. The resultant intermittent
contact when _NOT_ upside down on the test bench was generating voltage
spikes on the supply rails causing overvolt shutdowns.
I've just discovered why yet another test bench PSU is causing
instability problems. In this case, unlike the earlier one which had
provided spot on voltages, the cmos health monitor was showing the 5v
rail as being 4.30 volts (well outside the MoBo's +/- 10% tolerance!).
This seems to be a problem of excessive volt drop over _all_ of the
black ground return wires, possibly bad crimp connections since the 20
pin MoBo plug was rather warm, but it seems more likely the black wires
were down to just a single strand each due to a fault in manufacture.
That's something I'm about to investigate since the PSU itself seems to
be perfect (and it looks like I've finally found a use for all those
wires with connectors I've accumulated from the many PSUs I've scrapped
over the years ;-).
HTH
--
Regards, John.
Please remove the "ohggcyht" before replying.
The address has been munged to reject Spam-bots.
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