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Need Help with ASUS AM3+ MB and Win XP

Joe:

Would it be possible for you to swap that 4 GB memory stick for two 2 GB sticks or simply add another 4 GB stick? BTW, some Asus mobo's have a memory check built into the BIOS. I'm still thinking that your problem stems from the hardware side. I have a lot of experience installing XP on various hardware configurations and haven't seen this particular problem before. As far as drivers go, XP is only going to initially install what it needs to get the kernel up and running. The LAN, SATA, video, etc., are all on your system CD that came with the mobo. It might turn out to be something simple like a bad SATA cable or something similar.

Tom
 
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Scali said:
Unless you have a specific reason to put XP on (and why not SP3?), I would go with Windows 7.
In my experience, Windows 7 works a lot better on modern systems. XP simply doesn't know what to do with all these cores and all this memory. Windows 7 gives you a much smoother experience, with more performance (I upgraded from a Core2Duo to a Core i7. In XP the Core i7 actually seems worse than the Core2Duo sometimes, while in Windows 7/8/8.1 it's a very nice system. Might mostly be the IO prioritizing that Microsoft has added... too many threads accessing the disk at once in XP makes a mess).

Another thing I would recommend is to disable any onboard devices you don't specifically need for installation (all you need is the CPU, some memory and a HDD really, so disable onboard audio, LAN, etc). Also pull out any USB devices or expansion cards.
That way you should be able to at least postpone any driver/hardware issues until the OS is actually installed. Once it's installed, it will be easier to install updates and new drivers that didn't come on the original installation media.
So then you can start enabling devices one-by-one, and get them working.
Click to expand...

The only reason I built this machine was to have a computer capable of running all the games I recently purchased. My guideline for those games was to buy nothing which required anything later than WIN XP and to have no online requirements. Many of the games are not designed (or tested) to run on Windows 7. My base install CD is SP1. I would upgrade to SP3 once I get the base install completed.

Maybe the hardware I purchased is too recent to use XP. I keep forgetting how "old" XP has become. I was thinking the multiple cores of the processor may be an issue. If it is the case XP cannot handle the hardware, I may need to put Windows 7 on this machine (since I already have it) and build another with XP compatible hardware.

I can certainly try to disable all the MB devices I do not need for the install although I will need to get them enabled at some point. The only USB device is a mouse since there is only one PS/2 port on this MB and I am using it for the keyboard.

I also see your point on the potential performance drawbacks of using XP with this hardware as opposed to Windows 7. This may be the best argument for going back and building a machine with XP friendly hardware and install Windows 7 on this box.

Live and learn. The technology is clearly outpacing my knowledge.

I was also thinking - can I disable the onboard SATA ports and install a PCI IDE controller on this motherboard and then have the machine boot from devices on this controller? I'll have to check the BIOS to see if it lets me boot from an IDE controller.

Thanks...Joe
 
Rick Ethridge said:
I agree with Agent Orange. I suspect RAM problems.
Click to expand...


I have a hard time thinking it is RAM related unless the machine really does need two memory sticks as Agent Orange suggests. If it was RAM related, I should not be able to reproduce the exact same error at the same point in the install. The fact the error occurs during the time XP is "Installing Devices" leads me to believe it is some MB onboard device which XP cannot handle. ASUS should know the answer to that question (I hope).

Thanks...Joe
 
Grandcheapskate said:
I may need to put Windows 7 on this machine (since I already have it) and build another with XP compatible hardware....

I also see your point on the potential performance drawbacks of using XP with this hardware as opposed to Windows 7. This may be the best argument for going back and building a machine with XP friendly hardware and install Windows 7 on this box.
Click to expand...
Or, once you install 7 you could easily add XP as a virtual machine. Then you'd have the best of both worlds.
 
Agent Orange said:
Joe:

Would it be possible for you to swap that 4 GB memory stick for two 2 GB sticks or simply add another 4 GB stick? BTW, some Asus mobo's have a memory check built into the BIOS. I'm still thinking that your problem stems from the hardware side. I have a lot of experience installing XP on various hardware configurations and haven't seen this particular problem before. As far as drivers go, XP is only going to initially install what it needs to get the kernel up and running. The LAN, SATA, video, etc., are all on your system CD that came with the mobo. It might turn out to be something simple like a bad SATA cable or something similar.

Tom
Click to expand...

Hi Tom,
I can install a second matching 4mb memory module. That's not a problem as I bought 2 4mb sticks. I just can't see it being a bad cable because the error is repeatable at the same point even if I use different XP installation CDs.

Thanks...Joe
 
I think that this is a WinXP SP1 peculiarity. At least if you Google the text of the BSOD STOP registers, it seems that *skate isn't the first one to run into this and that the universal remedy seems to go directly to SP3.

I suspect that Linux (live or otherwise) will work just fine with no special provisions.
 
Chuck(G) said:
I think that this is a WinXP SP1 peculiarity. At least if you Google the text of the BSOD STOP registers, it seems that *skate isn't the first one to run into this and that the universal remedy seems to go directly to SP3.
Click to expand...

Thank you Chuck. It never occured to me to Google the register contents. Here is the link I found:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/244374-45-windows-install-halts-irql_not_less_or_equal

Seems like slipstreaming to create a WIN XP SP2 install CD is the way to go. There is a note that while a WIN XP SP2 install worked, it did not work for this person with a slipstreamed SP3. But once I get the feel for nlite I should be able to easily create both a SP2 and SP3 install CD and give it a try.

I will post up an answer after I do this.

By the way, ASUS answered my second query. They confirmed this MB can use Windows XP. But again they refuse to answer the question about the error - they again repeat "update the drivers".

Thanks...Joe
 
I haven't had a chance to create the slipstream XP install CD but I did receive my third response from ASUS. This time the canned response was to update the BIOS.

Is it just me, or do you find it rather sad (and funny in a sad way) that the manufacturer would suggest updating the BIOS so you can run an older OS? One would hope that you would need to update the BIOS to handle new things, not items that were "old" when the board was introduced. I'm sure updating the BIOS would have no effect on a Win XP install.

Recieving these canned responses says a lot about the true lack of support a manufacturer supplies. It just shows they either really don't read the question you are asking or have no idea how to answer the question.

Joe
 
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Grandcheapskate said:
The only reason I built this machine was to have a computer capable of running all the games I recently purchased. My guideline for those games was to buy nothing which required anything later than WIN XP and to have no online requirements. Many of the games are not designed (or tested) to run on Windows 7.
Click to expand...

Perhaps not, but Windows compatibility has been extremely good since the beginning of the NT line.
Not too long ago I tried to get every single version of 3DMark (and its spiritual predecessor Final Reality) working under Windows 7 (an x64-version at that).
And they all worked. Most of them did not even require any special compatibility settings.

I have also done some retro-programming with older versions of Direct3D, from the first version up (that would be DirectX 2).
They all worked fine in Windows 7 x64 (and also in Windows 8 and 8.1, which I have upgraded to since).
Ironically enough, a few of them actually do NOT work on XP properly. Which I believe is caused by a driver bug in my nVidia drivers. That same bug is not present in the Vista/7/8/8.1 version of the drivers.

So in my experience, Windows 7 should work fine for older games, possibly even better than XP. The real problem with games was early games that were written to be 9x only. But XP also suffers from that.
Another issue is if you have a 64-bit OS, you cannot run 16-bit software. Some applications are 32-bit, but come with 16-bit installers. A way around that is to either try to manually extract the files and copy them. Or to install the software under a 32-bit OS (you could use XP-mode in Windows 7), and then copy the files over to your 64-bit system.
More often than not, the software will work just fine. It's just sad that the developers did not bother to upgrade their installer suite to 32-bit.
 
Chuck(G) said:
I think that this is a WinXP SP1 peculiarity. At least if you Google the text of the BSOD STOP registers, it seems that *skate isn't the first one to run into this and that the universal remedy seems to go directly to SP3.
Click to expand...

SUCCESS!!!!

I slipstreamed SP3 with my base Win XP SP1 installation CD and the installation went off without a hitch. I want to thank everyone for their help, especially Chuck who twice pointed me in the right direction. Next I'll need to use the driver disk that came with the motherboard to enable all the onboard devices. Then, if I get past that, it will be time to install the video card.

Thanks...Joe
 
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