Can't load any OS

[wvjohn]

ok, finally got a rounf to trying to get my p4 rig up again -

1.6a default/msi sis 645 board/8500

put in a new 80 gb maxtor - 2 equal 40 gb partitions - formatted

try to laod 98 se - checks disks starts loading - then get various and different errors while trying to load stuff from install cd - last error u got was cabxxx is corrupt - windows is exiting - o have two old legit 98 disks and there may be a prob with the disks, but i did use them to load a system about 3 wks ago -

tried 2k - ran 4 set boor disk floppies - always get an error - different errors - last one was couldn't find ntkernel or somesuch and exited

could this be bad ram? i have 3 sticks of crucial 2100 and never had any probs before -

this is frustrating - i really don't have time to fool with this but i sure would like to get this done -

if i ghost a 2k partition from another puter and make a new set of 2k floppies will i be able to get in and then repair boot sector to conform to different hardware?

grrrr............TIA

[fearfox]

Not sure what your problem is here. What kind of Format? Have you formatted both drives after partition and reseted computer? Did you check all cabling is okay no lose wires of any kind? Have you tried copying cd to hd then running it from the hd???? Is this fresh new drive from maxtor or is it used? Have you tried formatting drive to factory setting by writing 0's to drive???

Hope this helps

Davids

[FlyingPenguin]

This smells of either bad memory or some other hardware issue. You're not overclocking are you?

Download this memory tester: http://www.simmtester.com/PAGE/products ... wnload.asp

Make sure the BIOS settings are on safe defaults.

[PreDatoR]

It could be a ram issue. I'd take all but one stick out and try it with that. Try each stick by itself if they all seem fine start adding them back in. How many ram slots are on that board. I know some motherboards don't like to run with all of the ram slots full which kind of defeats the purpose.

[wvjohn]

probably ram - i reformmatted and pulled 2 of three sticks - left 1 sticj in ist slot - set it for failsafe bios- everything loaded fine - my usual win98 lite to win2k - running fine now at 133 fsb - folding - i'll try the other sticks later when i get a chance and see if one of them is bad - that may have been the problem i was having with this system before as well - i'll try that memtester - thanks FP and all!

[LoneWolfX1X]

is that the sis645U?

ive found that its required to load bios setup defaults- boot completely- reboot -then reset bios settings or else any os install would crap out

[FlyingPenguin]

If you're overclocking keep in mind that some mobos have stability issues when overclocking with more than one stick of memory.

[blackhawk]

One more possibility that wasn't mentioned is bad power. Had that on an amd mb/cpu combo I sold a guy and said he'd use a 250w ps even though I told him not a good idea. That was his problem, random reboots and freezes during an install.

I had this problem once with two sticks of good quality ram but not the same manufacturer that didn't live together well.

That's my 3 canadian cents.