all you have to do is tell it not to format the drive there is an option for that on install of Windows XP. its that simple, dont back nothing up cause you wont need too, just install XP on it, but dont format. that easy.
Well, it's not a hardware problem anymore, now we're down to software, I think.
I played around with it some more this morning, with no good results. I took it to a computer shop and told them what was up. They couldn't figure out anything either. Then the guy tried putting only 1 memory stick in the computer, in slot 1. It worked! We went into the BIOS and set the date and time.
Then he put the other memory stick in #2, and the computer saw that also.
But it would not start Windows. We kept getting the black screen that says Windows didn't start normally, and gives you choices (safe mode, command prompt, networking, normal, etc).
Trying to start in safe mode makes a big list of files on the screen, and nothing else happens.
They didn't charge me any money.
I brought it home and ran 1 and 2 memory sticks in every possible combination, and it always worked.
But I couldn't get it to boot up Windows.
When I start the computer, it will give 1 short beep, and just as the Windows logo screen comes on, it'll snap to the black "Windows did not start successfully" screen.
I'm using the same 20 GB hard drive that has been in my Dell 2100 for 2+ years. It came with XP Home on it from Dell.
The guy at the computer shop says it won't work to boot up this computer. I see no reason why not. It works fine in the 2100, why would it not work with the new Abit system?
CPU temps were around 49-53 Celsius with all 3 fans spinning 3000 rpm. I guess that white thermal paste stuff that comes already applied to a new heat sink is not very effective. I'll go to Radio Shack tomorrow and get something else.
This is basicly an XP DRM cutin. To save your data, you have two Hds. Take one HD that is target, image the parts off to the HD you do not want to install in, or unplug HD you want to save data on-- ignore OS, and programs that register, you will lose registry and thus program registration and the parts of installed programs that end up otehr than in the program directory, like Office which sticks stuff all over including in Windows' System directories.
Can you borrow a 40 GB HD, image with Partition MAgic and shrink the targets so they hold only the data you need, or borrow a HD of say 40 GB size, install to the HD you want to install to, image from your old and backup HDs to the installed image, by using partitions that will fit when shrunk??? Then you can use PM to resize your parts to fill new HD, windows will still boot and run fine, as HD upgrades are allowed for by Microsoft. New motherboards are not allowed for in DRM, without a reauthorization.
What I do now, is this:
My XP install is on one HD, bigger HD actually is not boot HD and it gets most of what I call work product. I have a 40 to boot Widnows from, and an 80 that holds all my work product-- programs are defaulted to use folders on my work product HD, which also gets my downloads of legit stuff and backups of Windows. This is true for both my boxes. The download and work product HDs are a pair, I can stick wither in either box, in my case, by shuttign down boxes and unlocking the cold-swap IDE trays and switching them and booting up. Data I want to transfer is now in my other box. My websites get imaged to CD-RW media, I have on hand about 150 CDs of CD-RW type right now. I burn to them with a data burn, not a drag and drop. When a CD-RW has all older stuff on it which I do not need, I reformat the CD-RW and reuse. That is for stuff I think critical. In fact, the archive HDs are also FAT32, which means I can recover from a linux install if I wanted. Boot drives are NTFS.
Long term, think about doing that, you can buy 3-5X as much storage with a HD for same money as blanks of RW type that provide same space(depends on speed, I use mostly 12X RW media myself). Short term, see if you can image your stuff to a HD you are going to take out of service, or see if someone you know has a HD spare they will lend you that they are not using.
Then, the stuff you absolutely must have, you back off to RW media or even both RW and R media (R media, good quality, retains burn better than RW for longer). With both R and RW and HD that holds just your work stuff you gotta have, you have a htree layered backup, with the RW and the HD, you have two layered backup. HD to HD transfer is faster than burning. Primary backup is in fact fastest and cheapest overall way, also.
Think HDs as data baskets by mech, you want your work in a different place than that your picky O\S (due to DRM), with XP, if you want to play with settings and upgrade a lot.
And make sure you use the one from memtest.org, not memtest86.com
The memtest.org version is more modern.
What is the difference between Memtest86 and Memtest86 +?
I read that they are made by two different development teams.
But Memtest86+ is based upon Memtest86.
I think I have a way to do it. Most of the stuff on my 80 GB drive is also on CDs, so I already have them backed up. I managed to clear out enough space on the 20 GB drive to fit most of the other stuff from the 80 onto the 20.
I'll copy my miscellaneous video folder to the 20 drive. This folder has a lot of car racing videos, music videos, and random other stuff on it that I've gotten over the last year or so from the internet. It's about 2.3 GB by itself.
Prime, I could FTP some files to the site server to hold them temporarily, but my DSL is an 1184 / 128 speed. Uploading it would take quite a while. Usually it takes 2-3 hours to FTP a 50-70 MB high bit rate webshow file. But I may do that for some of the smaller files that I don't want to burn to a CD. I need to get some CD-RW discs.
Some people said that I could just load XP Home to the 80 hard drive and that it wouldn't touch anything else. They're probably right, but I have a lot of "what ifs" bouncing around in my head.
I need to borrow a DVD burner and burn a few DVDs. That would help a lot for backups. All the low and high rate versions of my show are taking up something like 3.8 GB so far on each drive (a full set on each HD, plus another set of copies on CDs).
I always wanted the 80 HD to be just for storage and not accessed every minute of every day. My 20 is the main drive and I was hoping to keep it like that. But then again, the 20 is 2+ years old now and the 80 is about 3 months old.
I have a hard time throwing things away. I rarely or never use 70% the XP installed programs on my 20 HD, but I always think "what if I do want them someday". Never mind the fact I haven't touched them in 2 years except just to look at them.
What is the difference between Memtest86 and Memtest86 +?
I read that they are made by two different development teams.
But Memtest86+ is based upon Memtest86.
Thy look pretty much the same as well.
The newer version (memtest 86+) has support for the latest chipsets and memory controllers - also support for opteron/a64 and all that.
yehaha, tell me about it. One of the things I'm doing out here in Washington DC this weekend is moving 9gb of client data from one server to another via T1 line - even at a pretty steady 1.2mbits (around 100-120Kbps) it took a solid 16 hours to move the entire thing.
I love technology. Most of the "work" i'm doing is from the Marriott Hotel here via wireless lan + whatever huge ass pipe they have here (i'm thinking multiple T1s) thru VNC to the server across town. It's a tough life
The new system is up and running now. Not without a few headaches, though.
Despite the manual saying to install my 2 memory stick in slots 2 & 3, this resulted in 2 big FUBARs of the system, and taking it to a local computer guy. He says he's never seen anyone not use slot 1 for memory, and only put it in 2 & 3. So after the second trip for the same problem, I'm leaving it in 1 & 2.
Power supply was bouncing off the low limit on the negative 12 volt power setting. I was getting beeping from the computer whenever it approached the limit, and the computer shut off once from it. I moved the limit from -13.01 volts to -13.18 volts, and the problem has all but stopped. Or should I get a new power supply? This one is a 400 watt.
I hope I can swap all my important program files from my 20 GB hard drive, or just set it as the slave drive and leave it alone, even with the OS missing an important System32 file.
...Despite the manual saying to install my 2 memory stick in slots 2 & 3...I'm leaving it in 1 & 2.
Go with what works.
...should I get a new power supply? This one is a 400 watt.
I would see how things go over the next few days/weeks. Also, where rated wattage is concerned, a "clean" 350W power supply is preferable to a shaky 550W one.
I hope I can swap all my important program files from my 20 GB hard drive, or just set it as the slave drive and leave it alone, even with the OS missing an important System32 file...
There are plenty of ways of doing that, even if the drives are in two different computers. Tell us where the drives ended up and we'll advise you.
Not sure about the system32 file. I was transferring files from my 80 to the 20 so some of them would be backed up in case my installation of XP Home on the 80 made it lose some data. Well, XP installed quickly and didn't lose anything for me.
But when I went to turn my Dell on a little later, it said Windows couldn't start because a System32 file was missing or corrupted. I forget the exact address, but it had the "C:" and "system32" in the address among 2 other identifiers.
And since my 20 was filled, with only 875 MB empty, I couldn't just repair the XP verion because XP said it needed 990 MB to install.
Now I have both drives in the new computer. The 80 is the master and the 20 is the slave. Everything works, but since Kazaa doesn't come up on the desktop I can't get into it. I don't want to just reload Kazaa, because I don't like the new 2.6 version. I have and prefer the older 2.0.2 version. There are a few other things out of place, but no big deal.
In the next day or 2 I plan to copy some important folders from the 20 to the 80 and then reload XP on the 20, hoping it only repairs XP and doesn't reload / reset everything. I had things just like I wanted them to be.
I went out today and bought a 10 GB Western Digital HD (January 2001 build date) for $15 at a computer store. Now I think I won't need it, but maybe I should keep it around anyhow.
Comments
all you have to do is tell it not to format the drive there is an option for that on install of Windows XP. its that simple, dont back nothing up cause you wont need too, just install XP on it, but dont format. that easy.
:shakehead
Just think "how will I feel if I lose everything"
And then backup when you have your answer.
You can put 20gb of stuff on there, I don't care. It might take a while (are you on cable or DSL?) but it might be easier than making 10,000 CDs.
No need for a floppy disc.
The link to the cd image is on Memtest main page.
The memtest.org version is more modern.
This is basicly an XP DRM cutin. To save your data, you have two Hds. Take one HD that is target, image the parts off to the HD you do not want to install in, or unplug HD you want to save data on-- ignore OS, and programs that register, you will lose registry and thus program registration and the parts of installed programs that end up otehr than in the program directory, like Office which sticks stuff all over including in Windows' System directories.
Can you borrow a 40 GB HD, image with Partition MAgic and shrink the targets so they hold only the data you need, or borrow a HD of say 40 GB size, install to the HD you want to install to, image from your old and backup HDs to the installed image, by using partitions that will fit when shrunk??? Then you can use PM to resize your parts to fill new HD, windows will still boot and run fine, as HD upgrades are allowed for by Microsoft. New motherboards are not allowed for in DRM, without a reauthorization.
What I do now, is this:
My XP install is on one HD, bigger HD actually is not boot HD and it gets most of what I call work product. I have a 40 to boot Widnows from, and an 80 that holds all my work product-- programs are defaulted to use folders on my work product HD, which also gets my downloads of legit stuff and backups of Windows. This is true for both my boxes. The download and work product HDs are a pair, I can stick wither in either box, in my case, by shuttign down boxes and unlocking the cold-swap IDE trays and switching them and booting up. Data I want to transfer is now in my other box. My websites get imaged to CD-RW media, I have on hand about 150 CDs of CD-RW type right now. I burn to them with a data burn, not a drag and drop. When a CD-RW has all older stuff on it which I do not need, I reformat the CD-RW and reuse. That is for stuff I think critical. In fact, the archive HDs are also FAT32, which means I can recover from a linux install if I wanted. Boot drives are NTFS.
Long term, think about doing that, you can buy 3-5X as much storage with a HD for same money as blanks of RW type that provide same space(depends on speed, I use mostly 12X RW media myself). Short term, see if you can image your stuff to a HD you are going to take out of service, or see if someone you know has a HD spare they will lend you that they are not using.
Then, the stuff you absolutely must have, you back off to RW media or even both RW and R media (R media, good quality, retains burn better than RW for longer). With both R and RW and HD that holds just your work stuff you gotta have, you have a htree layered backup, with the RW and the HD, you have two layered backup. HD to HD transfer is faster than burning. Primary backup is in fact fastest and cheapest overall way, also.
Think HDs as data baskets by mech, you want your work in a different place than that your picky O\S (due to DRM), with XP, if you want to play with settings and upgrade a lot.
John D.
What is the difference between Memtest86 and Memtest86 +?
I read that they are made by two different development teams.
But Memtest86+ is based upon Memtest86.
Thy look pretty much the same as well.
I'll copy my miscellaneous video folder to the 20 drive. This folder has a lot of car racing videos, music videos, and random other stuff on it that I've gotten over the last year or so from the internet. It's about 2.3 GB by itself.
Prime, I could FTP some files to the site server to hold them temporarily, but my DSL is an 1184 / 128 speed. Uploading it would take quite a while. Usually it takes 2-3 hours to FTP a 50-70 MB high bit rate webshow file. But I may do that for some of the smaller files that I don't want to burn to a CD. I need to get some CD-RW discs.
Some people said that I could just load XP Home to the 80 hard drive and that it wouldn't touch anything else. They're probably right, but I have a lot of "what ifs" bouncing around in my head.
I need to borrow a DVD burner and burn a few DVDs. That would help a lot for backups. All the low and high rate versions of my show are taking up something like 3.8 GB so far on each drive (a full set on each HD, plus another set of copies on CDs).
I always wanted the 80 HD to be just for storage and not accessed every minute of every day. My 20 is the main drive and I was hoping to keep it like that. But then again, the 20 is 2+ years old now and the 80 is about 3 months old.
I have a hard time throwing things away. I rarely or never use 70% the XP installed programs on my 20 HD, but I always think "what if I do want them someday". Never mind the fact I haven't touched them in 2 years except just to look at them.
The newer version (memtest 86+) has support for the latest chipsets and memory controllers - also support for opteron/a64 and all that.
yehaha, tell me about it. One of the things I'm doing out here in Washington DC this weekend is moving 9gb of client data from one server to another via T1 line - even at a pretty steady 1.2mbits (around 100-120Kbps) it took a solid 16 hours to move the entire thing.
I love technology. Most of the "work" i'm doing is from the Marriott Hotel here via wireless lan + whatever huge ass pipe they have here (i'm thinking multiple T1s) thru VNC to the server across town. It's a tough life
MM.
Jengo? Go easy on Tim. We all started somewhere.
Tim. It may be an idea to further define a particular question and start a new thread as this one is getting long and confused.
Despite the manual saying to install my 2 memory stick in slots 2 & 3, this resulted in 2 big FUBARs of the system, and taking it to a local computer guy. He says he's never seen anyone not use slot 1 for memory, and only put it in 2 & 3. So after the second trip for the same problem, I'm leaving it in 1 & 2.
Power supply was bouncing off the low limit on the negative 12 volt power setting. I was getting beeping from the computer whenever it approached the limit, and the computer shut off once from it. I moved the limit from -13.01 volts to -13.18 volts, and the problem has all but stopped. Or should I get a new power supply? This one is a 400 watt.
I hope I can swap all my important program files from my 20 GB hard drive, or just set it as the slave drive and leave it alone, even with the OS missing an important System32 file.
More news as applicable.
I would see how things go over the next few days/weeks. Also, where rated wattage is concerned, a "clean" 350W power supply is preferable to a shaky 550W one.
There are plenty of ways of doing that, even if the drives are in two different computers. Tell us where the drives ended up and we'll advise you.
What gives with the "System32 file"?
But when I went to turn my Dell on a little later, it said Windows couldn't start because a System32 file was missing or corrupted. I forget the exact address, but it had the "C:" and "system32" in the address among 2 other identifiers.
And since my 20 was filled, with only 875 MB empty, I couldn't just repair the XP verion because XP said it needed 990 MB to install.
Now I have both drives in the new computer. The 80 is the master and the 20 is the slave. Everything works, but since Kazaa doesn't come up on the desktop I can't get into it. I don't want to just reload Kazaa, because I don't like the new 2.6 version. I have and prefer the older 2.0.2 version. There are a few other things out of place, but no big deal.
In the next day or 2 I plan to copy some important folders from the 20 to the 80 and then reload XP on the 20, hoping it only repairs XP and doesn't reload / reset everything. I had things just like I wanted them to be.
I went out today and bought a 10 GB Western Digital HD (January 2001 build date) for $15 at a computer store. Now I think I won't need it, but maybe I should keep it around anyhow.