GRACAR

Being only a PC novice the following problem has taken several days so far to find a remedy - without success. HELP PLEASE, BEFORE MY WIFE LEAVES ME I am trying to install XP SP2 (from a legit OEM cd)onto a Maxtor 300gb SATA 150 HDD.(which has been formatted using the MAXBLAST utility) New build PC:MoBo ASRock 775Dual-VSTA (Nthbrdge VIA PT880 Pro/Ultra Sthbrdge VIA VT8237A: 1gb DDR 400 RAM:AMI Legal BIOS 1.9:GF 7300LE PCIe Grphics Card:) Intel Celeron D 351 (3.2 GHz) Floppy Drive Asus DRW-1608P25 DVD All components have recently been in use or are new and have been checked (as far as I am able) I am unable to update the BIOS, as this MoBo only allows BIOS update via Windows platform. I have tried up[censored] the VIA SATA driver with RAID_V430C (F6 during setup) But the same problem still occurs ie:- XP Setup STOPS/FREEZES at "Setup is loading files (Windows NT File System (NTFS))..." What's wrong!! All assistance welcome. If you can't help, any suggestions for meals for one?

SORTED A RAM Diagnostic (floppy) program found my new RAM was DEAD! Everything appears to be working fine now ( I borrowed some RAM from the other PC) Many thanks to all you guys for the Help, and I've certainly gained more knowledge and Dianostic downloads!! NO MORE MEALS FOR ONE!!

Hi Danleff, I've tried both configurerations, with the same end result being the original problem!

Hi Willymac, Tried Killdisk - still same problem I have tried booting XP from 6 floppies – same problem. I have now successfully installed XP from the OEM Disk onto a PATA HDD using other PC (non-SATA) re-connected the PATA HDD into new Build SATA PC as Primary Boot, with and without the SATA HDD connected. The BIOS sees both HDD’s correctly. In both instances the screen is blank (black) (and Ctrl+Alt+Del does not reboot, I therefore have to switch the PC off manually!). Could this be a MoBo malfunction?? Are there any other checks I can make – before I exchange the MoBo??

I Have just tried a PATA drive, and am getting the same problem!

Hi Danleff, Yes that was my first try (as per the User manual)