Already installed XP 4 times over!!!! :(

Ok, help me out guys and gals,

I handed down a KT7A-RAID to my brother this Xmas. The XP installation has been hell. The machine had 2 maxtor HDs (a 15GB and a 20GB at the moment running off the on-board raid controller) a Toshiba DVD and a generic CD drive. I had a hell of a time getting WinXP SP1 to install in the first place -- the installation kept complaining that it could not find files on the cd but would find them when I clicked retry -- and now that it is installed my DVD and CD do not work.

Here are two of the numerous errors that I have recieved when trying to autoplay off a CD:

install.exe - Application Error
The application failed to initialize properlu (0xc0000005). Click on OK to terminate the application.

and the other

Only part of a ReadProcessMemory or WriteProcessMemory request was completed.

Some times the CD in the drive is not even found, other times it autoruns but I get errors will running installation software of the CD. Most of the time it simply crashes (not the whole system) when accessed. This happens to both of the optical drives and a reinstall of XP had no effect. I have tried both drives on the different EIDE Channels on my mobo (not the RAID controller ones of course) and with one drive connected and the other disconnected.

The drives have all been tested in my brother's old machine and worked perfectly there. Except spontanious shutdowns that occured when I bump the power cable (i attribute this to a poor power supply) I had no problems with the mobo before handing it down to my bro. One thing that I have noticed is that the 2 capacitors closest to the AGP slot have brownish goo oozed out of their tops. This worries me and I do not know if it was like this before I disasembled my system to give it to my bro.

What is happening? Help! I am about to try a new reinstall of XP, please save me!

Thanks,
Azk

This, my friend, is a memory timing issue. I had the exact same problem. Instead of having it tweaked, put the CAS latency at like 2.5T or 3T. This is what fixed the problem for me. Also if its OC'ed thats probably not a good idea either.

Wow, good idea, I would not have though of that. I am going to reboot and see if that make the difference. I had been getting wierd memory errors on disk access too.... It is funny though because everything running off of the HD seems to run just spiffy. It is only the DVD (which finds the disk and then screams bloody murder) and the CD (which never even finds the disks) that are troubled.

I'll get back in a sec...

Thanks again.

No such luck with the memory speeds. I first tried simply setting the memory speeds back to normal and taking off all of the go fast memory options but the problem remained.

So I restarted with the Fail-Safe defaults set in the bios and still the DVD throws errors and the CD is blind.

:(

I have all three RAM slots filled, should I pull out 2 of the chips and see if that changes anything?

yeah, try that

So I pulled out my 2 crucial 128MB PC133 CL2 sticks in slots 2 and 3 and left in the slot 1 256MB crucial chip of the same spec. I reset the CMOS and got a CMOS checksum error on bootup. Once I finally got into windows the CD drive worked fine (I installed Broodwars) but the DVD still gives me the above application error (but with the error number 0xc0000006). So now only one of the 2 optical drives is dead. <not quite so enthusiastic> Yay. </not quite so enthusiastic>

I am going to try and swap in the 128MB for the 256MB and if that does not work try using a different bank than the 1st one. I don't think that this will get me anywhere as I am not having problems in Windows itself (which I would expect if I had bad memory). But you never know.

If I remember correctly that hex error is status_access_violation. It's popular with 98se and lower, im surprised your seeing it to much in XP.
-andy

Can you explain to me what that error means?

I went and swapped out the 256MB chip in slot 1 for a 128MB chip and get the same system characteristics. The DVD recognizes disks but cannont open them and the CD reads them. It appears that the CD drive is not error free as I had thought previously. When I installed Starcraft the install slowed to a halt 3/4 of the way through the install, and I needed to eject the cd, and reinsert it for the install to continue. The excact same thing is now occuring in my install of broodwars, I am stuck at the same point for 5 minutes. Popping out the disk and reinserting lets the install continue. In both case the working lights for the CD and HD are active, but the CD does not sound like it is spinning.

Could these be mobo related problems? I am still worried about the 2 appearently dead or dieing capacitors by the AGP slot; has anyone here had issues with dieing capacitors? Removing some of the memory helped a bit, is this concrete evidence that I have a memory problem?

Thanks

Capacitors are dying on your mobo? How do you know? The only way they can really die is if to much power is given off by the PSU and they burn up or if someone clipped them off the mobo, capaciters are generally a pretty stable structure on the mobo. If they are clipped off solder then back on :D .

The reason that I think that they are dieing is that the tops of 2 of the capacitors have popped upward/outward and there is some lovely brownish, foamy-like goo on the tops.

The CD drive also has an easier time with pressed cds than burnt ones. I think that I am going to install a different version of windows and see what happens.

If brown goo is coming out of them then I'd suggest they're dead. :p When we used to get bored in physics we'd blow up loads of microfarad (and even millifarad I believe) capacitors with 20V DC and that brown goo used to gush out of them with loads of steam. That was fun! :D
But I understand Azk probably ain't laughing. Sorry I couldn't help you more.

Well, I reinstalled again (WinXP non-SP1) and have the same problem. It must be hardware. I guess I will be calling Abit on Monday. Damn...

Yup, those leaky capacitors are a good indication of a bad mobo. I've heard that happening on other board with the results being a completely dead mobo. Hope you can get an RMA on it if it isn't that old. :D

Have any of you RMAed to ABIT before? I am having a hard time determining what my warrenty status is. Can any of you make heads or tails out of this?

Cut and Pasted from the Abit RMA page:
Find your original invoice:
ABIT offers limited warranty on the hardware (the "Product") against defects in material or workmanship for a period of three (3) year from the original date of purchase for all products, purchased in the United States (excluding territories) or Canada from ABIT or ABIT authorized dealer. If your product is within two (2) years from the original date of manufacturing, or one (1) year from the original date of purchase, whichever is longer for Motherboard; or fifteen (15) months from the original date of manufacturing, or one (1) year from the original date of purchase, whichever is longer for VGA Cards and all other accessories. If you have the invoice of original purchase with you and your product is still within that period, we will take care of your repair for you absolutely FREE. In case you lost your invoice or your product is beyond this period for free labor service, then you will have to pay for the service charge either via our online payment or write a check for USD $25.00. to ABIT Computer USA to cover the labor and associated handling costs.

I purchase from Microbarn on 1-24-2001. Do I have all costs covered by Abit or will they be asking for that $25 check?

it.

must be within 2 years on manu, and no more than 1 year from purchase, for motherboards,

and>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

receipt=free
no receipt=$25

pretty simple.

b:cool:

I think they will cover the csot for your board. You should also check with Microbarn to see if they will cover it.

Looks like were in the same neck of the woods Azk. :D

We are in more ways than one; you have a very similar setup to what I have.

Enjoy the CA sunshine :p .

Yeah, what nice weather were having! :eek:

One more question. What channels are the DVD and CD drives connected to? They should only be connected to IDE1 and IDE2. The RAID channels (IDE3 and IDE4) are not designed for those types of drives and as a result will not recognize them properly. :D

They are not on the raid channels.