Hello,

This is my first post on this board and I'm hoping to get a resolution to my very frustrating problem.

I just purchased a Gigabyte GA-7VRXP motherboard (rev 2.0), and Athlon XP 2100+ CPU, and 512 MByte of Mushkin PC2100+ DDR memory.

I bought this to upgrade my system.

I tried using my old Maxtor HDD (60 Gbyte 5400 rpm) that had my windows XP operating system already installed. The BIOS recognizes the hardware fine, but after the BIOS boot process when Windows XP is supposed to begin booting, I get a BLACK screen and all harddrive activity ceases.

So, I decided to start from scratch with a brand new Maxtor 80 GByte 7200 RPM ATA/133 HDD. Same problem when trying to install Windows XP.

Here is what I have installed:
* Athlon 2100+ CPU running 133MHz FSB and 1.7 GHz frequency..........I have messed around with all combos of speed and no difference can be seen.
* AGP Video card with the NVIDIA TNT2 M64 chipset................I have messed with AGP speed, AGP voltage, CAS# latency, and still no help
* My Maxtor 80Gbyte 7200 ATA/133 HDD.............I have tried forcing slower speeds ATA33...........still nothing...I have the HDD as the ONLY component on the cable connecting into the IDE1 slot.


Here is what works:
* I can boot with a Floppy disk or a bootable CD-ROM
* If I boot with a DOS diskette, I can browse the Maxtor HDD fine and I can see all of my files
* I can begin to Install Windows XP from the CD, but when the system boots and tries to use the HDD to boot, I still get the BLACK screen and NO HDD activity.

I am using rev F9 of the BIOS and it appears that everything else is working fine except Windows XP will just not boot from the HDD.........


ANY IDEAS?

What IDE channel is the CDROM on? Are you using IDE 3 or 4? I have a feeling that your problem may be related to the RAID controller.

Thanks for the reply!

I have turned off the RAID controller in the BIOS and I have nothing connected to IDE3 or IDE4. I have a DVD ROM and a CD-ROM connected to IDE2. I have only 1 Hard Drive (the 60 Gbyte Maxtor I mentioned above) on IDE1 setup as the master.

Any luck yet? Is the hard drive set to Auto in the BIOS, or have you manually entered the settings? Also, what is the boot sequence in the BIOS? I know it sounds silly, but I have seen people try to boot from "IDE1" when it should really be "IDE0".

Thanks again for the response..........I have decided to RMA the board.....believe me, I have put together enough boards in my lifetime to know that there is something seriously wrong here. I have spent well over 20+ hours working on this board and have come to the conclusion it is bad.

I bought it from Newegg.com and NOW I am seeing all kinds of negative reviews showing up about this board, including the following:

" drewdogg808,6/17/2002 2:11:30 PM

wow..i thought it was just me. i spent over a week going nuts trying to load win xp and trouble shooting, but no luck. i rma'd the board a week ago and got a kt3 ultra and had no probs. i check today and notice all these neg. reviews. just my luck."

Sounds like this guys had the EXACT same problem as I am having. Most complaints are about stability, but I cannot even get to that point.

Here is a link to the feedback board on newegg.com:
http://secure.newegg.com/app/CustratingReview.asp?item=13-128-136

Perhaps newegg.com got a horrible batch of these boards from Gigabyte!


I am going with an MSI KT3 Ultra2-ARU motherboard.

-----------------------------
Just for a little more backround, here are some more things I've tried (and I did try both IDE0 and IDE1):

I have tried a BRAND NEW hard drive (the 80Gbyte Maxtor I mentioned above) AND I did my own low-level format on it with the same results.....

The only reason I chose Mushkin memory is that I read on a couple of sites that this memory seemed to have the best margin for timing purposes.....i.e. is should be VERY stable.

I'm really thinking I'm gonna have to RMA the board and get another one. My experience with this board makes me very gun-shy about trying another of the same (especially b/c I'll have to pay shipping to ship this one back...), but I don't understand why I am the ONLY person that is having this type of problem.

I bought everything that was AMD approved for my Athlon XP 2100+ CPU..........I bought a 350W Allied Power Supply, the Mushkin memory (which also was approved from them, and the motherboard........plut The 440MX NVIDIA AGP card..)

I work in the computer industry and used to build systems all the time (4 years ago, but most is still the same...) and I have never had this much difficulty getting a system to boot!

What is odd is that I can dir, copy, delete, etc. any data on the HDD if I boot from a floppy and get to a DOS prompt......I can boot from a CD or floppy fine and I can start the install of windows fine, until the computer needs to re-boot and actually BOOT from the HDD.

I know what your problem is. If its not too late, I can help you make your sytem work. The issue is (hard to believe but true) the MX440. I have exactly the same config as you, and had exactly the same problem. Here's what to do:
Remove the MX440
Switch bios to PCI (if using PCI in next step) main display
Put in any other card for now (old pci would be good)
Install XP
DL nVidia Drivers
Remove (or keep for 2 Monitors, as I do) old Video Card
Switch BIOS back to AGP as Primary
Up the AGP voltage *slightly* to compansate for board drops below 5v(check card for optimal voltage then + a bit)
Reboot
Load DL'd Drivers
Enjoy...
I had NO luck installing XP with that card in the box.
Hope this helps you out!
Henry

Scotts problem in booting is the F9 BIOS. It is no good. My motherboard does the same thing and I am not using the RAID channels. Anyone having this problem go back to F4 BIOS. IT WORKS.

*sigh*

A) There is NO PROBLEM with the rev2.0 boards and GF4MX's.

B) The v9 BIOS is the DEFAULT on rev2.0 boards, and I really would not suggest flashing an older BIOS than what comes on the board. Not to mention the fact that it works fine on my system.

Scott: That is an odd issue. I, too, have spent a lot of time building computers, and the only time I ever ran into that issue is when we were pre-installing XP when it first came out. There was apparently a problem with the preinstall kit messing up the boot record. If, after installing, we booted off a floppy and ran FDISK /MBR, it would correct the error and boot fine. If you still have the board, you might try that (though from the sounds of it, you've already sent it back). Either way, good luck.

I have a 80gb Maxtor ata133,an Asus P4S8X-X mobo,and I have a asus mx440.I' m having THE SAME problem i can't install windows xp unless i install a 9x then install Win Xp from it.I was having that problem with my p4s333 too so i changed my mobo but still same problem.I can't believe thats because of the mx440.Its so stupid but i will check it out i will try to get a new video card as soon as possible.

I have a 40gb Seagate Barracuda too.If i install win xp to seagate then i make a playlist of mp3s in my 80gig maxtor,about an hour later while i'm listening to mp3s-computer restarts.I Thought i have a cpu cooling problem but its only 38C so i can hardly believe its because of the video card.But its the only thing i havent changed.I Changed Cpu,mobo,rams,cdrw+cd rom,Case and psu...