Windows 7 install freezing

laughmaster

Well-Known Member
Sorry that the subject line is very descriptive. But I will try to explain everything.

I have a home built system with a genuine intell cpu and a biostar P4m900-m4 motherboard. I have 2 gigs of ram in there but not sure what brand or anything right now. I can find out if the info is needed.

I am having a problem installing windows. I have tried XP, vista and 7. The hard drive is formatted but each install hangs during install. I have tried the following....

Different hard drive
Diffrent IDE cable
Moved the IDE cable from the primary IDE slot to the secondary one. I did not think this would work, but worth a shot anyways.
I looked around in the bios and changed a few settings.
I restored the default bios settings. (I must say that this bios seems to have a huge amount of options you can change. I have a laptop where I swear there are not more then about 6 things you can change)

I know that more then likely the next logical step is to change out the ram. But I am not sure where my other ram is right now. Oh and I also ran something called Bart PE I think. It is a "windows like" operating system that will operate just of the DVD. Really kind of makes windows security pointless trying to protect files. But a nice little thing to have around. This ran overnight without a problem and no freezing.

Anyways, like I said I know I should try changing out the ram. But I have just not gotten to it yet. But I found it dd that the DVD OS ran without a problem even though it too would use the ram.

Just thought I would check in here to see if anyone has any other ideas, no matter how crazy they seem.
 
OK I need to update this. I was using an addon video card and took that out and the install got to 8% but as soon as I starting typing this everything froze. I knew that writing something about it appearing to work would jinx me and I guess it did. But any other time I tried the install it never even got to 1% expanded and this time it made it to 8%. /sigh
 
Sounds like a hardware issue. Maybe a hardware failure. I would start with testing the RAM (memtest86). The 2nd suspect would be the motherboard (not so easy to test). Kind of got to eliminate everything else first.
 
According to http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=283#spec your motherboard supports up to XP. If you want to be active on Internet, you need to get a newer one. XP support ends in April 2014.

Otherwise, I second BigFeet. The easiest way to test memories would be, besides Memtest, to try the memories in a friend's computer, if possible. There is no hazard in such a test.

The BIOS part is hardly a problem. With default settings the motherboard will work with practically anything = OS supported.

Personally I would suspect a motherboard issue. The CMOS battery can cause trouble, changing it is an option to consider.

Hope you get it running. :)
 
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