Windows XP will not install - must be old BIOS problem?

[bstock]

Hope someone can help.

Have tried several times to install and the machine continually keeps rebooting so I started again. I did a clean install and formated the disc with the fat option this time. Everything OK up until the windows devices had been installed and while I was typing in my authorisation code from the XP setup the system then rebooted itself yet again without notice.

As my machine is an "old girl" just over six years I feel it must be the bios that needs updating so here is all the details I have based on a Belaric Advisor audit scan before I attempted the initial install. My previous OS was Windows 98SE if that's any relevance at all.


System Model
A- Trend 6240 BIOS VER:1.0r01 WB1
System Serial Number: 6320M1001WB1

Main Circuit Board
Board: A-Trend i440BX-W977 VER:1.0r01 WB1
Serial Number: 6320M1001WB1
Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
BIOS: Award Software International, Inc. BIOS
VER:1.0r01 WB1 10/25/99


Thanks for reading this, any advice gratefully received.

--
Brian

[Ritchie]

I actually suspect a faulty board but I agree updating to the most recent stable BIOS for this board is worth a try.

Before you do so though, try re-seating your cards and RAM a few times, and while you do so do ensure that the cards are properly seated when you re-seat them (if you take note when you do this you may discover something that is not properly seated if this is the cause of the problem). Could also try the same with any ribbon cables - be careful not to bend or offset any pins though, and as for CPUs I have not yet encountered pins not making enough contact.

The other thing that could be causing this is bad RAM memory - maybe 98 was not hardware intensive enough to bring out a problem in this area that XP is now making apparent.

[NickS]

Bit of confusion here. It's described as A-Trend 6240 BIOS Ver 1.0r01 but the serial no says 6320M1001WB1?

Does not compute.....can you use E-support BIOS agent to give the traditional format of BIOS strings? Then we can try to ID the latest BIOS.

As to the problem, Ritchie is right about the memory. The other issue with older machines is poor/wrong version ACPI support. This may require you to install XP in the "no ACPI" mode, by pressing F7 when you are given the option to press F6 for SCSI/RAID devices - see Microsoft's KB article

[bstock]

Thanks for both your messages, not having any more luck though I'm afraid.

Think I tried to run the bios agent before but it needs a windows enviroment and at the moment I don't have one

The book that came with the machine describes the motherboard as ATC-6240M which presumably is were the "M" comes into play.

The bios on the opening boot screen is showing as
i440BX-W977-62400000C-IY

Does that help?

Thanks again

--
Brian

[NickS]

OK....is there anything printed on the board itself?
Can you save the present BIOS?
There should be a date in front of i440BX-W977-62400000C-IY, presumably 10/25/99
There should be another message, maybe bottom left of the screen, maybe along the lines of:
6240 VER:1.0 r01 WB1

[KachiWachi]

What about running the DOS version of the BIOS Agent?

[bstock]

E-support Bios Agent gives the following result

Program: eSupport.com BIOS Detect v1.2 July 21, 2003
BIOS Date: 10/25/99
BIOS Type: Award Modular BIOS v4.51PG
BIOS ID: 10/25/1999-i440BX-W977-62400000C-IY
OEM Sign-On: 6240 VER:2.0r03 WB1
Chipset: Intel 440BX/ZX rev 3
Superio: Winbond 977EF rev 4 found at port 3F0h
CPU Type: Pentium III
CPU Speed: 500 Mhz
CPU Max: 800 Mhz
BIOS ROM In Socket: Yes
BIOS ROM Size: 256K
Memory Installed: 768 MB
Memory Maximum: 128 MB

eSupport.com, Inc.
1-800-800-BIOS (2467)
www.esupport.com

[NickS]

Aha! Good!
Assuming that someone did not previously flash the wrong BIOS and that therefore you do indeed have an ATC-6240 V2.0 motherboard, a later version (release 04) of the BIOS is available at Kuriaki's ftp site, *here*.

How to update the BIOS for ATC-6240 mainboard .
1.1. To record of your ATC-6240 mainboard’s current BIOS version , it is only
upgradable following its unique BIOS series , (for example : V1.0 series ,
V2.0 series , V3.0 series) , it can not mix .
1.2. How to recognize the ATC-6240 hardware version matching with BIOS
version V1.0 series , V2.0 series or V3.0 series ?
The BIOS V1.0 series : for Green_color PCB , PCB version R01 ~ R03.
The BIOS V2.0 series : for golden_color PCB , PCB version R05 .
The BIOS V3.0 series : for golden_color PCB , PCB version R06 .
(The PCB version is printed on the back side of PCB , near to DIMM socket)
For more information to differentiate BIOS V2.0 /V3.0 series on the ATC-6240 :
The BIOS V2.0 series is only for PCB version R05 ,
The BIOS V3.0 series is only for PCB version R06 ,
And how to differentiate ATC-6240 PCB R05 and ATC-6240 PCB R06 :
Please check the front side PCB of ATC-6240 mainboard , and its location is
between PCI slot 1 and PCI slot 2 .

Code: Select all

   A-Trend model ATC-6240               A-Trend model ATC6240V-01
         Test to comply                      Test to comply
       With FCC standards                   With FCC standards
    For HOME or OFFICE USE               For HOME or OFFICE USE
  (For BIOS V2.0 series, PCB R05)      (For BIOS V3.0 series, PCB R06)

(2). ATC-6240 (which BIOS is V3.0 series , PCB R06) supports P-III coppermine CPU .

[bstock]

Code: Select all

Code:
   A-Trend model ATC-6240               A-Trend model ATC6240V-01
         Test to comply                      Test to comply
       With FCC standards                   With FCC standards
    For HOME or OFFICE USE               For HOME or OFFICE USE
  (For BIOS V2.0 series, PCB R05)      (For BIOS V3.0 series, PCB R06)


Found the wording:

The nearest (without the bracketed text) is the ATC-6240 set, an inch or so after the wording For HOME or OFFICE USE is the lettering V2.0.

Does this mean I am OK to proceed?

Many Thanks

--
Brian

Also, sorry I'm a bit thick, but is there any particular flash loader I should use. I've seen Flash 867 and Award Flash on the esupport sit ?

[NickS]

AWDflash is specifically for Award BIOSes so should be OK; however, stories exist that newer versions don't cater for some older boards, so if you have problems an alternative is Uniflash, supported by our very own moderator Rainbow.

[bstock]

Thanks for all your help and patience NickS + everyone else.

Bios update seemed to go pretty smoothly, shame can't be said for my Windows XP installation.

Guess I'll have to try unpluging and reseating again as much as I can on the motherboard as per Ritchie's suggestions.

I have changed a few bios settings as it did not even load the initial files at first without just hanging. Now it gets as far as finishing installing devices before, yep you guessed it, before it reboots itself again without warning.

Will also try the f7 suggestion tomorrow morning but not overly confident as it is still rebooting intially in approximately the same place as before.

--
Brian

[NickS]

Check out the RAM with memtest86 or similar too. Bad RAM that W98 didn't find was what caused my neighbour's XP install to keep rebooting in the same place. Memtest86 showed stuck bits in a range of memory locations.

[Ritchie]

I agree more and more with my one of my initial suggestions and Nick's advice - the RAM, either bad RAM or poor contacts.

Or poor contacts somewhere else.

[bstock]

MEMTEST found no erors

E-support Bios Agent gives the following result

Program: eSupport.com BIOS Detect v1.2 July 21, 2003
BIOS Date: 11/26/99
BIOS Type: Award Modular BIOS v4.51PG
BIOS ID: 11/26/1999-i440BX-W977-62400000C-EI
OEM Sign-On: 6240 VER:2.0r04 WB1
Chipset: Intel 440BX/ZX rev 3
Superio: Winbond 977EF rev 4 found at port 3F0h
CPU Type: Pentium III
CPU Speed: 500 Mhz
CPU Max: 800 Mhz
BIOS ROM In Socket: Yes
BIOS ROM Size: 256K
Memory Installed: 768 MB
Memory Maximum: 128 MB

As you can see the new upgrade is a full one month younger than the original.

Are there any other more recent bios updates?

What does memory maximum mean? Probably a side issue as I tried it with just the one 128mb chip and still no luck

Thanks all for your patience

--
Brian

[Ritchie]

Since you have now updated the BIOS, ran MEMTEST and detected no errors, and tried O/S installation several times, I would next suggest:

1) Reseat all cards and cables a couple of times. I would reseat the memory while you are at it just to be on the safe side.
2) Try (first a backup if required) (and secondly) a clean install after doing step 1 (meaning formatting the disk during installation).
3) If you have another video card, try this and then repeat step 2. Video cards can cause strange faults, sometimes without showing a bad display.
3) If still no luck, I suspect the board at fault.

Note: I think the Memory Installed and Memory Maximum figures should be the other way around.