William wrote:
You could make the thread "PCChips M848A CD/DVD boot problem".

The M848A Version 5 board is here. Your motherboard is a replacement for
a Syntax SV266AD VIA KT266 Athlon board. The M848A uses a SiS746FX
Northbridge
and SiS963L Southbridge, so would need a repair install (which is why
being able to boot from an optical device would be nice).

http://www.pcchipsusa.com/PCCWebSite...nuID=7&LanID=2

http://download.ecsusa.com/dlfilepcc/manual/848Av50.pdf

You have two IDE connectors. To do the repair install, all that is
necessary is the HDD with the boot system on it, and one optical
drive. You have one 80 wire cable, and you could host those two
devices with the one cable.

There is little difference, between a 40 wire and an 80 wire cable,
from the user perspective. They both hold two drives. But the
80 wire cable supports the higher UDMA rates, and also has better
signal integrity. The 40 wire cable works, and the BIOS and OS
can (partially) detect the presence of the cable, and limit
the transfer rate to match the signal integrity properties of
the cable. (The ATAPI standard claims they cannot guarantee that
the 40 pin cable is detectable, without going into details.)

You can take from that, that I like 80 wire cables in my computer.
Even for optical drives.

Another property of the 80 wire cable, is it may have the mod to
make it support cable select. That is not really essential, but is
another distinguishing feature of the 80 wire cable.

Right off hand, I don't see a reason why your current configuration
doesn't work. You can try popping an 80 wire cable in there, for
the optical drives. But I wouldn't have thought that would stop
the drive from being bootable. Since you'll eventually need to
get all four devices working, putting just the HDD and the CDROM
on the cable, so you can finish a repair install, is hardly a
permanent solution.

Usually, a BIOS setting of "Auto" for storage devices, does a
good job. You can check the main BIOS screen, and see if all
devices you've cabled up, are being detected and named properly,
without weird characters in the name string.

Paul

OK Paul
I'm going to do some more checking but here is what I've got now. I
installed the 80 wire cable on optical drive cd rw and disconnected the dvd
rw. I disconnected the slave hard drive and left the master with the 80 wire
cable. I now can boot from optical drive and floppy. However when I boot
with the WinXP setup disk it goes through all the setup devices and files
and then reboots. After restart with WinXP cd disk removed my computer still
will not boot from hard disk. Here is something funny. I still have WinME
operating system on my slave drive and when I had all the drive hooked up if
I put in BIOS to boot from slave drive my computer will boot into WinME even
though it goes into safe mode.
William

William wrote:

Connect the hard drive with WinXP and the CDROM drive, to the same
80 wire cable. Jumper one device for master, the other for slave.
Insert the Windows installer CD. Do a repair install. Based on the entry
here, the SIS963L should not need a F6 driver for the IDE interface.

http://web.archive.org/web/200409180..._class=faq_c02

"14. Q: Do we need to install SiS IDE Driver under Windows system?

A: No, Win95 OSR2, Win98, Win98se, WinMe, and Win2000 all
can support PIO/DMA/UDMA mode well, there is no need to install
SiS driver for system operation. But it is suggested to use SiS
IDE driver for SiS5513, 5571, 5600A and 5600B0."

The repair install is documented (but a little hard to read at times), here.
Basically, you want the repair install, rather than the option to start the
recovery console.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Also, check the BIOS and make sure there are no bizarre choices
for the BIOS settings. With the hard drive and optical drive on
the 80 wire cable, when the BIOS starts, you should see two devices
listed in the main BIOS screen. The BIOS should be using "Auto" detection,
to find them. As long as one drive is master and the other slave, it
should all be working.

I think in this statement:

"with the WinXP setup disk it goes through all the setup devices
and files and then reboots"

you're telling me that the repair install ran to completion. What
are the symptoms when WinXP won't boot ? Does it say "no boot device
found" or something similar ? Please copy and paste any error
messages exactly, as that makes it easier to search for similar
problems in Google. If there is a BSOD (blue screen), copy the
error numbers. STOP codes are documented here, if you need them.

http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm

You might also try running the manufacturer disk diagnostic, and see
if the hard drive can be read properly, on the new computer.

Paul

"Paul" <nospam@needed.com> wrote in message news:g1n0lq$d3$1@aioe.org...
Hello Paul
Could not put DVD Rom on same cable as hard disk. Hooked only master hard
disk to primary IDE. Hooked only master DVDrom to secondery IDE. Made sure
BIOS detected both. Set DVDrom to boot first in BIOS. Restarted computer
with Win CD in drive. Computer started booted from cd directly into setup,
did not give me any choices. Part way through installation blue screen came
up with this info.
" A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent
damage to your computer.
If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart
your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these stepts. Check to
see if you have adequate disk space. If a driver is identiffied in the stop
message, disable the driver or check with the manufacturer for driver
updates. Try changing video adapters. Check with your hardware vender for
any bios updates. Disable BIOS memory options such as chaching or shadowing.
If you need to use safe mode to remove or disable components, restart your
computer, press F8 to select advance startup options, and then select safe
mode .
Technical information
***Stop: 0x0000007e ( 0xc000001d, 0x80924020, 0xf9e70274, 0xf9e7cf70 )
I left the computer on with the blue screen and info so maybe you can tell
me step by step what to do next.
I thought when I upgraded to WinXP and started the cd windows gave me
choices before starting. Now it don't.
William

William wrote:

The stop error may have identified a driver. For example

STOP: 0x0000007E (0xc0000005, 0xF9E2BB72, 0xF9FD30E4, 0xF9FD2DE4)
usbccgp.sys - Address F9E2BB72 base at F9E28000, DateStamp 3d6ddc33

In the article here, the second number maps to a reason.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/ms795746.aspx

0xC0000005: STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION indicates a memory access violation occurred.

Chunks of memory have permissions, as to what you can do to them. For
example, code segments should be read only. Either some code was
corrupted, and attempted to access a nonsense location, or the
code tried to modify some other code.

When it booted up, it should have looked like this.

http://helpdesk.its.uiowa.edu/window...airinstall.htm

Can you get both the hard drive, and some optical drive, on the
80 wire cable ? Can you get a second 80 wire cable, to eliminate the
40 wire cable from the picture ? It shouldn't be necessary, but
since I have spare cables, it would be something I'd try.

Also, if you could get both drives on the same cable, you
could test IDE1 and IDE2 as two separate test cases.

Other tests you could try -

1) Download a hard drive diagnostic test program, from the hard
drive manufacturer web site. Load it on a floppy. Boot and
see whether the diagnostic can access the hard drive OK.

2) Download memtest86+ from memtest.org . Available as a floppy
version or CD version. Test memory for a couple hours. No
errors are acceptable.

3) Download Knoppix (700MB ISO9660) from knopper.net. You can
boot a Linux LiveCD, without installing any software. Since
Knoppix can checksum the files it loads off the CD, you may
be able to use that to prove the optical drive reads good.

Go through the M848A reviews here, for more inspiration.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813185074

HTH,
Paul

"Paul" <nospam@needed.com> wrote in message news:g1pd5k$go8$1@aioe.org...
OK, I downloaded and ran memtest86+ with this result

WallTime Cashed RsvdMem MemMap Cache Ecc
3.20:37 256M 112K e820-STD on off

Test Pass Errors Ecc Errs
STD 7 5768704 0

Could not find Knoppix (700MB ISO9660). Found web site but could not find
file.
Am I in trouble with memory? I probably should have mentioned that I used
the same memory module that was in my other board. I thought it was
compatiable.
William. I thought I would give you this info before I trying again to hook
my hard drive and optical drive on the same 80 wire cable I did take the 40
wire cable out several days ago. Before I could not get it to work. Might
have to change the junper on optical drive.
William

William wrote:
Fix the memory, before you do anything else!

Bad memory will cause no end of problems, and can even
corrupt an OS install, if you try booting while
really bad memory is present. Anything to be written
to disk, will be stored in memory somewhere, and
could get corrupted.

I see only two memory slots in the picture of the
motherboard, and I doubt moving the stick will have
much effect in this case. You can try that if you want.

I don't see an adjustment for the memory voltage (Vdimm).
Apparently, the hardware monitor page in the BIOS, can
measure the voltage fed to the memory. 2.5V is the standard
amount. On my motherboard, which allows adjusting the voltage,
I have Vdimm set to 2.7V, and a little extra voltage helps when
running at DDR400 or higher. I wouldn't have expected
a problem at a lower speed, with one stick. So check
the hardware monitor page, and see whether it reads
2.5V or not. (A decent design would be within +/- 2% of
the correct value, but a wider variation is possible. If it
was way off, like 2.1 volts, that might explain the
memory errors. You can check your CPU voltage, and compare
to the book value, while you're in that screen.)

(This site is slow today... An old table of Vcore values.)
http://web.archive.org/web/200310180...QDISocketA.htm

If all else fails, try the "DDR CAS" setting in Advanced Chipset.
"SPD" reads the values as recorded in the SPD EEPROM on the
surface of the memory DIMM, and is used to set the memory timings.
If you go for a manual setting, go one notch higher than the memory
rating. In other words, if the memory was DDR266 and CAS2.5 at that
speed, and you are running it at DDR266, set CAS to 3.0 as an experiment.
A higher CAS is "more relaxed".

Paul

"Paul" <nospam@needed.com> wrote in message news:g1qea6$8ri$1@aioe.org...
Hi Paul
Installed new memory stick . Ran mem test still shows errors. Tried to
boot from cd anyway. Have two Winxp cds. When I boot from one message comes
up " The file toside.sys is corrupted Press any key to continue". When I
push any key computer reboots and same thing. The other cd when I boot a
message comes up "line 6646 of the INF file \I386\txtsetup.sif is invalid
setup cannot continue" Got any ideas?
William

William wrote:
Did you look in the BIOS, for the Hardware Monitor page mentioned in the
user manual ? The voltage delivered to the DDR memory slots, is measured
there. 2.5V is the nominal value. The measurement circuit won't be that
accurate (maybe 3% or so if you're lucky).

Memory can be unstable because -

1) DDR Supply voltage is out of spec. The regulator circuit is part of the
motherboard.
2) Timings are being applied incorrectly by the BIOS.
3) Memory is being run out of spec (for example, if the processor bus
was being run faster than normal, and the memory clock got scaled too).
3) Memory is failing to meet its timing specification.
4) Memory performance is being degraded by the amount of loading on the bus.

To get anywhere, you're either going to have to solve this at
the BIOS level (i.e. with a BIOS setting), or a new motherboard.
Since you've swapped RAM, there isn't a lot left to try. I would
concentrate on the BIOS, and see how the behavior changes as you
adjust things.

If you cannot pass memtest, I don't see a point in booting a CD.
There would be no guarantees on anything that the computer does.

Paul

"Paul" <nospam@needed.com> wrote in message
news:g270hg$eki$1@registered.motzarella.org...
Checked monitor page: CPU voltage 1.728v to 1.744v
DDR voltage 2.592v to 2.608v. It flip flops betweent these numbers. Don't
know how to change these.
William

William wrote:
That is good. 2.6V is nominal for DDR400 memory (the JEDEC committee agreed
to bump the voltage, when DDR400 memory was passed as a spec). For speeds
below DDR400, 2.5V is OK. And that means in practice, anything over 2.5V is
good. I run my current DDR memory at 2.7V, which is a slight bit above
that, but I'm running at DDR460 or so.

I was worried that the RAM voltage was well below 2.5V, and that is why
the performance was so bad.

Verify the CPU frequency value. Your old motherboard was a KT266, implying
FSB266 (CPU clock input 133MHz) or FSB200 (CPU clock input 100MHz). Verify that
the frequency used in the BIOS, is consistent with the specs for the processor.
If in doubt, manually set the CPU input clock to 100MHz (gives FSB200), as
that is the lowest setting used on S462 processors.

The memory frequency used, should have some relationship to the CPU clocking
choice. For example, "CPU/DRAM clock ratio" [1:1}, is the default, and
can be the most stable and efficient choice. But for that to work, the
memory maximum operating frequency has to be consistent with the choice.
If your old processor was FSB266, your memory was DDR266, then a CPU
input clock of 133MHz gives FSB266, and a 1:1 ratio would make the memory
run at DDR266.

Once you've verified that, the memory will have a value for the column address
strobe. The value might be 2.5 units, for example. If you allow a little
more time for data to come from the memory (set CAS to 3.0 units), sometimes
that will fix a memory that isn't quite meeting spec.

For Vcore voltage, this table from the qdi.nl web site (a motherboard maker)
has some values. For example, say the value in the table is 1.65V for your
processor. The value you'll see measured in the Hardware Monitor page, will
overshoot a little bit, at idle. 0.06V is a typical overshoot, at least on
an Asus board. You might see 1.71V measured, and that would suggest 1.65V is
being used. Perhaps your board is using 1.7V setting, and the rest is the
overshoot.

Family Core P.R. Pkg CPU Cache Mult Core Tmax Power
Freq Clk Volts

XP Model 10 2200 (3200+) OPGA 200 512 11x 1.65V 85oC 60.4W
Barton 2100 (3000+) OPGA 200 512 10.5x 1.65V 85oC 53.7W

XP Model 10 2167 (3000+) OPGA 166 512 13x 1.65V 85oC 58.4W
Barton 2083 (2800+) OPGA 166 512 12.5x 1.65V 85oC 53.7W
1917 (2600+) OPGA 166 512 11.5x 1.65V 85oC 53.7W
1833 (2500+) OPGA 166 512 11x 1.65V 85oC 53.7W

XP Model 8 2167 (2700+) OPGA 166 256 13x 1.65V 85oC 62.0W
Thoroughbred 2083 (2600+) OPGA 166 256 12.5x 1.65V 85oC 62.0W

XP Model 8 2133 (2600+) OPGA 133 256 16x 1.65V 85oC 62.0W
Thoroughbred 2000 (2400+) OPGA 133 256 15x 1.65V 85oC 62.0W
CPU ID 0681 1800 (2200+) OPGA 133 256 13.5x 1.60V 85oC 57.0W
1733 (2100+) OPGA 133 256 13x 1.60V 90oC 56.3W
1667 (2000+) OPGA 133 256 12.5x 1.60V 90oC 55.7W
1533 (1800+) OPGA 133 256 11.5x 1.60V 90oC 55.7W
1467 (1700+) OPGA 133 256 11x 1.60V 90oC 55.7W

XP Model 8 1800 (2200+) OPGA 133 256 13.5x 1.65V 85oC 61.7W
Thoroughbred 1733 (2100+) OPGA 133 256 13x 1.60V 90oC 56.4W
CPU ID 0680 1667 (2000+) OPGA 133 256 12.5x 1.65V 90oC 54.7W
1667 (2000+) OPGA 133 256 12.5x 1.60V 90oC 54.7W
1600 (1900+) OPGA 133 256 12x 1.50V 90oC 47.7W
1533 (1800+) OPGA 133 256 11.5x 1.50V 90oC 46.3W
1467 (1700+) OPGA 133 256 11x 1.50V 90oC 44.9W

XP Model 6 1733 (2100+) OPGA 133 256 13x 1.75V 90oC 64.3W
Palomino 1667 (2000+) OPGA 133 256 12.5x 1.75V 90oC 62.5W
1600 (1900+) OPGA 133 256 12x 1.75V 90oC 60.7W
1533 (1800+) OPGA 133 256 11.5x 1.75V 90oC 59.2W
1467 (1700+) OPGA 133 256 11x 1.75V 90oC 57.4W
1400 (1600+) OPGA 133 256 10.5x 1.75V 90oC 56.3W
1333 (1500+) OPGA 133 256 10x 1.75V 90oC 53.8W

The processor can take more tha the values listed in the table.
The old processors were good up to about 2 volts or more (consult
a datasheet from AMD to see the stated value), but at this point,
I'm not convinced that going with more Vcore, will fix this.
Something else is wrong.

Paul

"Paul" <nospam@needed.com> wrote in message news:g27iqf$h4t$1@aioe.org...
Well Paul I've tried every combination of settings and nothing has
changed. The last memory test I ran after about 38 minutes a message came up
" Unexpected Interupt - Halting ". I am starting to think someting is wrong
with this mother board. Some times cheap don't work. Thanks for all your
help. If you think of anything else let me know. I mainly use my computer
for home security and send an image and video to my website. If you have a
suggestion od a good mother board and CPU and maybe graphics card with video
in with a/v inputs I would appreiciate it.
William

William wrote:

"The Nvidia 6100 series main boards with built in video, sound, network
card, USB, SATA/IDE and floppy are a good choice. Â*These support an AM2
dual core CPU and 4GB+ ram. Â*Gigabyte is a favoured manufacturer of
mine since it uses solid dielectric capacitors on the main board. Â*Its
also 100% Linux compatible."

--
Best Regards:
Baron.