Well, I'm stumped.

I got a HP/Compaq d530c pc from work for a small donation to charity. ($75.00)
It's a P-IV, 2.66 gig Intel processor, 512mb (DDR) RAM, 40 gig/ 7200 rpm hdd w/DVD ROM and CDRW drives, onboard sound and video.
Sidenote: I do have a soundcard and nVidia 128 mb video card, but, they have not been taken out of my son's 'old' pc.

This pc is for my youngest son, to replace an antique P-III 733 mb machine, w 1 GIG of (RamBus) RAM and Win 98.

Here's my situation.

The hdd was wiped clean before I got the pc.
So, I connect the monitor and insert the XP Pro cd. (New/unused disk.)

Install is going fine until prompted to 'customize' settings. (Area/language/time zone.)
Did that. . .

Next, time to input Validation Code.
Did that. . .

As the pc is continuing install. . . it re-boots.
After re-boot, install continues where it left off.

Long story short. . . computer re-boots like this several times.
I've input the Validation Code so many times, I almost have it memorized!

So, return of the pc is out of the question. We accept the computer "as is".

I do however, get additional RAM to swap out, plus another 40 gig hdd to swap out. Actually, the IT guys gave me an additional 512 mb RAM and another 40 GIG hdd! (Thanks, guys!)

(Some of the IT guys seemed to think either RAM was bad or HDD was defective.)

Crash/re-boot issues continue, even after swapping out RAM. . . trying install, then swapping out HDD and re-trying install. (Changed one thing at a time.)
Still the same problem, in the same spot/time of install.

• One guy seems to think that the Motherboard is bad.
(Another said, "No, the pc wouldn't recognize the CD drive and begin install if the MB was bad.")
• One guy seems to think that HP/Compaq pc is "proprietary" and needs HP/Compaq 'restore' cd. Drivers are 'proprietary' to the hardware.
• One guy seems to think 'heat' is the issue. (But, the crash/re-boot happens at exactly the SAME time, every time!)
This same guy seems to think that the CPU fan is not anchored on the CPU and causing the re-boot. (The pc does not get erratic before the crash, so, I don't think that's the problem.)
• One guy seems to think that the power supply is going bad. (But to do this in the same time/place every time!?!?!?)

How 'bout it FTE????
What is causing this pc to make my hair become MORE gray???
I'm stumped.

I've even looked locally to find a motherboard to put in that case using the 2.66 Gig processor/fan, but. . .. nothing doing. P-IV is 'so outdated' nobody (locally) has one to accept DDR RAM (and AGP video card).

Thanks in advance!!!!!




Keith

 

Put Linux on it.

Seriously, I don't know. It's almost certainly not hardware, though, so you can rule out most of those suggestions. I think the proprietary driver theory is most likely.

 

When it restart put your finger on heatsink and it warm or hell hot enough burn your finger?

heatsink you will see like this one http://www.partsint.com/catalog/366866-001.JPG


And try download this then run memory test. they are in zip file you need have cd to put this then insert in hp and turn on. It will test memory to see if it good or bad. http://www.memtest86.com/memtest86-3.4a.iso.zip


Those stuff make me so mad when you try work. I remember gateway from my Aunt that nearby 4 hours of struggle to find 4 rams was not work right for gateway. Gateway is strict on ram so got ram out my computer it boot up and install window xp home.

 

I haven't touched the heat sink, yet. The CPU fan is huge and surrounds the heat sink/CPU.
One heck of a CPU lock on that puppy, too!



The additional 512 mb of RAM came out of a pc identical to the one I got, and it was running before they removed the RAM.

I think RAM (sticks) issue is non-issue.

I have read about a couple of memory 'test' programs. I may just download that tonight after I get home.

 

Can`t help you on that one other than to suggest you send the problem in PM to gweeds.

 

First what I would try is to reset the BIOS to defaults..

Maybe they have some setting changed..

Next make sure you have nothing external connected like a printer/scanner.
Remove any internal devices like a modem or network adapter that are not onboard..


When the PC starts and reboots are you getting a blue screen error that immediately causes the reboot?? You will have to watch the screen close to be able to tell..

I doubt it is a heat issue if it does it at the same point everytime.. Heat issues are usually random events.. But you can take a house fan and aim it into the open case to give additional cooling to rule it out.

That's about all I have right now.. I will give it some more thought..

 

id install your sons win 98 on it first, see if that works..if it does put xp on top of it

 

XP is much smarter about working itself around problems than 98 or ME (mistake edition) was.

There IS a possibility that this is hardware related. I'd reset the BIOS to defaults and go from there. Make sure your RAM is seated properly, and don't feel bad about pulling all but one DIMM and trying again.

I've had bad power supplies, hard disks with one bad cluster in track zero, bad cooling rigs and all kinds of other issues that can produce this effect. You might want to consider swapping the optical drive for another, and using another copy of the install cd to verify that the data is being read and copied correctly.

This stuff can be hard to diagnose without the system in front of me, but I keep spares of all components on hand to test...so it helps me rule things out.

Start with checking all the ribbon cables and that all the connections to the motherboard are secure. If you still have trouble, try a different install cd or swap optical drives. You'd be amazed where problems like this can come from.

 

One guy seems to think that HP/Compaq pc is "proprietary" and needs HP/Compaq 'restore' cd. Drivers are 'proprietary' to the hardware.(quote)

i would vote for that,you can get around that with the XP CD. I think you need to format that HD with your XP cd!

 

Well, I was given one of the original 'restore' cds to try out.

Inserted cd, reformatted the hdd (after restoring the BIOS settings to factory default).

Started XP installation.

Everything started out well.
After files were copied and the system did the 'routine' re-boot, the monitor went haywire.
(Picture the image being grabbed at the top left and bottom right and stretched diagonally.)
The machine stayed like that for almost 5 minutes, with no hdd activity.

I shut down the pc and came back 30 minutes later and tried to cold boot the machine.
Windows starts, then a brief message appears and says something to the effect of:

Not enough system resources to continue. (Something to that effect.)

The machine goes into the 're-boot' routine that I have been experiencing.

What the heck is going on???

I shut down the pc, unplugged it, and added an additional 512 mb of RAM. (1 GIG now.)

Re-boot. . . . same message.

I'm about to give up and buy a motherboard and cpu, and take this mb and cpu to the range for some serious target practice!

Lastly, I put my index finger on the cpu heat sink. It is cool to the touch. Not warm. Definitely not hot.

 

Try the system restore with the 1 GB now installed.. I had 1 PC that would not load XP until I increased the memory.. It was not the same symptoms as yours but setup kept failing....

Also are the memory modules the same?? Maybe they are mismatched..

 

Gonna try it tomorrow evening, Don. Thanks.

Yes, the memory is the same. All Samsung 512 mb at 333.

This is totally strange. All of these d530c pcs came with 512 mb of RAM and have worked for 3 years with no issues.

I'm wondering if one of the 'interns' that 'wipe' the hdd and handle the pcs may have cracked the mb or flexed the board enough to break a solder joint.
However, these interns had no reason to be inside the case of these pcs.

Oh well. . . tomorrow is another day.

 

Bootable test CDs are what to use.

I would first download a memtest .iso and burn it to CD, then boot from it and run it overnight. I would also boot a Knoppix CD and surf with that, etc to see if the problem repeats.

Did you try booting in Safe Mode?

The HP website will have all the current drivers for your system, and though I don't bet on problems (other than missing drivers) from a bare-metal generic XP install you could try installing the correct drivers on top of it (or slipstreaming them with nlite, Google for tutorials).

 

What a mess you have for $75. At this point there are lots of issues to check. Have you ever built a PC? Seems to me that that is what you are going to have to do on this one. For a P-IV I don't think it is worth the effort. I just priced a screamer from Newegg if you can build one & already have a case, PSU, OS, & monitors for $550 or a bit less.

 

I have that exact system from a going out of business company. I had no problems doing a fresh xp install. Sounds like yours may be having some issues from a hardware standpoint maybe?