new build = blue screen

[digitiser]

450W psu
2 gigs DDR2 667
DFIs UltraII-M2 mobo
Athlon 4200
GeForce 7600 GS
two non-ata hard drives
old cdrw
and old dvdr

After booting, it promptly turns blue and resets. I haven't been able to find anything in the BIOS menu that has helped so far. does anyone have a suggestion?

[pam123]

What power supply do you have?
Are you getting any beeps from the case speaker?

[digitiser]

power supply came with the case (a xion). xon-450x it is labeled.

Beeps once when the cpu turns on, runs through equipment check and starts to load windows when it goes blue (

[newbuilder14]

What brand is the memory? Memory can cause blue screens.

[digitiser]

buffalo select - unfortunately I've just tried booting with only one stick (gave each a go) with the same result.

[pam123]

So death of hard drive moves to the top of the list.
Go to the drive manufacturer's web site and download the diagnostic for your hard drive.
It should be available either for floppy or cd-r.

That is an unknown (to us) power supply so you may still be looking at power supply problems depending on how the hard drive diagnostic goes.

[Panama Red]

What's the exact bsod error message? Seems to me we need that info to steer us in the right direction. Also, take a look at the label on your power supply. See if you can find a Code that begins with E followed by some numbers. Post that number and we can find out if that's a known quality manufactured unit or some lesser quality manufacturer.

[digitiser]

its gone too fast! You can just see the logo appear, then the blue screen, then it resets.

I removed the power supply entirely and then lifted up a sticker and saw something very similar to this

http://cgi.ebay.com/Model-LPJ2-Like-...ayphotohosting

Model LPJ2 23, with the same logo backwards letters.

[Panama Red]

Assuming the XP disk you used included SP2, you should be able to tap the F8 key right after the manufactuer's logo screen appears and keep tapping until you get the Safe Mode, etc options. One option should be to Turn off the restart on error. Do that and the bsod should remain on screen.

I can't make out the UL code on that psu you linked. Take a look at this thread for a better idea of what we are looking for.

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=154613

[digitiser]

also, i ran a diagnostic on the western digital hard drive serving as master unit, (disconnected the slave) and the test was completed without errors. I've also tried using a brand new cable to connect the hard drive.

[digitiser]

I'm pretty sure it has no such number, unless it's on the inside of the unit or something. It has a serial no. and that's about it.

It has the logo of this company
http://www.tuv.com/global/en/index.html
on it, but again probably not very helpful.

Also, I know I saw that disable restart option somewhere, but I am having difficulty relocating it, any pointers to find that option?

[Cricket]

Is this happening to a brand new build without the operating system installed yet?

Can you get the system to say running if you only have the core parts (CPU, heatsink, motherboard, video, RAM, power supply, monitor and keyboard) assembled?

If the problem persists with just the core parts assembled then it's one of those parts causing the problem.

Cricket

[digitiser]

seems to run fine w/o the hard drives.

[Cricket]

You're using Western Digital IDE hard drives? Watch the jumper settings on those. Western Digital EIDE HDD jumper settings.

Cricket

[digitiser]

XP was installed on one of these hard drives, the WD which I ran a diagnostic on (I think) the other one (maxtor, slave) had no OS, just lots of music files.

[Cricket]

Oh, WinXP was already installed on the WD HDD? Do you have the original WinXP CD? Or did this HDD come out of a name brand computer?

If you have a original WinXP CD you can try doing a WinXP Repair Install.

Cricket

[digitiser]

jumpers for the WD seem to be configured properly, but the other drive (maxtor) has no shunt on it at all

[Panama Red]

Originally Posted by digitiser XP was installed on one of these hard drives, the WD which I ran a diagnostic on (I think) the other one (maxtor, slave) had no OS, just lots of music files.

"was installed" may be the operative phrase here. Did you remove a hard drive from another working pc and put it in this new build expecting it to start up in Windows? If so, that won't work because of the massive hardware change and the need for all new drivers. Cricket has give you the best advice, boot to the XP cd and do a repair install. Then have the mobo cd ready when you're finished so you can add all of the proper drivers.

[digitiser]

mm thanks for the info, i will have to dig up the windows cd. thanks everyone for the suggestions and i will let y'all know how it turns out.

[pam123]

How to "maybe" read the error message.

Press F8 at bootup to get the boot menu screen. Choose disable restart on error. Instead of rebooting, it will bluescreen. Read the bluescreen.

Might work for you and might not.
You need to have XP with SP2 installed.
Give it a try.