New PC Problem

[BHRN]

My first post and a cry for help to all you kind soles out there.

Received my new pc after ordering it from the U.S.A. assembeled from parts I ordered by a friend out there.ASUS P5N32-SLI Deluxe, Intel Pentium 4 660, OCZ memory 2GB Gold.

Ran fine when I first got it a few days ago with only XP Pro SP2 on it. I started by loading AVG on it and Ashampoo Uninstaller, ZoneAlarm then Bitdefender Pro and Ewido. Did an update from MS. Things started going bad when I booted the pc the next day, it slowed down getting the welcome screen that hanged for a couple of minutes the mouse pointer froze and could only get it going again by unplugging it from the usb port and reconnecting it (have to do this everytime to get it to work now). After the welcome screen I only get the desktop background with no icons, it hangs for a while then the icons appear and only some of the icons on the right side of the taskbar appear at first then after a few minutes the rest struggle to show. The speaker icon has gone, went to "sounds and audio properties" and all is greyed out so I couldn't do much there.

Not much that I can do in general realy, system restore, defrag and most other utilities don't function, I can't install new programs. Ran a scan with BitDefender and Ewido but nothing found, tried Ewido in safe mode also and no luck however BitDefender refused to run in safe mode.

I am no computer expert and would very much appreciate any help and guidance in sorting this machine out.

[dirtwarrior]

It is hard to pinpoint problem in a forum Try reinstall Windows again without any other software. See what happens.

[BHRN]

Hi dirtwarrior, thanks for the reply. Please bear with me as I'm a bit of a newb to all this, what is the correct way of reinstalling xp, I have 2 xp CDs that came with it, one says OEM Preinstallation Kit and the other is a copper/gold CD are they both needed and what is the proper procedure for reinstalling please. Thanks again

[cluberti]

Once you are able to get to the desktop, install "Process Explorer" from http://www.sysinternals.com and see if there is any process (or processes) using up large amounts of CPU or memory. Since the system does eventually boot (albeit slowly), my guess is the Antivirus software or perhaps a device driver causing an interrupt issue over the USB bus. If you can disable the USB bus completely in the BIOS, that would be a good step to troubleshoot as well.

[BHRN]

Tried to do a repair and this happened:

I get a Fatal Error screen--

"An error has been encountrered that prevents Setup from continuing. Setup failed to install the product catalogs. This is a fatal error. The setup log files should contain more information."

System Setup Log

The signature for Windows XP Professional Upgrade is invalid. The error code is 426The serive has not been started.

Fatal Error

Setup failed to install the product catalogs. This is a fatal error. The setup log files should contain more information.

Don't know what to do, can you please help me.

[nolookingca]

AVG on it and Ashampoo Uninstaller, ZoneAlarm then Bitdefender Pro and Ewido

BitDefender is a 2-in-1 antivirus/firewall. It's probably conflicting with ZA, AVG, or both. Try uninstalling it.

If you search on the internet, you'll see why you should never run 2 antivirus or 2 firewalls at the same time.

You also mentioned about unplugging your mouse. Buy a cheap $2 mouse (or use a spare), plug that in, and see if the mouse is the problem here.

Edited November 23, 2005 by nolookingca

[^_^]

seems there are a bunch of bad motherboards out there also

could be you got unlucky

read http://badcaps.net/ident/ for more info on this subject

good luck

[BHRN]

Hi nolookingca, I have already uninstalled avg when the problem started but that wasn't it. I have bitdefender, avg and zonealarm plus Ewido running for more than a year on 2 other computers with no problems at all, infact they complement each other very well and are a great combination. The first thing I did was to try another mouse but that also didn't make any difference

Hello ^_^, checked the board very well and I can't see or smell anything unusual

Edited November 24, 2005 by BHRN

[gonzo90017]

Just do a system restore

Go to Start >Programs > Accesories > System Tools > System Restore.

When the new window pops up click Next then choose a day before or on the day you did the updates. That should hopefully fix your problems.

[BHRN]

Just do a system restore

Wish I could but as I mentioned in my original post, it doesn't work.

[gonzo90017]

As soon as your computer starts. Start pressing F8 until you

get a black screen with a bunch of options. Highlight SAFE MODE and

press enter. When windows starts it will ask you if you want to do a

system restore. Maybe it will work that way?

Edited November 24, 2005 by gonzo90017

[prathapml]

I have 2 xp CDs that came with it, one says OEM Preinstallation Kit and the other is a copper/gold CD

Ok, forget all hopes of making the existing windows, stand again. Your best bet is to clean out your C: drive & re-install the OS. Ensure that you have no important files lying on your C: drive. Once thats done, follow this:

1. You say you received a gold CD, thats the one you need to use now.

2. Put it in the CD drive, and boot up with it. (how to boot-up from CD? press DEL or F2, at system startup, to set that from the BIOS)

3. When the CD boots, you will a small prompt at top-left - "Press any key to start installing windows".

4. Press any key, and so the Windows XP setup starts.

5. Now before going ahead, ensure that you know your CD's serial key, because Windows setup will ask you to enter it.

6. When setup starts, just follow the instructions on-screen, to do a fresh install, but remember the below point #7.

7. In setup, just make sure that you choose to NOT do a repair install (we need a FRESH install), and also, choose to install in your C: drive, and choose to format your C: drive as NTFS.

8. Thats all, after this point, windows setup will take care of it all - just type in the serial key, or any other information it asks for.

Dont worry, the whole thing takes hardly 20 minutes to finish.

At the end of it, you will be having a brand new Windows! Install whatever you want, be careful this time....

Do post back on how it goes.

Edited November 24, 2005 by prathapml

[BHRN]

It's up 'n runnin again

Did a clean/fresh install and all went well back to normal. Many thanks to everyone who posted to help out, very much appreciated what a great forum, cheers all

[pmshah]

ASUS motherboards are not too hot on compatibility front. One piece of incompatible hardware will blow your entire OS to bits. I had a major hassle with a SB Audigy card. Then I decided ASUS - never again!

[^_^]

interesting comment on Asus

That's all I use, and the only complaint I've had with them was the A7V333. it's a POS