XP Setup hangs with dual PIII-550 on Asus P2B-DS v1.04

Hi

Thank you Dave, Paul and Michael.
I will try to install from the original XP cd, although what I've tried
from is a copy of my Volume License cd from work. I'll also try to copy
all the installation files to disk and post again if it doesn't work.

I'm still open to other ideas in cas this doesn't work...
Nir
 >> Stay informed about: XP Setup hangs with dual PIII-550 on Asus P2B-DS v1.04 

Nir Gilboa wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm trying to install XP (Sp2) on an Asus P2B-DS v1.04 with dual
> PIII-550. The bus speed is set to 100 FSB, the cpus are both known to be
> OK, and I have not made any hardware modifications to the board.
>
> I use F5 to to select MPS Multiprocessor. The setup hangs somewhere
> after the "Copying Files" part but never in the same place exactly. I
> don't get a BSOD or anything at all - it just hangs.
>
> Installing with the "Standard PC" HAL works fine on both of the CPUs.
> Also I've been able to determine this has nothing to do with any
> hardware attached after removing everything that was connected to the mb.
>
> I think it's clear that it is an issue with using dual processors. Can
> someone help ? any ideas are much appreciated.
>
> Also I've tried to find concise information on how to fix hardware bugs
> on the board (I guess ACPI and USB) but all i found was some
> instructions in german.. If anyone cares to explain in a bit of detail
> that would also be very much appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Nir Gilboa.


Have you tried copying the XP install disk to the hard drive and
installing from there? Microsoft told me to do this after trying to
install XP on my P2B-S. I realize that my computer was not the dual CPU
version, but the problem may be with the SCSI controller.
 >> Stay informed about: XP Setup hangs with dual PIII-550 on Asus P2B-DS v1.04 

I had / have a P2B-DS that was running NT4, W2k, then W2K3 24x7 for years
without a problem.
I did get the CPU reporting issue fixed and agree that it is cosmetic.
I never F5'd anything in my life and think this really is for the exceptions
rather than the rule.

XP SP2 is very much akin to W2K3.

HTH.

"Nir Gilboa" <gilboa.nir.TakeThisOut@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:434f9471$1@news.barak.net.il...
> Hi,
>
> I'm trying to install XP (Sp2) on an Asus P2B-DS v1.04 with dual PIII-550.
> The bus speed is set to 100 FSB, the cpus are both known to be OK, and I
> have not made any hardware modifications to the board.
>
> I use F5 to to select MPS Multiprocessor. The setup hangs somewhere after
> the "Copying Files" part but never in the same place exactly. I don't get
> a BSOD or anything at all - it just hangs.
>
> Installing with the "Standard PC" HAL works fine on both of the CPUs.
> Also I've been able to determine this has nothing to do with any hardware
> attached after removing everything that was connected to the mb.
>
> I think it's clear that it is an issue with using dual processors. Can
> someone help ? any ideas are much appreciated.
>
> Also I've tried to find concise information on how to fix hardware bugs on
> the board (I guess ACPI and USB) but all i found was some instructions in
> german.. If anyone cares to explain in a bit of detail that would also be
> very much appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Nir Gilboa.
 >> Stay informed about: XP Setup hangs with dual PIII-550 on Asus P2B-DS v1.04 

"Mercury" <me.RemoveThis@spam.com> wrote in message
news:diqk5b$1v9$1@lust.ihug.co.nz...
>I had / have a P2B-DS that was running NT4, W2k, then W2K3 24x7 for years
>without a problem.
> I did get the CPU reporting issue fixed and agree that it is cosmetic.
> I never F5'd anything in my life and think this really is for the
> exceptions rather than the rule.
>
> XP SP2 is very much akin to W2K3.
>
> HTH.
I have to agree. F5, is normally used if you have a DP motherboard and
want to install in single processor mode, or if it's dual nature is not
correctly recognised. The P2B-D, is normally OK in this regard.
A question to the original poster. What drives are installed?.
I have seen this 'hang' behaviour, on the -DS, when trying to install the
machine with no IDE drives present. Removing the hardware wouldn't help in
this situation!.

Best Wishes

> "Nir Gilboa" <gilboa.nir.RemoveThis@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:434f9471$1@news.barak.net.il...
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm trying to install XP (Sp2) on an Asus P2B-DS v1.04 with dual
>> PIII-550. The bus speed is set to 100 FSB, the cpus are both known to
>> be OK, and I have not made any hardware modifications to the board.
>>
>> I use F5 to to select MPS Multiprocessor. The setup hangs somewhere
>> after the "Copying Files" part but never in the same place exactly. I
>> don't get a BSOD or anything at all - it just hangs.
>>
>> Installing with the "Standard PC" HAL works fine on both of the CPUs.
>> Also I've been able to determine this has nothing to do with any
>> hardware attached after removing everything that was connected to the
>> mb.
>>
>> I think it's clear that it is an issue with using dual processors. Can
>> someone help ? any ideas are much appreciated.
>>
>> Also I've tried to find concise information on how to fix hardware bugs
>> on the board (I guess ACPI and USB) but all i found was some
>> instructions in german.. If anyone cares to explain in a bit of detail
>> that would also be very much appreciated.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Nir Gilboa.
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: XP Setup hangs with dual PIII-550 on Asus P2B-DS v1.04 

Hi

I've tried letting the Setup program determine the HAL, but what happens
is it hangs at "Setup is starting Windows..." even before entering the
graphical part.

I've also tried making xp setup disks and doing the same thing - letting
setup determine the HAL. Same thing happens - hangs at "Setup is
starting Windows...". The second time I tried this I got a BSOD that
says PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA with 0x0000050 - and I couldn't find
that error on MS's support site.

Also i'd like to mention I am using BIOS 1014.Beta003 with MPS 1.4
disabled and that the processors are exactly identical SL3F7 and SL3FJ.

Another thing I tried over the weekend is opening up the pc and cleaning
dust off the Slot 1's, the mb and the SEC cartridges, but no luck so far.

These results suggest something might be wrong with the motherboard -
but believe me it has been working just fine with XP Pro (SP2) and one
PIII550. Also I used to run W2K with dual PII350 without so much as a
hiccup.

What else can I possibly do to troubleshoot this problem ? Any help is
appreciated - I am totally stumped here.

Nir
 >> Stay informed about: XP Setup hangs with dual PIII-550 on Asus P2B-DS v1.04 

"Nir Gilboa" <gilboa.nir.DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:4352ac4f$1@news.barak.net.il...
> Hi
>
> I've tried letting the Setup program determine the HAL, but what happens
> is it hangs at "Setup is starting Windows..." even before entering the
> graphical part.
>
> I've also tried making xp setup disks and doing the same thing - letting
> setup determine the HAL. Same thing happens - hangs at "Setup is
> starting Windows...". The second time I tried this I got a BSOD that
> says PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA with 0x0000050 - and I couldn't find
> that error on MS's support site.
>
> Also i'd like to mention I am using BIOS 1014.Beta003 with MPS 1.4
> disabled and that the processors are exactly identical SL3F7 and SL3FJ.
>
> Another thing I tried over the weekend is opening up the pc and cleaning
> dust off the Slot 1's, the mb and the SEC cartridges, but no luck so
> far.
>
> These results suggest something might be wrong with the motherboard -
> but believe me it has been working just fine with XP Pro (SP2) and one
> PIII550. Also I used to run W2K with dual PII350 without so much as a
> hiccup.
>
> What else can I possibly do to troubleshoot this problem ? Any help is
> appreciated - I am totally stumped here.
>
> Nir
You haven't said what disk configuration you have?. As I have already
posted, I have seen this type of behaviour, when I tried to configure such
a system with only SCSI drives attached, or with only an IDE CD.
Seperately, has this board got the fix for the interrupt problem?. There
was a fault on these boards, which in an ACPI configuration, led to
non-stop interrupts being generated, hanging/killing the system. This was
fixed by moving one resistor on the board. The default XP install would
use ACPI, and since this appears to make the fault worse, it may be that
your board has not got the fix. There used to be board pictures of the
rework on the Asus site. This problem only showed in SMP configurations,
so might be related....

Best Wishes
 >> Stay informed about: XP Setup hangs with dual PIII-550 on Asus P2B-DS v1.04 

Nir Gilboa wrote:

> Hi
>
> I've tried letting the Setup program determine the HAL, but what
> happens is it hangs at "Setup is starting Windows..." even before
> entering the graphical part.
>
> I've also tried making xp setup disks and doing the same thing -
> letting setup determine the HAL. Same thing happens - hangs at "Setup
> is starting Windows...". The second time I tried this I got a BSOD
> that says PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA with 0x0000050 - and I couldn't
> find that error on MS's support site.
>
> Also i'd like to mention I am using BIOS 1014.Beta003 with MPS 1.4
> disabled and that the processors are exactly identical SL3F7 and
> SL3FJ.
>
> Another thing I tried over the weekend is opening up the pc and
> cleaning dust off the Slot 1's, the mb and the SEC cartridges, but no
> luck so far.
>
> These results suggest something might be wrong with the motherboard -
> but believe me it has been working just fine with XP Pro (SP2) and
> one PIII550. Also I used to run W2K with dual PII350 without so much
> as a hiccup.
>
> What else can I possibly do to troubleshoot this problem ? Any help
> is appreciated - I am totally stumped here.
>
> Nir



--
 >> Stay informed about: XP Setup hangs with dual PIII-550 on Asus P2B-DS v1.04 

Nir Gilboa wrote:

port site.
>
> Also i'd like to mention I am using BIOS 1014.Beta003 with MPS 1.4
> disabled and that the processors are exactly identical SL3F7 and
> SL3FJ.
>

Hi!



I also use a P3B-F. I cannot disable S.M.A.R.T., or the onboard USB -
Probably the 1008 beta bios.

I am going to change to an official BIOS, without P3 Tualatin Support.
My Tualatin is here in the P2B-F and the beta bios is working more than
properly, exactly as I need. I stuckked with Award 4.51PG, the best
IMO. Award 6 and above drives me crazy... why do the producer place
buttons in the BIOS when they don´t work.

Well,.. as you don´t have a Tualatin you might change the bios. The 550
PIII don´t need the beta.




Best Regards,

Daniel Mandic
 >> Stay informed about: XP Setup hangs with dual PIII-550 on Asus P2B-DS v1.04 

Roger Hamlett wrote:

> "Nir Gilboa" <gilboa.nir.RemoveThis@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:4352ac4f$1@news.barak.net.il...
>
>>Hi
>>
>>I've tried letting the Setup program determine the HAL, but what happens
>>is it hangs at "Setup is starting Windows..." even before entering the
>>graphical part.
>>
>>I've also tried making xp setup disks and doing the same thing - letting
>>setup determine the HAL. Same thing happens - hangs at "Setup is
>>starting Windows...". The second time I tried this I got a BSOD that
>>says PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA with 0x0000050 - and I couldn't find
>>that error on MS's support site.
>>
>>Also i'd like to mention I am using BIOS 1014.Beta003 with MPS 1.4
>>disabled and that the processors are exactly identical SL3F7 and SL3FJ.
>>
>>Another thing I tried over the weekend is opening up the pc and cleaning
>>dust off the Slot 1's, the mb and the SEC cartridges, but no luck so
>>far.
>>
>>These results suggest something might be wrong with the motherboard -
>>but believe me it has been working just fine with XP Pro (SP2) and one
>>PIII550. Also I used to run W2K with dual PII350 without so much as a
>>hiccup.
>>
>>What else can I possibly do to troubleshoot this problem ? Any help is
>>appreciated - I am totally stumped here.
>>
>>Nir
>
> You haven't said what disk configuration you have?. As I have already
> posted, I have seen this type of behaviour, when I tried to configure such
> a system with only SCSI drives attached, or with only an IDE CD.

I've never connected an IDE device to any of my P2B-DS boards, and have
never had such problems. However, I agree knowing details of the OP's
disk configuration could well facilitate the diagnosis.

> Seperately, has this board got the fix for the interrupt problem?. There
> was a fault on these boards, which in an ACPI configuration, led to
> non-stop interrupts being generated, hanging/killing the system. This was
> fixed by moving one resistor on the board. The default XP install would
> use ACPI, and since this appears to make the fault worse, it may be that
> your board has not got the fix. There used to be board pictures of the
> rework on the Asus site. This problem only showed in SMP configurations,
> so might be related....

That was strictly a cosmetic issue, at least in W2K, according to Asus -
the CPU meter never dropped below 50%.

I once had a dozen or so P2B-DS 1.04 boards sent in at once for the ACPI
fix, so I did some testing with the first one. I installed W2K (no
problem), confirmed it had picked the ACPI Multiprocessor HAL, observed
the CPU meter pegged at 50% on an idle system, and ran benchmarks. After
moving the resistor, the CPU meter dropped as expected but there was no
significant change in the benchmark results.

I have not run an equivalent test using XP, but I would expect similar
results.

P2B
 >> Stay informed about: XP Setup hangs with dual PIII-550 on Asus P2B-DS v1.04 

Hi

Thank you very much to everyone who tried to help. You guys really are
at least as crazy as me for spending time on this

Roger: The mb does not have any modifications made to it. From what you
are saying it does sound like I should fix the ACPI issue. I found a few
places that make reference to moving the R79 resistor to R80. If you
find those board pictures somewhere i'd be happy to try it.

Robert: I have one IDE 80Gb drive attached to Primary IDE and one CD-ROM
on the secondary IDE.

P2B: It might be a memory issue, but in the one CPU config the
installation always works without a hitch, which leads me to believe the
memory issue if it exists is not the main problem.

Cleaning the slots and underclocking are also good ideas and i will
definitely try them. Do you happen to know if moving the R79 to R80 is
the correct fix for ACPI and what it actually does ?

---

I have been able to find a workaround - I install with one CPU and force
the MPS Multiprocessor HAL. The installation completes successfully. I
then reboot after re-inserting the second CPU. XP loads fine and when
opening the task manager i could see two working processors, and
accurate usage percentages. No 50% use bug or anything.

The second time i tried to open task manager the pc simply rebooted. No
BSOD, no error in the event log, NADA. As if I pressed the reset button

Another "feature" of this setup is that hangs. XP hangs usually after
about 2-3 minutes with only a reset helping.. There is an error in the
System log which says: "Error code 10000050, parameter1 ffbfaacc, param2
00000000, param3 bf830313, param4 0000000" Also I do see the "Windows
has recovered from a serious error" and all the BCCodes and hex numbers
but i have no idea how to use them to understand what is wrong.

Interesting, isn't it ? I think the next thing I will try is cleaning
the slots and underclocking. If that doesn't work, I think i'll just
have to sacrifice the mb and processors to big orange flames Or I
could settle with using just one CPU heh

Anyway thanks again to everyone - if you still have ideas i'd love to
hear them.

Nir
 >> Stay informed about: XP Setup hangs with dual PIII-550 on Asus P2B-DS v1.04 

> Anyway thanks again to everyone - if you still have ideas i'd love to
> hear them.
>
> Nir



Try to install Microsoft Windows NT4 Workstation- or Server. Just to
see if this Error occurs, too. Or Win2000.

Good Luck.




Best Regards,

Daniel Mandic
 >> Stay informed about: XP Setup hangs with dual PIII-550 on Asus P2B-DS v1.04 

"P2B" <p2b RemoveThis @sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:eLz4f.4907$ns3.134796@news20.bellglobal.com...
>
>
> Roger Hamlett wrote:
>
>> "Nir Gilboa" <gilboa.nir RemoveThis @gmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:4352ac4f$1@news.barak.net.il...
>>
>>>Hi
>>>
>>>I've tried letting the Setup program determine the HAL, but what
>>>happens is it hangs at "Setup is starting Windows..." even before
>>>entering the graphical part.
>>>
>>>I've also tried making xp setup disks and doing the same thing -
>>>letting setup determine the HAL. Same thing happens - hangs at "Setup
>>>is starting Windows...". The second time I tried this I got a BSOD that
>>>says PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA with 0x0000050 - and I couldn't find
>>>that error on MS's support site.
>>>
>>>Also i'd like to mention I am using BIOS 1014.Beta003 with MPS 1.4
>>>disabled and that the processors are exactly identical SL3F7 and SL3FJ.
>>>
>>>Another thing I tried over the weekend is opening up the pc and
>>>cleaning dust off the Slot 1's, the mb and the SEC cartridges, but no
>>>luck so far.
>>>
>>>These results suggest something might be wrong with the motherboard -
>>>but believe me it has been working just fine with XP Pro (SP2) and one
>>>PIII550. Also I used to run W2K with dual PII350 without so much as a
>>>hiccup.
>>>
>>>What else can I possibly do to troubleshoot this problem ? Any help is
>>>appreciated - I am totally stumped here.
>>>
>>>Nir
>>
>> You haven't said what disk configuration you have?. As I have already
>> posted, I have seen this type of behaviour, when I tried to configure
>> such a system with only SCSI drives attached, or with only an IDE CD.
>
> I've never connected an IDE device to any of my P2B-DS boards, and have
> never had such problems. However, I agree knowing details of the OP's
> disk configuration could well facilitate the diagnosis.
Have you seen it take a very long time booting into W2K/WXP?. If so, this
is caused by the same problem. It didn't happen on the first
boards/BIOS's, but some time latter, there was a BIOS change, that caused
this problem. I went through a dozen P2B variants, and several BIOS
versions, and all would display it in some configurations. It was however
very 'odd' in terms of the patterns that gave it. For example, I had a
system that ran W2K fine, once installed, but would always crash on the
install, if using an IDE CD, but copying the disk to the SCSI HD, and
installing from this worked fine. Another system installed perfectly the
first time, but changing to a latter CD drive, introduced this behaviour.
Five drives latter, from different manufacturers, it evntually worked
again. The problem particularly appeared when there was an IDE CD from
particular manufacturers, but only SCSI HD's.
There was also a seperate issue, that might apply in this case, relating
to the video card, and the SCSI BIOS. Some video cards caused a problem
with the SCSI BIOS on these machines during boot. There is an area in the
upper memory block, that is incorrectly flagged during bootup, and in some
cases leads to both the SCSI system, and the video, trying to map stuff to
the same address. Some families of video cards, never really worked...

>> Seperately, has this board got the fix for the interrupt problem?.
>> There was a fault on these boards, which in an ACPI configuration, led
>> to non-stop interrupts being generated, hanging/killing the system.
>> This was fixed by moving one resistor on the board. The default XP
>> install would use ACPI, and since this appears to make the fault worse,
>> it may be that your board has not got the fix. There used to be board
>> pictures of the rework on the Asus site. This problem only showed in
>> SMP configurations, so might be related....
>
> That was strictly a cosmetic issue, at least in W2K, according to Asus -
> the CPU meter never dropped below 50%.
Hardly 'cosmetic'. It was caused by the ACPI interrupt continuously
triggering, and the CPU handling these, basically sits 'flat out' doing
little else. It normally did not cause install problems on W2K, but I have
seen it give trouble on XP.

> I once had a dozen or so P2B-DS 1.04 boards sent in at once for the ACPI
> fix, so I did some testing with the first one. I installed W2K (no
> problem), confirmed it had picked the ACPI Multiprocessor HAL, observed
> the CPU meter pegged at 50% on an idle system, and ran benchmarks. After
> moving the resistor, the CPU meter dropped as expected but there was no
> significant change in the benchmark results.
>
> I have not run an equivalent test using XP, but I would expect similar
> results.
>
> P2B
Depends on the benchmark. Most benchmark tests, only use one processor.
Try a compile that supports SMP, and the time needed reduces directly in
line with the change in processor useage.

Best Wishes
 >> Stay informed about: XP Setup hangs with dual PIII-550 on Asus P2B-DS v1.04 

Hi

I tried memtest86 but that hangs after several minutes too. Also I took
a closer look at the Slot 1's and they are clean and corrosion free.
I had two PII350's sitting around so I shoved those in there instead of
the PIII's and XP loads and is stable.

The next thing I tried is to underclock the system bus to 66 FSB.
That seems to lead to a stable system as well. I only tried it for about
30 minutes but I think the odds are pretty good since it always used
to hang after about 2 minutes or even less.

I guess I will try to run the system bus at 75 or 83 Mhz and see if they
are stable too. Is there any way you guys can think of that I might find
out what's causing the problem at 100 Mhz ?

Also I checked and my board does not have the ACPI fix - R80 is there
and R79's place is empty.

Thanks again for all your help.. i think this is finally getting somewhere.

Nir
 >> Stay informed about: XP Setup hangs with dual PIII-550 on Asus P2B-DS v1.04