windows xp compatible mainboards?

I bought windows xp service pack 2, because MS told me that they
wouldn't support windows ME anymore. Once I installed it, I had huge
crashes to power off whenever I tried to use my DVD drive or cd drive in
windows. It worked fine in linux.

I updated firmwares for everything I could, downloaded every latest
windows driver, tested copying from one hard drive to the other (fine),
tested I could actually install games by copying the whole cd to a fat
partition when i was in linux, and then reboot into windows...

Unfortunately copy protection was causing problems with some games when
i try that. I really wanted to have a working windows system so i
gritted my teeth and contacted Microsoft Technical Support. I was told
to do pretty much what I had already done. I even wiped windows and
redid the whole install. Nada. Finally they said I must be using
incompatible hardware, and that the DVD and CD drive should have a
proprietary driver, and closed the case.

"1. How to determine if a part is compatible in the future
To do this, when you purchase any new hardware it should come
with a logo stating that it is compatible with Windows XP"

I have contacted various CD and DVD manufacturers and they all say they
don't use proprietary drivers, they use the windows ones.

The ASUS DRW-1608P2S has a picture of the xp logo, with "designed for
Microsoft Windows XP". It doesn't mention being compatible. Is this the
same thing? There used to be a Hardware Compatibility List on the
Microsoft site but MS has removed it.

I have never seen a motherboard with such a logo, or a hard drive. I
suspect this is all a motherboard (ECS K7VZA) issue; that the windows
driver for IDE and the one from Elitegroup driver for XP might both be
buggy. Is this reasonable or is there something I am missing? I don't
understand why linux is working fine and windows xp seems so unstable.

I am thinking about buying a new mainboard, but that means essentially
buying a new pc now, and that means I've wasted my money buying XP in
the first place. It certainly makes it a lot harder to buy parts and
assemble your own machine if you are using windows. Maybe that is
deliberate? I read a lot of rumours that Microsoft hates people building
boxes because of DRM. I really don't want to buy an expensive Dell PC or
similar but I don't know how else to guarantee it will run windows!

Thanks for reading this, and I hope to read your comments.

Brett Caton.

"Brett Caton" <bcatonremovethisbit.DeleteThis@bigpond.com> wrote in message
news:aWoWf.19122$dy4.12241@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
>I bought windows xp service pack 2, because MS told me that they wouldn't
>support windows ME anymore. Once I installed it, I had huge crashes to
>power off whenever I tried to use my DVD drive or cd drive in windows. It
>worked fine in linux.
>
> I updated firmwares for everything I could, downloaded every latest
> windows driver, tested copying from one hard drive to the other (fine),
> tested I could actually install games by copying the whole cd to a fat
> partition when i was in linux, and then reboot into windows...
>
> Unfortunately copy protection was causing problems with some games when i
> try that. I really wanted to have a working windows system so i gritted my
> teeth and contacted Microsoft Technical Support. I was told to do pretty
> much what I had already done. I even wiped windows and redid the whole
> install. Nada. Finally they said I must be using incompatible hardware,
> and that the DVD and CD drive should have a proprietary driver, and closed
> the case.
>
> "1. How to determine if a part is compatible in the future
> To do this, when you purchase any new hardware it should come
> with a logo stating that it is compatible with Windows XP"
>
> I have contacted various CD and DVD manufacturers and they all say they
> don't use proprietary drivers, they use the windows ones.
>
> The ASUS DRW-1608P2S has a picture of the xp logo, with "designed for
> Microsoft Windows XP". It doesn't mention being compatible. Is this the
> same thing? There used to be a Hardware Compatibility List on the
> Microsoft site but MS has removed it.
>
> I have never seen a motherboard with such a logo, or a hard drive. I
> suspect this is all a motherboard (ECS K7VZA) issue; that the windows
> driver for IDE and the one from Elitegroup driver for XP might both be
> buggy. Is this reasonable or is there something I am missing? I don't
> understand why linux is working fine and windows xp seems so unstable.
>
> I am thinking about buying a new mainboard, but that means essentially
> buying a new pc now, and that means I've wasted my money buying XP in the
> first place. It certainly makes it a lot harder to buy parts and assemble
> your own machine if you are using windows. Maybe that is deliberate? I
> read a lot of rumours that Microsoft hates people building boxes because
> of DRM. I really don't want to buy an expensive Dell PC or similar but I
> don't know how else to guarantee it will run windows!
>
> Thanks for reading this, and I hope to read your comments.
>
> Brett Caton.

Windows XP will be more taxing on a PC than Windows ME as there's allot more
to it. Consequently it will often show up any "weaknesses" with hardware.
By this I don't mean that your hardware wont work with Windows XP but that
there may be something not correctly configured or connected. There are a
myriad of possible issues that cause such behaviour, an IDE cable partly
disconnected, incorrect BIOS settings or a PSU on the way out are just 3
examples,.Did you access the insides of the PC at all during the upgrades?

Microsoft do have HCLs for "compatible" hardware but its not exhaustive so
just because something may not be there, doesn't mean it wont work. My
suggestion is that there is something wrong with your hardware set-up and it
would be best rather than spending money on another motherboard which may
not be required, to take it to someone you trust who's experienced at
repairing PCs, perhaps your local computer shop. There are some things such
as BIOS setting configuration which shouldn't be attempted unless you have
the required knowledge and experience. Similarly firmware and BIOS upgrades
can cause problems unless the updates are done perfectly correctly.

Paul