Hi guys,
I know that hydrogen Audio is probibally not the best place to post this, but this is the most 'techie' forum I know. Anyway, on to my problem. I just bought a lovely new PC (came blank/ no OS) so I decided to put on Windows 2000 Pro. So I start up the PC with the 4 boot discs, format the HD to NTFS (using the options in the boot discs) and get ready to install. Now, after formatting, the windows files are then copied to hard disc (I sometimes get a filename.ext could not be copied, press enter to retry - then it'll go fine). Once they are copied to HD I get this message [on a big blue screen]

**STOP: 0x0000050 (0xFC682BC4, 0X00000001, 0XFCC2828, 0X00000000)
PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

If this is the first time you've seen this message....

I really have no idea what could be wrong. I need to know if it's a hardware problem so I can get my money back (but hopefully it's not). Also, I managed to get Win2k up and running once with it by partioning the HD to about 17gig and formatting in FAT but once it was booted I would get random blue screen errors. Please, any help would be greatly appreciated - I desperately need my new PC up and running before my course starts on tuesday. Also, if you could think of anywhere else I caould post this message for a better response please let me know. Thanks guys

Tony

first thing I do after building a machine is run MemTest86 on it to make sure things are likely running in smooth order. If I have any problems after that, rip the whole thing down to bare minimum and add hardware back one at a time until you find the one that makes the machine act goofy.

I'd make a new set of bootdisks, there could be an error in one of the files. You can download the Win2kPro bootdisks from http://www.bootdisk.com

The error refers to a RAM I/O error. If Memtest can run without errors for several hours (must run long!), it is most probably caused by bad files. That seems likely, since I've never had to retry copying during an install. Are you by any chance installing from a 'backup cdr'? Get a new 'backup' then...

Also, why go through the hassle of boot discs? The cd is bootable!

The CD is indeed a 'back-up' but I tried with an original Win98 and it freezes with some strange "Windows Security Error" after installation. Also, I at first thought it was bad bootfiles too but I downloaded new ones (from bootdisk.com) and loaded them onto new floppies but just got the same error. I'll try Memtest86 just now but I'm not too (read: at all) sure what to do with it... Anyway here goes.

Thanks for the help so far

Tony

I'm trying to figure out another error I'm having,
but I found this explination of yours, in a book I bought about Windows error messages.
Hope it may give you a little help in figuring out what's going on.

Stop 0x00000050 PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA:

A hardware driver or system service, requested data that was not in memory,
causing an exception error. The cause may be defective physical memory
or incompatible software, especially remote control and antivirus programs.
If the error occurs immedialtely after installing a device driver or application,
try to use Safe Mode to remove the driver or uninstall the program.

And this from MS:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/...md_stp_ccgm.asp

Thanks for the link Papadoc, it was very useful. I used MemTest86 and after running it for about 30 mins it spat out 779 errors in my memory. I think this means that my ram is broken, is that correct? If so I'll need to wait till monday to take it back Oh well, back to playing games on the Dreamcast for now.

Usually it's the RAM, yes. But it could be anything in the memory subsystem. You may also be running it at too high bus frequency, or it might be the northbridge getting too hot. What's your hardware setup (memory and cpu and their rated speeds, motherboard type, how many banks of ram, that kind of thing)?

Ok, I'll do my best here but I'm not entierly sure myself. It's a Pentium 4 2.4Ghz with one stick of 128Mb RAM (PC2100 i think). My motherboard is a... erm... *opens Pc* I don't know... It has a Intel chip, an SMSC chip, and a sticker that says PhoenixBIOS. If there is anyway of telling exactly what it is I'd be glad to hear it. The reason I don't know what is inside it is because it's a refurbished PC so the specs couldn't be supplied exactly, infact all the guy asked was 'what processor speed do you need?" But for £200, I couldn't argue Can I adjust the 'bus frequency' some how? Also, what's a 'northbridge'?

Uh Oh... this is going to be awkward... why doesn't HA have a video conferencing interface?

You can find the motherboard brand/type printed on it, usually. It's somewhere on the lower half probably.
The northbridge chip sits under a metal heatsink. It is a hub that routes data between the main processor, the ram, the videocard, and the southbridge. The southbridge hooks the other, lower speed, stuff together (i.e. PCI and the like).

A nice way to see busspeeds is in memtest86. In the upper left corner there are things like CPU speed, memory throughput (cache too).

If they're set too high, you can fix it in the BIOS, but I'd need to see/know what names the options have in the screens to tell you anything. Every BIOS looks slightly different.

Yeah, also try the "Fail Safe Defaults" option if its available in the bios.

Generally when building a temperamental PC, I usually start off with the absolute minimal and peripherals piece by piece, so if there is anything onboard available in the bios, disable it as you go. Run everything as slow as possible, clock speeds and everything. Just keep tweaking it until you find out the culprit!

Ruairi

All the Bios settings are at default, I messed around with them, but couldn't really find anything useful. I'll get bus speeds soon.

Arg! I can't find the name of the Motherboard anywhere... Would the bios or anything tell me? Also, bus speed isn't listed in Memtest86 but I got this...

Pentuim 4 2319Mhz
L1 Cache 8k 19597MB/s
L2 Cache 521k 16719MB/s
Memory 127MB 819MB/s

Also, I don't have any other peripherals in the PC, just the essentials and a CD-ROM. That's it (I'm using built-in Video and sound)

Hmm, tricky one...

If you come to Hydrogen Audio chat now, I'll be online for another 40 minutes, maybe I can help. If not, possibly someone else can, but it is offtopic talk so it might not be received so well.

Ruairi

Try to find chips with 'SiS', 'Via' or 'Intel' writing. (except your processor, of course)
(I don't know wheter AMD makes P4 chipsets)
Do you have mainboard manual?
BTW, bus speed should be mentioned somewhere in BIOS.

I'd go for a replacement or money return.

I agree. This thing obviously isn't working like it should.

About the mainboard: Under Windows, you can find out about it with AIDA32, for instance. Under DOS, extract ctbios15.zip and put it on a boot disk, then start ctbios.exe. Some of the text might be in german (it's a tool from c't magazine), but you will comprehend enough of it.

Sorry I haven't been around to replay, my old PC died on me and my Dreamcast doesn't let me log in here. Anyway, it's back in the shop now and should be ready for tomorrow. I hope he finds out what's wrong with it. He said on the phone that he tests all the PC's with XP before they go out so I'm a little worried... Thanks for all the help, I don't know what I would have done without you. I owe you all a pint

Tony

Ok, the guy just called me back telling me that his technitian has had a look at it and could find nothing wrong! He told me he installed XP and gave it a test. What do I do now? Does this mean it isn't a hardware prob?

Tony

well, if memtest reported errors, it's pretty safe to say that something is wrong with some piece of hardware, yes. Ask them to try memtest on it and see what it says for them, give them the disk that you made or the url if for some reason they don't trust your disk. And ask them their testing procedure. Quite possible if there's some bad ram that they could still get windows installed and up and running, and supposedly working correctly if all they're 'tests' consist of simply loading windows and running an app or two. If they haven't actually ran any hardware diagnostics programs, such as memtest86, on it to make sure things are actually ok then they can't possibly give it a clean bill of health just because they can play solitaire on it.

If memtest gives you errors, there is definitely something wrong, even if the guys at the shop are too lazy (or inept) to find it. The most likely problem is the RAM itself, particularly if the FSB (and Vdimm) is running at stock, which it certainly appears to be.

Tell the cheap bastards to swap another DIMM in there and then run memtest again for 12 hours.

Ok, I'll call them and ask them to run Memtest86. I'm not very good at complaining but I'm going to give it my best You're help has been invaluable. Thanks guys!

Memtest86 errors can come from many different sources. Running the ram at faster speeds than it’s rated for is a major reason. If your BIOS has the option, change the ram latency value to CL3. Power supplies are also a cause of Memtest86 errors. If you still get errors after slowing down the ram, try overvolting your CPU .025v and set your ram to 2.6 or 2.7 volts. If this doesn’t work, get some new ram w/ fast memory timings (PC3500, CL2.5) or a new power supply (or both.) Hope this helps.

P.S. – On a personal note, my system used to get Memtest86 errors like crazy unless I set the ram to CL2.5 w/ all the slowest memory timings AND overvolted the CPU .025v. I then upgraded my 350w no-name power supply to a 430w Antec TruePower unit. Now, the same ram runs at CL2 w/ the fastest timings my motherboard will allow AND no overvolting. Just a thought….