so i have this motherboard, an ECS 945GCT-HM, that came out of a compaq presario running vista...well, i put up with vista as long as i could, but it's driving me bonkers with its massive resource hogging and so i wanted to put XP on it

the motherboard is actually an ECS 945GCT-M3 (v3) found here:

http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Products/ProductsDetail.aspx?CategoryID=1&TypeID=32&DetailID=719&DetailName=Feature&MenuID=1&LanID=0

minus the parallel and serial ports (which is fine, who uses those anymore anyway?)...XP drivers are no problem for the board, so it should be just fine, or so i assumed

when i start to install XP, it finds my SATA drives, it lets me partition, it does all of that...however, after the first reboot when it's supposed to go into the GUI portion of the install, an error flashes and it automatically reboots again...this cycle continues indefinitely (or so i assume)...after a few reboots, i got this message:

"A write operation was attempted to a volume after it was dismounted" or something similar

after googling, my only seemingly valid result is this story from a google answers page (http://www.google.nl/answers/threadview?id=398673) regarding a bad power supply not delivering enough power to the RAM and also killing the RAM

okay, so i tried swapping out the 550w ps with a brand new 650w ps i had in my closet...same result...i went out and bought some cheapo kingston ram from circuit city (the exact same that was in the computer running vista) and same result with new DIMMs

any other suggestions? the computer worked just fine (save for general vista crappy-ness) before i attempted to reformat, and it hadn't been moved or anything in between so i have a hard time believing it just happened in the time between i turned off the computer and inserted the xp disc

9/6/2007 10:24:42 AM

i know of more than a few cases these types of problems when trying to turn a vista machine into an xp machine...sometimes you get the problems in the install process, sometimes its problems while running XP...but i have found that oem vista machines are usually not big fans of having xp installed on them. With pcs its always easier to install a newer OS onto older hardware instead of older OS on newer hardware.

unfortunately i don't have any real ideas, except for reverting the bios to default/flashing to the newest bios. i assume you're already unplugging everything not needed for the xp installation process...i guess all you need is video (onboard if the mobo has it), mouse/keyboard, 1 optical drive and power. i would even go to one stick of ram, then try again. make sure you unplug the front usb ports too...anything you can.

worst case is you could always reinstall vista and strip it down as best you can. i'm sure theres ALL KINDS of fat to trim with that OS

9/6/2007 10:34:52 AM

yeah, i did all of that...i used onboard video, tried one stick of ram (even tried different combinations in different slots)...unplugged the second hard drive, pci-e video, wifi card, usb card, everything

i keep thinking it's possible, though, due to this HP support thread concerning the exact model:

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/questionanswer.do?threadId=1139959
and with drivers: http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/questionanswer.do?threadId=1150758



[Edited on September 6, 2007 at 10:45 AM. Reason : .]

9/6/2007 10:42:46 AM

yeah i figured you had already done all that, typed it out mostly for historical purposes.

good luck!

9/6/2007 10:54:09 AM

Does your motherboard have onboard RAID? When I bought a new Dell and tried to install XP on it I was having similar problems until I disabled onboard RAID.

9/6/2007 11:03:15 AM

i dont know what you faggots do that makes vista run like shit.

The OS isn't taking up much more than XP does. Probably the only thing taking up a bunch of resources is Aero. Which you can turn off. Superfetch preloads stuff into ram you aren't using, but gives it back when you need it.

Now if you were a retard and disabled superfetch than yes your system may run slower.

As with XP 99.9999999% of resource issues are with shitty 3rd party apps like google desktop.

I mean I have my workstation over here running 2 instances of seti, sametime, and eclipse with no issues.

9/6/2007 11:08:01 AM

Quote :

"I mean I have my workstation over here running 2 instances of seti"

what are there like 6 people still running SETI? folding@home is where its at. solve cancer, fuck the aliens! message_topic.aspx?topic=118820

9/6/2007 11:12:34 AM

Yes but if i find the aliens im sure they've already cured cancer!

9/6/2007 11:17:16 AM

stfu and gtfo shaggy.



you're being a fucking troll.

Quote :

"Vista seems to offer none, or very little, of that, as Windows XP has matured immensely since its introduction in ’01. Today, with all of the patches and service packs that have been released to supplement it, it is the best OS Microsoft has ever released. It is feature packed, bug fixed, up to date and widely accepted worldwide, what more can you ask for? With the current state of affairs Vista cannot even be considered an upgrade, simply because it downgrades the hardware to a level that the end-user needs to upgrade it to get the performance level up to where it was before. "

http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/article/1832/windows-vista-a-true-resource-hog/

9/6/2007 11:18:11 AM

i dont know what that idiot did to fuck up his system either

9/6/2007 11:23:22 AM

9/6/2007 11:27:13 AM

Quote :

"but if i find the aliens im sure they've already cured cancer"

the problem with that statement is the if

do the right thing: message_topic.aspx?topic=118820

9/6/2007 11:28:49 AM

i'll probably find aliens before you cure cancer. Plus the screen saver looks cooler anyways

9/6/2007 11:33:04 AM

Quote :

"i dont know what you faggots do that makes vista run like shit. The OS isn't taking up much more than XP does. Probably the only thing taking up a bunch of resources is Aero. Which you can turn off. Superfetch preloads stuff into ram you aren't using, but gives it back when you need it. Now if you were a retard and disabled superfetch than yes your system may run slower. As with XP 99.9999999% of resource issues are with shitty 3rd party apps like google desktop. I mean I have my workstation over here running 2 instances of seti, sametime, and eclipse with no issues."

yeah, leave the troll at home, would you? i am sincerely happy for you, running vista without any issues whatsoever, but i've heard far more people unhappy with vista than are satisfied...aero is off, superfetch is still on...third party apps are minimal, as i did everything i could think of to maximize resources available to the system

to answer El Nachó, no, i don't have onboard RAID

i'm popping in a 1gb stick of corsair that i'm borrowing from my brother...if that fixes it, i'll just buy some newer, nicer ram...if it doesn't, i may just spend the same amount on a new motherboard

[Edited on September 6, 2007 at 11:59 AM. Reason : .]

9/6/2007 11:58:46 AM

yeah, I didn't see RAID listed on the spec sheet, and that didn't sound like the same error message I was getting.

oh well, good luck in completing your upgrade to XP.

9/6/2007 12:12:03 PM

^ thanks...here's hoping

couple of questions:

1.) it's a dumb question, but will pc2-6400 work in a slot only supporting up to pc2-5300? i don't care if it slows it down, i just want to know if it'll run without any issues

2.) are there any stores around here other than tiger direct and intrex that sell motherboards and such for competitive prices?

[Edited on September 6, 2007 at 12:26 PM. Reason : .]

9/6/2007 12:26:09 PM

1) dont see why it wouldn't clock down just like any other memory
2) tiger direct is the spot...can't think of anything else (especially considering the "competitive prices" thing)

9/6/2007 1:06:46 PM

just fyi: I AM RETARDEDLY, CRIMINALLY STUPID

i replaced power supply, motherboard, ram and dvd burner, all in effort to figure out why this was crashing

never once did it occur to me that i was using a beta version of nLite (1.4, specifically) and that that MIGHT have something to do with it

after the new hardware, i got the SAME resources message and it just now occurred to me to put in a straight winxp pro sp2 disc...installs just fine, now

>.<

9/11/2007 7:17:56 PM