WinXP install problem (solved!), RAM problem (solved!)

Question

Hello, this is my first post on this forum.
Yesterday I bought a MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum mainboard along with an Athlon 64 3000+ Winchester.
The first problem I had was with Dual DDR. I have two sticks of double sided 512MB Kingston Value PC3200 DDR, one has Infineon chips, other has ELPIDA chips. I put them in DIMM1 & DIMM2, but the pc refused to give any display on screen, the Bracket2 showed some kind of memory error.
So I removed one stick and put in DIMM3, changing to single channel mode.
(I also tried with 2 sticks of 512MB TwinMOS PC3200 with mtech chips, no display in dual DDR mode.)
After that the machine worked. I put the XP CD and formatted using NTFS. While XP was copying the first set of files to the disk, I got random file errors, telling me that the files in the harddisk are not in correct format.
Some time later I managed to install the files without any errors, but after the first reboot, I get a "Error loading operating system" or "Missing operating system" error. I tried everything I could find on this forum, from BIOS settings to removing 1 mem stick from the mobo, fixmbr, removed other drives etc. I also updated the BIOS to 1.4.
I spent 2 days trying to install Windows XP, but I can't seem to manage it.
I have a 200GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 Plus PATA drive, which used to work with my old nForce2 Ultra mobo.
I checked the device table at system startup, it shows the drive as LRG, ATA 100, 200GB. My other drive is shown as LBA, ATA 100, 80GB. Would this LRG - LBA difference cause any problems?
The weirdest thing is, I have an older 20GB Quantum disk, I first tried using NTFS on it, I got the same boot errors, then I created a 4GB partition and formatted it using FAT32. Windows installed with no problems and right now I'm writing this message from the FAT32 formatted PC.
To sum my problem, I can't use Dual DDR and I wanted to know if this is a common problem (black screen). And I can't install Windows XP on my NTFS formatted drives ("missing operating system", "error loading operating system").
I'm really not used to have so many problems related to motherboards.
Hardware:
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Winchester
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
Double sided 512MB Kingston Value PC3200 (Infineon) & 512MB Kingston Value PC3200 (ELPIDA)
200GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 Plus PATA
80GB Seagate Barracuda ATA IV PATA
20GB Quantum Fireball Plus LM
128MB PowerColor Radeon 9600 XT
Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS
LifeView FlyVIDEO 3000 PCI TV
52x32x52x AOpen CD-RW
16x ASUS DRW-1604P DVD-RW
300Watt Zalman PSU
Thanks for your time.

Answer 1

hi Tyrant,
welcome to forum , don't usually help tyrant's but wth
1)Quote
I get a "Error loading operating system" or "Missing operating system" error
- usually occurs when there's a non os hd in front of the system disk in the boot sequence. The default order of drive recognition is ide , sata. The bios offers a way to customise this in Advanced Bios Settings - HD Boot Order -
In this screen you should see all your Hard drives. the drive you want to boot from should be moved to the top of this list, select the drive & move it using the page up/down keys.
2) what hdrives did you have plugged in when you installed windows originnaly
if you choose a hard drive that is lower down the drive sequence windows will install to the selected drive but will write the boot sector to the 1st drive. you can usually tell if this happens as your windows drive won't be C;\ . Best way round this is to disconnect any drives in front of the one you want unytil after windows is installed. then re-connecting.
You can check wether this is gioing to happen, with all drives connected, by entering bios Standard bios features and checking the disk order, disconnect any drives b4 the 1 you want the os on.
3) You can download & run Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool this is a diagnostic tool that you can ,install on a floppy or cd , it will test your memory & report any errors. More info is on web site. Memory errors could have caused some of your problems. it's best to check a module at a time in slot 1.
if error free run test with both modules slot 1 & 2.
Dual channel will also not run well if the pair of modules used have different timings on the spd memory chips. download Everest, it's a good utility but specically can help provide details of your mamory. with all dram settings on auto check the Memory chipset tab to see your memory timings on auto these are from the SPD so you can identify any differences. put 1 module at a time in slot1 to get the data for your modules.
If you do find different timings manually change the dram settings in bios to that of the slowest module. This may enable you to run dual channel in slots 1& 2,
Most pps with your mobo have stability probs trying to run 2 modules in slots 1 & 3
4) With these mobos the forum has found that a 12v supply of 24Amps is needed to ensure good stability Basic Building Tips    Quote
Typically we have noted many issues based on stability with PSU's being rated at less than 24A on the 12v rail.
Your zalman as far as i can see on the website only gives 18amps, again this can give stability issues.
5) NTFS & XP go together like a horse & cart. when installing xp its best to get a coffee & not take the quick format option as the quick format will not isolate or correct any disk errors. Again these errors may be as aresult of memory, disk order power or any combination of the 3.
hope this helps
luck