Sorry to reply to my own post, but here's the latest update on the problem:
I tried downloading Knoppix, which took all night and half the morning, but
the CD didn't work - maybe I got a duff ISO image - so I FDISKed the HD and
installed Red Hat 9 instead. Went in like a dream - 20 mins from FDISK to
playing 'Tux Racer'. The hardware seems slick and flast and has been running
now for about 6 hours with no problems.
I guess this proves that the hardware is okay, but I'd still like to run
some good diagnostic tests to prove that point. Anyone know of any
diagnostics to run under Linux ?
So, there is still a problem with installing or running Windows 2000, and
I'm not too sure what to do next to solve it. I've now tried swapping
everything in the system except for the CPU, but as Linux runs fine I'm
guessing that it is okay.
I will investigate the option of trying Win4Lin so my applications can be
used, but there might be a problem. One of the most important applications
is the Driver and Video software which comes with the Matrox G-series
Rainbow Runner video capture card. I don't want to run programs under any
sort of emulation which might comprimise performance, as the whole reason I
built this machine was to have something fast enough for video editing. My
Duron 1200 and Athlon 1.4 are plenty fast enough for everything else I do.
The original problem is still present - Windows hangs when the 'Starting
Windows' progress bar completes, when Mup.sys has been loaded. Now that I
think we've eliminated a hardware problem, I am beginning to wonder if there
isn't a problem with Windows itself. Windows 2000 is over four years old,
the hardware is relatively recent. Could it be that they are just not
compatible ?
TIA
Kevin.

Kevin Lawton wrote:
| Okay, I installed a CD drive and tried installing from CD onto a new
| HD - same result as before. Everything seems okay untill, just after
| a reboot, it goes to 'run Windows for the first time' - and it just
| hangs forever.
| I've tried using several different HDs - 40, 60 & 80 Gb Seagate HDs.
| Same result on all of them. All tried on another machine afterwards
| with no problems.
| Tried replacing the Matrox G400 AGP card with a Matrox Mystique PCI
| card (and changed BIOS) but still no change - it boots as far as the
| 'Starting Windows' bar completes and then hangs. In 'Safe Mode with
| Command Prompt' I can see Mup.sys as the last file sucessfully
| loaded. I think this is the famous 'muppet' problem !
| Got myself a new PSU - a big beefy 550w job - and still no change.
| So far, every piece of hardware except for the processor has been
| swapped out.
| Before buying another AMD XP2400 CPU I'd really like to make sure
| something is wrong with the one I've got.
| Does anyone know of any CPU testing/diagnostic software which I could
| download and run from a floppy ?
| TIA
| Kevin.
|
| JAD wrote:
|| I would clear the HD(format/remove partition) and then boot from the
|| 2000 disk. You have to set the boot sequence to CD-ROM first. This
|| would be the best way of beginning. I mentioned the sata stuff only
|| as
|| an example of certain extraneous drivers that need to be loaded
|| during the 2000 install. Most of the drivers will be loaded after
|| the first desktop appears.
||
||
|| "Kevin Lawton" wrote in message
|| ...
||| Thanks, JAD.
||| I don't have SATA. Not on the board and can't afford the expensive
||| drives anyway.
||| Expected that loading the m/board drivers would be the next step
||| once the system had booted Windows 2000 properly, but it didn't get
||| that far. Would have expected that Windows default 'vanilla' drivers
||| would get the system booting - but with just basic graphics and slow
||| IDE. Any need for drivers should have shown once Windows 2000 was
||| running for the first time, shouldn't it ? If that isn't the case
||| then how can I get round the problem ?
||| The system has so far been 'minimal build' - just mobo, proc,
||| memory, graphics, floppy and hard drive - to keep it simple. Once
||| that was working then I'd add other bits (CDRW, DVD, sound, SCSI)
||| one at a
||| time. Still lost and confused by this problem as the system works
||| fine in DOS, booted from either floppy or HD.
||| Kevin.
|||
||| JAD wrote:
|||| first moving a drive from one machine to another is never a good
|||| idea, because of the differences in drivers for the mainboards
|||| chipset, this rarely turns into a good build. You should be booting
|||| from the 2000 disk then as the install continues you will be
|||| prompted to install the sata drivers. I do not believe this is a
|||| hardware incompatibility problem. Just a software install problem.
|||| After the OS is done you have to load the chipset drivers which may
|||| have been installed with generic drivers from 2000(in your case
|||| probably not, as your board is pretty new and 2000 most likely
|||| doesn't have native drivers.
||||
|||| "Kevin Lawton" wrote in message
|||| ...
||||| Please can somebody help me - this is driving me nuts !
||||| Put a new system together: XP2400 on a Gigabyte GA-7VRXP with 512
||||| Mb DDR2700, 60 Gb Seagate HD and Matrox G400 graphics.
||||| Booted-up a DOS floppy fine and used FDISK to prep the drive.
||||| Tried installing Windows 2000: All went easily until it came to
||||| the part where it re-boots and is 'running Windows for the first
||||| time' - it just hangs indefinitely ! :-) Tried several
||||| times -
||||| same result. Did a fresh build of Win 2K with the drive installed
||||| on a Duron 1200, and then moved the drive over to the XP2400. No
||||| complaints, no errors, it just hangs when the 'Starting Windows'
||||| progress stripe has completed. Tried swapping memory and also
||||| tried swapping the motherboard for another - GA-7VRXP Rev 1.1 -
||||| even
||||| tried using a different hard drive and still the same hanging
||||| problem. So, where do I go now ?
||||| Does Windows 2000 have problems running on the XP series of
||||| Athlons ? Does Windows 2000 have problems running on a Gigabyte
||||| GA-7VRXP motherboard ? I've had Windows 2000 installed on many
||||| other systems - Pentium MMX 200, P-II 333, P-III 733, Athlon 1.0 &
||||| Athlon 1.4 - all fine. Whatever is going wrong on the XP2400
||||| really has me stumped !
||||| I'd be very grateful of any help offered.
||||| TIA,
||||| Kevin.