Can't install Win on old machine

Highlander89

New member
Hello guys,

as some of you know, I'm resurrecting my old rig (project log found here). Trouble is, I can't for the life of me install windows XP or Vista on it. I can however install Ubuntu 14.04 on it with no effort whatsoever (everything is installed from a USB drive, the ISO convertion software I use is Rufus 2.1).

Specs:

Mobo Asus A8N32 SLI-Deluxe NForce 4
CPU AMD Opteron 165
RAM 4 x 512mb Kingston DDR
PSU Aspire 520W
SSD Kingston 120GB SSDNow
USB Sandisk Cruzer Micro 4GB

I've got an old IDE drive with XP SP2 that has worked for probably 3 years, and that still works fine.

When trying to install XP SP3 on the SSD, the setup works fine, copies all files nicely. Then when it restarts it gets stuck at a black screen with a prompt blinking up in the right corner.

I read that this particular Mobo has a lot of problems with SP3 (I've tried to update in the past but with no luck) so I tried Vista.

When trying to install Vista SP2 32-bit it loads everything nicely but then gets stuck when it has finished loading. At first the hourglass appears, but when it goes away, nothing else happens.

MS7k078.jpg


I read that Vista has problems with memory, so I have tried both with 1 and 4 sticks of RAM and I enabled "Hardware Memory Hole" in BIOS, but no change. Still stuck at the same place. I've tried to format the USB in both FAT32 and NTFS.

When Vista didn't work, I tried the latest Ubuntu LTS 14.04, which took me 10 minutes and tadaa, it works. Although after a couple of minutes in the OS the computer freezes.

I've tried to update the BIOS for a couple of days now, but it's really tricky. Asus update will simply not work at all. When running DOS mode from the MOBO support CD) and trying to update it from USB I get this message:

2bYt10c.jpg


I tried to reformat the USB drive in the command prompt, making it into a bootable drive. But later the DOS mode from the CD can't even find the bloody thing. I've read into this and the next step to do would be to use Asus EZ-flash and a floppy drive. Problem is I don't have one. And stores don't sell them anymore, and I don't wanna pay 40€ for a USB floppy lol.

They also say that it isn't worth it to flash the BIOS unless you're experiencing problems. The rig has been extremely stable for the last 8 years, so it's an old but stable BIOS version. First time using an SSD though.

I'm really out of ideas here. Suggestions welcome.

Thanks.
 
Mmm, vintage porn :D

This is making me want to pop down to London and pick up my old Celeron 300A with Voodoo 2 card in it :D
 
Feel like stating the obvious here but remove that ssd for now and get it going on a normal hd, neither xp or vista support trim and lack some other things to properly use solid states.
 
Feel like stating the obvious here but remove that ssd for now and get it going on a normal hd, neither xp or vista support trim and lack some other things to properly use solid states.

If its got a decent hardware level garbage collection it wont matter
 
You are likely to need the BIOS updating for newer features matey

Its deffo the first place to start

Yeah, I tried the EZ-flash way first with the Mobo CD, and it flashed. Although I think that it is an even older version than the one I had before :D.

So I went to the store, paid 8€ for a 5-pack of CD's and burned a newer .rom on one and tried again. So the first time I tried it, EZ-flash started reading "A8N32SLI.ROM" and then it says: Can't find "A8N32SLI.ROM". So what was it reading from in the first place then? :S

The second time I tried it, EZ-flash didn't even find the CD at all...

Mmm, vintage porn :D

This is making me want to pop down to London and pick up my old Celeron 300A with Voodoo 2 card in it :D

Vintage porn indeed. Fun as long as it works. You're welcome to pop down to Finland and try getting my rig going :D

Feel like stating the obvious here but remove that ssd for now and get it going on a normal hd, neither xp or vista support trim and lack some other things to properly use solid states.

Yeah I've thought of that. It's just I don't wanna format my older drive since it still boots into windows, and the other one is full of stuff. I could move it somewhere though, but it is a lot of stuff. I dunno if it would help though. I could of course try to flash the BIOS via the OS through Asus Update, but a lot of people are having (more like had) trouble with it.

I think the next step would be to get a floppy drive from somewhere. I'm just getting really tired of this whole vintage stuff. I just want to throw it all out the window and set fire to it. aaah FML.

Thanks though for all your help. Appreciated. Always

Cheers.
 
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