P4P800 problems

[rossjenelle]

Hi,

I have a Asus P4P800, P4 3.0G, 1G geil ram, pioneer DVR106, Benq CD, 1 x 130G and 1 x 32G 10Krpm sata set up, windows xp pro sr2. Almost everytime I load a DVD or CD into either of the drives the system locks up, if I boot up and their are disks in the DVD or CD drive the system hangs at the welcome screen and will not boot until I remove the disk, does not matter if they are video, data or music. I think it may be the main board as the mouse recently stopped working in the ps2 connection and I have had to use a USB port.

It is not a virus or spyware as I have formatted and reloaded the op system.

Before I spend money on upgrading and changing everything can anyone tell me if they think the Mobo is the issue.

thanks

[Catweazle]

Hi and welcome to Daniweb.

Problems such as you describe are most often software ones. The fact that your lockup occurs during the process of Windows booting is very suggestive of this. Suspects are any and all software which relates to the CD drives, including CD playing/DVD viewing software, and in particular burning software.

Suspect first those programs which load at startup, and either configure them not to or uninstall them as part of your troubleshooting.

If all else fails, a format/fresh install perhaps sounds warranted before you rush off spending money on new hardware. You need to eliminate possible software causes before assuming it's a hardware problem. I'll move this to the relevent Windows section for you.

[rossjenelle]

Hi and welcome to Daniweb.

Problems such as you describe are most often software ones. The fact that your lockup occurs during the process of Windows booting is very artup, and either configure them not to or uninstall them as part of your troubleshooting.

If all else fails, a format/fresh install perhaps sounds warranted before you rush off spending money on new hardware. You need to eliminate possible software causes before assuming it's a hardware problem. I'll move this to the relevent Windows section for you.

Thanks for the quick response, I have formatted and reinstalled, it did not solve the issue. Perhaps I have had a powersurge in the last three weeks I have had to
change out the video card, replace the ethernet and then I noticed the mouse working erratically then it failed (the ps2 connection) it works fine in the USB port. The box will lock up when DVD/CDs are put in it (works once in say six attempts), and if they are in it will not boot till they are removed. Do not think it is overheating, the CPU gets to about 59 degrees C under load and in idle sits at about 38-39 degrees, RAM checks out ok. All software is genuine.

Regards

[Catweazle]

If your format/fresh install included loading all the same software and drivers in one go, then you may have replicated the problem rather than corrected it.

Best procedure is to load windows -> test
load updates -> test
load drivers -> test
load software bit by bit -> test

If your problem crops up pretty much straight after you load windows, then perhaps look at the drive configuration in BIOS for a problem.

If the problem crops up after loading certain software program(s) then perhaps the problem is there.

Are you sure that you've loaded all device drivers appropriately, and checked to see if they are the most up to date available from the motherboard website?

[rossjenelle]

Thanks,

I will try again with the format etc and do as you suggest.

[Catweazle]

Given that your problem ralates to use of drives, before reinstalling I'd suggest you check and double check that drives are correctly configured in BIOS, that optical drive device ID jumpers are correctly configured as required, and that all connections are securely attached. Your drives should be jumpered as Master or Slave accordingly, with Master drive attached to the end cable connector and Slave drive attached to middle cable connector. Also check to see if you are using an 80 wire drive data cable. If you are using an older 40 wire data cable I'd advise you to replace it.