[intheaisle]

Hi all,

I've been having a right nightmare with my system the last few days.

Firstly, I got a blue screen and from then on the HD failed to boot (even to safe mode). After a few attempts it then started to make some clicking noises trying to boot so immediately thought it was a hardware problem.Now i'm not so sure.

Yesterday I bought a new SATA drive (250g Seagate Barracuda). Tried to boot from the Vista DVD and no luck (I have used this DVD on the last installation). My first thoughts are that it might be a SATA cables - switched them and still the same problems. Another weird thing is the boot process gets to different points almost every time - sometimes hangs on the vista loading bar thing, sometimes goes on to a black screen and sometimes if i'm really lucky will even start the disc boot but will then just hang on the language selection - and i mean hang, i left it for an hour.

So, if it's NOT a HD problem what is it? and if it's not why do the HD make crazy noises when trying to boot?!

Now, i've seen all over the net a whole load of people who have encountered this problem in some way but there doesn't seem to be much in the way of a definitive solution.

Any input would be really appreciated!

[Mumbodog]

I would run a memory tester
http://www.memtest.org/

Download the prebuilt ISO, burn it to CD as an Image, boot from that CD and run the memory test for a couple of hours or overnight to stress test the memory.

If memory checks out, I suspect some other hardware device is causing it.

[intheaisle]

I did a memory test with memtest and another memory tester i had....all fine. It has to be the SATA ports on the board...unattached the HD and the DVD booted no probs, altho still a little slow.
What's the best next step - flash the bios or try to install the SATA drivers MSI provides (although for floppy...)??
Cheers.

[Mumbodog]

unattached the HD and the DVD booted no probs, altho still a little slow.

not sure what you mean.

the SATA drivers MSI provides

From your earlier post it sounds like the install fails before you can load extra drivers.

Bios flash is one possiilty, but is a lst resot because of the hazardous nature of flashing a bios.

I would try using a different cd/dvd drive

[intheaisle]

I don't think anything is wrong with the DVD drive because when i disconnect the SATA drive it boots fine...

[intheaisle]

UPDATE: After trying everything under the sun that I have read on this website as well as others I had to admit defeat and buy a new motherboard.

Interestingly (and at first worryingly!) after installing the new motherboard i had the same problems - Vista unable to boot from DVD. The solution was to change the SATA mode in the BIOS to IDE. Vista then installed with no problems.

The weird thing is there was no option to change the SATA mode on the previous motherboard, so how could that be the initial problem?! Also, I am still unable to detect the original HDD, which would point towards that as the cause.

I am stumped. Anyone got any pearls of wisdom?