I'm having major problems getting this new motherboard to work. I think it is called Lanparty nf4 sli-dr. First, the thing only turns on when there is only one RAM stick inserted. How can I use the other three? Second, It won't load windows XP. It takes me to a screen where it gives me the "Safe Mode" option, but no matter which one I pick, I just see "Windows XP Home Edition" flash on the screen for half a second, then the whole system resets. And this repeats no matter how many times I try. I can get into the BIOS CMOS Setup Utility, but I'm not exactly sure what to do there. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm kind of new to all of this computer building stuff.
so you just installed a new mobo, correct? and you are trying to load windows xp, correct? have you installed windows xp with the new mobo, or have you just connected your HD with windows xp from your old computer/old mobo and are trying to run it that way? you need to install a clean version of windows with the new mobo. all the drivers on the mobo are going to be different that the old mobo you had. so that may be why windows is not loading. unless you are swapping it for the same model mobo it may not work properly. so with your HD connected, run your windows XP install disk and try installing windows.
Ok, so it looks like i will need to find myself a new HDD, and my XP installation disc. Thank you for the help. But I still have the problem with the RAM... I somehow got the second stick to work, but when i insert the other two (or even just one) and power on the computer, the monitor stays blank and the computer lets out a long beep. Also, three red lights above the word DEBUG on the motherboard are lit up.
are you putting the 2nd ram in same color slot as 1st stick or different color slot. can you get each stick by it self to work without the others plugged in?
The two sticks are in the two top most slots, and they are different colors. Does that make a difference or do they have to be in the same color slots?
as you has 4 slots with 2 different colors then they are for dual channel ram so put both sticks in same color slots.
I tried that, but it just did the beep again. It works with the two sticks in the first two different colored slots, but not in the other two slots.
what size and speed is the ram? they need to be matching, i'm pretty sure. say for example of the 4 slots 2 are yellow and 2 are red. if you put a 1 gb stick in one yellow, you need to put another 1 gb in the second yellow.
Given all the issues, I would run a memory test on each stick individualy, in their different slots (make sure the settings are correct in the bios before doing the tests). If they all pass the tests, this will eliminate a lot of possibilities, and might just find the problem. Double-check the ram voltages, DFI boards don't always autodetect correctly. The correct voltage should be on a sticker on the ram. If you have more than once voltage of ram, you might have an issue...
The two that I am using now are 512 MB each. And I tried the other two on my other computer, and those ones added to a total of around 800 MB. I guess for now I will just stick with what I have. 1 GB of RAM is decent.
Well this computer seems to run fine with 1GB of RAM. And I found out why it wouldn't boot XP. The guy who gave me the hard drive had XP with Service Pack 3 on it, and the mobo i am using has an AMD processor. And apparently AMD processors don't like SP3. Thank you all for your help.
where did you hear that from? i've always used AMD processors and i've never run into a problem of them not liking any versions or service packs of windows...
reach, if that hd already had xp on it with or without a sp on it & the cpu & chipset were different make from your laptop then no wonder xp won't load as it just barfed on you. has to be same chipset tho not always same version & same cpu for xp to load off another previously loaded hd.
