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New PC Build - Please Help!!!

Discussion in 'PC hardware help' started by lyminster, Nov 18, 2007.

  1. lyminster

    lyminster Regular member

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    Hi,
    I hav just built a computer on a real budget, the spec is:

    P4 3.4ghz
    PQI 1GB RAM
    SATA Maxtor 80GB
    Azus Motherboard
    NEC IDE optical
    + hard drive on IDE and external


    however when I try to install windows xp, the files go not copy across. The format happens, but when it copies the files across before the install it always fails to copy across files. If you restart the process, it will fail on different files. I am trying to use the SATA as C: however this also happens when I try to load windows onto the IDE hardrive.


    Any ideas as to why this is happening? I think its the memory, got it really cheap and its some weird make.


    Regards
    Dave
     
  2. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    PQI isn't a 'weird make' but it's not exactly top quality stuff. Firstly the obvious, is your windows CD clean and free from scratches/marks?
     
  3. lyminster

    lyminster Regular member

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    i have tried a couple of xp cd's, my original then a copy i made of it on another computer. the copy was clean\scratch free, and it still had the same problem.

    I had never heard of PQI, so to me it was weird...not anymore :)
     
  4. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    The only other potential cause is if the hard drive has bad sectors on it. Do you have a single stick of RAM or is it a pair? If it's a pair, try taking one out and see if you can resolve the issue. If neither of the RAM sticks are at fault, I'd look at the hard disk. If you only have a single stick, try a spare.
     
  5. lyminster

    lyminster Regular member

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    thanks for your reply. I have tried 2 hard drives on SATA, and one on IDE....its a single stick RAM so I think my next bet would be to get another stick and see if that works. Do people think this is the logical way to go?
     
  6. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    Well, if you've tried different CDs, and different hard drives, there's only one other part in your PC that can store memory, which is the RAM, I'm betting that's the culprit.
    Memory is really cheap now, so you can afford to go with decent brands like Crucial and Corsair.
     
  7. lyminster

    lyminster Regular member

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    thanks for your help....im eyeing up some crucial memory now.... think i might got for 2 x 512mb rather than 1gb......... will post later on in week \ weekend with update.
     
  8. abuzar1

    abuzar1 Senior member

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  9. lyminster

    lyminster Regular member

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    just purchased two 512mb kingston ram .... thought it was worth it with the lifetime warrenty :) should be with me in a couple of days!

     
  10. abuzar1

    abuzar1 Senior member

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    Should have gone with something better. I wouldn't buy kingston.
     
  11. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    Kingston aren't bad, but I'd prefer to use Crucial, Corsair, OCZ or G-Skill.
     
  12. lyminster

    lyminster Regular member

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    As promised an update ..... new memory works great, all up and running. One annoying problem I got is when I scroll down a webpage or in windows explorer, its very jolty and not smooth like it was??? any ideas?
     
  13. abuzar1

    abuzar1 Senior member

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    That seems like a video card problem.
     
  14. biesemj

    biesemj Member

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    It might be your CD rom drive. I have the same problem with an old CDrom drive I have in a test computer I had to take my drive out of my regular computer and put it in the test computer to install windows. would not copy all files and had a hard time installing windows
     
  15. lyminster

    lyminster Regular member

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    so the card cant keep up? ie the refresh rate???
     
  16. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    It sounds like your graphics drivers aren't installed (or aren't installed properly).
     
  17. abuzar1

    abuzar1 Senior member

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    Yeah I would have said the same thing, but it seems like he just changed the RAM out.

    BTW if you re-installed Windows it is the drivers 100%. Even if oyu haven't try it anyway.
     
  18. lyminster

    lyminster Regular member

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    spot on knowledge, re-installed the driver and graphics are fine = THANK YOU!

    Final question.....sometimes I occasionally get a blue screen, sometimes the computer restarts itself. This normal of do I have another fault developing??
     
  19. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    Hmm, well that's either a hardware issue, or again a driver issue. If you installed the latest graphics driver, then it may not be the graphics card causing the problem, but it's very likely if it only just started happening. Can you try a slightly older driver?
     
  20. lyminster

    lyminster Regular member

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    I used the drivers that came boxed with the card? Would have thought that would have been ok?? Will look on manufacturers website and see what I can find.
     

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