It beckons , it does ! After a week or more of fighting Win7 to run and be
stable on not one but two completely (or nearly so) newly built computers I
installed Mint on the newest (all new but the case and cpu) of them .
Multiple crashes , blue screens and shut downs , and finally that comp
wouldn't boot at all . It shouldn't be this hard to install and update an OS
!

--
Snag



---
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
http://www.avg.com

On 4/15/2017 5:06 AM, Terry Coombs wrote:
It beckons , it does ! After a week or more of fighting Win7 to run and be
stable on not one but two completely (or nearly so) newly built computers I
installed Mint on the newest (all new but the case and cpu) of them .
Multiple crashes , blue screens and shut downs , and finally that comp
wouldn't boot at all . It shouldn't be this hard to install and update an OS
!


Sounds like you don't know wot yer doin', son.

Colonel Edmund J. Burke wrote:
On 4/15/2017 5:06 AM, Terry Coombs wrote:
It beckons , it does ! After a week or more of fighting Win7 to
run and be stable on not one but two completely (or nearly so) newly
built computers I installed Mint on the newest (all new but the case
and cpu) of them . Multiple crashes , blue screens and shut downs ,
and finally that comp wouldn't boot at all . It shouldn't be this
hard to install and update an OS !


Sounds like you don't know wot yer doin', son.


Sounds like you should **** off and die , perv .
--
Snag



---
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
http://www.avg.com

On 4/15/2017 7:03 AM, Terry Coombs wrote:
Colonel Edmund J. Burke wrote:
On 4/15/2017 5:06 AM, Terry Coombs wrote:
It beckons , it does ! After a week or more of fighting Win7 to
run and be stable on not one but two completely (or nearly so) newly
built computers I installed Mint on the newest (all new but the case
and cpu) of them . Multiple crashes , blue screens and shut downs ,
and finally that comp wouldn't boot at all . It shouldn't be this
hard to install and update an OS !


Sounds like you don't know wot yer doin', son.


Sounds like you should **** off and die , perv .

Now, is that any way to address a Colonel, Terry the Fairy?

On 04/15/2017 07:06 AM, Terry Coombs wrote:
It beckons , it does ! After a week or more of fighting Win7 to run and be
stable on not one but two completely (or nearly so) newly built computers I
installed Mint on the newest (all new but the case and cpu) of them .
Multiple crashes , blue screens and shut downs , and finally that comp
wouldn't boot at all . It shouldn't be this hard to install and update an OS
!



Since both Windows and Linux do not work on the machines , even though
new, I suspect a hardware problem.

I'd start with a RAM test.

I once bought some super-cheap Chinese RAM and one stick was flaky right
from the start.


They did give me a refund even though I told them for the $2 a stick I
paid, not to bother.

On Sat, 15 Apr 2017 10:05:48 -0500, philo wrote:

On 04/15/2017 07:06 AM, Terry Coombs wrote:
It beckons , it does ! After a week or more of fighting Win7 to run and be
stable on not one but two completely (or nearly so) newly built computers I
installed Mint on the newest (all new but the case and cpu) of them .
Multiple crashes , blue screens and shut downs , and finally that comp
wouldn't boot at all . It shouldn't be this hard to install and update an OS
!



Since both Windows and Linux do not work on the machines , even though
new, I suspect a hardware problem.

I'd start with a RAM test.


Good call. Maybe something isn't seated correctly. Ensure the
processor is cooling (I use thermal compound when mounting fans).
Perhaps set the BIOS to defaults or look through the settings)

Seen windows not complete an install because of a bad stick of RAM.

Oren
Sat, 15 Apr 2017
15:43:22 GMT in alt.home.repair, wrote:

Good call. Maybe something isn't seated correctly. Ensure the
processor is cooling (I use thermal compound when mounting fans).
Perhaps set the BIOS to defaults or look through the settings)

Seen windows not complete an install because of a bad stick of
RAM.

I've seen various Windows editions install and idle at the desktop
just fine on bad ram, just don't actually try doing anything.. And, it
goes without saying (well, it should anyway) that you are risking
whatever data is on the machine running it this way.

--
I would like to apologize for not having offended you yet.
Please be patient. I will get to you shortly.

On 4/15/2017 8:05 AM, philo wrote:

Since both Windows and Linux do not work on the machines , even though
new, I suspect a hardware problem.

I'd start with a RAM test.


Terry the Fairy likes ram tests.
LOL

philo wrote:
On 04/15/2017 07:06 AM, Terry Coombs wrote:
It beckons , it does ! After a week or more of fighting Win7 to
run and be stable on not one but two completely (or nearly so) newly
built computers I installed Mint on the newest (all new but the case
and cpu) of them . Multiple crashes , blue screens and shut downs ,
and finally that comp wouldn't boot at all . It shouldn't be this
hard to install and update an OS !



Since both Windows and Linux do not work on the machines , even though
new, I suspect a hardware problem.

I'd start with a RAM test.

I once bought some super-cheap Chinese RAM and one stick was flaky
right from the start.


They did give me a refund even though I told them for the $2 a stick I
paid, not to bother.

I guess I wasn't clear , Windows was giving me trouble , not Mint .
--
Snag



---
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
http://www.avg.com

On 04/15/2017 01:56 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:
philo wrote:
On 04/15/2017 07:06 AM, Terry Coombs wrote:
It beckons , it does ! After a week or more of fighting Win7 to
run and be stable on not one but two completely (or nearly so) newly
built computers I installed Mint on the newest (all new but the case
and cpu) of them . Multiple crashes , blue screens and shut downs ,
and finally that comp wouldn't boot at all . It shouldn't be this
hard to install and update an OS !



Since both Windows and Linux do not work on the machines , even though
new, I suspect a hardware problem.

I'd start with a RAM test.

I once bought some super-cheap Chinese RAM and one stick was flaky
right from the start.


They did give me a refund even though I told them for the $2 a stick I
paid, not to bother.

I guess I wasn't clear , Windows was giving me trouble , not Mint .



Well, I just built a machine recently using some very new hardware and
was unable to install anything until I went into the UEFI settings and
set CSM to legacy. Hard to believe that the mobo was non-functional with
the default setup.

Essentially it made the UEFI look like a legacy BIOS as far as I could
figure.

The mobo was designed for Ubuntu 16.10 and Win10

and I was trying to install Win7

Once I got Win7 installed it turned out some drivers just were not
available for win7 at all so I was kind of forced into using Win10


At any rate, see if you can do something similar to what I did

philo news Apr 2017 00:34:00 GMT in alt.home.repair, wrote:

On 04/15/2017 01:56 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:
philo wrote:
On 04/15/2017 07:06 AM, Terry Coombs wrote:
It beckons , it does ! After a week or more of fighting Win7
to
run and be stable on not one but two completely (or nearly so)
newly built computers I installed Mint on the newest (all new
but the case and cpu) of them . Multiple crashes , blue screens
and shut downs , and finally that comp wouldn't boot at all .
It shouldn't be this hard to install and update an OS !



Since both Windows and Linux do not work on the machines , even
though new, I suspect a hardware problem.

I'd start with a RAM test.

I once bought some super-cheap Chinese RAM and one stick was
flaky right from the start.


They did give me a refund even though I told them for the $2 a
stick I paid, not to bother.

I guess I wasn't clear , Windows was giving me trouble , not
Mint .



Well, I just built a machine recently using some very new hardware
and was unable to install anything until I went into the UEFI
settings and set CSM to legacy. Hard to believe that the mobo was
non-functional with the default setup.

Essentially it made the UEFI look like a legacy BIOS as far as I
could figure.

****! BD used to tell me how knowledgeable you're supposed to be with
the PC, but... after reading several of your posts now in various
threads, I think he's misplaced his trust, again...No offense
intended.

The mobo was designed for Ubuntu 16.10 and Win10

Oh really? Mobo make/model please? I'd like to check this officially
designed for Ubuntu board out.

and I was trying to install Win7

Hehehe. Didn't you get the memo? MS is intentionally not providing
support for 'new' hardware with Windows versions upto 8.1. Nice of
them, ain't it? They don't need to wait for EOL now. They can just
fuxor you over two ways from sunday by refusing to provide non
security updates and driver support.

Once I got Win7 installed it turned out some drivers just were not
available for win7 at all so I was kind of forced into using Win10

Yes, yes you were. How did you not know this was coming? MS has been
pretty clear about this for awhile now.

At any rate, see if you can do something similar to what I did

Er.. I don't think he wanted to run windows 10. I could be wrong
though.



--
I would like to apologize for not having offended you yet.
Please be patient. I will get to you shortly.

On 04/16/2017 05:48 AM, Diesel wrote:


Well, I just built a machine recently using some very new hardware
and was unable to install anything until I went into the UEFI
settings and set CSM to legacy. Hard to believe that the mobo was
non-functional with the default setup.

Essentially it made the UEFI look like a legacy BIOS as far as I
could figure.

****! BD used to tell me how knowledgeable you're supposed to be with
the PC, but... after reading several of your posts now in various
threads, I think he's misplaced his trust, again...No offense
intended.



LOL, I certainly never made the claim I'm knowledgeable...I'm pretty
dumb actually but somehow manage to solve most problems I come across
simply because I'm persistent and don't give up. I guess I have /some/
smarts though because I often come up with solutions that other people
don't think of.


I once had a GF who was a computer and math genius and we desperately
worked on a problem and both got answers that were mathematically
correct....only she said I was wrong because my answer was not the same
answer the solution book gave.

The mobo was designed for Ubuntu 16.10 and Win10

Oh really? Mobo make/model please? I'd like to check this officially
designed for Ubuntu board out.


Board is an ASRock J3455M and the specs specifically say Win10 and
Ubuntu 16.10

I confirmed that it works fine with Ubuntu 16.04 and Win10 home or pro

and I was trying to install Win7

Hehehe. Didn't you get the memo? MS is intentionally not providing
support for 'new' hardware with Windows versions upto 8.1. Nice of
them, ain't it? They don't need to wait for EOL now. They can just
fuxor you over two ways from sunday by refusing to provide non
security updates and driver support.

No I did not get the memo and did not find that out until recently.


Although I am on the Windows Insider program and have fooled with Win 10
a little, until recently I was quite a bit behind the curve.

The main reason I have kept behind is because Win7 has always worked for
me and the people I deal with. I have told most people just to stay with
Win7 and not upgrade to Win8 but now that I've examined Win10 I see that
for the most part it's OK

Only big problem I see is the auto-reboot after update but I have that
problem solved.

Once I got Win7 installed it turned out some drivers just were not
available for win7 at all so I was kind of forced into using Win10

Yes, yes you were. How did you not know this was coming? MS has been
pretty clear about this for awhile now.


I did get all drivers working but USB
so was running the machine for a while with a PCIe USB-3 card.

It was $10 so I could have kept win7

But there was one other small glitch in that the VGA driver was just
generic and though it worked OK with the generic drivers it did not
support two screens so I had to add a junk-box video card that I had
drivers for.


Finally I said, the hell with it and loaded Win10

Since I was able to find a cheap key on eBay that made the decision simple


At any rate, see if you can do something similar to what I did

Er.. I don't think he wanted to run windows 10. I could be wrong
though.

On 04/16/2017 04:48 AM, Diesel wrote:
Hehehe. Didn't you get the memo? MS is intentionally not providing
support for 'new' hardware with Windows versions upto 8.1. Nice of
them, ain't it? They don't need to wait for EOL now. They can just
fuxor you over two ways from sunday by refusing to provide non
security updates and driver support.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...-version-that-

The specific processors are the Intel 'Kaby Lake' and AMD 'Bristol
Ridge' generation.

Diesel formulated on Sunday :
No offense
intended.

BULL****. You are offensive from the gitgo, and prolly stink as bad.
Go take a bath, rim queen.

On 04/15/2017 06:06 AM, Terry Coombs wrote:
It beckons , it does ! After a week or more of fighting Win7 to run and be
stable on not one but two completely (or nearly so) newly built computers I
installed Mint on the newest (all new but the case and cpu) of them .
Multiple crashes , blue screens and shut downs , and finally that comp
wouldn't boot at all . It shouldn't be this hard to install and update an OS

http://www.memtest86.com/

I'd run memtest from a USB drive and let it beat on the memory for a
while. Also, are the BIOS settings correct for the RAM?

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/under...g-ram-timings/

On Sat, 15 Apr 2017 11:37:37 -0600, rbowman
wrote:

On 04/15/2017 06:06 AM, Terry Coombs wrote:
It beckons , it does ! After a week or more of fighting Win7 to run and be
stable on not one but two completely (or nearly so) newly built computers I
installed Mint on the newest (all new but the case and cpu) of them .
Multiple crashes , blue screens and shut downs , and finally that comp
wouldn't boot at all . It shouldn't be this hard to install and update an OS

http://www.memtest86.com/

I'd run memtest from a USB drive and let it beat on the memory for a
while. Also, are the BIOS settings correct for the RAM?

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/under...g-ram-timings/

.... and, ensure the RAM is in matched pairs. Mismatched RAM pairs can
be an issue.

Terry wrote:
It beckons , it does ! After a week or more of fighting Win7 to run and be
stable on not one but two completely (or nearly so) newly built computers I
installed Mint on the newest (all new but the case and cpu) of them .
Multiple crashes , blue screens and shut downs , and finally that comp
wouldn't boot at all . It shouldn't be this hard to install and update an OS
!
--
Snag
---
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
http://www.avg.com

Try Linux Mint KDE 17.3 and tell us how it goes.

"Terry Coombs" news Sat, 15 Apr 2017 12:06:00 GMT in alt.home.repair, wrote:

It beckons , it does ! After a week or more of fighting Win7 to
run and be stable on not one but two completely (or nearly so)
newly built computers I installed Mint on the newest (all new
but the case and cpu) of them . Multiple crashes , blue screens
and shut downs and finally that comp wouldn't boot at all . It
shouldn't be this hard to install and update an OS !

I read the entire thread so far, so I know you aren't clear with this
post concerning Linux and Windows both crashing out on you. Although
Link Mint is up and running, it tends to be more fault tolerant than
windows with *some* hardware issues. And likewise with Windows
concerning some other hardware issues. Don't mistake that for being a
stable system.

Let's begin to rule out the obvious, if you don't mind.

Did you properly reseat the CPU and RAM? Is the CPU overheating? Did
you use any thermal paste? Did you apply too much of it?

Pending that's all okay, lets test the ram:

http://www.memtest.org/
http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

Pending that passes with flying colors....

What *exactly* do you mean by won't boot? Is it still posting? Or,
just not going into Windows? And, you are only having an issue with
Windows at this point, right? Which version of Windows did you try to
load?

Are your optical drives in good working order? Are the data cables
nice and snug without any problems? A faulty data cable can make your
life a living hell, too. And, it's not one of the first things most
people will check for, either. Is the media you used for Windows in
good condition? No scratches, fingerprints, etc.

At what point did Windows begin to have issues? During initial
install, OR, when you began loading drivers?

Which version specifically of Linux did you load? Did linux give you
any trouble installing?

Help me, help you, by answering my questions and doing what I've
asked of you, in the order I asked. I'll monitor this thread for your
response.





--
I would like to apologize for not having offended you yet.
Please be patient. I will get to you shortly.

Diesel wrote:
"Terry Coombs" news Sat, 15 Apr 2017 12:06:00 GMT in alt.home.repair, wrote:

It beckons , it does ! After a week or more of fighting Win7 to
run and be stable on not one but two completely (or nearly so)
newly built computers I installed Mint on the newest (all new
but the case and cpu) of them . Multiple crashes , blue screens
and shut downs and finally that comp wouldn't boot at all . It
shouldn't be this hard to install and update an OS !

I read the entire thread so far, so I know you aren't clear with this
post concerning Linux and Windows both crashing out on you. Although
Link Mint is up and running, it tends to be more fault tolerant than
windows with *some* hardware issues. And likewise with Windows
concerning some other hardware issues. Don't mistake that for being a
stable system.

Let's begin to rule out the obvious, if you don't mind.

Did you properly reseat the CPU and RAM? Is the CPU overheating? Did
you use any thermal paste? Did you apply too much of it?

Properly seated on both counts , just a dab of paste in the center of the
cpu before seating the fan assembly and it has a temp probe stuck between
the fins of the heatsink - running at 83°F right now while idle .

Pending that's all okay, lets test the ram:

http://www.memtest.org/
http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

Pending that passes with flying colors....

Memtest says the RAM is good .


What *exactly* do you mean by won't boot? Is it still posting? Or,
just not going into Windows? And, you are only having an issue with
Windows at this point, right? Which version of Windows did you try to
load?

I was attempting to run Win7 Pro 64 bit . Repeated blue screens , don't
remember all the codes . Probably because i didn't understand what they mean
.. Got to the point that it was running startup repair screen repeatedly and
wouldn't boot at all .

Are your optical drives in good working order? Are the data cables
nice and snug without any problems? A faulty data cable can make your
life a living hell, too. And, it's not one of the first things most
people will check for, either. Is the media you used for Windows in
good condition? No scratches, fingerprints, etc.

Everything in the case is new except the Phenom X4/1.8 Ghz cpu and the
case itself . That cpu has been running with no problems in my desktop for
about a month .


At what point did Windows begin to have issues? During initial
install, OR, when you began loading drivers?

I first started having problems during the initial updates . Motherboard
drivers supplied loaded fine .


Which version specifically of Linux did you load? Did linux give you
any trouble installing?

Loaded Mint version 18.1 cinnamon with no problems . Biggest problem to
date is simple unfamiliarity with the new OS . Very similar to Ubuntu , and
I'm figuring it out .

Help me, help you, by answering my questions and doing what I've
asked of you, in the order I asked. I'll monitor this thread for your
response.

One problem I've had is getting it to boot with a second 1Tb hard drive
hooked up (primary is also a 1Tb). That hdd has video and music on it that
was put there under a Windows OS . When trying to boot with it plugged in it
pops a ntldr not found , other similar codes . Works fine plugged into a USB
port thru an interface device though . I have another hdd coming , plan to
use it for my media storage and move the media to it then wipe this one .
--
Snag



---
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
http://www.avg.com

On Sat, 15 Apr 2017 21:11:19 -0500, "Terry Coombs"
wrote:

I have another hdd coming , plan to
use it for my media storage and move the media to it then wipe this one .

Even on a new/clean install I delete the partitions and format the
drive. It don't have any stink on it. Just sayin'.

Oren wrote:
On Sat, 15 Apr 2017 21:11:19 -0500, "Terry Coombs"
wrote:

I have another hdd coming , plan to
use it for my media storage and move the media to it then wipe this
one .

Even on a new/clean install I delete the partitions and format the
drive. It don't have any stink on it. Just sayin'.


I've never seen a drive come already formatted ... but yes , it will need
to be partitioned and formatted .
--
Snag



---
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
http://www.avg.com

On 04/15/2017 10:37 PM, Oren wrote:
On Sat, 15 Apr 2017 21:11:19 -0500, "Terry Coombs"
wrote:

I have another hdd coming , plan to
use it for my media storage and move the media to it then wipe this one .

Even on a new/clean install I delete the partitions and format the
drive. It don't have any stink on it. Just sayin'.




Best way for sure.

"Terry Coombs" news Sun, 16 Apr 2017 02:11:19 GMT in alt.home.repair, wrote:

Let's begin to rule out the obvious, if you don't mind.

Did you properly reseat the CPU and RAM? Is the CPU overheating?
Did you use any thermal paste? Did you apply too much of it?

Properly seated on both counts , just a dab of paste in the
center of the cpu before seating the fan assembly and it has a
temp probe stuck between the fins of the heatsink - running at 83°F
right now while idle .

In the future, you should smear the paste with your finger so it's
even on the entire surface area where the heatsink is going to
contact it. Don't expect the heatsink to do this for you,
automagically. Just a very thin, and I do mean, thin, layer covering
the entire contact surface is what you're after. And be sure to wash
it off of yourself when finished, it's usually toxic to humans not to
mention the greasy feeling. Temp is very good for that cpu, btw.

Memtest says the RAM is good .

So far, so good.

What *exactly* do you mean by won't boot? Is it still posting?
Or, just not going into Windows? And, you are only having an
issue with Windows at this point, right? Which version of Windows
did you try to load?

I was attempting to run Win7 Pro 64 bit . Repeated blue screens
don't remember all the codes . Probably because i didn't understand
what they mean . Got to the point that it was running startup
repair screen repeatedly and wouldn't boot at all .

Okay, so, just to clarify, it's posting, but, no longer going into
Windows at all now, right? And, this was a blank hard disk before you
started, right?

Were you able to get the install up and going initially? Did you
start having problems as you loaded drivers? If so, where did you get
the drivers?

Are your optical drives in good working order? Are the data
cables nice and snug without any problems? A faulty data cable
can make your life a living hell, too. And, it's not one of the
first things most people will check for, either. Is the media you
used for Windows in good condition? No scratches, fingerprints,
etc.

Everything in the case is new except the Phenom X4/1.8 Ghz cpu
and the case itself. That cpu has been running with no problems in
my desktop for about a month .

Which mainboard are you using? make/model please, revision as well if
you know it.

Did you modify anything in cmos setup?


At what point did Windows begin to have issues? During initial
install, OR, when you began loading drivers?

I first started having problems during the initial updates .
Motherboard drivers supplied loaded fine .

initial updates....from Microsoft, or updated drivers you acquired?
What problems do you remember having first, and, what did you update
that caused the first issue?

Which version specifically of Linux did you load? Did linux give
you any trouble installing?

Loaded Mint version 18.1 cinnamon with no problems . Biggest
problem to date is simple unfamiliarity with the new OS . Very
similar to Ubuntu , and I'm figuring it out .

It's a 'fork' of Ubuntu, so it's going to look quite similar. The
hardware is cruising right along with it though, right? No issues
whatsoever?


Help me, help you, by answering my questions and doing what I've
asked of you, in the order I asked. I'll monitor this thread for
your response.

One problem I've had is getting it to boot with a second 1Tb
hard drive hooked up (primary is also a 1Tb).
That hdd has video and music on it that was put there under a
Windows OS .

Okay. See below.

When trying to boot with it plugged in it pops a ntldr not found ,

What's the history with this particular drive? Was it blank prior to
you loading your music/video files, or, did it contain a bootable
operating system at some point? As, well, based on what you've
written so far, it has an mbr and an active partition flag set. A
simple format command doesn't touch either one, but, does waste the
ntldr file that would have been present...along with every other file
on it...

Also, which sata port is that drive connected to? And, which sata
port is your bootable linux drive connected to? They are numbered for
a very specific reason...When running the box with a single drive, it
doesn't matter, but, when multiple drives are connected, it does.
Especially if both drives have code the bios/uefi can pass control
over to. And, going by what you've written, it does...Hence my
question about it's history.

And, I'm going to ask you again, Did you change anything in the cmos
setup on that mainboard?

Works fine plugged into a USB port thru an interface device
though .

That's because, short of you telling the machine to try and boot via
USB, it doesn't care if the drive has an mbr. It won't try to pass
control to it.

I have another hdd coming , plan to use it for my media
storage and move the media to it then wipe this one .

Unless you zero out the drive, you aren't touching the mbr or the
active partition bit that appears to be set on it...

I'll continue monitoring this thread for your reply. It doesn't sound
like an actual hardware issue so far though. Is this machine going to
be serving a dedicated purpose, like a media server/aka, jukebox, or
become a daily driver? In other words, what are your plans for it?

--
I would like to apologize for not having offended you yet.
Please be patient. I will get to you shortly.

Diesel wrote:
"Terry Coombs" news Sun, 16 Apr 2017 02:11:19 GMT in alt.home.repair, wrote:

Let's begin to rule out the obvious, if you don't mind.

Did you properly reseat the CPU and RAM? Is the CPU overheating?
Did you use any thermal paste? Did you apply too much of it?

Properly seated on both counts , just a dab of paste in the
center of the cpu before seating the fan assembly and it has a
temp probe stuck between the fins of the heatsink - running at 83°F
right now while idle .

In the future, you should smear the paste with your finger so it's
even on the entire surface area where the heatsink is going to
contact it. Don't expect the heatsink to do this for you,
automagically. Just a very thin, and I do mean, thin, layer covering
the entire contact surface is what you're after. And be sure to wash
it off of yourself when finished, it's usually toxic to humans not to
mention the greasy feeling. Temp is very good for that cpu, btw.

When I mount a heatsink I wiggle it around to spread the paste before
latching it in place . Spreading it around with my finger does sound like a
good idea ...



Memtest says the RAM is good .

So far, so good.

What *exactly* do you mean by won't boot? Is it still posting?
Or, just not going into Windows? And, you are only having an
issue with Windows at this point, right? Which version of Windows
did you try to load?

It still posts , windows tries to start then goes to startup repair . This
is Win7 Pro 64 bit .


I was attempting to run Win7 Pro 64 bit . Repeated blue screens
don't remember all the codes . Probably because i didn't understand
what they mean . Got to the point that it was running startup
repair screen repeatedly and wouldn't boot at all .

Okay, so, just to clarify, it's posting, but, no longer going into
Windows at all now, right? And, this was a blank hard disk before you
started, right?

Right , and it was a nearly new drive , repartitioned and formatted by the
install disk .


Were you able to get the install up and going initially? Did you
start having problems as you loaded drivers? If so, where did you get
the drivers?


It installed and was running , drivers were on a CD that came with the
motherboard - Asrock N68C-GS4FX rev g/a 1.03. Problems started after an
initial round of updates from M$ update .

Are your optical drives in good working order? Are the data
cables nice and snug without any problems? A faulty data cable
can make your life a living hell, too. And, it's not one of the
first things most people will check for, either. Is the media you
used for Windows in good condition? No scratches, fingerprints,
etc.

Everything in the case is new except the Phenom X4/1.8 Ghz cpu
and the case itself. That cpu has been running with no problems in
my desktop for about a month .

Which mainboard are you using? make/model please, revision as well if
you know it.

Asrock N68C-GS4FX rev g/a 1.03



Did you modify anything in cmos setup?

Never touched setup except to set CD/DVD as the first boot device to load
the OS .



At what point did Windows begin to have issues? During initial
install, OR, when you began loading drivers?

I first started having problems during the initial updates .
Motherboard drivers supplied loaded fine .

initial updates....from Microsoft, or updated drivers you acquired?
What problems do you remember having first, and, what did you update
that caused the first issue?

First indication of trouble was a BSOD , don't remember what the error
message was . Updates were from Windows update .



Which version specifically of Linux did you load? Did linux give
you any trouble installing?

Loaded Mint version 18.1 cinnamon with no problems . Biggest
problem to date is simple unfamiliarity with the new OS . Very
similar to Ubuntu , and I'm figuring it out .

It's a 'fork' of Ubuntu, so it's going to look quite similar. The
hardware is cruising right along with it though, right? No issues
whatsoever?


Help me, help you, by answering my questions and doing what I've
asked of you, in the order I asked. I'll monitor this thread for
your response.

One problem I've had is getting it to boot with a second 1Tb
hard drive hooked up (primary is also a 1Tb).
That hdd has video and music on it that was put there under a
Windows OS .

Okay. See below.

When trying to boot with it plugged in it pops a ntldr not found ,

What's the history with this particular drive? Was it blank prior to
you loading your music/video files, or, did it contain a bootable
operating system at some point? As, well, based on what you've
written so far, it has an mbr and an active partition flag set. A
simple format command doesn't touch either one, but, does waste the
ntldr file that would have been present...along with every other file
on it...

THis drive was originally purchased for storage of video content and a
backup for my music files . It has never had an OS installed . FWIW when the
drive was installed in a HP n1600a running Win XP Pro 32 bit I had a similar
problem .

Also, which sata port is that drive connected to? And, which sata
port is your bootable linux drive connected to? They are numbered for
a very specific reason...When running the box with a single drive, it
doesn't matter, but, when multiple drives are connected, it does.
Especially if both drives have code the bios/uefi can pass control
over to. And, going by what you've written, it does...Hence my
question about it's history.

I didn't know it mattered which port which drive is plugged in to with
SATA , I'll check that today .



And, I'm going to ask you again, Did you change anything in the cmos
setup on that mainboard?

Only the first boot device .



Works fine plugged into a USB port thru an interface device
though .

That's because, short of you telling the machine to try and boot via
USB, it doesn't care if the drive has an mbr. It won't try to pass
control to it.

I have another hdd coming , plan to use it for my media
storage and move the media to it then wipe this one .

Unless you zero out the drive, you aren't touching the mbr or the
active partition bit that appears to be set on it...

I'll continue monitoring this thread for your reply. It doesn't sound
like an actual hardware issue so far though. Is this machine going to
be serving a dedicated purpose, like a media server/aka, jukebox, or
become a daily driver? In other words, what are your plans for it?

When the new drive comes (unless I find a solution before) this drive will
be repartitioned before I use it anywhere else . This comp is intended to be
used as a media storage and playback device , will be hooked to my TV via a
VGA to HDMI converter .
--
Snag



---
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
http://www.avg.com

Terry Coombs wrote:
Diesel wrote:

Also, which sata port is that drive connected to? And, which sata
port is your bootable linux drive connected to? They are numbered for
a very specific reason...When running the box with a single drive, it
doesn't matter, but, when multiple drives are connected, it does.
Especially if both drives have code the bios/uefi can pass control
over to. And, going by what you've written, it does...Hence my
question about it's history.

I didn't know it mattered which port which drive is plugged in to
with SATA , I'll check that today .


I just swapped cables around , with the boot drive in #1 and the storage
drive in #2 it boots just fine . THANKS !!
--
Snag



---
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
http://www.avg.com

"Terry Coombs" news Sun, 16 Apr 2017 11:54:01 GMT in alt.home.repair, wrote:

It still posts , windows tries to start then goes to startup
repair . This is Win7 Pro 64 bit .

Okay.

It installed and was running , drivers were on a CD that came
with the
motherboard - Asrock N68C-GS4FX rev g/a 1.03. Problems started
after an initial round of updates from M$ update .

Ahh.. There's a work around for this very annoying issue...

http://download.wsusoffline.net/

Allow it to create an update package for you. Use the results to
bring your copy of Windows 7 uptodate, without jumping thru hoops MS
style.

Since your windows install is having problems, as long as you have
nothing of value on the drive, At this point, I'd proceed to waste it
and start over. Once you have Windows itself up and going, load your
drivers from the cdrom, and then, use the update disc you created
with the aforementioned program to bring your copy of Windows 7
uptodate.

Once you have it up and going, there's other options for more recent
drivers, but, you're going to need a usb stick and/or external hard
disc to acquire them. Let me know if you still wish to go this route
and I'll provide the gory details and the driver collection (they are
massive collections, actually; very good for techie support) software
programs I can vouch for. I don't want to overwhelm you, so we'll do
this one stage at a time.

That is, if you still wish to run Windows 7. Once again though, I do
advise against doing this as you're only delaying the inevitable.

Please post back your decision and we'll go from there. And, if you
run into any problems along the way, I'm a post away.


I didn't know it mattered which port which drive is plugged in
to with SATA , I'll check that today .

Yep, it matters. You can enter cmos setup and change the boot order
via the sata ports, if you ever wanted to do so. So you could have
one HD with Windows, and, the other with Linux, and boot either one
you liked.

When the new drive comes (unless I find a solution before) this
drive will be repartitioned before I use it anywhere else . This
comp is intended to be used as a media storage and playback device
will be hooked to my TV via a VGA to HDMI converter .

Do you intend to have it share it's contents with any other computers
local to you? IE: Are you planning to network it?


--
I would like to apologize for not having offended you yet.
Please be patient. I will get to you shortly.