"Hippy Paul" wrote in message
...

"Toby Newman" wrote in message
om...
Hello. I hope someone can help me here - I'm really not sure what to
try next. I *cannot* get my setup to boot windows XP unless I disable
L1 cacheing in the bios.

My Hardwa
Mobo: Asus A7N8X
CPU: Athlon XP 2200
RAM: 512mb Crucial (CT6464Z40B, 512Mb, 184 pin DIMM, DDR PC3200, SDRAM
timings: CL=3, DIMM type:Unbuffered, Error checking: Non-parity, 5ns,
2.5V, 64Meg x 64)

If I _disable_ L1 cacheing in the BIOS then XP will boot, but only
very slowly (i.e. it takes about 10 minutes to reach the desktop, and
is then very sluggish.)

If I _enable_ L1 cacheing I get an error like:

==========================
Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or
corrupt:
(either Ntoskrnl.exe or HAL.dll)
Please re-install a copy of the above file.
==========================

I have tried various FSB/Multiplier combinations with no success, but
am using FSB166/M10 at the moment to be on the safe side.

I know very little about memory timings, so for RAS and CAS latency,
RCD etc I am choosing the largest values available to keep things
slow. I assume this is the correct thing to do.

In other areas I am choosing "Optimal" rather than "aggressive".

Do you have any idea what I should try next to make the system work?
Or perhaps you also have an A7N8X and a 2200XP, and could tell me your
own settings?

Please help, I have been stuck on this for a few weeks now...

May not be of any use, but I had a similar thing with a cyrix/amd? 486
133Mhz cpu (can't remember what mobo), where I had to turn off L1 to boot
(which was chips on the mobo) - got the same error message on a BSoD. It
was a fresh install of NT4 server, and it was not until I installed SP6
(or
was it SP4) that the problem went away. So maybe if you have not
installed
the service pack, etc try that...

Last time this happened to me it was because of an incorrectly inserted
cache chip on the motherboard (one of the pins was slightly bent so was not
conducting well, causing sporadic errors). I doubt it's the same in your
case though However, try running memtest86, as this should pick up if
anything is bad in the cache RAM department (in which case you should RMA
the CPU).

I notice that you list "Error Checking" ram - that is unusual outside of a
server platform, have you got your bios settings right for that, are you
sure it is not "non error checking".

Should be "servers and workstations" here ... I've got a PPro that sure
ain't a server and it is currently using parity EDO ram. Anyhow, he said
"Error checking: Non-parity" which I presume means it's not ECC or parity
ram

--
Michael Brown
www.emboss.co.nz : OOS/RSI software and more
Add michael@ to emboss.co.nz - My inbox is always open