Problems installing Windows 7 on a new build.

[DePerc]

Hi guys,

I've recently just (sort of) rebuilt my old system, and I'm having trouble installing Windows 7 onto it. My specs are:

Tyan K8WE (S2895)
2x AMD Opteron 260
8x 1Gb Legend DDR400
560W Thermaltake Xaser III PSU
2x 320Gb Seagate Barracuda HDD
4x 300Gb Seagate Barracuda HDD
Gigabyte X1900 XT

I realise these parts are quite old, but that's simply what I had lying around and I can't afford anything new.
Anyway, I rebuilt the system with these parts, and tried to install Windows. It constantly hung at the "Starting Windows" screen. After a bit of googling, I found that this is a common problem and tried the various things suggested on different forums. After taking out all but 2GB of RAM, the installation managed to proceed to the hard drive selection/format point, but then I got a BSOD (0x00000124). I tried removing/disabling various hardware components, but kept getting the BSOD at various stages (but could never get past the HDD point).
So, I tried to flash the BIOS with the most current version, but I haven't managed to succeed. I made a boot floppy and a boot USB stick and it would not boot off either (would not detect them I believe).
I then tried to boot off my old HDD (which has XP installed on it), but it couldn't boot off that either (could not read HDD). Furthermore, everytime I try to boot off a floppy/USB/DVD/HDD/anything at all, I cannot re-enter the BIOS without resetting it.
I don't know how to sort this problem out, or even what the problem is. I don't think I've made a mistake in assembling it and, considering that the HDD's I'm attempting to install on have never been used before, it seems to be to be a software issue of some sort, although this is by no means certain.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

Oh, and although I realise the 0x00000124 STOP error indicates a hardware problem, I'm a little suspicious as to whether it actually is since a lot of these parts have been perfectly operational only recently.

 

[pro2a]

I'd say start fresh. Format both drives using GParted. Once you are done, set all your BIOS settings to default and work your way up from there. Never hurts to start from a clean slate and trouble shoot from there. Otherwise you are going to end up going further down the rabbit hole.

Depending on how old some parts are, they could be a little flaky too. I suspect your motherboard could be a culprit. I had a mobo fail on me some time ago and it gave me a lot of the issues you are describing. It is a very good possibility that it is bad.

I'd say try burning GParted as an ISO and running it.

 

[jmadams]

I once tried installing Win7 on an older HP after upgradings its ram to 1.5GB. I also was getting hardware related BSODS. After some searching I found I had to upgrade the BIOS on the motherboard. Man was it a paint hunting those down. But after updating the BIOS to its newest version it installed without a hitch.

I think if you can get that bios issue figured out youll solve your problem.

 

[Slaymate]

with the STOP: 0x00000124 error code I would check my memory settings and voltages in the bios. If those are set correctly then it could be a problem with the motherboard voltage circuitry or possibly one of the memory controllers, which are built into the cpu's (I think, I'm not really up on AMD's).