Which motherboards will win xp run on?

[garebo]

I'm wondering if there is a way to tell if a motherboard will allow a win xp install or not, other than simply trying. I do charity work, put pcs together from donated parts, so any guide might save some time. M\soft has a list of hardware that is compatible but i have seen lots of items not on that list that run in xp and i've installed win xp on motherboards that are older than another motherboard that wont accept win xp.

So i thought i would ask you people. We are talking pretty much about P2 and P3 motherboards and their AMD counterparts of the same era. But after that, is it a hit or miss thing or are there some tell-tale signs that would be good to know. Like win xp likes intel chipsets over via or sis chipsets, or some other fact that im not aware of?

Would there be a list of motherboards that work in win xp somewhere?

Any thoughts, knowledge, or ideas on this matter would be appreciated. Hoping i put this in the right place, could have placed it in hardware area?

thanks


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[garebo]

I guess I could have thought that thru a bit more. Thing is, sometimes win xp install doesnt like the ram being used, the cdrom, etc, not necessarily the motherboard.
Any thoughts on this subject, though, might be of help.
thanks



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[linney]

Windows XP Professional System Requirements

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/upgrading/sysreqs.mspx

 

[garebo]

Now that just isnt true. You can have all that is listed and still win xp wont load.


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[Xemus]

WHen you say it wont load, what are you refering to? As long as the system meets the requirements, as posted above, it should install on the machine.
The only real exception to that rule is if you have a piece of hardware with no drivers for XP. The only real way to check this is to check the manufacturers website for an XP driver, prior to install.
Barring a few no-name brands, most hardware should be integratable with XP.

http://www.closedsocket.com

 

[garebo]

Well, i run into this now and again with motherboards.
Right now i have a Pc chips M748 LMRT motherboard that wont load win xp. I have tried with default bios and system settings (both in bios) disabled all shadowing. Originally it wouldnt boot with the ram in it so i swapped out the ram. Maybe i will try with another video card. Dont know what else to do. I dont have any other items in pci slots, but the video is onboard, maybe it doesnt like the video. But the min for video is only 800 x 600, pretty standard i think.

So I was thinking perhaps there was a website around that had a list of motherboards that have problems with win xp.

Otherwise we are looking for specific pci cards, vid cards, usb hardware and the like instead of certain motherboards. That would make one heck of a long list.



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[garebo]

Xemus, when i say it wont load i mean i cant install win xp, it wont install. I get error messages, often different ones. The latest seems to be the ntkrnel error message.
I have tried a few different cdroms and a few different install cd's, get the same results.

I dont know if you wanted me to see something at closedsocket.dom or is that just in your post all the time?


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[linney]

If the computer has an older Windows system installed you may be able to make use of this?

Description of the Windows XP Upgrade Advisor

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307726&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

 

[garebo]

Thanks anyway, Bill, but i got the unit with no hard drive so i am starting from scratch here.


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[BadFrog]

What about chipsets? Are you flashing the bios to the most current version? Perhaps try throwing a PCI vid card in there.

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein

 

[BadBigBen]

All the Googling I have done... tells me that board, is nothing but a door stopper...

w2k and XP problems with installs...

w98se - no problems... (less hardware banging I guess)...


Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[garebo]

Badfrog, thats next moves, so thanks. then i will try moving the cd to the hard drive and installing from there.

BadBigBen Thanks. Thats along the lines of what i was thinking about. Like perhaps one person might know of a site that deals with this stuff and perhaps even a list.
But i will try google as well.


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[linney]

Sounds like you might be a candidate for creating such a site yourself, with all your experience: are you keeping records?

 

[garebo]

No, sad to say, i havent and I certainly should have.
I have installed win xp on quite a few motherboards. The only thing i can say at this point, with just a tiny bit of authority, is that ones chances of installing win xp on a P2 or equivalent mobo is perhaps in the range of 20 to 40% and it would likely rise to 80 to 90% for P3 or equivalent mobos. But thats just from my own experience.
And from my own memory, i dont think the chipset matters that much, more the age of the motherboard. But this is all pretty much just my opinions. I am looking for other opinions as its somewhat important to me to know, dealing with charity builds.

bigbadben, you are right about the win98se install, went smooth on the Pc chips M748 LMRT and of course died on the win xp pro. I think its because of the board setup where the video,mouse,parallel port, sound, etc are on those ribbon cables and perhaps thats why it wont allow win xp install. This is an old board that happens to run P3 but its really an old P2 board. I think it even runs P3 933 if i recall from my findings. For sure it runs in the 700 bracket.

Before anyone mentions it, i certainly re-set the bios, lol.

I think also that when we hear of someone running a system with a P2 300 in it, it could be more like its a mid to later P3 that happens to accept an older P2 cpu in it. Again, just my opinion, but i havent been all that lucky with P2.

I do have an A-open AX6BC pro that is running a p3 - 733 and win xp install went well on that. I believe that one is basically a P3 board anyway, i am guessing.

I have a JetwayJ-720BF that xp wont install on.

I wonder, what about win 2k or would the results be about the same as win xp.






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[BadFrog]

I would think win 2k would be less demanding on the PII's. Awhile back I loaded XP on a HP vectra 266 PII and it actually worked but the performance was pitiful. Which prompts the question. How is the performance on the PII's you can get XP loaded onto?

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein

 

[garebo]

Not really bad if you load them up with as much ram as you can. Like minimum 256, but 512 to a gig whenever possible.
Installing 2 smaller 7200 spin hard drives and moving the swap file to the second drive is good, too. All this is providing the mobo will allow it. Some older mobos only have ide 33 and only allow max 256 mb ram.


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[garebo]

Keep it up, Im learning here!!
thanks


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[garebo]

BadBigBen
All the Googling I have done... tells me that board, is nothing but a door stopper...

Of course, why do you think i got it!! Actually, though, people are pretty giving when it comes to computers. I get a lot of P3 and early P4 mobos as well!

Always run short of both sdram and ddr.



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[garebo]

To BadBigBen:

Can you give me the parameters for your search on that pc chips mobo you did? I cant seem to find the mention of doorstop, lol. Seriously, though, i believe you, just wanted to see what i could see.

thanks



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[BadBigBen]

@Garebo - all I did was paste the following into Google: Pc chips M748 LMRT XP INSTALL... and lord behold, I got lots of sites, in Portugese, German and a few in English... I then Delved into the German and English, and a few Portugese (My little spanish helped there, making out what was said... though more than 70% I didn't understand)... so I came to the conclusion that W2K and XP are a no go, and that today WinXP is more or less the default OS from Microsoft, that that board is a 'Door Stopper'...

Btw. I had no problems with Mobo's running PIII (MSI 6309 and GIGABYTE 6bxc or something running a Cellie at 733mhz with an adapter card by MSI) and AMD ATHLON (PR1000) (except one but there the CAPS where busted) with installing W2k or XP...


Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."