Z77 Extreme6 new build, BSOD during WinXP install, only flashing cursor upon reboot

[CookyMonzta]

I just finished building a new machine with the following components:

Cooler Master Elite 431 Plus Case with hot-swap bay
Z77 Extreme6 Motherboard
Core i7-2700K
EVGA GeForce GTX 570 HD Superclocked
8GB (2 x 4GB) G.SKILL Ripjaws X DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) (F3-10666CL7D-8GBXH)
2x500GB Seagate Momentus XT SATA 3.0 hard drives (in SATA 3.0 connectors)
2x500GB Seagate Momentus XT SATA 2.0 hard drives (in SATA 2.0 connectors)
2TB Seagate 2000DM001 in hot-swap bay (internal backup)
Lite-On Blu-ray burner (in SATA 2.0 connector)
Lite-On DVD burner (in SATA 2.0 connector)
Cooler Master 800W power supply

Three months it took for me to acquire the parts for me to build this thing. The hard drives are all brand new and so are the board and optical drives. I checked my UEFI to set my fans and boot order, and inserted my WinXP CD.

At some point within the first 5 minutes of the installation process, I got the following BSOD message:

A problem has been detected, and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check for viruses on your computer. Remove any newly installed hard drives or hard drive controllers. Check your hard drive to make sure it is properly configured and terminated. Run CHKDSK /F to check for hard drive corruption, and then restart your computer.

*** STOP: 0x0000007B (0xF78D2524,0xC0000034,0x00000000,0x00000000)

I thought it had something to do with my SATA Mode Selection and ASMedia SATA Mode set to AHCI. I set them to IDE, but I suspect that something else went wrong, because when I tried again to install WinXP, I got nothing but a blank screen with the underline cursor blinking. I took the CD out, and still nothing but the cursor blinking, when usually I would get the warning that no boot device was found.

I went back into my UEFI to reset my SATA modes to AHCI, reinserted my WinXP CD, and still I have nothing but a blank screen with a blinking cursor. I tried my PC DOS floppy, and my machine reads it!

Even if I change my boot priority, it seems that my machine will not read from my Blu-ray or DVD burner. I'm almost afraid that something gave way on my motherboard, though I hope I'm wrong because my floppy still reads and I still get a green light on my Blu-ray burner.

Something obviously gave way while the installation process was beginning. It happened within the first 5 minutes of the installation process after I restarted my machine with the WinXP CD inside. Again, the machine still reads from the floppy drive following the BSOD, but it no longer reads from the Blu-ray and DVD burners even though I see the green light on either drive (depending on which drive I'm using) for about 5 seconds.

I have no idea what the STOP codes mean.

By the way, I always get an A6 code on my motherboard when I go into my UEFI.

[parsec]

Some info missing, so I'll ask or just talk about it.

You can't use the ASMedia SATA ports to install an OS, use the Intel SATA ports only for that purpose. Check the manual for their location, the ASMedia ports are usually at the top of the stack of ports, as you look at the mother board when it is installed in a PC case. That may be part of your problem. Don't put your DVD drive on the ASMedia ports either, only use the Intel SATA ports for an installation.

Next, I'll pull this text straight from the manual:

AHCI mode is not supported under Windows® XP / XP 64-bit

RAID mode is not supported under Windows® XP / XP 64-bit.

But if you check the download for Windows XP on your boards page, they list the Intel RAID drivers. So does that make sense? Yes and no. XP has no built in support for AHCI or RAID, so you must load the minimal driver during the OS installation. I've never done that with XP, but Intel provides the RAID driver for XP too, so it ought to work. That RAID driver is also the AHCI driver, you can use it in either mode. Have you ever installed a driver during an OS installation?

It would be a shame to waste the SATA chipsets and hybrid drives with IDE mode, but it's your PC. AHCI mode improves the performance of HDDs and SSDs, you won't get the potential performance of those drives in IDE mode.

Before you do anything, you need to reset the UEFI/BIOS with the button on the I/O panel, and when starting the PC, press the PC reset button. Go into the UEFI before you try to install Windows again and set the Intel SATA mode to IDE. If the UEFI reset does not give you the usual POST screens, and no video, something seems to have expired.

A6 when in the UEFI is normal.

[CookyMonzta]

My SATA 3.0 hybrids are in SATA3_0 and SATA3_1. [The drive in SATA3_0 is intended for Win7; SATA3_1 for Win8, if I so choose]
My SATA 2.0 hybrids are in SATA2_2 and SATA2_3. [The drive in SATA2_2 is intended for WinXP]
My Blu-ray burner is in SATA2_4.
My DVD burner is in SATA2_5.
My 2TB drive (strictly for internal backup) is in SATA3_A1. SATA3_A2 is empty because from time to time I will be using the eSATA port in the back for an external hard drive enclosure with an eSATA cable.

No RAID configurations were intended for my machine.

At some point while the WinXP installation process was checking for all of my internal components, I got the BSOD, and now my machine can't read from my Blu-ray or DVD burner even though they still show up in my UEFI (if I read everything correctly) and my machine checks for the presence of any disc in either of them.


Did I screw the pooch by using this contraption?

Amazon.com: StarTech.com PYO2SATA 6in SATA Power Y Splitter Cable Adapter - M/F: Computers & Accessories

I have the 800W Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold power supply, but I wanted to save myself the trouble of connecting 3 power strips to the PSU. I bought three SATA Y power splitters to connect to one power strip leading to my PSU.

I have my 2 SATA 3.0 hybrid drives connected to one Y-splitter, 2 SATA 2.0 hybrids to another Y-splitter, and my Blu-ray and DVD burners in a third Y-splitter. All the Y-splitters are connected to one power strip leading to the power supply.

The floppy drive and hot-swap base are connected to the second power strip leading to the power supply.

Should I disconnect all of my Y-splitters, connect a 3rd power strip to my power supply, and connect each drive to its own SATA power port on the power strips? I haven't checked my connections yet (it is quite late for that now, and it is quite a maelstrom on that side of the case), but could it be that I might have incurred a short in the Y-splitter that I have my optical burners connected to, and the BSOD probably occurred the moment the splitter blew?

[parsec]

I use splitters similar to that, but with SSDs that don't use much power. It's possible that the power draw on one line from the PS is to much for all those drives at once, at least when they all try to start up at once. I would try not using the splitters at first. Trying to start all your hardware at once is much more difficult than a simple set up of one DVD drive and one HDD.

Since that is a new build, I would not have everything powered up the first few times you start the PC. Start with the DVD drive and one hybrid drive for Windows 7. Actually, you can start the PC and go into the BIOS with no drives attached. That way you can test if the board alone is working. But as I said, you really need to clear the BIOS/CMOS to start over clean, I cannot stress enough how important that is.

You also need to sort out the boot order in the BIOS, and the more drives you have the more difficult that is to do. The SATA3_A1 and A2 ports will not work until a driver is installed for that extra chipset, don't use them at all until you are able to start Windows and get your other drivers installed.

If you have all your drives wired up, just remove the power from most of them, and just start with two, the DVD and OS HDD, on the Intel SATA ports. Who knows, you may have a defective splitter, don't use them yet.

If you have Windows 7, install that first, with the SATA mode set to AHCI. That will be the easiest one to install, don't try XP yet. If you must use XP, I would use IDE mode for that installation.

With XP or Win 7, your Internet connection will not work until you install the Broadcom chip driver, as neither of them have a driver that will work with it. Windows 8, I don't know.

Given your potential problems, do things in small steps, much easier to debug.

[Bluemeanie]

With Windows XP you can slipstream an install cd with the achi drivers and then install from that. I did that and it worked just fine on a Z77 Extreme 4.

[CookyMonzta]

I cleared the CMOS, took out all of my splitters, took the 2TB hard drive out of my hot-swap bay (connected to SATA3_A1).

I removed all of my drives except for the first hybrid in SATA3_0.

I moved my Blu-ray burner to SATA2_2.

No luck, either in IDE or AHCI mode for my SATA mode selection. I still get a blank screen with just the blinking cursor. Not even the 'Reboot and select proper boot device' warning.

I switched to my DVD burner in SATA2_2. Same thing. Both of my optical drives are detected in my UEFI, but I can't read a single disc from either device now. I was able to, before the BSOD in the first 5 minutes of my WinXP installation process.

I disabled my floppy, and still no luck. Each time I reboot, the optical drive light is lit for a good 8 seconds, but the device fails to read the disc inside, and my screen is still blank with only the blinking cursor.

Only my floppy drive still worked when I had it connected.

Should I remove my optical drives and have them tested? And what if I have them tested and no problems are found?

[CookyMonzta]

I have not yet checked my reboot sequence without an optical drive plugged in. I will try before this weekend.

Assuming I make the attempt, and it turns out that I still get a blank screen with a flashing cursor, with only my primary hybrid drive plugged in, my first conclusion would be that my something related to my SATA ports got fried as I was attempting to install Windows XP, and my motherboard will not read any of my drives, optical or hard.

[CookyMonzta]

I tested my machine with only my primary hybrid hard drive plugged in and my CMOS cleared. Having once again adjusted my settings, I attempted a reboot, and despite my hard drive showing up on the list of active storage devices in my UEFI, my machine failed to read the hard drive. I still get nothing but a blinking cursor.

I am now convinced that something in my SATA controller fried as I was starting the installation process for Windows XP on one of my hybrid drives. Unless anyone here has another idea of what might have given way in my machine to make any drive plugged into an SATA socket unreadable, I have to assume that my motherboard went defective the night I tried to install XP.