Help - W7 Install leads to BSOD or WHITE screen.

toasty · 29 May 2011

Man, I'm going nuts! :)

I'm trying to install W7x64 onto a custom rig. Parts are a few years old but they're still good, however I'm running into a host of problems. I need some advice as to how to proceed.

Here are the relevant specs of my system....
-MoBo: Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H (also has onboard ATI X1200, which doesn't officially support W7)
-CPU: AMD Athlon X2 6000+
-Video: GeForce 7200GS (PCIe)
-RAM: DDR2 800 2gb x 3chips (total of 6gb)

Here are the problems I'm running into

1) With all of the above hardware installed, W7x64 runs into a BSOD right before it loads. If I remove the GeForce card, Windows will load semi-properly. See item #2
2) With using the MoBo's onboard VC, Windows will load properly, up until the logon screen. At which point the screen is completely white, but I do have control of the mouse. Can't tell if keyboard works.
3) If I boot with the onboard VC and ONLY 1 stick of RAM (2gb, slot doesn't matter, nor does the specific chip), W7 will actually load correctly.

So.... I realize I pretty much have to invest in SOME new hardware. I just want to buy the minimum amount of components so I can run W7x64. Ultimately if I bought a new MB/CPU/VC/RAM I'd be in good shape, but my wallet would be a few hundred $$$ less.

Is my MOBO decent enough so I could just buy a new video card and be done with it (same RAM/MB/CPU)? The system's plenty fast enough (when I was running XP), it's just the headaches with W7 that's causing me to consider new parts.

Or is the foundation of my system too oudated for the new OS?

I appreciate your input guys!

seavixen32 · 29 May 2011

Check here for compatible hardware and software for Windows 7: Windows 7 Compatibility: Software Programs & Hardware Devices: Find Updates, Drivers, & Downloads

Britton30 · 29 May 2011

Also check your BIOS ver and chipset drivers. Use the newest nVIDIA drivers too. The hardware should run Windows 7 X64.

toasty · 29 May 2011

seavixen32 said:

Check here for compatible hardware and software for Windows 7: Windows 7 Compatibility: Software Programs & Hardware Devices: Find Updates, Drivers, & Downloads

Thanks for the suggestion, I checked both the VC and the MB and they're compatible. Someone should try convincing my system about that. I searched online and found a few other people running into similar situation... unfortunately none of them ever posted any concrete solutions. That's why I'm here asking if anyone has any opinion on what course of action to take, path of least resistance and least cash. :)

New MB/VC/RAM/CPU?
New VC?
Etc....

Britton30 · 29 May 2011

Before spending any $$$ you could try BSOD posting instructions and post in Crashes and debugging in you haven't yet.

Fumz · 29 May 2011

toasty said:

MoBo: Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H (also has onboard ATI X1200, which doesn't officially support W7)

-RAM: DDR2 800 2gb x 3chips (total of 6gb)

3) If I boot with the onboard VC and ONLY 1 stick of RAM (2gb, slot doesn't matter, nor does the specific chip), W7 will actually load correctly.

To the best of my knowledge, the AMD 690 doesn't support asynchronous dual channel memory. That 3rd stick is sending you back to single channel mode... and RAM is probably the culprit for all your troubles.

If you don't sort that out first, nothing else is going to matter, or work right. I'd memtest each stick in each slot to see if there are problems. Then I'd use only 2 stick to assure dual channel operation.