Early multiprocessor configs were often untrustworthy in some situations. Try removing one of the CPUs and installing it with a single CPU first.

I doubt it's an issue with the APIC. Have you tried bootstrapping with the southbridge IDE driver floppy?

Had same Problem with Dual Xeon's.
Needed to set Machine Type 😳

i installed Windows 2003 Server instead, which worked well.

i got XP working trough Update route..
Install Windows 2000 -> Upgrade to XP.

Mine MSI K7D Master had random blue deaths. Found out, that i need to change memories. Been using 2x1GB DDR ECC - no errors in memtest, but random freeze all the time or no boot at all. After changing memories to nonecc its fine. So try other brand of memory. It could help. In single cpu config there was a lot less freezes, it increased with 2nd cpu installed.

Just to be sure Gatewayuser200, since you're a new member here. You are trying to install XP Pro right? M$ didn't intend for users to install XP Home on systems that have more than 1 CPU.

Tetrium wrote:

Just to be sure Gatewayuser200, since you're a new member here. You are trying to install XP Pro right? M$ didn't intend for users to install XP Home on systems that have more than 1 CPU.

I was using heavily modified copies of XP Pro and Server 2003. Also, while I am new to the fourm I'm not new to the hobby. Researching your problem and asking around is simply the first step to troubleshooting. There's no need to "reinvent the wheel" if someone else had the same problem and was able to work out a solution.

matze79 wrote:

Had same Problem with Dual Xeon's. Needed to set Machine Type :O […]
Show full quote

Had same Problem with Dual Xeon's.
Needed to set Machine Type 😳

i installed Windows 2003 Server instead, which worked well.

i got XP working trough Update route..
Install Windows 2000 -> Upgrade to XP.

Can you explain how to change the Machine type on an XP install disc? I looked through my two Windows XP Install/Toubleshooting textbooks and they didn't mention that. A quick google search didn't bring up any useful information either.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyways, for now I guess I'll pop out a CPU and try installing virgin copies of W2kPRO and/or Windows Server 2003 until I can get some more info. I'd be ok if W2k works but I would love to have XP.

Thanks for all the help so far everyone!

While I am tempted to just let you use Windows 2000 because it is a far superior OS to Windows XP aside from modern software support, I have had a similar issue in a VM when trying to make a really stupid 8 thread VM on Win2k

It is possible it is trying to do something strange with the HAL, which is thus not allowing you to install. This is supposed to be detected at install, but could be broken when trying to then load the NT kernel.

https://www.microsoft.com/resources/documenta … s.mspx?mfr=true

Install using 1 CPU if possible, and using the uniprocessor HAL, and afterwards use the device manager to switch to multiprocessor and install the second CPU.

You can also try Windows 2000, or heck even use Windows 98 to jump straight into the Windows XP upgrade.

Good news, I burned a virgin W2K Pro SP4 CD and the OS install went smoothly. The board works great! I may retest my iWill MPX2 and end up using it if it tests good. It's a faster board and a lot nicer in terms of layout than the Tyan.

I would love to get XP working on it though. Can someone explain to me how to change the "Machine Type" of an XP install disk or find one that has the correct machine type?

I never had any issues with my msi master and XP. It ran for years before I upgraded to 771 xeons.

My guess is a BIOS setting is causing fuss in windows. I can't recall exactly at the moment but you want things like MPS set to 1.4 and APIC enabled. ACPI also should be enabled.

Gatewayuser200 wrote:

Good news, I burned a virgin W2K Pro SP4 CD and the OS install went smoothly. The board works great! I may retest my iWill MPX2 and end up using it if it tests good. It's a faster board and a lot nicer in terms of layout than the Tyan.

I would love to get XP working on it though. Can someone explain to me how to change the "Machine Type" of an XP install disk or find one that has the correct machine type?

You have to change it in Device Manager. Install it with 1 CPU as a uni-processor OS, and then go to device manager to change it.

You have to understand, this is the first version of NT for consumers, and multiprocessor configurations were quite rare and expensive, so compatibility was less than perfect. This can DEFINITELY be seen with things like NT4 which can have some serious issues with the multiprocessor kernel.

Ampera wrote:

Gatewayuser200 wrote:

Good news, I burned a virgin W2K Pro SP4 CD and the OS install went smoothly. The board works great! I may retest my iWill MPX2 and end up using it if it tests good. It's a faster board and a lot nicer in terms of layout than the Tyan.

I would love to get XP working on it though. Can someone explain to me how to change the "Machine Type" of an XP install disk or find one that has the correct machine type?

You have to change it in Device Manager. Install it with 1 CPU as a uni-processor OS, and then go to device manager to change it.

You have to understand, this is the first version of NT for consumers, and multiprocessor configurations were quite rare and expensive, so compatibility was less than perfect. This can DEFINITELY be seen with things like NT4 which can have some serious issues with the multiprocessor kernel.

I removed one of the processors and tried installing XP again with both of my discs. Stop error 7b came up again at the exact same point in the install.

My favorite source for older operating systems (which you probably will be able to identify quite easily with the next statement) outright refuses to post Windows XP disc images and that would be pretty much the only place to find them if they had them. Surprisingly, my MSDN subscription from high school is still active, but they removed XP ages ago.

I guess W2K is fine. The big reason I wanted Windows XP is because thats the operating system that I have chipset drivers for. I can't find chipset drivers for the 760MPX for W2K

As long as you have a legit cd key there is no issue with torrenting any software. I will grab a computer from the thrift store and keep the sticker "just in case". But honestly its XP and M$ doesn't give a shit.

I torrent everything. Even out of spite. just search thepiratebay.org for xp and you can get it in 5 minutes.

Then it must be another issue. Idk.

Windows 2K may be able to use XP drivers, give it a try. The operating systems are virtually identical under the hood, with the only real differences being the version number, UI, and some of the software support (Which can be bodged)

And yes, WinWorldPC is a good source for operating systems, I use them often, but as with any of this, while nobody cares enough to do any of this (Microsoft will probably never touch NT5 down again) you need to be careful with torrenting. A good VPN and a decent torrenting client (NOT BitTorrent or uTorrent, they are hosts for malware, learn from my mistake) and make SURE you have the rights to the software, I often need to do this with steam games as they won't install on Windows 98.

Gatewayuser200 wrote:

Tetrium wrote:

Just to be sure Gatewayuser200, since you're a new member here. You are trying to install XP Pro right? M$ didn't intend for users to install XP Home on systems that have more than 1 CPU.

I was using heavily modified copies of XP Pro and Server 2003. Also, while I am new to the fourm I'm not new to the hobby. Researching your problem and asking around is simply the first step to troubleshooting. There's no need to "reinvent the wheel" if someone else had the same problem and was able to work out a solution.

Cheers for your explanation 😀
It was more a question for me to see how experienced you are as most people who are new members here are not as experienced as you probably are, but I'd guess you know where I'm coming from 😀

And I completely agree with you when it comes to doing some research when trying to troubleshoot a problem.

I've modified XP a lot (and both 2003 and 2000 for a little bit), but I was mostly just an average NLite user who tried out lots of different things (along with a couple extra things) to see what it would do. It's interesting.

And welcome aboard 😀

Ampera wrote:

And yes, WinWorldPC is a good source for operating systems, I use them often

I was guessing it was BetaArchive 😜

luckybob wrote:

As long as you have a legit cd key there is no issue with torrenting any software. I will grab a computer from the thrift store and keep the sticker "just in case". But honestly its XP and M$ doesn't give a shit.

I torrent everything. Even out of spite. just search thepiratebay.org for xp and you can get it in 5 minutes.

I'm looking for an unmolested copy of XP. There were some on TPB but they have no seeders.

The specific copies that I tried were the latest release from Maher and experience's latest W2003 mod and TinyXP. The last two are heavily modified for speed and I feel the Maher release may have some things missing from it as well to make room for integrated drivers

I think I have OEM Dell and Gateway Windows XP SP0 disks somewhere in my horde... collection. If I can find them I'll give those a try.

--removed link--
comes with sp3, nothing else.

You should probably remove those links before someone else finds that. You're not supposed to post links to abandonware sites, and you're DEFINITELY not supposed to post links to torrents.

Well, I dug up a Gateway OEM Windows XP Home edition SP0 disc. The install went smoothly with a single processor.

I guess the problem all along were my XP disks. It's the last thing I'd expect! I use them quite often on hardware ranging from SS7 era boards to late Core 2 Duo boards with no issues.

I guess one of the integrated drivers or fixes/patches in my go-to XP disks just didn't play nicely with the 760MPX chipset and/or SMP. So now I just need to track down a genuine unmolested copy of XP for the machine along with a few other odds and ends and my dual Athlon MP build will be complete!

The only bad thing now I guess is I have two more dual socket 462 boards to test (a MSI and an iWill) as they were originally casted aside for the 7b stop error. Plus I ended up taking a torch to the better of the two K7D Masters I had because of the 7b stop error on install 😢 . (I torch the NB and SB chips off dead motherboards and make keychains out of them before permanently throwing them away)

If your going to destroy hardware, please dont tell us. 🙁