Asus A8R-MVP problems

[Shadowdust]

I don't know what's going on with this board. For some reason, it's not working properly. I've been trying to install Windows XP for hours upon hours to no avail. It will freeze right after it says it's checking my system's configuration. All I get is a black screen from that point onward. Then I tried using a hard drive that was pre-installed with Windows XP and has an Xpress 1150. Now it makes it through the blue Windows Setup screen before freezing at Starting Windows. It simply changes to a blank blue screen. So next, I tried Ubuntu Linux (Gutsy Gibbon). At last I thought I had success, but I was once again wrong. Though it would make it to the start screen, as soon as I would choose to install Linux it would freeze at 50%. I'm truly at a loss as to what to do. All of my BIOS options are fine. My drives are running as emulated PATA drives so I should have the necessary compatibility. My system is not overclocked either.

I purchased this from a guy on eBay who said it was operating fine. I contacted him and he's agreed to give me a refund, but I just wanted to see if anyone else had any idea what's going on. I can't help but feel the malfunction is in the hardware but I could just be an idiot. :p Here's my system's specs:

CPU: AMD Opteron 165
Motherboard: Asus A8R-MVP (duh :P)
Memory: 2x1 GB OCZ Platinum DDR 500
Video Card: VisionTek Radeon HD 3870
Power Supply: 500 Watt Ultra V Series

Most of the items are from an older system build. The only thing that's changed is the motherboard and the video card as I upgraded from an nForce 3 board with a Radeon 3850. All of the other components have been functioning error free so I'm certain there isn't anything wrong with them.

If there's anything I forgot to add that you need to know, feel free to ask. Thanks for any help you guys can provide!

[dark2099]

It may be the motherboard, but since you say it sometimes goes to a blue screen maybe something is wrong with the 3870.

[sneekypeet]

I had a similar bout with 3 ASUS a8n sli deluxes...come to find out the MBR on my HDD was screwed.

Try if you can a different HDD even if its small just to see if my guess is correct!

[Shadowdust]

It may be the motherboard, but since you say it sometimes goes to a blue screen maybe something is wrong with the 3870.

Sorry, I should clarify. It's the same blue screen that normally appears while Windows Setup is loading. What I mean is that it goes completely blank meaning that the status bar that would normally say "Starting Windows" doesn't even show up. But yeah, I'm leaning more toward the motherboard as well. Also, I forgot to mention, I tried a SeaTools cd to see if it would respond poorly to DOS. It froze right when it said Starting DR-DOS. I tested my drives in my wife's computer and all is fine (she got my old nForce 3 mobo). Anyway, it's such a shame because I was looking forward to eventually setting up a Crossfire system. I should be picking up a DFI nForce4 board tomorrow from a local guy so hopefully i'll have a working PCI-E board though there's no hope of dual cards now unless I change over to nVidia cards again.