Comp freezes at "Verifying DMI Pool Data"...

[t3h l337 n3wb]

I just formated an old computer and installed Windows XP Pro. It has an 800Mhz PIII Coppermine, 128MB SDRAM, and a 20GB hard drive. I installed it on the C partition, which is 3GB. I reset the BIOS settings, then set my comp to boot from C, then CD-ROM, then A. It booted fine from the CD, but not from the hard drive. I went into the XP Recovery Console, ran FIXBOOT and FIXMBR, but nothing worked. I have never overclocked this computer. I used the search function to find all threads relating to DMI Pool Data here on AT, but there really aren't many responses, and the ones that were there didn't really help. Help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[boomerang]

DMI hangs are typically caused by malfunctioning hardware.

I would check all your cables and jumpers settings. Make sure all your devices are detected in BIOS. Do you have a floppy drive installed? No floppy without changing BIOS settings to reflect this will cause this to happen.

Do a Google search on "Verifying DMI Pool Data" and you will find a bunch of information.

Not related (I don't think) but that 3GB partiton is too small. I'm surprised you got XP Pro on it. You're crippled already with the RAM, but there's no "breathing" room on C and that is going to slow you down a bunch also.

Edit: This seems to have been brought on by your BIOS reset. Did you follow the manufacturers directions? Older systems are not as fussy as newer ones. You may have needed to pull the power cord and rebooted, loaded Optimized Defaults and rebooted. Get your hands on the manual and follow the directions to the letter.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

I don't have a manual. I don't even know how I got this computer -_-; XP Pro is only like ~2GB right? I only plan on installing some kind of file server/hosting program thing for a bit of web hosting. My hardware should be fine, because it was just working like the day before I reformated, and all my hardware is being detected. When I reset my BIOS, I just went into the BIOS and went to the option that said "Restore Defaults" or something like that. I did check google for solutions, but I tried a lot of stuff and nothing worked.

 

[boomerang]

Get into the BIOS. There should be an entry there that is similar to "Force Update ESCD". It will be Disabled. Change it to Enabled.

This will force the system to look for new hardware upon reboot. It will automatically reset itself to Disabled.

This may take care of it. If not;

Reset your CMOS. Unplug the computer. Move the jumper for about 5 seconds or so. Move the jumper back. Start the computer and immediately go into the BIOS and "Load Optimized Defaults". Save and reboot. I don't know the exact wording you will see but it will be similar.

Based on what you'll be using the computer for your C should be fine. You'll be able to see the free space after you get into Windows.

I hope this helps.

Edit: Are there any ISA cards in this system? If none of these other suggestions work, remove those cards and try it. I'm assuming the system did not have XP on it before. Win98 or 95? Actually it would be good idea to disconnect, or remove each piece of hardware one at a time as a troubleshooting step. Set the boot order back to A, C, CDROM or whatever it was prior just for grins. Should have no bearing on this but it's a good plan to get back to square one for troubleshooting purposes.

 

[CrispyFried]

When a comp I worked on had the Verifying DMI Pool Data hang, I disconnected all floppy, HDs and opticals (and all cables), cleared CMOS and booted. It cleared that error. Then add back in one at a time.

 

[ridv34]

Sorry for bringing back this post fromt he dead but I have this same problem. I have found out the cause of it all is a SATA WD800JD hard drive, without it everything goes fine. What are my options as of now seeing as I can't install Windows on this drive?

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: ridv34
Sorry for bringing back this post fromt he dead but I have this same problem. I have found out the cause of it all is a SATA WD800JD hard drive, without it everything goes fine. What are my options as of now seeing as I can't install Windows on this drive?

If the WD drive is the only drive on its cable edit: d'oh, I failed to notice it's an SATA drive , then remove the jumper from its Master/Slave/CS pins entirely and leave it off. That sets it to the Single Drive setting, which is what WDs like. Give that a try

 

[ridv34]

There doesn't seem to be a jumper on the drive. There are pins for it though. Do you think I should try setting it as master?

 

[mechBgon]

Ooops, I re-read your post, it's a SATA drive. Never mind my suggestion about the jumpers, I was on the wrong track there Could you post your system's specs in more detail and I'll try to help when I get home

 

[ridv34]

Motherboard- Abit VT7
CPU- 3.0E Intel scoket 478
PSU- 350W Aspire
Ram- Kingston Valuer ram 512mb
Optical Drives- Sony DVD rw
Hard Drive- 80 gb Western Digital Caviar ( model WD800JD)

And thanks for the help mechBgon, it is really appreciated.

 

[mechBgon]

Thanks for the specs I see it's a VIA-based motherboard. My observation has been that VIA's SATA controllers are evil. I'm betting you cannot run a single drive on there, period; that's been the case with some other VIA-based mobos.

If you see the SATA controller initializing after the POST screen, and it says "press such-and-such keys to enter" then do so, and see if it'll let you define the drive as a one-disk RAID array of some sort. That might get it over the hump, if it thinks "yay, I have an array to report now." I'm speculating, because I don't know if it will work or even allow that. Skimming through an owner's manual for an analogous VIA-based Abit mobo for AMD processors, it looks like it's meant exclusively for RAID arrays (two drives), and Abit's wording on the VT7 page seems to imply that too: Supports 2 ports SATA 150 RAID 0/1.

If this were something other than a VIA-based chipset, then the rest of my SATA info page might be helpful, but I think this might be an exception. The easiest solution I can think of is to buy a PCI-slot SATA controller card, since they don't cost a lot. Or if you can return the hard drive and exchange for a standard ATA model...?

Sorry if that's not much help

 

[ridv34]

Man this stinks, second time a SATA disk gives me troubles :thumbsdown: I knew I should of stuck IDE. Oh well you have been extremely helpful. Well if all goes bad I'll just put the drive in my current pc and I'll purchase an IDE. Also I hate to sound like such a noob but what does it mean when a board is a VIA-based motherboard?

Edit- I might as well just buy a SATA controller card. Thanks for the tip.

 

[mechBgon]

Glad I could help, and welcome to the Forums by the way

The motherboard's got its own mini-processors, usually two of them. One of the two chips is called the "northbridge" and its job is to move data between the CPU, the memory modules, the video card, and the "southbridge."

The southbridge's job is to move data around between the drives, PCI-slot devices, input/output devices (like mouse, keyboard, serial ports, parallel port), and some other stuff. The southbridge and northbridge are usually linked by a dedicated high-speed circuit so they can handle a lot of data traffic without bogging down.

So the northbridge+southbridge chips together make up a "chip-set." There are different manufacturers of chipsets. VIA is one of them, and your motherboard uses the VIA PT880 chipset. Thus the thing about a "VIA-based" motherboard. Intel makes chipsets of their own, and the other ones you'll see a lot are nVidia, and Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS), and ATI is starting to expand into motherboard chipsets too.

Some chipsets are all packed into one chip, like the popular nForce3 and nForce4 for AMD processors, so they're not really chipsets, but whatever

 

[ridv34]

Thanks for the explaination and for the welcome to the forums . The forums are awesome, and the main page is also pretty awesome. But most importantly thank you for all the help you have provided me with.

 

[mechBgon]

 

[ridv34]

mechBgon Thanks for all the help. The computer is up and running Windows right now. I purchased a new IDE for a great price and all my troubles went away. Once again thanks a lot.

 

[Thehubb]

Threads a bit old but i didnt want to start another one. Im having the same problem with my 3800+x2 system. The mb is reading my hard drive and it still hangs up on the dmi pool. The thing is that the first time i put the xp cd in, it didnt hang there, it started loading drivers and whatnot then as it was about to go to the windows interface, it gave me a blue screen error. Stupid me didnt write it down, now i cant get it to go past verifying dmi pool. Im trying to check all my hardware. Please help...

 

[mechBgon]

Post full specs If your hard drive does happen to be a Western Digital with an ATA/100 interface, and it is the only drive on its cable, then take the jumper cap off the pins so it's Single Master and not standard Master, Slave, or Cable Select.