newly built pc....need help quick!

pbcustom98

Solid State Member
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6
I've just tried to build my own PC. I believe everything is wired right, jumpers are correct for DVD burner and the HDD, but my main problem is that I cannot install windows. I have another XP pro windows box up and running. I formatted the new maxtor 160gb hdd using DISK MANAGEMENT in XP ( the only way I can actually format it ). The HDD is good (im assuming here) because it is recognized on the other pc.

The first error message I had was caused by the mobo trying to boot off the onboard LAN card...disabled it and thats fine. The next error I came across was NTLDR is missing...formatted the hdd again but didnt make it active in DM, problem solved. Now (the 2nd formatting of the hdd), I get disk boot failure, insert system disk and press enter. I have made the XP pro boot disk (6 floppy disk set) and tryed to boot with that in the floppy drive and the XP cd in the dvd burner. It will not boot off either one of them. I also do not reach the C-prompt as DOS is not installed (drive was not formatted when I received it)

I've entered into the BIOS screen, and the HDD, DVD burner, and Floppy drive are all recognized. Currently everything is set to its "default" settings. I've tried to reset the BIOS & CMOS, and both havent done anything yet.

Also I put a stick of 1gb 400mhz DDR DIMM ram, and get the long continous BIOS beeps..(is the RAM bad, or maybe im not seating it properly?)

What could be wrong? How else can I format the drive to install windows? Are their any good guides online for building a MODERN PC..every guide I found was from around 95-2000..not too modern since technology since then is way behind what we have now.

System Specs:

Chaintech 7NJL6 Socket A mobo
Pioneer DVD-A09XLC Silver 16x Dual Layer DVD-/+RW
AMD Athlon XP 3000+ Barton Core 333 FSB
Socket A/370 Copper Core Fan XP 3200+
Maxtor 160gb EIDE HD 7200/8mb/ATA-133
Ultra 1024mb PC-3200 DDR 400mhz
Ultra 512mb PC-3200 DDR 400mhz CL3
Gigabyte GeForce 6600gt 128mb DDR3 ram
Audigy 2 (next week sometime)

not the best setup, but it will be upgraded ALOT in the future.

Sorry for the long post, and thanks for the help


------as of now, i used maxblast 4 to format the new hdd using the old pc....and on startup i get to when it asks to hit spacebar for diskette or c for cd-rom...whichever i choose it still boots from the hard disk (not reading either drive i assume?)

it says:

Booting from hard disk...
and then it kinda just hangs there..not quite sure what is going on...

anyone have an idea?
 
well i put my windows ME disk in there, and it gets alot further then the XP disk...gets to where it asks me if i want to start with CD rom support etc...

but now the problem is that it doesnt go much further after that. it gets to where it shows different ASPI managers for dos..but it seems to be frozen on that step..

also my 1GB of ram seems to not work..each time i put it in the slot i get bios beeps...and the 512mb stick seems to bit a little "taller" then the 1gb stick.....???

what else can be wrong?
 
you can boot your xp cd from ur dvd burner drive by setting boot sequence from BIOS. You need ur dvd burner on top of the sequence....how can you do that??....depends on ur mobo make.....and about your ram...then I think one of your ram is SDRAM and the other one is DDR....not sure tho....also check your ide cables...your master hdd sud be hooked at the very end (black colour) of the cable....and also make sure you are using either of IDE1 or IDE2 channel.....your mobo will say its channel beside or near your IDE slot...
 
dhaval_1920 said:
you can boot your xp cd from ur dvd burner drive by setting boot sequence from BIOS. You need ur dvd burner on top of the sequence....how can you do that??....depends on ur mobo make.....and about your ram...then I think one of your ram is SDRAM and the other one is DDR....not sure tho....also check your ide cables...your master hdd sud be hooked at the very end (black colour) of the cable....and also make sure you are using either of IDE1 or IDE2 channel.....your mobo will say its channel beside or near your IDE slot...

dvd burner was set first in bios, nothing worked. the only difference in the ram, besides the 1gb stick of ram being bigger then 512mb stick of ram, on the 1gb stick it says CL3...otherwise im not sure...

both the hdd and dvd burner are set to master with the jumpers AND on the IDE cables. the hdd is on IDE 1 and the dvd burner is on IDE 2...

nothing has worked yet.. :(
 
dhaval_1920 said:
can you take picture of the error....I cannot follow unless I see the pic....sorry....thats how I am...

well..i dont have a digi cam, and i cant do a print screen..sooo ill have to describe it as best as i can..which part do you need clarifications on?
 
can you confirm that everything in BIOS is according to waht you want....sometimes using default settings could also cause problems....
 
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