Motherboard and OS compatability question

[MattJA]

I recently purchased a MSI K8N Neo4, Raedon x850pro, AMD athalon 64 +3700, and 2 gig. of PC3200 ram to upgrade my aging computer. This was my first time trying to install computer parts and I followed the directions that came with my motherboard very closely and i think i did well, however when I get to the screen that askes me to press F1 to continue or DEL I have problems. I have Windows XP installed on my hard drive so my logic was if I press F1 to continue, it should start up Windows XP. Needless to say I was wrong and it just went blank for a second, flashed some random screen for less than half a second and went back to the "Press F1 to continue or DEL to enter Setup" screen. I even tried to tweak a few things in my BIOS but to no avail.

I called someone from a local computer tech shop today and he said that my version of Windows XP is only 32 bit and my motherboard is 64 bit so i need to buy Windows XP 64bit. I dont know if this is the case and was just wondering what info you genuises here at Tom's could provide me with.

I have reached the point of maximum frustration and am about to hang myself with some extra cords, please help me.

 

[pat]

XP most of the time need to be reinstalled when upgrading to a new motherboard/CPU. You can just try a repair install, if you did not back up your data..

Tell your local shop owner to fire this incompetent tech. Sure, going to the 64 bits would probably have fixed the problem.. because you would have done a fresh install...

And if a simple computer problem is all it takes for you to hang.. I suggest a therapy for you too...

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")<b>ώ</b>(")

 

[MattJA]

what is a repair install?

 

[pat]

you start the installation just like a new install, but at one time, the install will tell you that there is already a version of windows installed and will give you the coiche to either replace or repair this install. use repair.

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")<b>ώ</b>(")

 

[Crashman]

First of all, there's something wrong with your system if it gives you the "FI to continue or DEL to enter setup" every time you boot. Try hitting DEL to enter setup, set your time and date, set it to boot off the CD first and the Hard Drive second, and reboot.

If it still does that after reboot, you have another problem still unrelated to XP.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[Crashman]

Oh, and send the Better Business Bureau to talk to that technician about cheating money from people.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[MattJA]

I dont have the windows discs. The person (family friend) who put my computer together originally installed XP for free but didnt give us the discs. Also I just tried telling it to boot from CD first and HD second and it said

"booting from disc
booting from disc..." then it just went back to the "press F1 to continue and DEL to enter setup" screen. Then I told it to boot only from the HD and it did the same thing.

 

[Crashman]

First of all, if you see the message "press F1 to continue and DEL to enter setup", you STILL have a problem with a BIOS setting. FIX THAT FIRST!

Then talk to wusy, he'll tell you how to get an XP CD.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>