BOOTING problem!

[Guest]

Hi!
Well here is my problem,
I decided to assemble the computer by myself. Here is my computer's configuration which I individually purchased.
1) AMD Athlon 1.4 Ghz 266Mhz FSB with heat sink and fan
2) 512 mb DDR RAM PC2100
3) Asus A7 A266 DDR Socket A (No Audio)(Bios Version 1.04 - I guess)
4) Samsung 1.44" Floppy Drive
5) Pioneer 16x DVD OEM Plus Decoder card (Hollywood Magic, Sigma)
6) IBM Deskstar 40 Gb, 7200 RPM (no manual)
7) Creative Live Platinum White Box
8) Intel Ether Express Pro 10/100 mbps PCI Network Card with Wake up Lan
9) US Robotic Internal 56k PCI V.90 Modem
10) Sony 12x8x32x Double Density Cd writer
11) Dell Keyboard and Mouse
12) ATX Cabinet with 400 W Power supply
13) Kenwood 403 Dolby Digital Home Theater System
14) Dell 17" Monitor
15) Windows ME
16) Visiontek Geforce 2 Gts DDR 64mb Graphics Card (I think its 2x AGp)

Well here is my problem and I need your guidance in the following
1) I cannot boot from my hard disk. My system behaves wierd while booting through floppy disk. I mean sometimes it boot's with minimal boot option (I created a Windows ME Bootable disk) and sometimes it hangs. It does not boot with Cd Rom support. Sometimes my systems hangs with the memory check. Sometimes it does not detect my hard disk. My motherboard shows my processor as 1050 Mhz. I am also unsuccesful in making my harddisk bootable. Well the 'format' of windows me doest support format /s funda. I also cannot do sys c: .Well my hard disk was not formatted. I formated using the IBM diskmanager. Well I cannot install my operating system. Sometimes it says Internal Divide Error. IS there a confilict with the Graphics card or the motherboard has failed? I am worried because I spent a lot of money on this hardware.
Can you tell me what bios setting do I need to keep and How will I be able to install Windows ME operating system on my hard disk. Also the jumper settings in the hardisk have two options one is 15 cylinder(bios shows 39**** mb) and the other is 16 cylinder(bios shows 41**** mb). Please tell me on what option to keep.

Can you tell me step by step on how I can eliminate my mistakes and successfully install the operating system. I will be grateful.

Thanking You,
With regards,
SONAM

 

[o1die]

First of all, I am not as familiar with asus boards as others, but I would suggest a fresh windows install, if you have not already done so. Check the manual to see if your board has a "133 fsb jumper", then move the jumper to enable it. Your default setting on this jumper is 100 fsb, if the board has it. Then use fdisk and delete main partition, and create one or two new ones. Before doing this, you may want to back up your important files on cd's. I use windows 98 se. You may have better luck with it if you can borrow it from a friend, or at least, borrow his bootdisk. I prefer using only one big partition, and fdisk will ask you if you want to make your new partition the largest possible, and you answer yes. Then procede with the fresh install. Perhaps others more familiar with your board will pitch in. Good luck.

 

[Guest]

If you have a spare PS, try it. Could be bad PS connections, cable connections,.. The fact that you have trouble doing a basic boot-up says it isn't SW.

I just built three systems this week with new MBs (same model). One MB failed 10 minutes out of the box. So just cause a component is new doesn't say it is good.

#1 - Check to make sure the HS is mounted right on the CPU with enough HS compound. Fan is running with good air flow. When you re-boot, check system temps to see how hot you are getting. If heat isn't a problem, then go to 2.

#2 - Strip the MB of all non essential HW, set bios to failsafe values (system SW loading is too early to trying to push HW for speed), use the factory HD settings (check IBM web site)or even try another HD with SW already on it. CPU should be set slower so it is running ~1-1.2gig. Use one memory stick to start with.

When you can get it to boot without long delays or errors, you are on your way. Start adding the extra HW & re-boot after adding a major item to make sure things are still running.

If you actually find a problem part, replace it.

Good Luck

 

[girish]

well, thats some hardware!

I guess you are having troubles due to bad hardware and/or configuration. i dont suspect any software issues.

First, let the processor stay at 1050 MHz until you get it all up and running. By default, the board sets its bus to 100 MHz so it will run at 100x10.5= 1050 MHz while actually it should run at 133x10.5= 1400 MHz.

Second, get rid of Windows ME. it doesnt support format/s so its out of my box. you cant seriously get to low level to debug or troubleshoot a Win ME system, its for kids who need format/s option kept away from their reach. Get Windows 98SE, by far the best Windows desktop edition.

Third, check the heatsink, I guess it isnt properly mounted, or you have applied too much thermal paste that the CPU is overheating a bit. Beware taking this too far too long might kill your CPU. Hot CPUs often create strange random problems each time you try do use them.

Then check all your cables. make sure you have instaled the cables right, the red wire pointing towards the power supply for hard disk and CD/DVD drives.
mark pin 1 and pin 34 on the bare samsung floppy drive connector board and align the red wire of the floppy drive cable to the pin 1. make sure you are connecting the extreme end of the floppy cable at teh other end of the twist else it will be configured as drive B!

Next, you probabely put the bootable CD in the other drive than that was supposed to boot! make your CD burner secondary master and DVD-ROM secondary slave. there is small jumper on the left of the drives that will allow you to set these. put the jumper on the CD burner on extreme right column and the one on the DVD-ROM drive in the secong column. you will find a legend on these jumper settings on top of both drives. put both these drives on a single cable on the secondary IDE channel marked as IDE2 on the board, and the hard disk on IDE1.

now reset your BIOS, set all disk drives to Auto detect and set the system to boot from CD, put you Win98 bootable CD into the CD writer and power up the machine.

if the thermal or whatever issue is solved, and drives are detected the system should boot off from the CD.

will continue after you get this right.

girish

<font color=red>No system is fool-proof. Fools are Ingenious!</font color=red>

 

[girish]

Are you using TWO DDR sticks?

DDR pairs have a voltage issue which could be cleared by a jumper on the motherboard. as of now, just use a single DDR module and do your stuff. work your system at just 256 MB and later we will upgrade it to 512.

<font color=red>No system is fool-proof. Fools are Ingenious!</font color=red>