Helping a friend.

[rabidbunny]

Ok. I was just at a friend's house trying to install windows onto his new computer. It is a custom built, but I do not know (nor does he) what components he has. We have tried installing xp ,but the pc keeps going into the BIOS and gives us no boot option on the startup ASUS screen.

I set the disc priority to the dvd drive first, but it won't boot from it. I will add details later, but for now, can anyone give any insight to what is happening?


THANKS ALOT!

 

[Mousemonkey]

Dead or loose battery on the motherboard? maybe.

 

[rabidbunny]

I do not think it is the battery because every time i would turn the pc off and on again it would load the bios and everything would be as I left it.

I believe it's either a pentium 4 or an AMD xp processor. The motherboard is something starting with "A7...". that's just from my memory.

A strange thing is that he has the dvd drive and the Hard drive hooked up through the same IDE cable.... HE does have another working computer that has the same configuration. I do not know if it would make a difference, but all of my computers had the hard drive, floppy drive and disc drive cables (even ide) in their appropriate connectors with their own cable.

NOw, I believe everything is working as far as the parts are fine. I just don't know if he needs to load windows in some different way.....
Very strange.

If anyone can give me more help that would be greatly appreciated.....

thanks.

 

[mad-dog]

sounds like a serious case of "boot failure"......
Boot Device Priority: FDD, HDD, CD/ROM, Disabled

It would be nice if we how many hard drives he has or what kind of motherboard or what size hard-drive

Are they SATAII or IDE hard-drives......Are the CD/ROM and DVD/Burner hooked up in Master/Slave or Cable-select.....same with the hard-drives, how arte they configured.

We need a LOT more information before we can help you my friend

Go into the BIOS and record all vital information...RAM, Storage, IDE config, blah blah blah....get the picture

 

[SPARTAN-117]

If I was you, I'd set the boot priority to CD/DVD, Disabled, Disabled, Disabled. Then I would also set the HDD boot order to the drive you're trying to install to. Also try resetting the CMOS and check the RAM.

 

[rabidbunny]

I did try setting the priority of the dvd burner to first then harddrive, then floppy.... but that didn't work...

He also doesn't have any 'boot from' option when the bios boots up (like when the screen pops up that gives you the choices to go into the bios etc..)
He only has one harddrive installed, which I believe is like 80 gb and it is IDE.
I remember in the bios, it said that the primary master/slave included the harddrive and the dvd drive..

I have reset the bios to defaults, but we still can't get the pc to boot from the dvd drive..

The weird thing is:
he has the harddrive and DVD drive hooked up on the same IDE cable and plugged into the same socket. So he still has the Floppy connected to it's connector, but there is one IDE connector (i am assuming it is the disc drive connector) open. I haven't had a computer that had that. Although he is running another machine with the HD and Disc drive connected to the same connector.

I will see if I can get his specs tomarrow....
I do know this much:
he has 1024 mb ram
400 watt Antec psu
and a cpu running at 2500 mhz
80gb ( western digital I think) IDE drive
DVD rw drive

Thanks alot

 

[mad-dog]

Okay, did he build the PC or did a shop build the PC........
CD/ROM and DVD/Burner use 1 IDE controller
Hard-Drives use other IDE controller
The Hard-Drive is the master on it's cable and the CD/ROM is the Master on the other cable
Master is Black (may i fetch ur slippers masta)
Slave is Gray (tote that barge, lift that bale)
IDE is Blue (the motherboard has got the blues)
CD/ROM goes black (and never comes back)
DVD/RW goes Gray (and takes a roll in the hay
Motherboard turns Blue (and that looks good on you)

Primary HDD uses Black
Secondary HDD uses Gray

Now you see why they invented SataII (I need more drives captain)

 

[Mousemonkey]

It is also possible and used to be the norm, to run the CD drive as the master and the HDD as the slave, I have done so myself so I know it works.

 

[mad-dog]

True, but he's running 3 devices on 2 IDE controllers...

 

[Dahak]

First of all put the dvd drive on a seperate ide cable from the harddrive.At the very least pin them as master and slave.Second,GET THE DARN MACHINE SPECS to us.That would help a lot.You might also try using a cd-rom drive as opposed to a dvd drive as sometimes the bios will not recognize it.Now also replace the bios battery as a precaution,and try a different psu just to rule that out.Goodluck.

Dahak

AMD X2-4400+@2.4 S-939
EVGA NF4 SLI MB
2X7800GT IN SLI
2X1GIG DDR IN DC MODE
WD300GIG HD
EXTREME 19IN.MONITOR 1280X1024
ACE 520WATT PSU
COOLERMASTER MINI R120

 

[Mousemonkey]

Looks like 2 devices on 1 IDE controller, the way I'm reading it.

I will see if I can get his specs tomarrow....
I do know this much:
he has 1024 mb ram
400 watt Antec psu
and a cpu running at 2500 mhz
80gb ( western digital I think) IDE drive
DVD rw drive

 

[mr_fnord]

ATA is fine with two devices on a single connection normally. They need to be configured cable select (CS), or master/slave.

First, reseat all cables. This means disconnect and reconnect them.

Second, see if the BIOS sees the HDD and DVD. If not, check power cables to the devices, check ATA cable, attach to second ATA port, isolate devices (1 per cable). Thiw will rule out bad connection/power cable, ATA cable, ATA port, drives interfering with eachother on the cable. If you don't have two cables, try each alone on the cable. Don't forget to check cable selection jumpers on the drives.

If the BIOS sees the hardware and it still doesn't work, attempt isolating the DVD. completely disconnect the HD to see if the DVD will boot then.

If you still don't see the HW, swap with known good (bring a spare DVD/HD). If that doesn't allow the HW to be seen, it's a bad MB/port/ATA issue. You might try reseting NVRAM via jumper and praying.

Third, if you see the hardware in the BIOS and no boot then try to put just the DVD drive in. You won't be able to install, but you will be able to tell if the HD is affecting ATAPI booting. If so, check jumpers, ATA cable, swap DVD with known good.

Try booting to a floppy just to see what happens. If you have an old Win98/ME boot disk try sysing the HD and booting to the HD.

 

[mad-dog]

Rabidbunny

Quote:
I will see if I can get his specs tomarrow....
I do know this much:
he has 1024 mb ram
400 watt Antec psu
and a cpu running at 2500 mhz
80gb ( western digital I think) IDE drive
DVD rw drive

mousemonkey

Looks like 2 devices on 1 IDE controller, the way I'm reading it.

Rabidbunny

The weird thing is:
he has the harddrive and DVD drive hooked up on the same IDE cable and plugged into the same socket. So he still has the Floppy connected to it's connector, but there is one IDE connector (i am assuming it is the disc drive connector) open. I haven't had a computer that had that. Although he is running another machine with the HD and Disc drive connected to the same connector.

that's what i was basing my info on, very confusing schtuf i think

 

[Mousemonkey]

And until some better info comes forth from the OP keep chucking in random idea's and thoughts, works for me :lol:

 

[mad-dog]

Right Thur........

 

[rabidbunny]

Ok, my friend did build this. I might add that I don't believe he understands what he is looking at.

First of all: I HAVE to agree with everyone on the ide cable thing. I don't think he has another IDE cable laying around, so I will have to wait on that one. I may be able to scavenge it from one of his ancient computers....(he still has at least one DOS computer laying around)

When I was in the bios, it saw the drives as the dvd being primary master and HD being primary slave (or the other way around.) It didn't seem right to me. Cable select is on and the BIOS does recognize everything.

He does have a copy of Windows 95 and 98 along with the XP disc. He doesn't have any floppies though.
As far as a new psu, that's what fried his previoius system and he bought a new one and his uncle gave him a new mobo with the cpu (well, not brand new).

I WILL GET SPECS SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[rabidbunny]

Ok.

He said his dad is just getting a boot disc to boot from and install windows. What I told him is that since I couldnt boot windows from the dvd drive, then his dad would probably not be able to boot from another disc.

Idoit

O well..
I asked him to get me the specs, but he doesn't really know what they are and how to get them. I do know, but I am not able to go to his house soon, so I will have to postpone that.

He said that it for sure is an AMD cpu, most likely an AMD athlon xp +3200 or +2800.
But, in the bios, I saw that the core was running at 2500mhz. I don't know if that sounds right for either of the two.

I just told him that he ABSOLUTELY NEEDS another IDE ribbon cable and that he's a noob trying to set up new hardware the same as old hardware. If he does get the IDE cable (which I doubt he will until the 'boot disc" wont' work) I will help him if he needs it. Unfortunately, I have nothing else to say about his situation until he does something...

Thanks to all who have posted. I appoligize for not being able to post the specs yet on behalf of my friend.

 

[mad-dog]

No sweat bro, we gave it the "ole boy scout try"....... 8)