Trouble using the 500$ gaming computer

[bobthepurplecow]

i've never built a computer before. i've upgraded, but never peiced together a rig. so i bought all the components from the 500$ gaming rig TH did a article on. the only difference was the dvd writer, i got a lite-on. so for ease of use here are the parts

mobo : ga-p35-dsl p35 + ich9
gfx card : 8800gs 384m RT
cpu : intel e2160 1.8g 775 1m R
memory : 512|wintec 3amd2800 - 512M1
HD : 250g barracuda sata2 st3250310AS
dvd / cd writer/reader : lite-on|Lh-20a1-06 LS RT
cpu fan : CM|rr-cch-l9u1-gpr

sorry if the names sound jacked up, im using my newegg order sheet because all my parts are upstairs in my room, and its easier listin it like this. basically, its all the parts from that article, except the dvd burner.

anyway, i put it together, turned it on, and everything seemed fine. i was installing winxp sp2 when at about 30% the blue display light started blinking and the computer started making weird noises, then it rebooted itself. now when i try and reboot, booting from cd in an attempt to reinstall winxp, i get the following error "NTLDR does not exist, hold ctrl + alt + delete to restart" and when i reboot i get the same error over and over.

and the blue HD light doesnt show during the computers bootup sequence.

i'm not sure if its a power thing, a hardware thing, or a software thing. any advice would be hugely appreciated guys. also, any tweaking tips on the current mobo would be some grand knowledge.

 

[cristip60]

Take it apart and just try again and see if it works, retrace you're steps.

 

[akhilles]

If the parts are not defective, it's probably the config. 1st, double-check your connections. i.e. SATA to SATA. Set IDE burner to master with the jumper in the back, and make sure there's nothing hooked to its cable's middle connector.

# - to mobo
||
# - nothing
||
# - to IDE drive

Then clear cmos. Look it up in the mobo manual. Use a working pc to write this to a floppy/cd/dvd:

http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

Boot it up in the new pc. Let it do 1 pass. You'll see a message at the bottom. If it passes once, go to bios | Advanced BIOS Features | make sure your boot device order is:

1 = cd/dvd
2 = floppy/hdd
3 = hdd/nothing

Go to Hard Disk Boot Priority | make sure your windows drive is #1. Reinstall windows.

 

[evongugg]

What is your power supply?

Run Dos Seatools on the hard disk.

 

[bobthepurplecow]

so i disconnected everything and found a couple problems.

1st was that the 24 pin connector to the mobo was slightly off, i fixed that
2nd i noticed that the sata power cable was connected to the HD with the middle power plug, i took it off and placed it on the end.

quick question, do i use the middle sata powerplug to power my dvd burner located at the top of my computer? (both my dvd burner and my hd are sata) or do i use the seperate sata power cables to connect both? (my PSU came with two different sata power ribbons)

another question, does it matter which sata connection on my mobo im connecting my sata data cables? i noticed two groups of plugs, each with two sata data connections on my mobo, so do i split my hdd and dvd burner like ram? having 1 connected to 1 and the other connected to 3? or do both go on the same plug grouping?

also, my sata HD has a 4 pin-connector instead of a 8 pin like my old IDE HD. do i just cover the first 2 pins (located on left side) to set it to master? it came with the last 2 pins (right side) out of the box and thats how i had it set when i tried running it.

 

[bobthepurplecow]

edit : so the sata groupings read I1 and I0 on the first, then I4 and I5 on the other.

 

[bobthepurplecow]

woah, so i took off the jumper to the seagate (beacuse my mobo supports 3/gb data transfer, checked all my connections, turned the computer on and theres this MASSIVE loud whining noise. the second i heard it i turned my computer off. now im afraid to turn it back on lol. if anyones got some advice please let me know. all i did was reconnect everything the same way i did before, and remove the jumper, but this time around my computer sounds like its screaming.

 

[bobthepurplecow]

haha it was my video card, the pci e power conn wasnt plugged in, newbish mistake, my apologies

 

[sailer]

Here's a suggestion which I have given to a number of people in the past. Head down to a local bookstore, use Amazon.com, or a PC shop that stocks books and magazines and buy an instruction book/magazine on building a PC. I have an old copy from PCGamer, "The PC Building Bible" which I've used and loaned out on occasion. There have been various updates on this through the years. By following the step by step instructions, slow and tedious as they may be, you and any other builder can avoid a lot of mistakes and get a PC running in little time at all.

I'm not meaning to criticize your skills or anything, only that a lot of problems which face anyone building a computer get caused by doing things in the wrong order, getting impatient, or any number of other things. By the way, I still use the book myself, as I find its easier and more reliable than going by memory when building from scratch. I just set up a new computer for myself a few weeks ago and followed the instruction book. It went like clockwork, everything happening when it was supposed to happen and everything works great.

 

[akhilles]

Do yourself a favor. Look at the mobo manual and newegg's product photos. They're labelled clearly.

 

[evongugg]

If you use the sata power cable connection (middle), do not use the molex. You could fry the hard disk. There is no master/slave on sata hard disks.
It doesn't matter which sequence you plug in the sta drives, could I0 and I1, unless there is something peculiar about a port.