Hobbla Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 This past week I recieved all the parts for my new rig (specs are in sig). I have all components plugged in currently, I have the 24pin (20+4E), 4pin P4+ (in the 12v+), and Floppy power cord all plugged into the motherboard. When I turn it on the Standby and DDR LEDs come on, there's a beep, and it goes to the Infinity logo screen. But then my DVD drive just opens and no matter what I put in there (mobo driver cd, XP install cd, HDD cd) it opens up 5sec later. Now, I don't think it's a problem with the DVD drive or its connectors, as I've disconnected it and it still hangs at the Infinity logo. I've been able to clear the CMOS a few times and get into the bios but I can't seem to do it anymore. My keyboard (I plugged in both a USB and PS/2) doesn't seem to be responding at the screen either. One thing I'm thinking may be conflicting is that the HDD I'm using is from another computer. It's alreadly formatted for XP, although it's not the drive with OS on it, just a secondary storage one. Should I un-format it or something? I planned on just running the XP install cd and formatting over it. I just tried using an IDE drive that has an OS installed on it but that doesn't seem to make a difference though. I had a PC tech support friend look at my setup and such and he couldn't find anything wrong with what I've plugged in. He thinks maybe something shorted or burned out because it's stopping before it gets into the BIOS. If needed I'll post a pic of my mobo setup to see if I did anything amazingly stupid that you can't tell from my description already. Thanks guys, I appreciate any help. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGone Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 Soundblaster X-Fi Xtreme Music if not really new and with fixes already on the audio card from Creative> it can cause stupid acting problems. Remove while trying to install windows. Seagate 300GB SATA make sure is jumpered or set to sata1 or can cause problems. RGone... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbla Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 I've had the sound card out for most of the time, as it was blocking the CMOS jumper. There doesn't seem to be a jumper on the SATA drive... It worked on other computer as the main drive without jumpers as well. If I do some how get the cmos to clear again and get into the settings, is there anything that I should change? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGone Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 Nothing I know of and it seems you are poised right at the point where two more hours goes by and you need to setup rma with your purchasing vendor if within their short warranty period. NOTE: I never try and use drives from other systems WITHOUT first zero'ing or full erasing them. This saves me time when I come to such a dorking around as you are getting it seems. You might also look in the Standard System Configuration of the bios and see what are the drives begin looked at as. IE: AUTO, CHS, LBA. Need LBA. This was an editted note or added after what I just wrote above so check this and seeing nothing wrong or no bad cabling or jumpering> you are at the point of my first paragraph above. RGone... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbeaver Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 remove the battery for a full cmos, or look the forum for the proper cmos flash, instructions all there.... it wont be ur drive coz by the time bios loads, the board shouldnt be looking for the drive anyway....its after the bios load, so u should at least boot to BIOS..... probably corrupted bios. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbeaver Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 oh and plug the keyboard JUSTTHE PS/2, remove the usb.. u said u plug both... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbla Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 Nothing I know of and it seems you are poised right at the point where two more hours goes by and you need to setup rma with your purchasing vendor if within their short warranty period.I've been trying to work out the problem all week, I'd rather not waste my time sending the board back and waiting for a new one to come if I can fix the one I have currently. Unless you're saying that I should setup rma because it seems unsalvagable NOTE: I never try and use drives from other systems WITHOUT first zero'ing or full erasing them. This saves me time when I come to such a dorking around as you are getting it seems. You might also look in the Standard System Configuration of the bios and see what are the drives begin looked at as. IE: AUTO, CHS, LBA. Need LBA. This was an editted note or added after what I just wrote above so check this and seeing nothing wrong or no bad cabling or jumpering> you are at the point of my first paragraph above.I'll try doing a full CMOS flash like Redbeaver said to do and then see if it's in LBA. Thanks for your input guys, wasn't getting any feedback on other forums. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbla Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 I was able to clear the bios again, but now whenever I boot up it says I'm missing the NTLDR (although, in that screen it says the HDD is in LBA, thankfully, I guess). I tried switching the boot device to CD first (so I could install XP) but my dvd drive never stays shut. No matter which device I put first, I always get the NTLDR error. I tried installing the RAID drivers just to see if it would help any, but it tells me to take out the floppy disk and then proceeds to tell me the NTLDR is missing. I searched for this error, but I the remedies only seemed to consist of changing the boot device to CD then re-installing XP or forcing the ntldr file onto the HDD. I deleted all the files on the SATA drive (althought it's still formatted), but that doesn't seem to change anything. On the ntldr error screen, it lists a bunch of components and in the column IRQ it has different numbers for each. There's an NA in the IRQ column for Memory Controller, could that mean I have bad ram? This is starting to get really frustrating... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbla Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 Going for the triple post... Anyway, I swapped the DVD drive with an older crappy one and I was able to reformat and install XP on the HDD. I thought I was home free... but now it hangs at the Infinity screen again, and I can't clear the cmos anymore... maybe if I wait a bit it will let me clear it... Anyone have anymore advice before I ditch this board? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stanggt00 Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 Keep the board and I will swap processors with you. Then when it still has problems, you know it isnt the CPU Just kidding (unles you really want to trade ) Are you setting your hard disk boot prioirty in the bios for the drive that contains windows? That is usually the only thing I have ever seen cause the NTLDR missing. If you have more than one hard drive, it will look at whichever one is set as prioity and try to boot from there. When the OS is not on that disk, it will give you the NTLDR error message. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stanggt00 Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 On the ntldr error screen, it lists a bunch of components and in the column IRQ it has different numbers for each. There's an NA in the IRQ column for Memory Controller, could that mean I have bad ram? This is starting to get really frustrating... Just noticed this. 64's have on die memory controller so there is no need to assgin an IRQ to it. I never noticed it in my boot cause it goes too fast, but that would make sense. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbla Posted January 15, 2006 Posted January 15, 2006 Well guys, I'm currently posting this on my new rig. Few words of advice to other nubs like me who are first time builders: 1. Make sure the bezel on the dvd drive is completely snapped in, otherwise it will never actually close and just keep popping out. 2. Don't plug in any USB devices, at all, when setting up a new computer, otherwise it will hang at the mobo logo screen. 3. Don't be an idiot like me. Thanks for all your help guys, good thing I stuck with it and didn't RMA the board. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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