Problem with the new PC I'm putting together

jeffy777

jeffy777

Forum Addict
Joined
Feb 8, 2005
Messages
6,518
Location
US
Car(s)
'04 Toyota Sienna, crippled people like vans....
I'm having a problem with the new PC I'm putting together. Well, I have it all together and the motherboard will POST fine. Ran memtest on the RAM and there were zero errors. All the voltages look stable in BIOS. Temps are good as well.

Ok, the problem I'm having is with the Windows XP install (but I think it's a hardware issue, please read on). When I put in a windows CD, everything goes fine at first. It shows the normal "Setup is inspecting your hardware config...." and then it loads a bunch of drivers. All that is fine, until I get the screen where it says "To setup XP now, press enter", then it reboots every single time. I tried using a different XP CD with the same results.

The next screen should be the screen where you select the hard drive in which you want to setup XP on. Why would it reboot here? It seems like it's having trouble sorting my drives?

In BIOS, my drives are detected without a problem. I have my DVD burner on the Secondary IDE (it was easier to get to than the Primary IDE, supposedly it doesn't matter which IDE you use) and I have my Seagate hard drive on SATA 1. I tried moving the hard drive to a different SATA slot, and it still detects fine, but the Windows install continues to reboot everytime.

Should I try a different SATA cable? Any other way to test how my drives are doing?

Do you think the IDE cable is bad on the DVD burner? The jumper is set to Master, since it's the only thing on that IDE. Should I try setting the jumper to cable select?

Sometimes I think it's something with the DVD Burner or the IDE setup, but memtest runs fine from the DVD drive, so I'm not sure.....

Any other ideas?

Here's the hardware I'm working with:

I ordered everything from Newegg (3 separate orders):

http://img412.imageshack.**/img412/9256/order13mo.jpg
http://img158.imageshack.**/img158/3082/order28zv.jpg
http://img412.imageshack.**/img412/7422/order36tl.jpg

Thanks for any and all help. I'm really worried at this point....I really don't want to have to take it all apart again :(
 
Last edited:
Please help if you can....I'm pulling my hair out here :(
 
Did you press F6 when Windows begins its setup? You need to install the SATA drivers first.
 
cvg said:
Did you press F6 when Windows begins its setup? You need to install the SATA drivers first.
Click to expand...


I doubt thats it - if the drivers arent there, Setup should just deliver a message to the effect it cant find any mass storage devices to install to.

If it reboots, hmmmmmm......

I would pull all your cards, all your ram save one stick, and try installing barebones.
 
If it isn't that, what about the extra power plugs for the video card and motherboard, are those installed?
 
Yes, all the power plugs are in place, otherwise I don't think it would even boot. It's just weird that it reboots at the exact same spot everytime.

I'm going to try gtrietsc's suggestion tommorrow, but for now: I'm spent and need some zzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz

Any other suggestions are very welcome ;)
 
Which version of XP are you using? You never say anywhere whether it's XP, XPSP1 or XPSP2.

And using F6 and the floppy most manufacturers supply with their motherboards (or floppy images on the cd, from which you can also boot to make said floppies) to load the SATA drivers is always a good thing to try.
 
I tried plain XP, and then XP pro with SP2. Same results for both. Supposedly, SP@ is supposed to have a default SATA driver?

I don't have a floppy drive....
 
I'm not sure if it's a SATA/RAID hard drive issue. My laptop has a RAID setup and you need the drivers of course, but if you don't have the drivers on the WinXP disk (Which I do now, another story), it just BSODs when you select the drive to install windows on.
 
Ok guys, I tried unhooking the SATA hard drive and then running the windows install. No rebooting: it just said that Windows could not find a hard drive. Does this mean that I just need to get a floppy for the SATA and it should work?
 
maybe the SATA cable is the problem then. i bought an Akasa SATA cable when i built my PC, but that was a bit dodgey. didn't cause problems when i installed windows, but sometimes it wouldn't appear on the BIOS and windows wouldn't boot. fitted the cable that came with my motherboard, and it worked fine. i actually have the same HDD as you (just the 320Gb version) but i always had that set to 1.5G/s.

just to double check, you are plugging the Hdd into a SATA2 drive aren't you? if you plug it into SATA1 with 3.0G/s enabled, it won't work

hope this helps
Matt
 
Wait a sec: I thought it was a 3.0G/s drive? I am plugging into a SATA1 with 3.0G/s enabled. Is that the problem then?
 
Dang it: I just put in an IDE hard drive and it rebooted too at the same place on the Windows install!

The only time it doesn't reboot is when their is no hard drive hooked up.....Is the Motherboard crap or what?
 
read my last post :(

edit: changed the memory timings and now it made it to the formatting stage on the IDE drive....we'll see....

edit: it copied the files to the IDE hard drive, but then when it rebooted to start windows, it said it couldn't boot from the drive :(

I'm gonna try a different IDE hard drive to see what happens...
 
Last edited:
I'm about to give up on this motherboard. Reading on the Asus forum reveals others with similar problems.....

Should I just go with a P5B?
 
I had this same problem when I built my current rig. I don't rmember what fixed it, though, but I do think it was a different mobo. (i went through about 4 for the construction of this thing, and I don't remember what actually fixed that problem...)
 
Man, I wish you could remember :D
 
jeffy777 said:
Should I just go with a P5B?
Click to expand...

whatever you do don't go for ASrock... :cough:

mobos are so delicate, just installing them can damage them. when i screw mine in at 4 corners, there is no support in the middle. you have to be careful when you push in IDE connectors, or you might snap the mobo in half :?
 
Yeah, I want to say that I eventually gave up and took it to a "guy." I'm not a prop by any stretchen of the imagination. Anything beyond basic assembly and minor trouble shooting, but I think I just gave up after a month...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top