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mdwatts
07-11-2003, 02:58 PM
I was getting kinda sick of fixing the constant HD & IDE controller problems with the Compaq Deskpro 4000 I got from work a few years ago for the gf to use, so I decided to surprise her and build a new pc for her to enjoy for hopefully many years to come. It has cost around $900 Cdn (with taxes) so far. (I know I'm a sweet guy ;) )
I purchased the following hardware and then swapped a couple of components with my 2nd pc (HD, cdrw)
Asus A7V8X-X (onboard sound and ethernet)
AMD XP 2200+
512 MB (PC3200/DDR400)
GF4 MX-440-T8X (64mb)
Floppy
Logitech optical/wheel mouse
40gb HD (from my other pc)
LG 12x8x32 (from my other pc)
and then bought a LG 16x DVD since I couldn't boot from the cdrw.
I assembled everything a couple of weeks ago (less the DVD) and found it wouldn't boot from the floppy or cdrw and only the Linux I previously had on the HD.
I checked and double checked and triple checked the jumpers settings, ALL bios setting repeatedly, switched ALL cables numerous times since I have bags full of IDE (also 80 pin) and floppy cables. Reset the bios to defaults etc. etc.
Now the bios cannot even detect the HD or cdrw or dvd and it will not boot from any device (floppy, HD or cd)
I'm of course not asking for advise (thanks anyways) as I have exhausted all the options I can think of. Tomorrow morning I'll be away from JL for a couple of hours as I'll be returning at least the motherboard.
Of all the many pc's I've built for myself and friends, this is the first I have ever had any problems. Darn darn and darn.
And the gf is getting a little peeved why it's taking me so long to fix her old Compaq.
Beavbo
07-11-2003, 03:05 PM
Phew, that was close..........for a minute there I thought i saw a question coming on!!! :eek: :D
Gertrude
07-11-2003, 03:08 PM
I'm of course not asking for advise
So.. Did you try to boot it with just the HDD as master on the primary IDE, or just the floppy with a bootable floppy, and no other IDE devices? Flash the BIOS? I just got a ASUS a7n8x board that would get stuck on "verifying DMI pool data......", after flashing BIOS its working now.
GavinX
07-11-2003, 03:16 PM
Originally posted by Beavbo
Phew, that was close..........for a minute there I thought i saw a question coming on!!! :eek: :D
Wouldn't it be funny? Mdwatts asking for advice........ With thousands of posts under his belts, it would tickle me pink. :D :p
Then again, knowing the knowledge base that he has (Mr. Google), it was very unlikely.
Well done Mdwatts you had us holding our breath, you called our bluff and we fell for it. :D
mdwatts
07-11-2003, 03:19 PM
Originally posted by Beavbo
Phew, that was close..........for a minute there I thought i saw a question coming on!!! :eek: :D
:D
Not from me. :)
To answer your questions.
I've tried all those and even flashing the bios, but it cannot find the floppy drive.
This m/b has the ASUS EzFlash so you don't need a dos bootdisk. Neither a Win/Lin bootdisk work.
The bios will not even display the 4 normal boot devices anymore. The HD and cdrom and now either 'none' or 'disabled'.
Back to the store tomorrow. Thanks though.
<edit>
The only cards are the AGP video and 56k modem. I've tried removing the modem. :confused:
Beavbo
07-11-2003, 03:20 PM
I swear its like waiting for Cal Ripken to take a day off.............the streak continues!
mdwatts
07-11-2003, 03:22 PM
Originally posted by GavinX
Well done Mdwatts you had us holding our breath, you called our bluff and we fell for it. :D
:D
After all I've done here and nobody has a solution for me? :p
I've given up and it's going back in the morning.
If at first you don't succeed (a hundred times), give up.
mdwatts
07-11-2003, 03:24 PM
Now watch bwkaz come by, post the exact solution and show me up once again. :p
Bryan where are you? "Newbie needs help"
pnuts
07-11-2003, 03:25 PM
I had motherboard problems as well so I understand your pilght. (just as a pointer: are you not men't to give a good subject header NOT: "total newbie" or "rant":D )
can you change any settings on your bios? if you can't you are probley srewed.
good luck
pete
Icarus
07-11-2003, 03:32 PM
I hate when the BIOS doesn't see any of the drives...
That's OK, my system at home currently has all the lights on the front constantly turned on (Floppy, power, HD...) because I always have trouble getting those darned pins on correctly :D
BTW...shouldn't this thread of been deleted?
I guess since there are posts now it should just be locked ;)
sharth
07-11-2003, 03:32 PM
/me thought a hard-drive was broken when it wasn't...
check jumpers, and try just using one piece of hardware at a time, and might as well try checking the cables :)
but hopefully the return policy isin't too bad.
I have a solution for you....
.... It involves a hammer and makes a lot of mess. :D:D:D:D
tee-hee. /me runs for cover now...
mdwatts
07-11-2003, 04:11 PM
Originally posted by DMR
tee-hee. /me runs for cover now...
:D
Well it is appropriate isn't it? :o
My good buddy David to the rescue. :p
/ me pops head out of foxhole
Well, I just thought the fact that you actually started a thread in /dev/random deserved some sort of recognition...
/me dives back into foxhole
:D
mdwatts
07-11-2003, 04:31 PM
Originally posted by DMR
/me dives back into foxhole
I trust you will be staying there for a bit or at least until I find that darn 'ban' button again. :p
What no solution for me David? I'm truly disappointed. :(
And yes thanks everyone, I've tried jumpers, cables, removing components and all sorts of bios settings.
Most of the time now the boot order in the bios only displays 'floppy' or else cdrom and HD are either disabled or none.
I've packed it up ready to go to the store tomorrow.
No dessert for me this weekend. :(
Gertrude
07-11-2003, 06:01 PM
Did you plug in the PSU? :)
mdwatts
07-11-2003, 06:10 PM
Originally posted by Gertrude
Did you plug in the PSU? :)
:o :o :o
Thanks it now works.
Everything has been tried and after a couple of weeks, I have finally decided it must be a faulty motherboard.
I don't usually give up unless it begins to look hopeless of which I believe this certainly is by now.
All packed (with the receipts) and ready to go in the morning.
I was only posting what I have gone through the last couple of weeks besides putting up with you lot. :D
Adm Frosty
07-11-2003, 06:44 PM
Sorry to answer so late,(I joined today) but I think you Have/had a bad hdd. :( Do you have anouther hdd you can test it out with? I've had this problem before and it was becouse I had a faulty hdd. Maybe I answered to late to help though.
Wait, (Frosty looks back at the last post) you got a new mother board?? and it works fine now??:confused: Oh Well. maybe it wasnt the hdd.
DavidSulc
07-11-2003, 06:46 PM
I don't know if this has naything to do with your prblem, but if the IDE cable is over 3 ft long it usualy causes problems...
Just an idea ;)
Adm Frosty
07-11-2003, 07:06 PM
Heck, I dont even know where one would BUY a 3 foot long ide cable let alone why one would need one that long?
(Note: that was just Frosty thinking outloud)
bwkaz
07-11-2003, 09:04 PM
Originally posted by mdwatts
Now watch bwkaz come by, post the exact solution and show me up once again. :p
Bryan where are you? "Newbie needs help" Mmmmm.... nope. Sorry, no ideas from here. :(
At least you've got something to try, though. :)
je_fro
07-11-2003, 10:46 PM
By "Flashing the BIOS" do you mean upgrading the firmware? My Abit NF-7S was kinda buggy until I upgraded.
Seph64
07-12-2003, 01:47 AM
Sorry to hear about your problems MDWatts, the only Motherboard problems I've had was Stability issues in Windows (gasp), which I haven't had the pleasure of receiving for a month now. That, and trying to turn the blasted thing on when you just turn it off. If I turn thr computer off, I have to wait a few minutes til a hour to turn it back on again. *sigh* Oh well. Goodthing I only turn it off at night eh?
Oh, I couldn't return the motherboard even if I wanted to (and I did when I first had that problem), I bought the motherboard a few months before I assembled the computer.
Hope the next one you buy won't be crappy.
gennro
07-12-2003, 02:34 AM
yep, u must have gotten one of those "BAD" asus boards from the chinese factory
mdwatts
07-12-2003, 03:35 AM
Originally posted by je_fro
By "Flashing the BIOS" do you mean upgrading the firmware? My Abit NF-7S was kinda buggy until I upgraded.
By either a bootdisk and the award bios update or the ASUS EzFlash with the bios update on a diskette. It just won't read a disk for that or booting.
The cables are the normal length.
Could (must) be one of those 'BAD' Asus boards.
What a pain having to disassemble, return and now have to assemble again. :mad:
mdwatts
07-12-2003, 06:20 AM
Originally posted by Adm Frosty
Sorry to answer so late,(I joined today) but I think you Have/had a bad hdd. :( Do you have anouther hdd you can test it out with? I've had this problem before and it was becouse I had a faulty hdd. Maybe I answered to late to help though.
Wait, (Frosty looks back at the last post) you got a new mother board?? and it works fine now??
Oh Well. maybe it wasnt the hdd.
I've tried everything and will be returning at least the motherboard this morning for exchange.
The HD did boot a few days ago and now the HD, cdrw and dvd are not even detected in the bios as I've described above.
Thanks for the suggestions everyone, but I was only ranting on my disappointment that this is the first pc I've built that did not work the first time it was powered on.
I've built at least 25 pc's (besides at work) and have rebuilt/modified many more than that all starting with my first 386.
I've read many posts here on members that have found it necessary to return motherboards etc., but this is the first time it has happened to me. :confused:
hard candy
07-12-2003, 06:47 AM
I think it was all the static from the other moderators. You should probably wear an anti-static wrist strap when you moderate the forums. Some days probably a strap on each ankle and maybe on the head wouldn't hurt either. And do you get a lot of static from the girlfriend since it is taking so long to build her computer?
mdwatts
07-12-2003, 06:53 AM
Originally posted by hard candy
I think it was all the static from the other moderators. You should probably wear an anti-static wrist strap when you moderate the forums. Some days probably a strap on each ankle and maybe on the head wouldn't hurt either. And do you get a lot of static from the girlfriend since it is taking so long to build her computer?
:D
That or I am posting too fast and furious and causing static buildup. ;)
I'm not getting static from the gf. In fact I'm not getting much of anything at all. :eek:
Gertrude
07-12-2003, 12:48 PM
In fact I'm not getting much of anything at all.
http://www.state.wv.us/wvag/contactus/computer.gif
http://www.levitated.net/bones/freshflash/plus.gif
http://www.yamaha-europe.com/yamaha_europe/layoutarchiv/layoutpictures/present.jpg
http://ottawa.rasc.ca/astronomy/chasing_eclipse/equals.gif
http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/mens/images/sex.jpg
Just give it a little time, and everything will be just fine..
mdwatts
07-12-2003, 01:33 PM
:D
Close Gertrude. The last picture should be sideways. :p
A update on my progress.
I decided to have another go at it as I had packed it up yesterday ready to go to the store.
The unplugging seemed to have taken care of the bios and that now works and I also unplugged the floppy, dvd and cdrw which allowed me to boot from the HD again.
I plugged in the floppy and now had a disk error, so I tried a few more cables with the same results.
Got fed up since it's a brand new floppy drive and then took out a old one from my 'computer closet' hooked it up and now it boots from a Win98 bootdisk.
Now I connected the dvd, checked the bios and that is finally detected and also boots.
Used my PM7 bootdisks, removed the existing HD partitions and have successfully repartitioned for W2K and Linux.
Connected the cdrw again and all is now looking good as it still will boot from the dvd though it wouldn't before.
W2K is now installing.
Thanks for listening to my 'rant'.
mcmanus69
07-12-2003, 01:58 PM
Well, well, well, old buddy.... we meet again at last. :)
(30k+ posts!? You had HALF that many last we met!)
Glad to hear you got your problems fixed. I never thought our moderator-gawd would need "our" help :)
...and this is the same g/f as before, right?? ;)
sharth
07-12-2003, 02:07 PM
/me loves the new post title :)
mdwatts
07-12-2003, 03:02 PM
Originally posted by mcmanus69
Glad to hear you got your problems fixed. I never thought our moderator-gawd would need "our" help :)
...and this is the same g/f as before, right?? ;)
Actually I was not asking for help, just ranting (of which I deserved working on that blasted pc) :mad:
She has moved back to Vancouver and I'm back with my ex.
How's the dual running?
mdwatts
07-12-2003, 03:03 PM
Originally posted by sharth
/me loves the new post title :)
The other mods are always picking on poor little me. :(
Adm Frosty
07-12-2003, 04:00 PM
I hope theres not a legitimet reason for it!:)
mdwatts
07-12-2003, 04:36 PM
So I created a primary ntfs 6gb partition for the W2K system files and a 20gb logical for data and apps (besides the Linux partitions including /boot).
Installed W2K and found that the app/data fat32 partition is labeled as C: and the ntfs primary is F:.
Go Windows !!! Yaaaaah !!
:rolleyes: :mad: :rolleyes:
mdwatts
07-13-2003, 02:44 PM
Just to finish this...
The gf and I went out for Dim Sum (Yum-Yum) and after went to the computer store to exchange the floppy drive.
I explained all the problems I've had and nearly returned the motherboard instead of the floppy until I finally pinned the trouble down to the drive.
Even though the floppy drive only costs $15 Cdn, they still had to connect it to a pc in the back to test. That took a while and finally they agreed the drive is bad.
Come on now... $15 and the thousands of $$ I've spent at this store and they still need to test the drive before giving me a replacement. :mad: :confused: :mad:
Well that's all folks and all is now right in the world again.
Thanks for the 'ear'. :)
sharth
07-13-2003, 04:40 PM
Originally posted by mdwatts
So I created a primary ntfs 6gb partition for the W2K system files and a 20gb logical for data and apps (besides the Linux partitions including /boot).
Installed W2K and found that the app/data fat32 partition is labeled as C: and the ntfs primary is F:.
Go Windows !!! Yaaaaah !!
:rolleyes: :mad: :rolleyes: i resized my old win98 c:, and created a win2k one in front of it (or so i thought).
ended up having my old c, as C:, my old D:, as D:, my old E:, as E:. my cd-rom drive, as F:, and then my new C:, as G:
woo!