Eight weeks and counting

[Deffeh]

This, my friends, is truly ridiculous.

Eight weeks since i first ordered from Zyaan, ive received my stuff, discovered its faulty, corresponded with them, sent back the motherboard, processor and heatsink for testing, received the same processor and a different motherboard (which wasnt the same kind as i ordered, it only had ddr ram slots so i had to buy more of that) and its still not working.

Thankfully i have this machine in my room fully operational so i can at least attempt to get help.

Ok, where i am?

Everything is connected up. I know for certain that the Ram, the processor, the monitor speakers keyboard and mouse (duh, yes i know) work. The motherboard must surely work to an extent if i can load it up to the bios.

When i loaded up all the "non working" parts together, it would hang when detecting the Hard Drive. I tested it as primary and secondary master, both times it hung.

So, i thought the Hard Drive was the problem (and it may still be). I put that hard drive in this machine taking out the working one, and although i got past the bios, it wouldnt load. Id get the "start windows normally" / "last good known configuration" / "safe mode" thing - and every one of these options would hang the computer. I looked at the bios and made sure the devices were all detected which they were, and that the HD was meant to boot first - which it did.

This hard drive should already have windows XP and some of my files on it. Previously id got it working in this machine, with my other HD connected as slave. I installed XP, and transported some of my files, then took it out and placed it in the non working tower, where it didnt work.

In addition to testing the non working HD in the working machine unsuccessfully, i took out the Good HD and placed it in the Bad machine. Id get past the bios, but when loading up itd say it failed to find any boot record, and asked for a boot floppy (which i dont have, because i never had one for xp pro i dont think and if i did its at home, i live in the halls now). Once again i checked the bios to make sure everything was detected. The CD drive wasnt for some reason, but the HD was - and it was #1 in the boot from list too.

Im stumped, i dont know what to do. I have a very limited knowledge of computers, and i dont mind if any of you folks talk to me like a complete idiot, so long as i can at least attempt to get something working here. I paid £350 or so for this machine out a £790 student loan, and id like to see it work sometime

Thanks a hell of a lot in advance. I cant offer much in return bar a floor for anyone to sleep on in Stirling or Glasgow, and maybe a pint of cider.

-Deffeh

[NEWSBOT3]

hmm, ok , lets see.

first things first, you need to check everything works.

so, unplug everythng completely.

test as many bits as your able in other machines, work out what you know for sure works.
in the case of ram, you cant always detect dodgy ram by just plugging it in, might have to run a testing program (google : ram tester or something) on it.

connect up motherboard, case, ram and graphics card if doesnt have onboard. ignore everything else for now, once we get the machine up we plug the rest in.
check if the mobo needs any jumpers set, recent boards wont do mostly.
try and boot up machine, see what happens.

if this gets as far as saying there are no boot devices, then plug in a hard drive (and a cd if your planning to install from scratch)

what power supply are you using btw ? (wattage), shouldnt be an issue, but you never know.

the hanging is likely going to be one of a few things

- dodgy ram
- running the ram at too fast a speed (bios options)
- running the mobo at too fast a speed (bios options)
- possibly a hard drive problem, but unlikely.
- ^ hard drive cables, a bad/dodgy one could cause problems. try swapping it or using another.

see if you can discover anything playing with those.

random point, if you have a local computer shop that builds pc's regulary, go in and ask them for advice, its in their interest usually (you might buy replacement bits etc there) so they should be happy to help. They tend to have experienced most problems with pc building etc.

hope some of this lot helps.

[Luckeh!!!!]

Well... If i was putting together a PC (which I have done a fair number of times), I would first connect all the essential things first, reset the CMOS (refer to the manual), then boot up, get into the BIOS, make all the changes/adjustments that are neccessary (again consult manual if unsure)

save changes and exit to reboot. (note if installing WinXP you need to have your first boot device as an optical device and put your WinXP CD in it)

when it reboots, it should boot from CD, then proceed to install the OS.

As for your problem... I have no idea really, have you tried a different PSU?
NB covered much of it from the looks of it.

[Deffeh]

i will reply to this properly in the morning when

a. my essay is done
b. im not pished
c. ive tried som of the things suggested.

Much appreciated, Deffeh