Built new computer, can't get windows to install

[ricin97civic]

I just build a new computer which consists of the following:
VIA 266-px4 motherboard
intel celeron 1.7GHZ CPU
256 MB Ram
64MB Xtasy Graphics card
SoundBlaster 512 card
V92 Modem
Pioneer DVD-ROM
Maxtor 60gig HD

Now I got the computer put together and it started up fine. When I went to load Windows ME it froze right before it began to install. That is as far as I can get to installing an OS. I even tried Win98 and it did the same thing. What do I do??????? What could possibly be wrong? everything is brand new. Even took out the graphics card and what not and it still didn't help. I'm down to running just a barebones system and it still will not install Windows.

[Cricket]

Hi ricin97civic,

Is the hard drive fdisked and formatted yet? FDISK & FORMAT (http://www.muisejt.com/fdisk/fdisk.html)

Make sure your IDE cable is oriented properly...red stripe to pin 1 on the motherboard and hard drive. Hard drive set to CS (cable select) and on the black connector of the IDE cable. Blue connector to the motherboard, grey connector to your slave drive.

Make sure the floppy cable is connected properly too. Red stripe to pin 1 on the motherboard and floppy drive. End with the weird twist on the floppy.

Make sure the IDE cable is oriented properly on the DVD drive. If you're using a 40 wire IDE cable, set the DVD to master. If you're using a 80 wire IDE cable, set the DVD to CS.

Make sure the hard drive is recognized in BIOS.

Try it with only 1 stick of RAM.

Is the FSB set to 100MHz?

:) Cricket

[ricin97civic]

cricket:

hard drive has been reformatted. IDE cable is properly attatched. Floppy is connected correctly because I am booting from a floppy disk. the dvd seems to be working fine, I can get the directory of the cd when I'm in dos. Hard drive is recognized. I only have 1 stick of ram in there. FSB set correctly too.

have any more suggestions? this problem is really making me hate pc's...this is even my first one ever.

[Cricket]

Hi ricin97civic,

Remove the soundcard and modem.

Try booting directly from the WinME CD. Go into BIOS and in Advanced CMOS Setup set the boot order to CD-ROM first. Go into Standard CMOS Setup and set the IDE position the DVD is on to AUTO. Save and exit.

If that doesn't work, try replacing the IDE cables.

If that doesn't work, try another optical drive.

See if you can get another stick of RAM to test with.

What brand and wattage is the power supply?

:) Cricket

[ricin97civic]

sound card & modem are out.

power supply is 370W, have to check on brand...computer at a friends house now

optical driver?????

i'll try ide cable too.

thanks for help so far, hope my computer works soon

[Cricket]

Originally posted by ricin97civic
optical driver?????
Optical drive...CD-ROM, DVD, CD-RW. Do you have another you can swap in and install the OS with?

:) Cricket

[old dog]

I've had trouble installing Windows 98 on systems that the M/B has some type of Virus protection built into the bios. I found that disabeling it in the Bios before trying to install Windows cured my problem. HTH

[ricin97civic]

Thanks for the help! Got my computer up and running yesterday and it works great! Thanks again

[gladiator]

Originally posted by ricin97civic
Thanks for the help! Got my computer up and running yesterday and it works great! Thanks again

Hey ricin Glad to hear it, but can you tell us what you think the problem actually was and what you did to correct it so we all can know in case we have the same problem. Thanks

[ricin97civic]

well to be honest...i just put the jumpers on the hard drive to cable select and reformatted my hard drive into 2 partitions. that was pretty much it.