new PC wont complete boot

[dumpy]

Hi,

I am having problems getting a new PC to complete Boot Up.

I built a PC last year, no problems but during the year changed Gigabyte mobo for an Asus. The Gigabyte mobo had been sitting on a shelf in its original anti static bag and box etc until now when I want to build a PC for my sister.

Assembly was no problem. Everything seems to light up and whir correctly, fans work etc and I have left PC on for periods of 20 mins or so and no overheating or funny noises etc. However the problem is I can’t get the PC past the initial POST and then boot off the CD or FDD.

On initial POST power LED comes on, HDD LED comes on 4-5 secs, CD LED comes on 4-5 secs then FDD LED comes on. Both HDD and CD LED’s then off but FDD LED stays on and remains on. Boot sequence is CD, HDD then FDD in bios.

RAM LED on mobo is on

On POST one beep, Keybd LED’s flash then num lock LED remains on.

Monitor shows the POST, counts/reports memory correctly, starts PCI Devices Listing gets to ACPI Controller at IRQ9 then that’s it, next line cursor just sits and blinks.

On POST CD starts to whir, can open and close door but does not fire up to read Win XP cd, so I cannot use the CD to boot. I have put CD and cable and Win XP in another computer and all work fine.

On POST HDD as it is new and unformatted won’t boot from there.

On POST FDD found and LED lights up floppy starts to whir as ‘usual’ then ‘as usual‘ whirring stops but LED remains on. I cannot get the FDD to boot off a floppy Boot disk and also therefore can’t run a memtest. I have put FDD and cable in another PC and both work fine. IDE cable thin red line on pin1.

On POST the monitor correctly displays Diskette drive A, Pri Master disk LBA ATA 100, Sec Master Disk DVD-RW, ATA 33.

In BIOS CMOS correctly shows IDE Pri Master and IDE Sec Master and Drive A floppy. Advanced BIOS shows boot sequence CDROM, HDD, FDD, boot up floppy seek enabled. PC health status CPU temp 42c. I have tried what I think are all possible combinations of Boot sequence and have disconnected FDD just to try CD on its own but still no luck

Is there anyone out there with a clue as to what is going on?

The PC is as follows

1 x SUPER CASE PC-326 (3 in 1) ATX Middle Tower Case/Wireless Keyboard + Mouse + 11-1 Card Reader in White/Gray with P4 350W PSU
1 x Gigabyte K7 Triton GA-7S748-L motherboard Socket A
1 x AMD Sempron 2400+ Processor Skt A 256Cache 333FSB
2 x Kingston 256MB DDR PC2700 333MHz 184pin Non-ECC CL2.5 Memory Module
1 x Connect3d 9250 SE 64Mb DDR 64bit VGA + TV AGP
1 x Sony 3.5 Floppy Drive - OEM
1 x Seagate ST380011A Barracuda 80GB 7200RPM ATA/100 2MB Cache – OEM
1 x NEC ND-4550 16x DVD RW/RAM Double Layer Internal IDE - OEM
1 x Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition inc SP2 - OEM

N.B. I am not using the cordless keyboard and mouse yet – am using known good ps2 keyboard and mouse. I have a cable from the front case panel marked 1394 that I do not know where to plug.

Sorry question so long but I have tried to include as much relevant info as I can.

Help please anyone

[glc]

If the light doesn't go off on the floppy drive, it's not cabled correctly. The end at the drive is backwards. Flip it over.

How is the DVD drive jumpered - MA, SL, or CS? What type of cable is it on - 40 or 80 wire?

Discoonect the card reader and any other USB devices for now.

Put the FDD before the HDD in the boot order.

1394 is Firewire. If your board doesn't have a front panel Firewire header, tie it off.

[dumpy]

Thanks GLC,

I have swapped cable ends: got error "floppy disk fail (40)" and LED lit as soon as powered up, not with delay. I think the cable is now incorrect.

DVD jumpered on master.

Have disconnected the card reader and have no other USB devices.

I have tried FDD, CD, HDD in the past but have changed bios setting to this.

I suspected 1394 was redundant for my set up but mentioned just in case it was relevant.

[dumpy]

After switching boot sequence in bios to FDD, CD, HDD tried to reboot still got FDD fail error as above but entered F1 to continue and CD now booting

Win XP setting up, only had the option to format using NTFS (I thought I would have an option to format FAT32).

will keep you informed but FDD probably still not working correctly, FDD LED stilll permanantly on.

[dumpy]

HDD formatted, WinXP installed no problem but each time PC reboots I get the same "floppy disk fail (40)" error. pressing F1, skipping CD boot gets PC to boot from HDD.

Have changed BIOS setting to boot sequence HDD,CD,FDD and floppy seek to 'disable'. On hard boot now PC sets up OK and runs WinXP perfectly OK to start up......... but windows FDD still not working correctly, FDD LED stilll permanantly on from the first second of power on.

I want to proceed with setting up mobo chipset utilities, graphics card CD etc but have still not plugged front panel USB back in and want to sort out FDD error first. (or should I disconnect it completely for now whilst I continue to set up PC?)

[glc]

The floppy is still not cabled correctly. Verify Pin 1 correctly oriented at motherboard, twisted end of cable nearest the floppy drive, and connector not off 1 row of pins.

[dumpy]

Thanks again glc,

I looked at the cabling and reversed the cable connection to the FDD and PC boots up fine. Have run memtest from floppy and memory all Ok. Have checked FDD several times and am happy is OK. Have changed boot sequence to HDD, CD, Floppy and 'disable' floppy seek. Have not run installation CD's yet for chipset or graphics card.

There are 3 cables form the case front panel:-

1st is the 1394 Firewire so disregard.
2nd is audio, when plugged back into motherboard all boots up OK.
3rd is the USB for 11-1 Card Reader, when plugged in PC fails to complete boot, gets stuck after after PCI Devices Listing, before verifying pool data.

Any suggestions?

[glc]

Go into the bios and turn off USB boot capability. Make sure you have that cable connected correctly.

[dumpy]

Have disabled USB controller, there is only one way for the front panel USB plug to connect with the mobo (plug has one filled female and mobo socket is -1 male pin). Have plugged in and with this setup all boots ok, but USB/card reader at front does not work.

What next?

[glc]

If you enable the controller and it still hangs, either the reader itself is defective or you need to disable boot from USB devices.

[dumpy]

Thanks for that.

Yes the PC does still hang if 'enable' USB controller is reset in bios.

By "disable boot from USB devices" do you mean remove any USB device from the initial boot sequence? If so, none are included in that sequence, I have only 3 included, HDD,CD and FDD.

I guess then that the USB reader is defective, I have already forewarned ebuyer that the tower case etc probably is defective and will get replacement. Do you agree?

[glc]

Before giving up, look around the bios some more - there are some that have other entries that affect USB boot capability.