After first boot, what shall I do next?

[soarwitheagles]

I installed all the items except the video card and the firewire card....system boots right up thanks to all of you who told me how to do it right. I appreciate your help. Thank you.

Can anyone tell me what to do next and can you tell me if there is a specific logical order I should follow?

My system consists of the following components:

ESC P4M800PRO-M v.2
Intel 805D
Microfly clear case
Ultra 500 watt power supply with SLi ready and nice silver wires
PQI DDR RAM 512+512MB=1GB
PPA Firewire PCI Card
e-GeForce 6200 LE APG Video Card
Pioneer DVR-710 DVD/CD burner
Windows XP PRO
ThermaTake CPU Fan TR-2-M21-RX
Maxtor 120 GB ATA HD-8 MB CACHE
Maxtor 200 GB SATA HD-8 MB CACHE

thank you again!

It is me, your NANY!

From NANY

NANY= Not a Nerd...Yet

[soarwitheagles]

oh, i forgot to say I did install the XP PRO without any service packs so far. I also purchased the "Y" so both of the system fans can work. And last but not least, I also puchased an audio wire with plugs to connect between the DVD player and an audio plug on the MOBO.

Can you think of anything else?

It is me, your NANY!

[Khalil]

Why have you not installed the Video card yet?

[FLG]

If you want you can go ahead and put in the video card, or do it later...your choice. Go into the Bios, look at the boot order, and set it to boot off the CD Drive. Before you exit put the Win XP cd in. Exit the Bios "Saving" the changes. Wait a few seconds and you will get a "Press any key to boot from CD", press a key ......Proceed with installing windows.

Edit: Looks like im a bit late. Install the video card, and Firewire card. Also, update XP. Finally, just have fun with the new rig.

[Khalil]

Since you already installed XP did you install the mobo drivers? From the disk that came with the mobo?
Do that, make sure you got internet then do you XP Pro updates from microsft.
You can install video card first or do it after all the updates are done. i always install the video cards first.
Make sure and install the latest Drivers for the video card. The ones that come with it are not necessarily the newest.
Dont forget to get DirectX from microsoft website.

[soarwitheagles]

Khalil and FLG, thank you for the advice, I will immediately change the boot order as you suggested. I did not install the video card simply because I was not sure of the correct order and also I read somewhere that it is a good idea to install only the necessities first.

I want to proceed with the MOBO drivers but I read an article about lots of people having trouble with the upgraded version...

So this is where I am in this amazing process...

I am thankful because even though I haven't lots of budget, I waited 9 months and carefully read the ads each week and so far I am only out $259. Lots of the items were free after the FRY's rebate or near free.

So I am truly thankful to you for helping me come this far.

Thanks,

NANY

[FLG]

soar, disregard the boot order and everything else in the first paragraph of that post. I was only advising that if you had NOT installed windows yet.

Edit: Also as khalil said, install all the drivers for the devices. And there is no "Correct" order for installing devices, though you want the bare minimum when installing windows to minimize a problem that might be caused by a non essential device.

[soarwitheagles]

FLG, Thanks for the correction...I will make sure not to alter it.

[Marke522]

Everytime I reinstall windows on one of my own computers, I go this site and go through most of these steps.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/OptimizeXP.html

Some of the steps are redundant, and some of them are the same thing but with a different program. They are all good ideas, but this is not the 10 Commandments about build your own.

As Khalil said, ...After you install the video card, be sure to visit the manufacturers site for newer drivers. The one's on the cd are often outdated.

I usually also install Divx and Xvid, and AC3 Filter. Those files are needed to watch some avi files. But I have a tv tuner, so I have a lot more videos than normal people would.

[Khalil]

With ECS motherboard you might want to stick to the drivers that came on the CD. I had alot of trouble with the ECS website and their driver downloads. Make sure you go to http://nvidia.com to get your video card drivers, after you install it.

[soarwitheagles]

Mark, FLG, and Khalil, thanks again for your input. You guys are tech goldmines...I will do exactly as you said and for the first time I can see light at the end of the tunnel. I am beginning to believe this system really will work!

Much thanks again!

I will post the results!

your friendly neighborhood NANY