Help with new/repair build if possible

[mbco2001]

Hi guys (and girls) - to start off with, Im new here so hello to all.

I am fairly newbie to any type of pc building. I DO have the knowledge to install a power supply, hard drives, cd drives, etc.

Now I had a custom pc built for me by a friend I met thru an online game about 2 years ago (maybe). I purchased all the parts from newegg.com and had them come here. After I had all the parts, I met this guy at his apartment for the build. The build went smooth, although longer than he stated it would. I was helping him the entire time until the CMOS/BIOS and windows were loaded (still dont know how to do that stuff). The PC was built to be a sort of middle-tier gaming machine. All I really wanted it for was a solid machine for Counter Strike (half life) and possibly 1-2 other games. He suggested all the parts below, and suggested overclocking it and all that stuff. I wasnt crazy about the overclocking part, and I believe thats where everything went wrong.

The PC ran fine for about 4-5 months then out of the blue, I started getting a clicking noise followed by BSODS (blue screen of death). I never did find out what it was. I had two hard drives, one which was storage. I unplugged it, and continued getting blue screens. Thats when I called him back up and said since the other drive had the OS on it, I couldnt unplug it to see if that was the solution so I suggested him telling me how to remove the overclocking. He said something about resetting the CMOS? or reflashing the BIOS? Hell I cant remember. Anyway, after that, the PC would just sit at a black screen the entire time. I tried to ship it back to him ( he moved off to college in another state) then I constantly got the runaround with it - ended up having him send it back and it was sent back in a disastorous state. Anyhow so now I just got finished remounting everything. I didnt have to bother the motherboard/CPU/heatsink combo because it was still seated together. I put the video card and sound cards back in, both hard drives, the cd drive, and reconnected all power leads.

Basically what I want to do is just have it run like a normal system you would buy from a store. Although some components may have been meant for overclocking or whatever, I beleive they should be fine running under normal conditions. So basically what I need to know is follows:

1) I will need help attaching the power sw, reset sw, hdd led, and power LED to the mother board because the writing on the board is confusing.

2) How can I totally reset the entire machine so that I can get a fresh boot?

3) Is there a way to format these drives without having to put them in a different machine ( I do not know how to do it thru dos)

4) And the memory is running in dual channel mode (I think their in slots 2 and 4)

5) and whatever other things you think I should do.

The parts in the machine are as follows;

Thermaltake VA3000 Dream Tower
DFI "LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D" NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra Chipset motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU
G Skill Dual Channel (1GB) PC4400 Memory
Creative Labs SB Audigy2 sound card
MSI NX-6600GT video card
AMD Athlon 3000+
ThermalRight XP-120 Heatsink
Enermax 120mm heatsink Fan.
Enermax CoolerGiant 460W power supply
Western Digital 2500jb 250Gbharddrive
Western Digital 1200jb 120GB hardrive
Western Digital 80GB hardrive
TDK 420N DRD+RW dvd writer
Total of 7 fans. Three on the power supply (rear, front, bottom), 1 on heatsink, 1 on rear of case, 1 on front of case, 1 on side of case.


If you guys need any more information, I can provide. I also do have a pretty good digital camera if I need pictures of anything.



EDIT:

Oh yeah quick note, forgot to add - I noticed on the RAM chip (the lone one I removed) the timings? on it showed 1.5 2 2 4

[Panama Red]

First off, welcome to PC Mech. I'm sure we can get you running again. My first suggestion is for you to find your motherboard manual and read it carefully. Most of your questions can be answered in there. If you don't have yours, you can download one from the DFI web site. Next, you'll need your copy of Windows XP. Hopefully, your "friend" didn't use a pirated copy and loaded it for you. If that is the case, you're going to need to purchase your own legit copy. You'll also need your mobo CD and all your other software in order to reload the system.

The clicking sound is ominous and never good. Sounds like one of your hard drives has failed. You can test it by downloading the diagnostic utility from WD. Your drives may still be under warranty as WD drives carry a 3 yr warranty - if they were purchased as OEM drives. Retail drives are only 1 year. Do you have another desk top pc you can use for testing? How bout a laptop or desktop that will burn cd's?

[mbco2001]

Ok I dont think I have the motherboard manual but I do recall seeing the cd (the UTILITY CD). Also, I do believe he installed a pirated version of windows BUT BUT BUT, I did buy a OEM version to reinstall on it, just never have. So I am prepared there ( I have a disk that was never used) unless he stole the SN from it when I sent it back to him to be repaired. I wont know until I try to install it.

The clicking sound was always weird. I thought it to be a hard drive but never knew. I used to try to run the diagnostics, but when I'd do that, it'd blue screen me. I never got thru the entire diagnostics. Im not sure if it was the drive there though, because I could usually only get about 5-6 minutes worth of any type of use before it'd blue screen. I have 3 other PCs here in the house, so access wont be a problem. And yeah they all burn cds.


Just from reading other posts, Im assuming I can reset the motherboard by pulling out the little silver battery for around 30 minutes?

[Panama Red]

Pulling the battery is one way but the faster and better way is to use the proper jumper. You'd be miles ahead to download your manual from DFI and save it on another pc so you have it handy. Alll your jumpers, bios settings and wiring connections will be much easier.

Best way to test a hard drive is outside of Windows with a boot disk. The Ultimate Boot CD contains many free diagnostic programs including all the hdd maker's diagnostics.

Just an after thought. Check your mobo driver/software CD for a manual. Sometimes board makers have a manual on the cd.

[mbco2001]

Ok I believe I have open what you want me to have open. It is the file from the cd in the "manual" folder named "LP NF4.pdf" and shows introduction, setup features, hardware installation, bios setup, supported software and troubleshooting.

I may be able to get a small bit done with this, but keep in mind I dont know what half of this stuff means. I never messed with CMOS or BIOS options ever before.

I am on the page that says CLEAR CMOS DATA and it does indeed show something about a jumper.

To shorten the whole process, could you recommend which of these pages to print? I know you cant see them, but what particular topics should I print?

Furthermore...to test these drives - would I be forced to install them into another pc? That seems to be a little too aggravating to do to test it. Or will I be able to test them from the boot cd that you were speaking of?


I apologize for constantly updating this post but I keep thinking of more I need to include.. While re-connecting the motherboard, I noticed there was another power-cord slot that I wasnt sure if it was supposed to be connected. I know you have to connect the main-plug, the big one, from the power supply but this spot has a typical 4-pin slot as the same as you would use on the back of a hard drive or cdrom. If you take a look at the following link, glance slightly to the right of the board fan and where the board fan plugs into the board its right by that. Is that supposed to accept a power cord from the power supply? I put one there, because it only made sense but I want to make sure I dont blow something up. Also, later on down the road, I may need help with where the Power Sw, RESET sw, hdd led, and power led wires go. I know, according to the picutre, they go on the lower left hand corner's pins, but the wording on the board is confusing. I dont know where either color goes, or if I plug left-to-right or top-to-bottom.

http://www.dfi.com.tw/Upload/Product...4%20SLI-D1.jpg

Ive found a useful link of the motherboard here :

http://www.dfi.com.tw/Product/xx_pro...YPE=LP&SITE=US

[Panama Red]

I downloaded the manual from your second link. Page 61 describes the use of the 4 pin molex type connector that is mounted on the mobo. It is only needed when using 2 vid cards. Page 23 tells you how to clear the cmos. The boot cd allows you to test the hard drives in place.

[mbco2001]

Originally Posted by Panama Red I downloaded the manual from your second link. Page 61 describes the use of the 4 pin molex type connector that is mounted on the mobo. It is only needed when using 2 vid cards. Page 23 tells you how to clear the cmos. The boot cd allows you to test the hard drives in place.

Oh man, that answers two questions in one. Its just so hard to see these pdfs sometimes. I now know about that single plug, and where the switches (power led, power sw, etc) go. Once I reset the bios, where do I go from there? I know I hit del to get into the main screen I believe. Once I reset the CMON via the jumper, is everything reset or what else should I do?

[Panama Red]

Once you reset the cmos, have a boot disk with a hdd diagnostics on it (like the UBCD) in the cd drive and boot to the disk. Then test your hdd's. I'd leave the bios settings at default for now and worry about the hdd's first. You may need to enter the bios if the cd drive isn't set to boot before the hdd's.

[mbco2001]

Originally Posted by Panama Red Once you reset the cmos, have a boot disk with a hdd diagnostics on it (like the UBCD) in the cd drive and boot to the disk. Then test your hdd's. I'd leave the bios settings at default for now and worry about the hdd's first. You may need to enter the bios if the cd drive isn't set to boot before the hdd's.

Do I need to power on the system with the CMOS jumper set to the reset position or is this done, reset, even when powered off?

[Panama Red]

From page 29 of the manual:

To load the default values stored in the ROM BIOS, please follow
the steps below.
1. Power-off the system.
2. Set JP2 pins 2 and 3 to On. Wait for a few seconds and set JP2
back to its default setting, pins 1 and 2 On.
3. Now power-on the system.

I said page 23 in my earlier post but that is wrong. Power off means unplug the power cord from the wall or the psu.

[mbco2001]

Ok Im going to go ahead and try to power the system on. I will startup the laptop to keep me connected. Hopefully you're not too busy and wont mind hanging around a bit. I appreciate all the help by the way.

[Panama Red]

I'll keep checkin on ya. I'll be in and out.

[mbco2001]

Ive noticed the HS fan isnt turning. It initially moves but then stops... Also, the black screen still appears and does nothing.

[Panama Red]

I think it's time to start from the beginning. You'll need to remove the mobo from the case and follow the directions in this thread to determine if you have a core component failure.

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=132409

[mbco2001]

Ok, maybe that fan controll itself because now its turning. I am in the Genie BIOS screen but have no idea what any of this means.

[mbco2001]

The pdf says to set the clock/ratio to default but I see nothing about that.

Ok I went to load optimized defaults, saved, and exit. I put the cd in the drive but Im not even sure I loaded it correctly. When the pc restarted, it shows Verifying dmi pool data Backup CMON OK!

Error Loading OS

[Panama Red]

Leave the Genie Bios alone and just find the Boot Priority. Make sure the CD/dvd drive is listed before the hard drive so you can boot from a cd. Make sure to save any changes when you exit the bios. Have you made a boot cd yet so you can analyse the hdd's?

[mbco2001]

I burned the iso to disk that I downloaded from westerndigital.com the utility will work with both my wd800jb and wd2500jb. Its just not booting from the cd I take it.

Ok I must have forgot to save when I exited. And somehow my 2nd disk drive, the storage drive, it was looking for windows on it first. Anyhow, Ive reset the boot order to cd rom, hd1 (with window) and then the storage drive. It went thru a series of things, now I sit in dos at an A:\ prompt.

[Panama Red]

You can't just burn the iso like any other file. You have to use software that will burn the image to the disk. What software did you use to burn it?

[mbco2001]

Nero

I totally suck with dos prompts but when at the A:\ I typed dir and it shows


Volume in drive a is dos_boot
directory of a:\

command com
dr dos dir
oak dir
nr dir
wwbmu exe
readme txt
dconfig sys
autodos7 bat

[Panama Red]

With Nero you should be able to just click on the iso file from its stored location and Nero should open with the option to burn the iso to disk. You pop in the cd and burn the image.
A: is the floppy drive. I don't understand why you are using the dos commands. Did you make a CD from the iso or did you make a boot floppy from a different file?

[mbco2001]

I dont have a floppy drive so I have to burn it on cd

[Panama Red]

Cool, that's the easy way. If the iso burned properly and the cd drive is first in the boot order, it should boot to the hdd diagnostics then. If you have two cd drives and your bios has an option to boot from either depending on their boot priority, make sure you are putting the cd in the correct drive.

[mbco2001]

The cd is in the drive but it keeps booting to the hard drive with windows.... Keeps restarting itself back to the windows did notshut down properly prompt...Like its not picking up the disk in the cd drive

AHA It does a fairly loud "click" then the machine restarts.

[Panama Red]

Either the disk is bad or the cd isn't first in the Boot Priority. If you have your XP cd handy, pop it in and try to boot. BUT LISTEN CAREFULLY - if you get a prompt to "press any key to boot from the CD...." DO NOT hit a key. We just want to determine if the cd drive is the first boot device. If it does offer to boot from the XP cd, the WD diagnostic disk is the problem. If it doesn't boot from the XP cd, the Boot Priority is wrong.

[mbco2001]

It boots from the windows xp home edition cd fine.. Automatically goes into setup so I just turned the pc off.

I am using the download from
http://support.wdc.com/download/inde...&pid=3&swid=53

Its possible I may be burning it wrong

[mbco2001]

OH damn thats the problem. I downoaded the "tools" instead of the diagnostics

Then again the only file saved on my pc is the diagnostics.

[Panama Red]

Try this instead. The UBCD is a much better tool.

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

[mbco2001]

Originally Posted by Panama Red Try this instead. The UBCD is a much better tool. http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

Ok - fastest download I could find was serverninjas.200+kbps

Do I need to keep this other cd that I created from western digital?

[Panama Red]

nope, toss it.