Help! New build won't boot from OS disk

[christhawk]

Putting together a brand-new build for a friend, my first solo attempt: AMD Athlon X2, 1 1GB stick of generic RAM, MSI Quadro-NVS 210S motherboard, Memorex CD-RW drive (52-32-52), 1 Seagate SATA/150 drive (200 GB, I think) and 1 Seagate IDE drive (20GB) that I salvaged from her old computer, video integrated on the motherboard (NVidia Quadro NVS), Acor 6-channel sound card. The case came with a pre-installed 480W power supply.

We got everything set up and I got into the BIOS just fine, and set it to boot from CD-ROM. However, when I rebooted the computer, it got through the boot screen and then just went to a blank screen with a blinking cursor. The CD drive spun when the PC booted up but was just idle when I expected the computer to be loading the Windows XP CD. I double-checked the BIOS but the settings were saved just like they were supposed to be. The connectors to the CD drive were fine, too. Help!

[minsonngo]

Start out with only the essentials... the motherboard... processor... one stick of memory... video card... power supply... one HDD (the one you want to install the OS on)... and one optical drive to boot from the OS CD.

What do you have the drives jumpered as?

Try swapping out the IDE or SATA cables in case one is defective.




Also list your system specs (brand and model) since it will help us troubleshoot your problem.

[Cricket]

How are the IDE drives set up? Both on separate IDE channels or on the same IDE channel?

What kind of IDE cable? 80 wire or 40 wire?

How are the IDE drives jumpered? Master/slave or CS (cable select)?

You might also want to disconnect anything not necessary while you're installing the OS.

And what brand is the power supply?

Cricket