HDD not recognized after build

[mills1972@msn.com]

Hello all,

I have recently purchased new mobo, cpu, psu, ram, and case to build/update from 6yr old pc.

mobo - MSI model# P4M900M2
cpu - Intel Core 2 Duo
psu - Cooler Master extreme power 430W
ram - PNY tech 2 sticks of 512MB DDR2
case - Compusa el cheapo, and tried old gateway case too.
hdd - Seagate ultra ata 160GB approx. 1yr old. can read in case as external drive on this pc.
cd/dvd - original with gateway cdrom-rw and plextor dvd/cd-rw mn: PX-740A
monitor - only 2 months old MAG widescreen

*note - hdd and optical drives worked in old pc and worked good before.

first try -
1. everything installed in old GW case, powered up and no post. Fans working, hdd spinning, optical drives lights on and doors open. Had dad and 2 uncles work with me on this. Cleared CMOS by changing jumpers. PC would post. CMOS checksum bad error. Could access BIOS. None of the drives were detected.

2. tried just mobo, cpu, psu, mouse, keyboard, 1 stick of ram, and hdd only. powered up and no post. cleared CMOS. PC would post. CMOS checksum bad error. Could access BIOS. HDD not detected. (dad reseated everything at this stage as well)

3. Repeat of #2 only swapped out IDE cable. Same results as before.

4. Tried Sata HDD (my uncles, he took out of working pc). All other items same as #2, and got same results as #2.

5. Tried different case. Old GW case had to short out power switch pins to turn on. Different case, used power switch supplied. All other items same as #2 (including hdd). Same results as #2.

6. Dad and uncle checked various locations for voltage with multi-meter. All checked out.

Gave up on this set up. Went and bought another set (mobo and cpu only) that is identical with the hopes that I would bring the first set back as a return. So new mobo and cpu and it does the same exact thing. With almost all exact steps from above repeated. I did try one more thing (with first mobo and cpu), out of case. Same results, no post first. Clear CMOS via jumpers. Post with checksum bad error, access to bios and hdd not detected. Also tried this with only the dvd drive. same results.

any suggestions would be helpful. Tech Support at MSI seems more ignorant about this stuff than I. I believe that this is too coincidental to be either mobo and/or cpu.

[flanzig1]

Would try the boot without a HD connected. Then you can get into the BIOS and set boot order to CD first. If you are using a new IDE data cable(80 wire) with the HD, set the jumper on the HD to CS(cable select) and connect to the black connector/blue goes to the mobo.

[mills1972@msn.com]

ok just tried the boot up with no drives. had to clear CMOS again. restarted, entered bios and only drive available for boot priority is the floppy drive. I cannot choose the cd drive, nor hdd. Actually there are no options available for the hdd or cd-rw.

also, during the multiple scenarios in previous posts, jumpers on all drives were tried on both master and cable select.

[TwoRails]

Originally Posted by mills1972@msn.com ... had to clear CMOS again. ...

Why did you have to clear the CMOS again? Might be a defective mobo...

[mills1972@msn.com]

but 2 defective mobo's? have to do that on both mobo's bought. same model number and identical cpu's as they were sold as bundles. oh, and battery was checked on first mobo, and is outputting 3.15v.

[flanzig1]

Sounds like something screwy with the BIOS. It should list ALL boot items that the BIOS/motherboard supports.
Try pulling the CMOS battery(with power unplugged) for 10 minutes or so and then reinstall and try a boot.

[mills1972@msn.com]

alright. in the midst of doing this. while i'm waiting the 10 minutes, I would like to say that I have pulled the battery before as well and still had to clear CMOS. One other thing, while on the phone with tech support, they did say that there was a newer version of bios, but it didn't resolve the issue that I am currently having. My thoughts are the same as yours flanzig1, there is something screwy with the bios.

[mills1972@msn.com]

okay. waited actually longer than 10 minutes. reset battery, powered up. still the same thing. will not recognize hdd or cd-rw. boot priority only gives me one choice, floppy.

Question: I thought that I read somewhere that sometimes you have to boot to the a drive and change something in bios to be able to change boot priority. does that sound right? I can't remember where I saw it though.

[doubledragon5]

MSI isn't the greatest mb out there. Sounds like you have two bad ones in a row.. You might consider a board from ASUS there top tier and good quality..

[mills1972@msn.com]

boy, I guess it is time to bite the bullet and take the 2nd purchased board back.

ASUS - with same specs from 1st post which board would you recommend?

currently looking at model P5LD2 R2.0, but I am not sure of compatability. Is there one website that I can virtually build a pc and it will let me know if all is compatible?