New Build - Couple Of Problems & Observations

[RPaul]

Hello everyone, put my new build together last night and I've got a few things I'd like some help with and that may be of use to others:

1) The spec of the build:

• 1X XFX nForce 790i Socket 775 3 way SLI 1600FSB DDR3 onboard audio ATX Motherboard
• 1X Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz (FSB 1333 MHz) Socket 775 L2 12MB Cache
• 1X Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz/PC3-10666 XMS3 DHX Memory Kit
• 2X Seagate ST3500320NS 500GB Hard Drive SATA 32MB Cache
• 1X XFX GTX260 896MB GDDR3 Dual DVI HDCP HDTV out PCI-E Graphics Card
• 1X Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro 7.1 Soundcard - PCI-Express
• 1X Tagan 900W BZ PipeRock Modular PSU
• 1X Zalman CNPS 9700 LED Socket 754, 940, 775, 939 & AM2 CPU cooler
• 1X Antec 900 Case

2) Observations:

• First thing I noticed is that the Antec case does not give a good fit to the XFX mobo as it could do with going 5mm furthur towards the rear of the case as you cant secure the PCI/E slots onto the case without flexing the case & mobo slightly.
• Power supply has to be mounted upsidedown to allow the cooling fan to have a clear intake because of its position at the bottom of the case. This also means that some cables are at full extension to clear other components on the mobo.

3) Issue:

Not with the physical build but Vista won't allow me to select either of the Seagate harddrives to segment for a new install - im at a loss as to why this might be? Do I require extra drivers for the hardrive and Vista? There are jumpers on the rear of the harddrive but they are not marked and I don't have a manual - could anyone tell me what the jumpers are for?

Any advice welcomed.

Apart from that im hoping to get the rig running perfectly tonight. Will post up some pictures once im done.

[RPaul]

One other observation:

Due to nature of the heatsink arrangement arround the 775 Socket area; installing a large aftermarket heatsik, such as the Zalman one, is a nightmare. I required a universal jointed attachment to get around the sinks at the screw points.

[MrDravenX]

Since the drives are SATA drives than the jumpers shouldn't make a difference. The jumpers on the back are to configure the HDD as a Prime or slave drive if I'm not mistaken.

[minsonngo]

The jumpers on the back of the Seagate SATA hard drives are set by factory to limit the drives to SATA150.

Pull out the jumpers to enable SATA300 on the drives if your motherboard supports it.

[MrDravenX]

I had a feeling I was wrong. Learning as I go along here. Actually I think I was thinking of something else.

[shadowpr]

Have you tried just connecting one hard drive while you install windows?

Does bios see the hard drive?

[RPaul]

Originally Posted by shadowpr Have you tried just connecting one hard drive while you install windows? Does bios see the hard drive?

Windows and the bios both register both HDD and correctly state size however the error I get when trying to do a clean install is: "Windows is unable to find a system volume that meets its criteria for installation."

I have also removed the jumpers off both HDD as stated.

[RPaul]

Just to say I solved the problem thanks to your suggestion shadowpr: disconnected one HHD during windows install and it's loading the OS as I type. Much appreciated. Will reconnect the second HDD after I have a stable copy of Vista on one.

[shadowpr]

Cool.

My other suggestion was going to be make sure that you have them set to ide mode in bios.