First gaming rig build... bluescreen on startup

[supertrooper]

MSI K9A2 Platinum mobo
ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics card Crossfire Capable (waiting on second card)
AMD quad-core Phenom x2 3.0 gHz Black Edition CPU with cooling fan
Corsair 2x2gb RAM with cooling fans
Corsair 750w PSU
CoolerMaster HAF 932 Full Tower Black Case w/ 3x230mm fans, 1x120mm fan

I just finished my build of my in progress gaming rig, and by in progress I mean I still want another video card to go crossfire.

I installed everything carefully and consulted the motherboard manual on every step.

I bootup the computer and either of two happens depending if I have the HDD hooked up:

w/HDD: I get an error that roughly tells me "windows had to be shutdown to prevent damge to your system. If this is the first tiem you've seen this message, restart your computer. If not, check for viruses, and run a CHKDSK /F on your HDD."

Then it gives me a few numbers like (oxooooo3a0v) or something like that

w/o HDD: Please insert bootdisk into selected boot device. press any key.....
I've tried inserting my AMD Chipset Drivers/Utilities cd, but when i press any key it just puts the same message up under the first. Then I try inserting my Windows XP cd and it does the same thing.....



I've went into the BIOS and made sure Date/Time/etc. were all set correctly. I then checked the Optimum Performance box.

tried again, same result both w/ and w/o hdd..


Could it be from my HDD being from my old dell and still having all of my old info on it? should I get a new HDD? Do I need to set something different in the BIOS?

I am utterly confused, and seeing as I leave for bootcamp in a month, I have a limited tiem to get this rig up and running before my time runs out for exchanging parts if they happen to be at fault.

Please Help!!

Thanks

[Masaki 7-11]

Did you install an operating system on your hard drive after you got your computer built?

[supertrooper]

I cant even get that far. If I have the HDD hooked up at all it goes to the screen that gives me the option of starting windows in safe mode regular, w/ networking, and w/ command prompt or normal.

any selection causes a blue screen to appear that is a stop message telling me that windows had to be closed to prevent damage to my computer and to check for viruses, remove all hdd and hdd controllers, and make sure that the hdd is ?terminated?.

[Masaki 7-11]

Seems to me that the problem is the hard drive. If you have an OS installed on the hard drive, you won't be able to boot from it with your computer as the parts are different. What you'll want to do is grab an OS disc (linux is a good option if you don't have a windows OS and don't want to spend the money), put it in the optical drive and get into the bios. In the bios you'll want to change the boot priority so that the optical drive will boot first, this will make it so that you can install the OS; make sure that you backup any data you have on your current drive before you do this as it will get wiped when installing the OS.

[supertrooper]

hopefully i can get a new hdd tomorrow. thinking about a WD 1TB 32mb Cache 3.0gb/s.

now when i dont have the hdd hooked up it goes all the way to a screen that reads
"reboot computer and select proper boot device, insert boot media into selected boot device, press any key"

then i insert either my xp cd or the MSI chipset drivers and utilities cd and both cds have no response. the message just pops up again another line down

I always thought you could boot a pc from the disk even without a hdd? unless you cant do that if its a fresh build?

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by supertrooper hopefully i can get a new hdd tomorrow. thinking about a WD 1TB 32mb Cache 3.0gb/s. now when i dont have the hdd hooked up it goes all the way to a screen that reads "reboot computer and select proper boot device, insert boot media into selected boot device, press any key" then i insert either my xp cd or the MSI chipset drivers and utilities cd and both cds have no response. the message just pops up again another line down I always thought you could boot a pc from the disk even without a hdd? unless you cant do that if its a fresh build?

You can boot from a pc from the disc without a hdd, however you should change the boot priority so that the optical drive is first. You'll need to have the cd inside the PC before the message pops up; if you have that message popup and have the cd inside, just restart the computer once. The MSI chipset drivers and utilities isn't bootable. Does the XP cd that you have work in other computers to boot from?

[supertrooper]

i already went into the BIOS and set the primary boot to my disc drive. i restarted and same outcome. the boot disc is what i have used in 2 other computers i own

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by supertrooper i already went into the BIOS and set the primary boot to my disc drive. i restarted and same outcome. the boot disc is what i have used in 2 other computers i own

Is the optical drive recognized in the BIOS?

[supertrooper]

yup it comes up in the BIOS just fine and I enabled it and everything. Maybe once I solve one problem, the other may go away? wish that could happen lol

[Masaki 7-11]

See if you can get a LiveCD version of Linux and try booting from that; LiveCDs don't need a hard drive and you can use it to make sure your computer is running fine before you install an OS to the hard drive.

[not important]

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

[glc]

Could it be from my HDD being from my old dell and still having all of my old info on it?

Yes, it needs to be wiped. Dell hard drives have 3 or 4 partitions and cannot be reused as is without a wipe and fresh install. However, you have to get the optical drive booting first. You CANNOT use a Dell XP CD either. It should boot, but you cannot do a legal install with it on a non-Dell computer.

Is the hard drive and optical SATA or IDE?

[supertrooper]

i just got a WD Caviar 500gb SATA hd 7200/16mb/sata-3g from compusa this morning tried booting again and i no longer get any hardrive errors.

the optical drive i am using is IDE, planning on getting a sata one soon (strapped for cash at the moment)

i have a feeling that a sata optical coupled with a nondell xp cd will do the trick

still giving me the problem of insert boot disk into selected boot device message as is....
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UPDATE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I did it!!!!!!! I got windows to install correctly. Turns out my mothers computer aso has an MSI mobo so I used her copy of xp pro and everything went smoothly. Now there is ANOTHER problem... I tried running the MSI Drivers and Utilities CD but it just kind of sits there for a few minutes and tells me that the DiskReadWrite was only able to partially read or something (sorry for being unclear, I am now at work) so I have a feeling I need to swap my optical drive from my old comp over to the new one. Maybe that will fix the prob......if not then looks like I'll be going to CompUsa yet again to get a cd drive.......second time today

[supertrooper]

Well, I swapped in another cd drive and all is well in geek land. drivers all fully installed the pc is running like a dream.....

does it help to know that Im on my new rig right now? lol I am extremely happy with my first build!!!!

Thanks for all the help you guys!!