New Build-Need Help

[thorlo6]

Here's the heads up guys: Rosewill Ranger M MicroAtx Case, Pentium G640 Sandy Bridge 2.8GHz LGA 1155 Dual Core Desktop CPU with HD Graphics, Biostar H61MHB H61 LGA1155 HDMI MicroAtx MB, Antec NEO ECO 400 Watt PSU, EVGA GeForce GT 520 (Fermi) 2GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Video Card, PNY Optima 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory, SYBA SD-PEX63034 7.1 Channels 24-bit 48KHz PCI Express x1 Interface Surround Sound Digital/Analog Audio Card, and my HDD I am using is a Hitachi 7200 RPM 500 GB with MS WIN XP Home edition with Sp 3 already installed. When I try to start my system up, it gets to the welcome page and then a box comes up stating "This copy of windows must be activated. Do you want to activate now? yes/no. My motherboard only has one plug in for either a keyboard or a mouse but not both at one time. Also if you plug in a mouse and not a keyboard it doesn't recognize the mouse, and it disables the USB ports during this time so you can't use a USB wireless mouse. Using the keyboard and the arrows you can click on yes or no, but if you click no it just sits there going no further. If you click yes, it does the same thing. I did get the activate windows screen to come up one time, but without a mouse you can't click on any of the buttons and I don't know what to do at this point. I wanted to use my Win7 Ult upgrade, but without my Win XP being activated on this PC I'm not sure I could get it to work. Can any body help me? I need help very fast since Newegg only gives you 30 days to return software and I am approaching the deadline fast, like Aug. 4. That is if I have to return my OS.

[Khalil]

Where is the windows COA sticker? If your motherboard only has one PS2 plug then use it for the keyboard and buy a USB mouse.
If you have the windows xp COA sticker with the Key Code then you can upgrade to Windows 7 Home. I believe you will need Windows XP Pro to upgrade to Ultimate.

[thorlo6]

Khalil, that's one of the problems, the USB's are being disabled by the MB. I have a wireless USB mouse. Also I have the sticker, it's the MB that isn't recognizing the OS and asking for it to be activated. The OS, WinXP home ed. has been on that HDD for like 2 years in my old PC. So, anything else? Oh, according to Microsoft, my version of WinXP is ok to "upgrade". It's not a true upgrade for WinXP, you lose all your programs unless you move them to anothe ext. HDD.

[glc]

Activation is NOT required.

You are going to have to back up your files, because the upgrade process from XP to 7 WILL WIPE THE DRIVE.

Boot it with the Win 7 DVD to do the "upgrade".

[thorlo6]

I've got a major problem with my new build. It consists of the following:Rosewill Ranger M MicroAtx Case, Pentium G640 Sandy Bridge 2.8GHz LGA 1155 Dual Core Desktop CPU with HD Graphics, Biostar H61MHB H61 LGA1155 HDMI MicroAtx MB, Antec NEO ECO 400 Watt PSU, EVGA GeForce GT 520 (Fermi) 2GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Video Card, PNY Optima 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory, SYBA SD-PEX63034 7.1 Channels 24-bit 48KHz PCI Express x1 Interface Surround Sound Digital/Analog Audio Card, and my HDD I am using is a Hitachi 7200 RPM 500 GB with MS WIN XP Home edition with Sp 3 already installed. My problem is this: I went into my BIOS and told it to boot from my DVD drive which I had placed my Win7 Ult. DVD. It starts to boot from the DVD installs files from the DVD, it then just stops and nothing works my USB ports shut down, my keyboard goes off and the HDD stops and the DVD drive stops. Nothing and I mean nothing is working except the fans and the Windows LOGO on my monitor. Can anybody tell me what I need to do. I'm sure what is wrong at this point.

[glc]

Threads merged, please don't start new threads. Thank you.

[jdeb]

Sounds like a BIOS issue. Have you ever been able to get into Windows? You may have got a flaky board, it does happen occasionally. I have had good luck with Biostar but you can get a dud with them or any manufacturer. Asus is my preferred brand, Gigabyte 2nd, and Biostar 3rd and used for the majority of my budget builds. I have not encountered that issue with the H61MHB board and I have used 4 of them in builds.

[glc]

Looks like was able to get to the Welcome screen with his XP load.

The fact that the USB is shutting down is leading me to bad hardware. I'd probably pull the video card and sound card and see if that allows the install to complete. Do not connect ANY peripherals or USB devices except monitor, keyboard, mouse, and network cable during the install.

[thorlo6]

Finally got some beep codes from the MB. Went to Biostar's website and downloaded the manual. According to the beep code I got the manual said I had bad RAM. Already RMAed Newegg for new RAM.

[glc]

Doesn't surprise me - PNY isn't the ideal ram for that board.

[thorlo6]

Hi guys, just to update you, I got my new RAM, installed it and was up and running in just a few minutes. I tried upgrading to Win 7 Ult., followed the prompts was up and running in just a few minutes. What is taking a long time is reinstalling all my programs and files. The only downside is I can't move my videos from the ext. HDD to my new rig. It will only let me copy them and that won't work for digital copies. It has to be physically moved from one HDD to another or they won't work. Bummer!