!!! Newb Needs Help Trying To Boot Up Newly Built Pc !!!

[BIGKIRK333]

Alright, let me start with saying I needed a PC capable of handling Audio and possibly some mild video work. I also enjoy a little online gamming from time to time. I decided to build my own PC because I knew that by buying seperate componets I would be able build a computer to satisfy all my needs. So here is what I purchased:
Intel D875PBZLK i875P P4 (800FSB) Skt478 DDR ATX Motherboard w/Gigabit LAN, RAID/Serial ATA

Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 Processor 3GHz, 800MHz FSB, Socket 478

(2) Kingston HyperX KHX3500/512 512MB DDR433 PC3500 Memory w/Heat Spreader

IBM (Hitachi) Deskstar 180GXP 120GB ATA100 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer

Mitsumi 1.44MB 3.5in Internal Floppy Disk Drive (Black)

Gainward FX PowrPack! Ultra/780 TV/DVI GeForce FX 5600 AGP 8X 256MB DDR Video Card w/TV-Out & DVI

Creative Labs Sound Card Audigy 2 Platinum

Antec soho Mid Tower 400 watt Server Case

Unfortunately I have very little computer expierence, but I decided to try it anyways. The install was incredibly simple. Everything was fairly explainable, which was good since the only good manuals that came with anything were the video/audio and dvd/cd. But I am having problems getting it to run. It powers up, gives me product info on the video card, then gives me product info about the mobo, then it says "Reboot and select proper boot device or Insert proper media into boot device". I can get into BIOS by physically changing the mobo, but once inside I'm not really even sure of what to be looking for. It has my boot device as 1.44 " , it has my RAM amount correct, it has my processor speed and bus speed correct. But it doesn't have my HDD or my cd/dvd comming up on either IDE.(HDD-primary, CD/DVD-secondary) Does that have something to do with RAID? I am really unfamilar with RAID. And should the motherboard have come with some sort of boot disk? So, if anyone has ran into something like this please feel free to leave some advice. I imagine it's something simple but this is as far as my knowledge of computers can take me!

[Markoman01027]

Hello BIGKIRK333 & welcome to PC MECH forums!

Make sure if you are not using RAID, to disable RAID in the BIOS.

Check all cables on all channels.
Make sure both IDE channels are enabled in the BIOS.
Hope that helps!

[BIGKIRK333]

Yeah, RAID is disabled. And both IDE's cable have been quadruple checked and their channels are on. Thanks for your input!

[Markoman01027]

Are you using ATA 100 Cable on the hard drive? Does the BIOS detect it then?

[got_ammo]

Have you installed windows xp yet? (I'm assuming you are getting windows and not linux). If not, you need to go into your bios and set the first boot up device to cdrom. Then, put in your windows xp installation cd and reboot your computer. When you bootup a windows xp installation screen should start, and from there you can format your hard drives and install windows xp. This process will take some time to do, but when you are finished it will reboot and then boot into windows xp. Once in the operating system, install all of your drivers that came with your components. Update drivers via the web if necessary, and then you should be good to go! Oh, and once you have installed, set your first boot device to 1.44, second to hdd-0 (the first hdd available) and the third to cdrom. All other settings in the motherboard should not need to be changed, unless you want to disable certain things like sound and ethernet built into the motherboard. Hope this helps!

[BIGKIRK333]

I am using a regular IDE cable I think, looks like 20 pin or so. And BIOS isn't seeing my cd/dvd drive either(although that might be because the drivers arent installed) What does an ATA/100 look like?

[BIGKIRK333]

TO: GOT_AMMO
I was going to try that but BIOS isnt recognizing my cd drive. I know it works but my motherboard isnt seeing it.
Thanks for the input!

[got_ammo]

Hmm... Your bios isn't recognizing it? Make sure the ide cables are properly connected and power cables properly put in. Your cd rom drives should go on the secondary ide channel and not the first one. Your hard drive should be on the first ide channel and should not be on the second one, nor should it be on the same channel as a cdrom. Check the things I have just said and see what happens. It seems very strange that a cdrom drive would not be recognized...

[BIGKIRK333]

Yeah I know... lol I thought so too. I checked all the cable and everything is as exactly as you said HDD-primary, CD-secondary,both on seperate cables, IDE all good and all have power. I just dont know...

[Redo40]

Have you double checked the jumpers on the drives?

[BIGKIRK333]

What do you mean by jumpers? Each drive is on its own ide cable. Is that what you mean?

[got_ammo]

Redo is talking about the jumpers on your hard drives. Make sure that your drive is set to primary master (jumper settings should be printed on the drive itself). For the cable thing i mean just dont put cdrom and hdd on the same cable.

[BIGKIRK333]

Oh, ok, yeah the HDD has a possibilty of 2 diff setting for master. One is for 15 head and one is for 16 head. I have tried both settings to no avail. Also I didnt notice any jumpers on my cd but I'll go look now! Thanks again!

[Redo40]

I'm not familiar with IBM hard drives but does it have a CS (cable select) setting for the jumper? If so you may want to try it.

[BIGKIRK333]

Thanks Redo, the jumper on the back of my cd player was wrong but its fixed now. Still not seeing either drive. What should my ata/ide config be set at?

[BIGKIRK333]

Yeah it does have a cable select with it. Unfortunetly there is also 2 cofigurations for that as well. I know in my BIOS one of the settings for ata/ide says secondary and primary maybe if I set both devices to cs I can choose which one I want to be master once they have been seen?

[BIGKIRK333]

MUAHAHAHAHAHAH!
Figured it out! ( I think ) There was a pre-delay setting for the ide ports. I set it for a 5 second dely and now it is seeing both drives! Thanks for all your help guys!!

[Redo40]

Glad you got it figured out! And welcome to PcMech!

[BIGKIRK333]

Yeah man thanks! Got it recognizing the drives but still isnt booting from the disk. I switched it to boot from the cd drive instead of the floopy but still giving me the same message. Could be because its a borrowed copy of 98 se but its all I have to test the system. I guess I'm just gonna crash and go buy XP tomorrow. Later all!