Building a PC...Help?

[SnakeCharmer]

Update:

In my BIOS, my SATA wasn't enabled all the way (see one of the pics, cant see it with this resolution...dont ask).  It's now asking me to set up a RAID.  Do I need to do this with only one HDD and one CD/DVDROM?'

It's also saying I need to make a SATA driver disk to use during the OS installation (page 77 for this mobo's user manual if you can pull it up from EVGA's website).  I dont have a freakin floppy drive, and I am not even sure if this mobo SUPPORTS a floppy.

 

[Trippy]

Update:

In my BIOS, my SATA wasn't enabled all the way (see one of the pics, cant see it with this resolution...dont ask).  It's now asking me to set up a RAID.  Do I need to do this with only one HDD and one CD/DVDROM?'

No you don't. Keep RAID disabled.

It's also saying I need to make a SATA driver disk to use during the OS installation (page 77 for this mobo's user manual if you can pull it up from EVGA's website).  I dont have a freakin floppy drive, and I am not even sure if this mobo SUPPORTS a floppy.

 

Not if you are installing SP2. It comes with SATA drivers.

[SnakeCharmer]

Using SP2...

I made it as far as the 'finalizing installation' screen....1 minute left....green progress bar hangs up in the middle....

Anyone got a noose I can borrow?

[Ironwood]

Oddly, yes.  Want me to post it ?

[SnakeCharmer]

yay.

got to desktop.  got xp installed.

internet explorer is a no show...
the sata2 hdd is showing up as ide...

I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, GIMME MORE OF IT!!!

[Trippy]

yay.

got to desktop.  got xp installed.

internet explorer is a no show...
the sata2 hdd is showing up as ide...

Are you saying it's saying it's using an IDE connection or that it's an ATA drive?

[SnakeCharmer]

It's hooked up to a SATAII connector on the mobo using a SATAII cable to the SATAII input connection on the HDD.

Under device manager, it shows up under IDE drives with the following under the properties>details tab:
 ST3250620AS

then a loooong drop down tab below it

then in the big white area it says: IDE\DISKST325062020AS________________3AAJ____\202020202020202020202020205139314541C4E53

Something has to be messed up in the BIOS?

[SnakeCharmer]

i'm on msn if you want to contact me there....use the hotmail provided under my email on my profile.  as admin, you should be able to see it....

[Trippy]

It's hooked up to a SATAII connector on the mobo using a SATAII cable to the SATAII input connection on the HDD.

Under device manager, it shows up under IDE drives with the following under the properties>details tab:
 ST3250620AS

then a loooong drop down tab below it

then in the big white area it says: IDE\DISKST325062020AS________________3AAJ____\202020202020202020202020205139314541C4E53

Something has to be messed up in the BIOS?

No that's fine. My SATA Maxtor's are similar.

[SnakeCharmer]

well, that's it...
i've spent 18 hrs the last two days trying to get this fucker to work and it's turning into one big fucking boat anchor...
all i know to do is to buy a floppy, get the SATA drivers from the gigabyte disk and try to reinstall.  again.

what completely boggles my mind is that IE is gone, along with a whole bunch of other stuff...

[Trippy]

well, that's it...
i've spent 18 hrs the last two days trying to get this fucker to work and it's turning into one big fucking boat anchor...
all i know to do is to buy a floppy, get the SATA drivers from the gigabyte disk and try to reinstall.  again.

what completely boggles my mind is that IE is gone, along with a whole bunch of other stuff...

It's virtually impossible to install XP without IE since so many components depend on the underlying DLLs. Type "iexplore" in the Run box and see if it shows up.

[Trippy]

well, that's it...
i've spent 18 hrs the last two days trying to get this fucker to work and it's turning into one big fucking boat anchor...
all i know to do is to buy a floppy, get the SATA drivers from the gigabyte disk and try to reinstall.  again.

If Windows isn't asking for drivers during install it doesn't need them.

[SnakeCharmer]

well, that's it...
i've spent 18 hrs the last two days trying to get this fucker to work and it's turning into one big fucking boat anchor...
all i know to do is to buy a floppy, get the SATA drivers from the gigabyte disk and try to reinstall.  again.

what completely boggles my mind is that IE is gone, along with a whole bunch of other stuff...

It's virtually impossible to install XP without IE since so many components depend on the underlying DLLs. Type "iexplore" in the Run box and see if it shows up.

i did.

nothing.

double clicking the ie icon on the desktop asks me to select the program to open it with (notepad, paint, windows fax and something viewer, and some other program).

it's not there...

[SnakeCharmer]

Latest error to pop up:

COM+ setup caught an unhandled exception during installation.
COM+ will not work when Windows 2000 setup completes.

Unhandled exception c0000005 occured at addres (CLBCatQ! + 343865).  More information, including a stack trace, can be found in the C:\WINDOWS\comsetup.log file.

Please contact Microsoft Technical Support fo rassistance with this proble: 1-800-936-3500. (USA Only).

[Trippy]

I would RMA the motherboard.

[Trippy]

double clicking the ie icon on the desktop asks me to select the program to open it with (notepad, paint, windows fax and something viewer, and some other program).

it's not there...

Search for "mshtml.dll" and "shdocvw.dll" in your C:\WINDOWS directory (should be in system32). If those are there search for "iexplore.exe" also in C:\WINDOWS.

[SnakeCharmer]

I would RMA the motherboard.

Going to do that today....

[ajax34i]

COM+ setup caught an unhandled exception during installation.
COM+ will not work when Windows 2000 setup completes.

Windows 2000?

[SnakeCharmer]

COM+ setup caught an unhandled exception during installation.
COM+ will not work when Windows 2000 setup completes.

Windows 2000?

Yeah.  Caught me offguard as well.

[Furiously]

I'm guessing memory issues. Try running http://www.memtest.org/

[SnakeCharmer]

I would, if I could ever get to desktop and online with it.

But, I tried installing / getting it to work with one stick of each and it still didn't work.  Tried all four slots.  No dice.  So mem seems ok. 

I'm just going to RMA the damn board and be done with it...Sucks though, since it could be up to about the 14th before I receive a new board.  Probably just going to send it back for a refund and buy one locally.

[Engels]

You mentioned a virus earlier. Some hide in the boot sector, so even a reinstall of Xp might not clear it, if this new HD you installed was affected. Did you do a full reformat, including the MBR? Since you do not have a floppy drive, I recommend you download a Linux Live CD ISO and burn it, then boot from it. See what happens there. Changing platforms can often diagnose a problem.

I recommend this live CD, since its fairly transparent in its use, and can explore existing hardware.

[SnakeCharmer]

I appreciate your help, but you are talking WAY over my head. 

MBR?  And I know NOTHING about Linux.

Is that link you provided the Linux Live CD ISO?

[Furiously]

MBR?  And I know NOTHING about Linux.

Master Boot Record - it is where the drive goes when it starts up. Basically it's the bios of the drive.

[SnakeCharmer]

Ah, ok.  That's what I thought it was, but wasn't going to assume anything.

The answer to the question is:  I don't know if I formatted the MBR or not.  I did a format from the WinXP CD (full, not a quick).  There is about 8 mb or so that seems to never format.  Is that the MBR?  I'm going to give it a shot tonight after doing some reading, but if it doesn't happen right off the bat, I'm sending it back tomorrow.

[Furiously]

Likely it didn't. You would need something with an old version of FDISK on it and run it with:

FDISK /MBR

[SnakeCharmer]

roger dodger, wilco.

The plan today/ tonight now is:
Buy floppy drive.
Buy alternate mobo.
Install floppy drive.
Format the MBR.
Install the OS.
Install the SATA drivers as per the manual USING a floppy disk (despite that I have SP2, which is supposed to have the SATA drivers)

Possible results:
I)  Failure - Taking it apart (again), RMA'ing the mobo
     A)  Rebuild using new mobo
           1)  If successful, cheer and rejoice
           2)  If unsuccessful, open bottle of whiskey and toss the case (including components) in boat to use as anchor

2)  Success - Cancel RMA, stress test the hell out of it (any recommendations besides 3dMark?), celebrate.

Edit: Spelling pwns me these days for some reason

[Engels]

Sorry, I should have been clearer. Yes, that link was to download the Linux Live Disk ISO. This particular brand of Linux is called Ubuntu. Don't be scared, this could be fun exploration, instead of utter frustration. You want to download the one listed as Standard Personal Computer, and burn that ISO (disk image) to a CD, using something like Nero.

Then you boot to the CD, and the CD itself is a mini operating system, from which you can format any hard drives you have plugged in (assuming the Linux installation sees it, which 80% of the time it does, unless you have some wonky raid config, which you don't). You can format it, change wether its a primary, secondary, active partition, etc. Basically, you can even install that live CD into a permanent OS onto the suspected hard drive. If you can then boot to Linux on that hard drive, mess about with it, you can probably place a safe bet that the problem isn't hardware, but something software related (corrupt XP install disk, virus, lack of some necessary drivers, etc).

[SnakeCharmer]

Sorry, I should have been clearer. Yes, that link was to download the Linux Live Disk ISO. This particular brand of Linux is called Ubuntu. Don't be scared, this could be fun exploration, instead of utter frustration. You want to download the one listed as Standard Personal Computer, and burn that ISO (disk image) to a CD, using something like Nero.

Then you boot to the CD, and the CD itself is a mini operating system, from which you can format any hard drives you have plugged in (assuming the Linux installation sees it, which 80% of the time it does, unless you have some wonky raid config, which you don't). You can format it, change wether its a primary, secondary, active partition, etc. Basically, you can even install that live CD into a permanent OS onto the suspected hard drive. If you can then boot to Linux on that hard drive, mess about with it, you can probably place a safe bet that the problem isn't hardware, but something software related (corrupt XP install disk, virus, lack of some necessary drivers, etc).

Ugh.

Between Trippy and another guy, we've narrowed it down to one of two things:
1)  Bad mobo
2)  The fact that the SATA drivers could POSSIBLY be not being set up correctly during the installation process.

So, going to monkey around with it tonight and go from there.

[Furiously]

See - I'd still go for

#3. Memory not playing nice.

[SnakeCharmer]

See - I'd still go for

#3. Memory not playing nice.

Stopped by a 'puter shop on the way home...

Talked to the guy there...He gave me a copy of Quicktech Pro S.B.  Everything checked out but...

one of the sticks of RAM....

About to give it a go on the install and see what happens...

[SnakeCharmer]

So far.  So good.

Anyhoot...Just wanted to say thanks to everyone that has tried to help!

[Engels]

Good deal. Glad it worked out. Super odd symptoms for a dead ram stick. Missing IE? Just odd.

[SnakeCharmer]

Good deal. Glad it worked out. Super odd symptoms for a dead ram stick. Missing IE? Just odd.

All sorts of weird things were happening.  I don't know if it was the bad memory or the fact I *finally* got the SATA drivers installed correctly, or a combination of both.  But it absolutely SCREAMS right now.  Can't imagine what it's going to be like when I get the second gig of RAM installed.   Actually about to have to shut it down to RMA the RAM back to newegg (bought as a matched set), and wait on them to receive, then send a new set of RAM.  Noone locally sells the 6400 speed RAM...Not Best Buy or Circuit City.  I might check the local computer shops, but no doubt they will be three times as much as newegg.

[Murgos]

When you have a variety of seemingly mis-matched errors it's almost always one of two things.  Motherboard or RAM.  Motherboard errors generally focus down to a few things after some scrutiny.  The more exotic, baffling and seemingly unconnected the errors are the more likely it is the RAM though.  Odd double bit flips and such that maintain parity and are randomly insterted in the middle of billions and billions of correct values can do all kinds of wierd things.