Building New Computer...HELP!!!

[v10_viper]

OK, so my P4 Socket 478 with one gig of ram wasn't cutting it anymore. So I ordered an Asus M2N-E SLI mobo, 4 gigs of 800 mhz ram, an AMD Athlon FX X2 4600, 7300 GS video card(I don't game),(much), with two hard drives and two disk drives. All hooked up in SATA. I start the computer and it shows BIOS and that's it. I can get into BIOS and change things, mainly reset them as I'm told to do and hope for the best but still all i get is the black screen with a white blinking line up in the top left corner. I have inserted windows disc and mobo disc and everything and am running out of what to do. Any help is appreciated and if any more info is needed I'll be here!

(on mom's laptop)...

[Oz]

Disconnect all drives, then connect them one at a time. I would connect the drive you want to install the OS on ONLY, and put the rest in once Windows is installed.

In BIOS, what hardware does it recognise? Does it see all of the RAM?

[v10_viper]

Originally Posted by Oz

Disconnect all drives, then connect them one at a time. I would connect the drive you want to install the OS on ONLY, and put the rest in once Windows is installed.

In BIOS, what hardware does it recognise? Does it see all of the RAM?

It recognizes all of the ram, and recognizes all of my drives hooked up sata. The hard drives are SATA 1 & 2. The disc drives are SATA 3 & 4. I will do what you told me. Just recently I tried it and it showed the blue screen for windows and went back to the black screen. Sometimes it starts up and only shows the black screen without going into the BIOS. Really confusing me.

[v10_viper]

Alright, blue screen downloading Windows, has been on Kernel Debugger DLL for sometime now...I'm worried about this freezing up but it's been two years since I've installed an OS...

[Oz]

What do you mean 'bluescreen' downloading Windows'?

What version of Windows are you installing? How are you installing it?

Suggestion: install Windows from the CD, then copy the i386 directory onto your OS partition, then modify the registry to point to i386 directory as an installation source:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Set up
Modify Installation Sources to include C:\i386.

[v10_viper]

So I screwed up when partitioning drivespace for the OS. My 320 gig hard drive(305 actual gigs) has turned into a 10 gig hard drive, can I fix this?

[l_eclipse_l]

Answer Oz's questions.

You may be able to recover the lost space by doing an fdisk and then reformatting.

[v10_viper]

Originally Posted by Oz

What do you mean 'bluescreen' downloading Windows'?

What version of Windows are you installing? How are you installing it?

Suggestion: install Windows from the CD, then copy the i386 directory onto your OS partition, then modify the registry to point to i386 directory as an installation source:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Set up
Modify Installation Sources to include C:\i386.

Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 I believe, thought about getting new OS but said screw it and stuck with this one.

When it first reads the Windows XP disc it is a blue screen but it only stays there for a minute or so when working right. Then it goes into all the setup and that.

I'm no genius like Oz and I absolutely dread operating systems. It once again isn't working, won't even go into BIOS when I press the Del key. I'm giving it to someone else to look at and will call a computer store on Monday and see what they can do for me. I'm just hoping nothing is DOA.

[Oz]

So...did you successfully get Windows installed? What happens when you turn on the computer and don't touch anything?

Are you sure it blue screens when it tries to boot from the XP CD? That's not so good.

[v10_viper]

Originally Posted by Oz

So...did you successfully get Windows installed? What happens when you turn on the computer and don't touch anything?

Are you sure it blue screens when it tries to boot from the XP CD? That's not so good.

Nope, took it to a friend's house and had both drives formatted and one of them already has a partition set on it. Called Asus and the tech said it sounded like a BIOS problem so they sent me something, they didn't tell me what they sent but I'm assuming some kind of software for the BIOS maybe.

And yes, the Windows XP setup has a blue background to it at all times, thought this was normal...

The problem was at times it wouldn't even allow you to get into BIOS or past it for that matter. It just kept going to that black screen with the blinking dash in upper left corner...oh 90% of the time. We did get Windows XP to start again but it hung up and we couldn't figure out why. All problems led to the motherboard though as hard drives, cd drives, gp card, and all else was fine. I'll keep you all updated on this and see how Asus handles it. If nothing else works and they wont replace my mobo maybe I'll just spend the money and get an Abit or XFX motherboard. I though Asus's were pretty good.

[ThatRoundHeadedKid]

When you install the OS, make sure that you only have one hard drive connected. Having two set up at the same time while trying to install an OS will create problems.

Also, are you sure your boot settings are set up to run from the removal disk drive (your cd-rom drives)? Have you tried resetting your CMOS?

[v10_viper]

Originally Posted by ThatRoundHeadedKid

When you install the OS, make sure that you only have one hard drive connected. Having two set up at the same time while trying to install an OS will create problems.

Also, are you sure your boot settings are set up to run from the removal disk drive (your cd-rom drives)? Have you tried resetting your CMOS?

Yup already ahead of ya on that one. I have the one that's parititioned marked so I'll be ready.

Funny thing about the CMOS. I can't remember exactly what it was saying, CMOS Failure and something else. We thought maybe this was due to the BIOS and the fact that the damn computer wouldn't cooperate. I'm not playing with it anymore until I find out what's coming from Asus. Other then that yes, we've gone into the BIOS and changed primary boot drive to the cd drive and disabled the others, it has booted up at times, and previously I stated that I had Windows up and running on it but I'm positive it's just major issues with the motherboard and I'm waiting to see what Asus does with this.

Basically what I get when I power up is this:

Motherboard screen is the best I can desribe it as it shows the motherboard name/model. During this screen you can press Del to enter settings(BIOS).

Most of the time whether you press the Del button or not, it just goes to a black screen.

Every once in awhile it enters BIOS and after you leave it...black screen.

ONCE, out of the hours I've attempted, it has gone through Windows setup. Two other times it's gone into the setup and hung up.

My old computer was a 4 hour deal. I assembled it, powered it up, installed Windows XP and was running along on it. But that computer was slow, compared to what this one should be anyways.


Edit: I appreciate all the help and concern guys, Oz you're helping me out a lot and thanks for making me remember to put in that bit about the CMOS TRHK.

[Oz]

I wouldn't worry about installing Windows just yet - try getting it to boot into a LiveCD (something like MiniPE or Knoppix) successfully first.

Try flashing the BIOS with the most current version from the Asus website.

[ThatRoundHeadedKid]

Originally Posted by Oz

I wouldn't worry about installing Windows just yet - try getting it to boot into a LiveCD (something like MiniPE or Knoppix) successfully first.

Try flashing the BIOS with the most current version from the Asus website.

Yea. Try booting with a live CD say, with Linux on it. I know there's a free version of Linux that you could make a live cd, not sure which exactly though.

[doberman_52]

yea, that does sound like it may posibly be bios, reflashing should work, the blue install screen for xp is normal