Just built pc and having problems! plz help

  • Thread starter Thread starter Vapor
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Vapor

Ok im going to attempt to explain hehe I know the problem I have is
something minor… :P



My specs-

Dfi lanparty nf4 ultra –D on board raid controllers

Amd64 3200+ Venice

1 gig(2x512) corsair twinxms1024 (2.2.2.5)

EVGA 6800gt pci-ex16

Atx 500psu

2 seagate barracuda 80gig s-ata150

windows xp pro



The first thing after assembling my comp:



Booted up was trying to run off cd then would say disk error, I then
popped in winxp it booted up went through setup asks me if I wnt to
install windows did that then rqstd me to format specific hd like
normal … I did one of the hds went through that xp wntd me to reboot ,
rebooted . Goes right into setup again so I formatted other drive . To
my knowledge when it reboots after formatting and installing window
drivers it goes right into installation of windows but it just keeps
repeating the process. So I restarted comp after formatting both drives
it goes back into windows setup and now showing its partitioned on both
drives in setup, one of them shows drive C: in windows setup when its
asking u to format the drive….. So I rebooted and hit f10 to set hd
array. Added both drives to the right and setting it to stripping then
exited . I then entered bios now before I added those hd’s it showed in
bios in standard cmos my hds showed up under sata 1 and sata 2 after I
setup array and added them in f10 when I go back to standard cmos they
are not there just sata 3 and sata 4 , sata 1 and 2 are missing…. ? (im
sure that’s normal)….

In cd rom priority it shows:



Both my dvd drive and dvd burner



In hard disk priority its showing



1. Scsi-0 nvidia stripe 149.00 ( is the 11 gigs that’s already used
up from the windows drivers that were installed, damn that’s big)
2. Bootable add ins



In removable priority’s showing :



1. floppy disk( it doesn’t show and specific name not sure if it
should, is my floppy even working??? , it’s a sony)



Network priority’s showing :



1. Lagacy lan card





I rebooted again it shows up on booted up nvidia stripe 149.00 I hit
f10 again and it shows same thing healthy hds both master so I exited.
Now I just let it boot and right after it shows irq numbers and such
then Dmi pool data it says disk read error occurred ctrl alt del to
reboot.



So I rebooted from cd went into setup I then noticed I had a disk labed
sata drivers I guess I do that before win setup by hitting f6 to install
I hit f6 and nothing happens it then problems me unknown mass storage
device scsi or cd rom yadda yadda hit (s)specify specific device or hit
enter to continue , when I hit s it asks me for disk I enter disk in and
it says please wait for like 10 seconds the nit prompts me for disk
again??? Im like wtf??? So I just continued and it goes through same
process as I explained earlier and when I attempt to pick a drive to
install windows on it says Os already on not good to install windows on
it again… but I havn’t fully installed windowsxp on one of them yet…



So my question is that disk I have for those sata drivers is that the
reason why its not letting me install windows? Do I need a start up
disk? Is my floppy not working? If I have a disk in floppy and booted
and it prompt me to take out disk does that mean its working???



Sorry for the inconvenience this may cause , I just built this machine
finally and I cant figure how to install windows on my hd hehe I guess
im just a windows xp noob….. I know u might get confused but its pretty
straight forward I haven’t done much and I know I have everything hooked
up right :P let me know if your confused L I don’t really have anyone to
talk to or to help me out , I just know this comp will scream when I get
it working right J
 
I've got that board waiting in the wings,your hard drives came with a
set disk format using it,so start all over again from the begining,in
my opion xp sucks to many bugs that they are still try to fix.Oh add
your drive one at a time.
 
You would be well advised to ensure that the hardware has been correctly
assembled, that cables have been connected correctly and that hdd jumpers
are set correctly.. until you get the hardware issues sorted, attempting to
add software to the equation can only end in tears..

Many have built and successfully run XP on set ups like yours, so ignore the
remarks in the other reply..

--
Mike Hall
MVP - Windows Shell/User

"If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept
it all to themselves." - Lane Kirkland
 
before installing XP, be sure the box is sound. Run memtest86+ for at
least an hour, over-night would be better. It should report ZERO errors.
Even a single error requires investigation.

go here, get the "Pre-Compiled package for Floppy (DOS - Win)", use it.

http://www.memtest.org/

----

to install xp, unplug all unnecessary devices, except the one CD
you're booting from and the HD you're installing to. Set BIOS to boot to
the CD first, followed by the HD. When setup reboots itself the first
time, just sit back; leave cd in place and don't press a key - it'll boot
the HD and continue setup.

After things are working and XP is booting well, shutdown and plug in one
new device. Boot up and let it be detected. Check it out. Then repeat.
Note your dirve letters may juggle a little. WAIT until all your drives
are plugged in, then use Disk Manager to sort things out. Note your
boot/windows drive might not be C:, and you won't be able to change it.
That's OK, don't worry about it, accept it and move on!

-----

Are you installing XP to a RAID Drive setup? [sort of sounded like you
were]. If so make sure you know what you're doing before beginning.

Prepare the RAID Volume using the bios or a floppy-boot disk - follow your
motherboard instructions. Stripe size of 64K or 128K is best for overall
system performance. Don't be fooled by benchmarks that say 4K stripes are
faster - they are in the benchmark, but not in the system as a whole.

Be sure to have a floppy prepared w/ the necessary raid drivers on it, and
press F6 at the beginning of XP setup; it will not appear to do anything
when you press the key, but in a minute or so it'll ask you to insert the
floppy and choose the drivers you want [for nForce you need to choose TWO
- read the directions that came w/ the motherboard carefully]. If you are
confused, ask in the motherboard-specific newsgroup, or go to the
motherboard maker's site for info. The chipset maker's site should also
have info (nvidia for nforce, intel for ICH5R/6R, VIA for their chips,
promise, etc). If you've done it right it should list the raid volume by
name and highlight it as the install destination. Partition it and
install normally. A 20 or 30 GB part is plenty big; 5 GB works too, if
you won't be installing too many apps. google for "xp partiton schemes"
and do some research.

-----

if hard drive has previously been partitioned it would be BEST if you
deleted all partitions and made a single new partition using the XP Setup.
[Due to alignment issues, old partitions may cause XP to run slower than
it should]. Read this:

http://aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.php

Install to this new partition, then later, after you've got xp setup to
your liking, use XP's Disk Manager to make any other part's you need.
It's ok to leave unpartitioned space, you can allocate it in the future as
needed.
 
Hmmmmm.....


I'd install Linux ^_~

BTW- Where'd you get the disk? Have you checked it for scratches or anything?
 
Try again, and Remove the XP CD after the last Restart. It is probably
rebooting to the CD instead of the HD.
 
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