initial system load

[cdptitus]

After building this computer I have been unable to load a system. I have tried Windows 2000 Pro, Windows XP, and Windows 98 but nothing will load. It will not recognize the 2000 disc, it did load the files on XP but will not setup. We have made some changes in BIOS but no luck. :(

[Greenedive]

cdptitus,
Could you tell us a bit about your system and what is happening....are you getting any error messages? Does the computer POST ok? How are you going about installing these systems? What are your system specs? This could be anything from improper motherboard settings to an incorrectly jumpered hard drive. From improperly seated RAM to a faulty Power Supply. Did you use the new 80pin IDE cables? What BIOS changes did you make?
I hate to answer a question with questions, but this could have a LOT of different causes.
The 1st things I'd check though are that your RAM is seated firmly and your IDE cables are in correctly with Pin one toward the Molex power connector. If you used the new 80 pin cables, then they are color coded and the Blue connector goes in the motherboard and the Black in the Master Drive and the Grey in the Slave. Another thing to check is that your hard drive is jumpered correctly. This will depend on which type IDE cables you have used. Give these things a quick check and post back if you would. HTH <GD>
btw....also NW PA:)

[cdptitus]

I am building a complete new computer. I have a Biostar M7VKQ motherboard with AMD Athlon XP 1700 processer. Western Digital 80GB hard drive and Micron 512G SDRAM PC133/100
The error message I got during setup follows
0X00000050 (0xBE1F7000, 0X00000001, 0XBF802714, 0x00000000
Win 32 K.sys Address BF802741 base at BF800000, Date stamp 3b7de698
Physical memory dumped
I was trying to install XP PRO

[slipshod]

Is the hard drive brand new also?

[cdptitus]

Yes the Hard drive is also new. Thanks

[Greenedive]

cdptitus,
If you have access to another computer, install that WD80 as Slave and see if you can load XP on it from that machine....if you can......then either your cabling or motherboard setup is probably not right. BUT if you can't....then first thing I'd check is the jumpering on that drive. Western Digital has alternate Jumper settings that are the only ones that will work with some drives. Go Here (http://support.wdc.com/techinfo/general/jumpers.asp) and scroll 1/2 way down the page and try the right 'alternate' setting on the drive and see if that makes a difference. If that doesn't help...then go Here (http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp) and download and run the hard drive diagnostic tools and see if the drive itself is faulty. If it is, then contact WD for an RMA#. Check this first and let us know....Good Luck!! <GD>

[cdptitus]

OK, I went ahead and installed windows 2000 pro on the hard drive but no luck when I put the hard drive back in my new computer. I went through and changed all bios settings to what the instructions called for, changed the jumper on the hard drive to every possible combination in the instructions. Now I get and error saying NTLDR is missing. Thanks everyone

[Greenedive]

cdptitus
At least now you know it isn't your hard drive.:D You will get this message if you leave your startup disk in the floppy drive when you boot up. If that isn't it, then try running the second Repair option in the 2000 setup.
To run the 2nd repair option in W2K's setup. Boot to your 2000 installation disk and choose the Full install and just follow the prompts and after it reboots you will be given the following options:
• To set up Windows 2000 now, press Enter
• To repair a Windows 2000 installation using Recovery Console, press R
• To quit Setup without installing Windows 2000, press F3
Hit Enter....you could run the repair in the Recovery Console using Fixboot, but you will almost certainly lose a lot of your settings and you'll have to reinstall many programs...anyway...hit Enter
Setup will search for a previous installation of XP and give you the option to Repair it. Use the Up and DOWN ARROW keys to select your 2000 installation. Then Hit R.
This is an automated process but it usually takes quite a while, but you shouldn't lose your settings or any of your programs.
This option is not always available, if you don't have it, then I would try the first repair option, using the Recovery Console and the FIXBOOT command. One more thing...when you boot from the WIN2000 install CD and choose New Installation (i.e., Full install), don't forget to click on the Advanced Options button (after accepting EULA and keying in serial number) and then click in the box beside "I want to choose the install drive letter and partition during Setup" so that you can point Setup to the XP partition.
Let us know how you make out.....HTH <GD>