Boot issues

[preachy]

Hi

Im having a problem with a self build.

i picked up a few spare parts from a friend when he upgraded and i am confident that there is no problem with them.
My problem though is this.
I have installed an Asus p5nd2-sli deluxe motherboard with a 3.02 pf cpu 2 gig of ddr2 and aati gfx card, all of which he was using.

However ater formatting the harddrive (40gb maxtor) to make it a f4resh install the p will not boot after the post.

I have set the boot order for hd and checked boot priority for hd as well. but everytime it gets through the post it endsup with a flashing cursor in th the top lfet hand corner.

Im kind of at a loss as what to check as think i have done the basics but maybe its a case of not seeing the wood for the trees,

Any ideas on whether i am missing something?
( the hdd is the pri master and the dvd rom is th secondary slave.

there is no sata at being used. just two drives on ide and a floppy disk.
please let me know if there are any specs you need to make this more understandable..

thanks


P.S. PLease ignore the specs in my sig they are not relevant to this posting or rig.

[Murf]

You formatted the hard drive, you cannot boot from a harddrive unless it has an operating system or boot files.

You need to boot from the CDROM/DVD if the disk in to install the operating system.

[preachy]

yeah i was under the impression that once i had formatted it had installed the operatoing system, or at least wold automatically attempt to install the op system after the end of the format and the reboot.

will have to run setup agai then i guess becasue last time i trie to run from disk it said you cnnot install an operating system on a partition that already has one on.

thats what threw me initially.

thanks

[preachy]

Hi, this is the exact problem
Once i have selcted boot from cd and have let the setup disk run, i dlete the old partition, format and then allow windows to go through the procss of setting up a fresh installation.
This is the problem..... windows doesnt.

It reboots after the format and then sits there after POST waiting for me to push and key to boot from cd.

in BIOS i have CD as first boot and then HArddrive as second boot.

[Murf]

Two things;

1. After it reboots the first time, don't hit the any key let it continue by itself.

2. If it doesn't continue, reboot and get into BIOS SETUP and find where you can set it to DEFAULTS, save and exit.

Is this a copy of XP/VISTA or the original CD/DVD your using?

[preachy]

Hi

Yah, its orginal xp home, and once it has gone throught he format, and rebooted i pres notjhing, it asks me straight off to press any key to boot from cd, and stays at that point.

Ill go back into the bios and reset everything but i did swap the jumpers and have the battery out pre installation

[preachy]

This morning i have reset the BIOS to defaults and have run the windows setup again. athough the system is taking a long time to move between the screens it has allowed me to delete the existing partition and format/setup a new one.. Once this has completed it restarts itself automatically and then again goes through the POST (all be it slowly). However again after completing POST it asks me to press any key to boot from cd. ( i do not press anything at this point) and it simply stops at that point with the cursor flashing.

Any more ideas there Murf?

[Murf]

"and have the battery out pre installation" which battery the CMOS battery??? Are you trying to install without the CMOS battery??

You have the DVD/CDROM as the slave to the hard drive which works, if you have an extra IDE cable, hook the DVD/CDROM up as a "MASTER" on the second IDE connection.

If your using just one Video card, check in BIOS SETUP to make sure "SLI" is not enabled.

Also when setting a system to Defaults, go back in and check the boot order again, also check the boot for VGA. Some mobo's default to PCI or AGP make sure it is set to PCIe.

[preachy]

( will follo the rest of your steps murf)
As far as the battery its the CMOS battery and i followed the book manual directions of swapping jumpers and having the battey out for 5-6 seconds, then back n, swap jumpers back to default, and then reboot..

[Murf]

OH OK, ya either switching the jumper or manually taking the battery out returns to defaults. However, whenn you manually take the battery out it does set to defaults, but your date and time will change usually to an earlier year. Go back in and check if Date and Time are correct in BIOS, this can prevent installing.

[preachy]

HI

I have been throgh, checked he date and imte. they ar eok. i have also changed the harddrive, and optical drive out.. now when i go through the process from the begiinng if formatting and allowing windows to reboot to complete setup instead of hanging and the 'Press any key to boot from CD' it now skips that process and goes stright into booting from CD automatically. and does not enter the GUI stage.

The plot thickens... and im more lost than i was before

[preachy]

Hi Murf, Do you have any more suggestions as to what may be causing this problem?

[Murf]

Re-reading again you said that you installed 2 gig of ddr2, although he was using OK, one of the sticks could be bad. Take out one stick and try, no no then swap sticks.

[preachy]

I have removed the sticks of ram one by one and tried installign but have come across exactly the same problem that is, hanging at the point where the gui stage would begin

I say hang, although the pc is still responsive and i can ctrl-alt-del and reboot to try again.

do you have any other suggestions or maybe diagnostics i could run.. As i have been into seveal pc shops and told them the problem and what i have done o far and no oen wants to take it in because they could be mesing about for hours with it and come to the same problem as myself.

[preachy]

murf?

Any other suggestions as to the problem or likely soultion?