New Computer Problems 1

[Guest_imported]

Hi,

I recently built a new computer with the following specs:

Asus K7133 motherboard
AMD Athlon 1200mhz cpu
512MB of pc133 sdram
1 seagate baraccuda 30gb ata100
1 seagate baraccuda 60gb ata100
32mb geforce 2 agp graphics card

I'm having trouble installing ANY os onto it. I have tried Windows 2000 Professional and Redhat Linux 7.1. If I connect the hard drives to the ATA100 port on the motherboard, Windows will not detect them. If I connect them to the regular IDE port, Windows will see them fine, but the data that goes to them is corrupted. Linux will not even load when it is connected to the IDE port. I am using the cables provided by Asus and they do support ATA100 transfers (40->80pin) and I'm sure they are not in backwards, but could they not work in IDE ports? Also, in Windows 2000 Professional not compatible with ATA100? I've been fooling around with this problem a week and am ready to rip my hair out. $50 to the person who can solve this problem! No joke.

Email: klax33@hotmail.com

Thanks in advance.

 

[Guest_imported]

A couple of things to try... First of all does the BIOS recognise the hard disks? If it is recognising the drives, then try booting up with a simple DOS 6.2 system disk and see if FDISK will recognise what's attached. If not, then maybe you need to select a different BOOT DEVICE (try SCSI) from within the BIOS when drives are connected to the ATA100 ports. This of course assumes that the drives are good and powered up correctly, and the cables are ok.

Good luck!

ROGER - GØAOZ.

 

[Guest_imported]

Win 2000 service pack 2 is supposed to correct the fault of ata100 compatibility :-

http://support.microsoft.com/suppor... 100&rnk=2&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRCH&SPR=WIN2000

I also had trouble installing an OS on my new machine. I tried absolutely everything, then took out my processor - reseated it and it worked fine!!! May work for you too

 

[ceh4702]

There are some simple workarounds for Hard Disk Size problems. They usually rewrite the boot master table on the hard drive. This can cause problems making a drive unreadable to Linux, because it sees the boot table/fat table as being unreadable; therefore be warned.

My IBM 15 Gig hard drive came with a utility called EasyDrive which I have seen at other Web-sites like Maxtor. It solves the drive incompatability problem between the drive size and the larger hard drives. It worked with Windows 98 SE, but I never tried it with NT or Windows 2000. Basically it makes a large drive look like several drives, using logical partitions or something like that.

The best way would be to have a BIOS upgrade or a patch that solves this problem. Try looking at the MB manufacturers web site for downloads/drivers.

Some ATA 100 drives have to have a special shielded EIDE cable. This type of cable has a higher rating than a normal EIDE cable. I guess it is the transfer rate or shielding from magnetic interfereance or something like that.

I like the idea of reseating the CPU. Sometimes the simple things work. I reloaded windows twice trying to fix my sound card a couple years ago, and it ended up being caused by the speakers being unplugged. If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[Guest_imported]

Thanks for your replies guys. At this point in time, I'm willing ot try anything, even resetting the processor. I *have* to get this computer up ASAP for school. Ok, I'll start at the top...

Yes, the BIOS does recognize the hard disks (when the system starts up). If they are attached to the ATA100 ports then the ATA100 BIOS loads, when they are attached to the regular IDE ports, the show up on the drive table, along with my CDRW and DVD drives. I've used a Windows 98SE boot disc to get the system to boot to a C: prompt so I don't think the drives are bad. I have FDISKed many times so DOS has no problem using the drives (to their entire capacities). The cables should be OK as they are the ones that came with my motherboard and stated in the manual to work for the new ATA100 drives.

I am aware of SP2 correcting the problem with ATA100 devices, but since I am unable to even *load* Windows onto the machine, I cannot load the service pack.

What really confuses me is that I get different BSODs every time. Sometimes, I get IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, other times I get INACCESSBILE_BOOT_DEVICE, while other times I get UNABLE_TO_LOAD_DRIVERXXXX. It also crashes at different points during the install. Sometimes it won't even copy the files to the hard disk because it cannot read from the CDROM, while other times it gets all the way to configuring the network devices before it goes to a BSOD.

This is a strange problem indeed. I've been working on it for over a week and am really getting frustrated. My new $1200 machine is nothing but a 50lb paperweight. I hope someone can help me out.

Thanks for your posts and keep em comming. I am serious about the "reward!"

 

[Guest_imported]

Some good ideas from the guys above...

If you start a fresh W2K installation, does hitting the <F6> key fairly soon after it boots from the CD-ROM bring up a window asking if you want to load a special driver? This appears in NT4 and allows you to install a 3rd party interface driver. You should have received a CD-ROM with drivers, etc., with your mobo. Maybe one of the drivers on this disk may solve the problem...?

Keep at it - and let us all know how you get on. Good luck!

ROGER - GØAOZ.

 

[Guest_imported]

Actually, a CDROM with drivers were included, but when I insert it (or the drivers on a floppy) it goes on it's merry way with the same problems. *sigh* This is so frustrating, why couldn't the solutions be simple like the last time I built a computer (failed to connect the hard drive)? Keep at it guys. I'm trying *every* suggestion.

 

[Pete45]

On my motherboard (Abit BE6) I had to load my OS first while it was on the regular ATA33 IDE channel, get every thing settled down, then load the drivers for the ATA66 controller and then switch over to the ATA66 channel with the 40 pin 80 conductor cable. Which is what you tried to do. But did you say that you were using the 80 conductor cable on a regular ATA33 channel? You might try using a regular 40 pin 40 conductor cable. If that's the case. If you try to use a 40 pin 80 conductor cable on the regular ATA33 plug in on the motherboard you may have bent one of the pins over(in middle). The 40 pin 80 coductor cable has one of the holes blanked off. Take a look.

Also have you enabled the proper settings in the Bios?

Corrupt data on a hard drive can be caused by running the bus speed it's on over spec. But if it's the A7V board then that would be pretty hard to do. After reviewing this board at the Asus web site.

I'm running W2K SP2 and using a Promise Ultra100 TX2 controller without any problems. Before the SP2 upgrade I know W2K disabled UDMA by default. But there is a registry tweak you can do. You'll find it at:

http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/781/

Not much help if you can't load it in the first place though.

Let us know I'm very curious now. Never give up.

 

[cowboy405]

Use the IDE port. DOS, did you set the drive as active? If not, it won't boot to it. Also, check to see if you have an AGP video card. If so, ditch it. Replace with
something else and I think you'll have a clean install.

Dennis

 

[Guest_imported]

Hi again,

I changed to an IDE ribbon cable on the CDROM to see if it yielded a different result, but the same thing happens. This time I get very close to the end but get a IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL. I checked to see if I had bent one of the pins like someone suggested, but no bent pins. As for using a different video card I dunno... I mean, first of all I don't have one, and second, could this really be the problem? Thanks in advance.

 

[billbobagens]

I have run across a similar problem with installing a larger hard drive in an older computer. The new hard drive should have come with a disk utility to help you load the drives.Have you tried this first? I noticed that you said you tried using dos 6.2 to get it going I was told by someone that dos will only format up to 1 or 2 gig after that size when it is formatting you will get corrupted data you might try to use fdisk and partition off a section at 1 gig and then format that section then try to load windows. after partitioning this section you will need to set this partition as the active partition. but before trying this stuff is your cd-rom or dvd-rom and hard drives setup with the jumpers correctly like master slave etc. if not try this first. I do not claim to be a pro but I have done alot with the older machines if this does not work or some other problem comes up let me know I will try to help out the best I can. Good Luck

 

[Guest_imported]

Thanks for your response. This is not an older machine, this is one I just built using very new components. Fdisk does format the entire 30gb drive. I've checked and double checked the jumpers and they all as the manual states.

 

[Fixingit]

It sounds like a RAM or Processor problem.
When you bought the CPU,did you have it &quot;Burned-in&quot;?(run for 72 hours)
I'd have the RAM then CPU tested.

 

[cj75s]

I don't know if you've fixed the problem but you could try creating a smaller partition of say 10gig on your primary master and making this active as the boot partition and the rest of the space create a second partition with. Then copy all the files off your windows cd onto the second partition. Boot up using windows 98se boot disk.
Find your copied setup files and at the d:\ prompt type setup and allow windows setup to check all your hard drives (this is a must) and you should be able to load windows onto C:\windows. If this doesn't work then I would suggest using a friends CDrom drive as it would sound like the copied files have been corrupted. I can see no reason why fdisk finds your drives acceptable and windows setup corrupts. I feel if it was a ram or cpu problem then actual boot-up from a:\ would not work well even.

rgds
cj75s