New Shuttle SK21G + Sata XP Installation problems

hey there, this is my first post here so howdidoo

i got myself a second Shuttle XPC with:

Shuttle SK21G
AMD Sempron 2800+ CPU
2x GEiL 512MB RAM
160GB Seagate IDE HDD
ATi Radeon 9600 Pro 256MB
NEC 3500A DVD+/-RW

All weekend ive been tryin to intsall Windows XP and im getting a load of problems.

1. i found out that my XPC can only take SATA harddrives. i got myself an SATA - IDE connector card and the mainboard detected it and started the install. When i get to the copy setup files screen, half the files can't be copied over for some reason.

2. i then put my hard drive in another computer and installed XP and all went well. But once installation was finished, i didnt get the "thankl you for installing XP" screen. it went start to the login screen. i logged in as the administrator and found that i cant install anything, run any programs and that half of the end user side of the installtion such as Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player didnt even get installed.

3. i formatted again and then attempted the install using a dual iDE cable connecting the DVD writer and the HD on one cable. i still got the copy setup files error when i did this

my cpu, ram and graphics cards are all working fine, do you think its only a hard drive problem?

i even went out of my way to find a floppy drive to install a thirf party raid drive but still no success.

please help, as for one, need to get coursework done, play Half Life 2 and COunter strike for the first time and also get some video editing done.

thanks for your time

Sid

I'm pretty certain you can use a ide drive with the shuttle , there certainly seemed to be the option when I built one last week, though I used a sata drive. There should be a spare ide cable in the white box that comes with the shuttle for the ide setup.

It sounds like there is an issue with the data transfer from cd to mobo to hard disc. I would try a different ide cable to eliminate that. If not sounds like either your windows xp disc, hard disc or shuttle motherboard are faulty.

nah, this model that i got only has one IDE cable for the CD drive and then 2 sata ports on the mobo. thats it

just tried installin xp twice more

1. for some reason didnt get to the "welcome to xp and add five ppl for ur useres screen"

2. didnt let me name the computer and didnt install the networking thing (i dont even need it, but xp automatically gae me a password without me knowing it) but t did get to the "thanks for installing xp" screen

Have you updated to the latest BIOS for this machine? This resolves problems specifically with seagate HDs and could be your problem. I am due to get an SK21g on Tuesday and build up a new PC for my GF so hopefully it will be OK!