urgent problem with new computer

[ives]

Hi,
I've just bought a new computer and built it up and loaded windows XP last night.
Then after running it for a few hours and rebooting, the computer wouldn't boot to Windows.It kept hanging on the boot screen.

So, I tried booting to safe mode and uninstalled the few programs I had installed up to that point (probably about 4 progs). Rebooted and still wouldn't boot to XP ( hanging on boot screen). I tried failsafe BIOS settings and still nothing. In fact I played around with BIOS settings for quite a time with no success. The bios settings seemed fine and I was getting a clear 'ok' beep from the bios test on boot up. Then I tried to go into safe mode to see if anything was there that I had missed. However now the computer just hung just after I chose safe mode. It wouldn't even go into safe mode. hmmm.

Ok, i thought, I'll reformat and repartition the whole thing. I got a boot floppy out However, now the problem was that it wouldn't boot from a boot up floppy drive. (yes, floppy was set as the 1st boot device). You heard the floppy drive begin to boot up but the comp just seemed to ignore it and try and boot up from the HDD.

So, I tested the memory in another computer. Fine
I tested the GFX card in a another computer. Fine.
I put the HDD in another computer .Fine.
Same with the floppy, the CD drive, the IDE cables.

I finally put the HDD in another comp, re partioned it and reformatted it, loaded a fresh windows and put it in the faulty computer. Still wouldn't boot up.

I'm guessing that it's the mobo. Maybe the IDE channel is damaged or something.

Does anyone have any opinions?


Thanks in advance,
Ives

[r1zeek]

Have you tried running the hard drive off a different IDE channel. That might narrow it down a bit

[Trash Man]

Don't mean to sound insulting or anything, but have you made sure the jumpers are set right on the back of all the drives?

[ives]

good point(about the other IDE channel) .I'll try that now. Cheers.

[ives]

yes, jumpers are fine.

[ives]

ok, tried to boot from the 2nd IDE channel and still hangs. However,I know that that IDe channel is ok,cos I ran the cdrom from there and it worked fine.

[r1zeek]

And you say it ran fine from your other system?
Whats your specs in the non-boot system?

[ives]

yep, the HDD (80GB Hitachi Deskstar) ran perfectly well in another computer ( a Dell P4 3 ghz)

The computer which won't boot is a
AMD XP2000 cpu
PC Chips socket A M811 mobo
256mb E Buyer pc2100 ram
80GB Hitachi Deskstar HDD
Geforce MX 440 GFX card (AGP)
DVD rom drive


PS I've had a PC Chips mobo before from E Buyer and had to RMA it.That's why I suspet it may be the Mobo.

[Trash Man]

I know this may sound stupid, but have you got all the power and light calbles plugged up correctly on the MB? I did a system build once with the same problem you are having now and it turned out to be that I had put the power light on the wrong way round :/

[ives]

HI Trash man,I'll double check that and get back.

Thanks for all your help.

[ives]

ok, Check the cables and they are all in the right place..
Anyway, the 'power-on' , 'reset' and 'HDD light' was working anyway, so I'm pretty sure that it's fine.

[ives]

ok,
I have taken my HDD out of my Linux box and put it into this faulty computer.
Exactly the same thing happens. This time, Linux begins to load and then just hangs.

I reckon it must be the mobo.

[da_ging]

i presume you have tested it outside of the case with only mem ,cpu ,vid card and the hard drive connected ?

[ives]

yep, one of the first things I did

[da_ging]

having just re-read it you say it would go into safe mode - yes ? but then you tried to reformat and the floppy didnt work -that was probably due to a bad floppy disk or the actually floppy drive being obstructed in someway,

have you tried booting from the XP cd and reloading windows?

also have you tried a different ide cable

[Rabs]

Sounds like a MB fault, but to be sure I've seen imcompatiblility with motherboards and ram etc, can you try some different ram (different size and brand)?

Run memtest on the faulty rig too, it may show up memory errors, if it does and the memory tests fine in a different machine I would say its definately a faulty board.

I *had* an Abit SG72 which refused to work with 512MB sticks, I tried one PC3200 and a PC2700 one, but would crash out etc. I bought 2 x TwinMOS 256MB PC3200 and its run fine ever since.