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Alright. Before I leave for college next Wednesday, my dad wanted me to rebuild his computer. Easy enough.
I bought a PCChips K7 Motherboard (model: M825G) along with some Rosewill RAM (512MB) and an Athlon XP 2800+.
After installing above components and a DVD-ROM that I already had laying around, I boot up the computer. I go into setup and change the system time and only the system time. I saved the settings and as the computer is rebooting, it freezes while trying to detect the Primary master.
I am now unable to even go into the BIOS to change settings.
I have checked all the jumpers and they are correct, all cables are in all the way (I also swapped cables but this didn't fix anything), all power things (I can't remember the name right now, but you plug them into the drives) are functional.
Any ideas? I have emailed PCChips tech support but I do not know when I will get an answer from them, if any.
Thanks ahead of time.
WWBBD?
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08-18-2005, 05:13 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-18-2005, 05:14 AM by jahcs.)
I am no expert but here are a few ideas:
Check you CPU install and RAM module seating. Make sure everything is perfect.
You also might try unpluging everything (drives, soundcards, etc.) and see if the mobo will POST (initial boot-up screen). If it won't try using the old modules of RAM and then try the old CPU, if they're compatable. Double check the PSU also.
The Bill of No Rights
The United States has become a place where entertainers and professional athletes are mistaken for people of importance.
Robert A. Heinlein
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Alright here is the scoop:
After realizing the hard drive wasn't spinning up, I switched the power supply and only had the mobo and hard drive plugged in. That got it to spin up. So I plugged the CD drives in (not data, just power) and it spun up. Floppy, same deal. Once I plugged the data cable for the CD drives, the hard drive stopped spinning up, although when it was plugged in on its own, it spun up (data and power). After switching cables around multiple times I decided to recheck the jumpers. Somehow, before I rebuilt it, the hard drive had a really screwy jumper setting, but it still worked. So when I put in the new equipment I'm not sure why it didn't work, but I changed the jumper to what it should be and it worked fine. Plugged everything back in and it booted right up.
Conclusion: ALWAYS check EVERY jumper.
Just remembered: I also had a bad cable someplace, don't recall which place, but it was there.
WWBBD?
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Hi,
I've seen similar symptoms in a system where the BIOS battery went dead. If it is the disk type, replace it and see what happens. If it is the old infernal soldered in rechargeable, replace it if you feel confident, find someone to do t for you, or get a new mobo.
I keep an old DOS 3.? boot disk around. If you have such a beast, try a simple system: mobo, CPU, memory, video card, and floppy. You should follow jahcs' suggestions before powering up. If nothing else, this gives you the chance to divide the possible problem areas. If the simple system works, add back one item at a time until either the system fails indicating where the problem is, or until the system is complete. If the simple system croaks, try swapping the parts into a similar system (if you have one).
That's about all the help I can think of off the top of my head.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?
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Thank you Jahcs and Pete for your replies, althought they were a bit late. =) It is always nice to have the other Lurkers help out!
Thank you both!
WWBBD?
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I'm glad to hear you got it sorted. All that slave/master stuff just brings trouble, didn't computer designers learn anything from history books?
The Bill of No Rights
The United States has become a place where entertainers and professional athletes are mistaken for people of importance.
Robert A. Heinlein
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It's threads like these that remind me why I like swords and not computers. If I prefer weaponry with no moving parts to them, how am I supposed to understand these infernal boxes with the blinking lights and spinning wheel thingys? ;)
Political Correctness is the idea that you can foster tolerance in a diverse world through the intolerance of anything that strays from a clinical standard.
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Rhydderch Hael,Aug 18 2005, 03:57 PM Wrote:[...] how am I supposed to understand these infernal boxes with the blinking lights and spinning wheel thingys? ;)
[right][snapback]86550[/snapback][/right]
You aren't, hell I don't understand them either!
WWBBD?
