Trying to rebuild my computer...

[Kegg]

Well I got a hole lot of new gear for my computer. Basically I wanted a new PCI-X Video card, and there for got a whole lot more to support it.

The new mother board is a Gigabyte GA-M51GM-S2G, with a AMD 4200+, and 2GIGs of ram.

The problem come with the 2 IDE HDD (from previous computer) and the New SATA drive. I was able to load windows on to the SATA HDD (when the IDE HDDs were not connected. However, when I plug in the IDE HDD with the SATA, the BIOS only recongonizes the IDE HDD? :wallbash: I also tried reloading Windows with all three HDD connected, and it only recongonizes the IDE HDD (I did use option F6, and loaded the SATA drivers).

[KAstickboy]

is the sata HD set for master and the IDEs set for slave? simple question but ya never know...

KA

[[W33T] Joker]

ok so you did F6 part that's good did it install all the drivers and if it did what happen next?

[Kegg]

The IDE HDDs are set to cable select, since I am running an Ultra-ATA 133 cable.

But I did try to seting the IDE HDD with master/slave setting with the IDE cable that came with the motherboard.


AMD--
the two IDE HDD showed up but the SATA drive didn't. When I disconnect the IDE cable, then the SATA drive shows up.

[vortex19103]

Check you bios settings, make sure that the SATA Drives are enabled for Boot (see Manual).

Disconnect the IDE drives for now.

Install XP and press F6 and use drivers from floppy.
*if no floppy, then extract from cd and put on floppy.

then after xp is loaded then install ide drives.

repost later if still having problems. i will look up your gigabyte mb for details tomorrow.

vortex19103:thumbsup:

[KAstickboy]

i have a Gigabyte MB running a SATA HDD. I have an extra IDE HDD layin around so ill try and fool with it tonight to see if i have any problems getting one to show up...

KA

[[W33T] Joker]

AMD--
the two IDE HDD showed up but the SATA drive didn't. When I disconnect the IDE cable, then the SATA drive shows up.


ok try this

Connect the IDE drive to a free channel (different IDE connector) in the PC, switch it to master, and connect the SATA drive to the pc too. Install the OS an the SATA, and your good to go.

If the SATA does not show up immediately, you may have to enable SATA in the BIOS.

hope this help if not i need to give it try out with my machine. mine just work without any problem but i did have to enable SATA drive in BIOS so give it try.:D

[Drayu]

Wow! you got new parts! Nice! Dump that 9800 and welcome to the real world :D I need to get online more :(

[Kegg]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, I tried most of them thoughout the last couple of days. I did final get all the drives to work. :thumbsup:
I think what happened (according to Lordbeer) was there was a little static onthe M/B or the drives and was causing the M/B no to reconginze the SATA Hdd when the IDE HDD were connected. So I let the system be powered down and all the static to discharge. When I retried it, it POSTed with all drive reconginized. It made me very happy!

So I am reinstalling windows on to the SATA HDD and will use the IDE HDD as storage. So I should be back gaming this weekend. (and I will not have to use the labtop to type on... damn I had these little keys.)

BTW Drayu I picked up a XFX Nvida 6900 GTX PCI-E video card. and the ram is 2 GB of Corsair DDMII match pair. So hopefully this thing will be flying.:D

[[W33T] Joker]

nice dude never thought of that and never happen but cool :D

[Drayu]

corsair DDMII ? link? (DDR2?)

[LordBeer]

Well, it will be nice to have to have you back in game Kegg. Now you just need to get some Guiness and enjoy your new machine. Dont forget to pick up that driving wheel as well. :yaya:

[GorroXXII]

driving wheel? why? you need one? I got one! you can have Kegg!

[Kegg]

I am having no luck with this build....aka I have the kiss of death with computer right now :wallbash: .

Well as stated below I got all the harddrive to show and work.
Now My new issues is with losing the Windows desktop (Windows XP).:dunno: I lose the desktop on the first account, but am able to get the second desktop (task manager- switch accounts).

The first time I notice it was windows installer was trying to install an update to Norton2006, where Norton wouldn't accept the update and it said 'to unistall and reinstall Norton'. When I clicked ok, the desktop would only show the background (not even the start menu would show), However I could get the task manager to show and was able to switch to another account, where the desktop would come up.

I tried to reinstall windows using the windows reinstall menu on the CD. After that didn't fix the issue. I reformated the harddrive and installed a fresh copy of windows.

Installed the basic motherbord drivers and the XFX nvidia driver (the latest version off the website) and the issue reapeared. :thumbsdown:

[Drayu]

first, why norton? trash that garbage and use avg and zone alarm. Sounds like bad hardware, just where?

[vortex19103]

Okay, I've been supporting computers for over 15 yrs, NORTON is an excellent Antivirus program, by far, better than any freeware product out there.

If you can't afford to pay, then use freeware :thumbsup: , if you can use Norton, not McAfee (it sucks) it takes over to much control of your system and does not like you to be in control of your system.

Norton AV and Internet Security is as far as I would suggest anyone to purchase, stay away from system works because it has to much control, and eats all system resources.

---
Problem at hand. I had recommended that you install the SATA drives only and not the IDE for the first install.

Did you do that?

New Installation:

F6-use SATA driver for MB
Delete current partition
Create new partition
Install XP
Update MB Bios - if not current
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/Driver_Model.aspx?ClassValue=Motherboard&ProductID=2281&ProductName=GA-M51GM-S2G other drivers ie chipset, audio, etc if more current than CD
Or MB Drivers from CD if most recent than website
Video Drivers
Windows UpdatesIs there data on old IDE hard drives? If so do you need?

If not delete partitions on old IDE hard drives and install after XP and drivers are completed.

If so, backup data to another drive, and reformat (use XP disk management) via MMC.exe or right click (my computer) manage, disk management.

Repost,

Vortex19103

[f1sh3r]

norton AV has gotten fat and lazy recently. it used to be okay, even good at one point, but now it's just too much of a resource hog. however, it's still perfectly acceptable to use. AVG is better way to go, but i suggest springing for the real version and not leeching off the freeware offering. as far as internet security, it's pretty much junk. get zone alarm, use the windows provided firewall or just get a router and be done with it completely.

as for your computer problems, skip the gigabyte/xfx drivers and go straight to nvidia. the reseller sites often lag behind a bit in versions and 9 times out of 10 are providing you with the nvidia reference drivers anyway. don't even bother using anything on the cd.

also, yank everything out of your pc that you don't need to get it booting. sound card, extra hard drives, extra ram, extra cdroms. you want the motherboard, ram, cpu (heatsink/fans of course), video card, one hard drive (sounds like you want your sata as the main drive so use that one for this test) and a cd/dvd drive. now install windows, install the motherboard drivers (from nvidia http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_nf4_430_410_winxp32_8.26.html for xp) and then video card drivers from nvidia (http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_91.47.html) and then install some programs and mess around with your OS a bit, see if the problem continues. if so you have something funky in your hardware, if not, start adding stuff back in til it starts happening. it sounds to me like ram or video card, but honestly without testing it myself i wouldn't want to make a diagnosis.

edit: if you're using anything onboard (sound/nic) just disable them in the bios for now. we want the most basic setup we can get.

[Kegg]

Here's what I figured out so far....

For the first user account logged 'explorer.exe' is not running when 'winlogon.exe' starts the desktop. I ran Sandra and the event log says:"'eplorer.exe' unexpectedly shutdown."

When I switch user accounts (not logout of the first one), 'explorer.exe' is running and the desktop works fine. It seams all the drives are running.

[StevenNevets]

Sorry, can't help you

But your video card - did you meen the 7900 gtx?

[f1sh3r]

yank everything out of your pc that you don't need to get it booting. sound card, extra hard drives, extra ram, extra cdroms. you want the motherboard, ram, cpu (heatsink/fans of course), video card, one hard drive (sounds like you want your sata as the main drive so use that one for this test) and a cd/dvd drive. now install windows, install the motherboard drivers (from nvidia http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_...xp32_8.26.html for xp) and then video card drivers from nvidia (http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_91.47.html) and then install some programs and mess around with your OS a bit, see if the problem continues. if so you have something funky in your hardware, if not, start adding stuff back in til it starts happening. it sounds to me like ram or video card, but honestly without testing it myself i wouldn't want to make a diagnosis.

edit: if you're using anything onboard (sound/nic) just disable them in the bios for now. we want the most basic setup we can get.

[Gruthar]

Well, you know your hard drive was giving you issues, so I also suggest starting with only the boot drive. The issue sounds like driver incompatibility or conflict to me, though, given that this is consistently occurring during the "load all crap" phase of Windows... explorer.exe is responsible for running the Windows graphical shell, so it could be video card drivers, though the fact that you are able to see the desktop makes me skeptical. Other things can crash explorer, too. What happens if you start Windows in Safe Mode?