first time build, boot trouble.

ms4383 · 4 Dec 2007 at 18:23

my new rig is having trouble starting.
when it first boots up it powers on for a few seconds, then stops, then powers back on, beeps once briefly and lights flash on keyboard and tower. then pre bios screen shows with memory count etc. says 'cpu unworkable or has changed check soft settings', with a choice of continuing or giong into bios. i go into bios but the soft check seems normal, just displays whats in there (2ghz and temps etc).
when i leave bios, an abit screen comes up and says press delete to enter setup or tab for somethign else(sorry cant remember). but now the keyboard wont work at all so i end up powering it down. ive done this a few times, with and without hard drive and dvd drives with no difference.

sorry for the ignorance, any idea what the problem is or a solution?
rig is an abit ip35E, 8800gt, duocore 2ghz. is the cpu shot? did i damage it in install? any ideas appreciated.

ms4383 · 4 Dec 2007 at 18:45

errr...how will i know if it looks right? there are no obvious errors that i can see, but im not sure id know them if i did see.

ms4383 · 4 Dec 2007 at 19:10

so a bios problem would explain why the keyboard works in bios but not afterwards? i should also add that im using an old hard drive with windows on already. the first time i booted up it opened up XP but at a dodgy frame rate (a quater of the screen took up the whole space), and then said 'windows needs to be verified by microsoft'. this maybe a factor?
sorry its so complicated, scimping £20 on a new hard drive seems not worth it any more lol

ms4383 · 4 Dec 2007 at 19:23

so how do i get through that period? if my abit mobo is requesting a keystroke then surely i need to give it one to get anywhere at all? i tried going to bios and changing the boot sequence so that the abit driver booted first throught the dvd drive, but no success.

ms4383 · 4 Dec 2007 at 19:24

sorry rulocal, wheres the mobo battery?

ms4383 · 4 Dec 2007 at 19:33

flat and circular, about size of a 50p?

ms4383 · 4 Dec 2007 at 20:28

no it tried to boot from the cd, went to a dos format and gave 4 options. none worked, either said invalid or impossible. had to restart manually. think booting from dvd drive with windows might be answer. have to get cd off a mate. will try taking out battery tomorrow when i have the cd

ms4383 · 13 Dec 2007 at 17:03

still no success. removed the battery. booted up and it said battery changed reverted to default bios. so i made the dvd drive primary boot and booted from windows cd, goes through a long blue windows setup screen but wont actually start windows.
first time i put the cd in the windows xp loading screen came up but then the system crashed. and strangely now my keyboard works on the abit screen but it just goes into the bios if press continue. or it goes into a memory count then into bios.

Any ideas guys?????

ms4383 · 14 Dec 2007 at 00:24

it never gives me an option of formatting the hard drive. i tried it with a different hard drive too. can i format one of them by attaching it to another system?

ms4383 · 14 Dec 2007 at 09:37

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC).
already taken out 1 stick. what voltage shall i try the ram at?
cheers

ms4383 · 14 Dec 2007 at 10:52

does the double boot actually matter? i can live with it to be honest, unless its affecting other things. and thanks for the RAM advice, would the wrong voltage cause a problem starting windows on an old hard drive?

ms4383 · 14 Dec 2007 at 13:35

removed mobo battery and started again. changed ram voltage, booted from windows cd and deleted my old partion on the hard drive. created a new partition and now its formatting the hard drive. hopefully this should work........ thanks for all the help guys.

ms4383 · 14 Dec 2007 at 14:44

partioned the hard drive, and it seemed like windows was gonna start but it said the ntds was missing. when i deleted the old partition there was one that said ntds but seemed really small, and one that seemed like the whole hard drive. so i deleted both of these partitions, it seems like i should have kept the first partition. how can i create this partition?
ps. i think it said ntds, might be ntls or something similiar.

ms4383 · 14 Dec 2007 at 14:46

its ntps. tried it all again, removed battery etc. now its offering me a choice of partitions on which to install xp. the main one that i set up is C: partition 1 (NTPS) 70000mb free). this is just my 70 gb hard drive right? so why is it saying ntps missing when i try and boot when the partition says ntps, and the previous formatting and installation seemed to go fine?

ms4383 · 14 Dec 2007 at 14:52

er, thought it was ntps but am sitting on the floor with computer all around and screen far away. so any idea whats wrong?

ms4383 · 14 Dec 2007 at 15:00

seems a good link but at the recovery console it only asked what id like to open and wouldnt let me type more than 1 character. am trying again. cheers

ms4383 · 14 Dec 2007 at 15:13

the first two commands arent recognised and the third results in "the file name, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect. any ideas guys???????

ms4383 · 14 Dec 2007 at 18:13

im not sure windows was installed as it crashed as the installation was ending and it said 'starting windows'.
it was an old hard disk when i built the rig
and i took out the battery again to start from scratch and try booting from the cd, only because it was a bit tempramental booting after id first tried.