Mesh with MS-6741 VER1 MB can't load XP

talk2mike

talk2mike

talk2mike

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9 Jan 2010
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I don't know if anyone can help but I have a Mesh with the above MB. The original HDD died (started smoking!!) so I have replaced with a new HDD but can't get XP to load. Any ideas? I think it is something to do with the BIOS settings but so far haven't worked out what?
When I load XP it ends up saying it did not find any hard drives installed - yet it is!
Checked connections and all seems okay so stuck?

Might be worth mentioning that with original HDD it was never possible to install SP2, each time it would confirm it was done and a restart was required but then it always went to BSOD
 
Hello and welcome to the forums, be sure to read the FAQ :)

Does the HD drive show up in the BIOS and can you test another port or cable.
What HD did you purchase.
 
The HDD is not detected in the BIOS which I guess is the issue. I tried the other SATA connection on the MB but same problem. Whe I turn it on, it says VIA VT8237 Serial ATA RAID BIOS Setting Utility V2.10, then scan devices, please wait. . .
Press (TAB) Key into user window
Then it says "HArdware Initiate failed, Please check devices!!!
The bios does not be installed. Press (g) to continue!
The next screen dissappears quickly and it tries to load XP from the CD drive but finally says there is no HDD fitted.
The Drive is a 250gb Deskstar
 
Hmm, I wonder if the old hard drive took the motherboard with it, I had a problem with a Gateway a few years back, thought the HD failed but turned out to be the motherboard.

Can you test the new hd in another system to rule out this DOA.
 
Just as I started to get excited, it reports that it didnt find any hard drive.
Only other thing I can think of is to ditch the SATA connection and use one of the ATA cables from one of the optical devices?
Means using an ATA drive but that is no big deal I guess, just means lower capacity as I want to use an existing drive
 
It sounds to me like it needs additional storage drivers to install windows XP. These will need to be placed on a floppy disk. You then place the disk in the drive when installing XP and press F6 when prompted.

I know it sounds like a backwards step but another thing to try would be using an IDE drive, given this is an old system it won't effect performance.
 
Well, well I think you must be right, I fitted an old IDE drive and it is installing so I think I will install XP to that and see if I can get past the SP2 issue and then install a SATA drive once connected to the net so it will find drivers.
I would prefer to try your first route with a floppy start up but my VISTA machine will not read or right to the A drive even though the BIOS sees it!

THANK YOU TO ALL FOR YOUR KIND HELP AND SUPPORT
 
Using an IDE drive after a bit of messing about with the Bios it installed XP SP2 fine which is a first for this PC so am pleased it worked out. Just loading SP3 but should work fine
 
Really odd, I finally got it running fine and loaded SP3 but also had to change the video card as I was getting blockiness, stripes and alternating checkerboard effect on some windows while being fine on others. Not seen that before so didn't expect sucha simple solution.
 
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