A little help from the experts please

[timebecomes]

First things first, here are the specs of the computer I am so far unsucsesfully trying to build:
If you have read the anadtech buyer's guide article on OC'ing, that's what this system is:

AMD 2500+ Mobile CPU
Abit NF7-S Rev. 2 Mobo
2 X 512MB OCZ PC3700 GOLD Revision 2 (CAS2.5)
Chaintech TI4200 GF4 vid card
Kingwin K11 Aluminum ATX case
Antec True Power 430W
Thermalright SP-97 Copper Heatsink with Heatpipe Technology
250GB 8mb cache WD HD (New, no OS yet)

Ok, so that's the setup: Now here are the problems so far,
#1 - The bios does not recognize the CPU - it boots and says "unknown CPU" and I can still change the multiplier clock and fsb speeds and everything, but it has no idea what processor it is. (I don't know if this is a big problem but it seems weird.)
#2 It takes at least a minute to find the cd and dvd drive and the main problem is it gives me a "boot failure" when I try to install windows xp pro. I can get it to boot an "ultimate boot disk" that i have which has many cool utilities on it, however none of them are too usfull unless I can install windows.

Any help would be much apprecated - thanks in advance

 

[BlueWeasel]

Are you running the latest BIOS for the NF7-S?

How exacly do you have the CD and DVD drives configured? ie, Master/Slave or cable select?

 

[timebecomes]

I am not sure on the bios version, I just bought the board a couple of days ago from monarch computers.

The CD-RW that is at the end of the cable is on master mode, and the DVD-RW which is the middle hookup of the ide cable is in slave mode. - thanks

 

[Connoisseur]

Get the latest bios first. Go to the website, get the bios, run off of a floppy. Most motherboards won't recognize the mobile bartons without the latest bios. That MIGHT solve your detection and boot issues. The mobo might not know what setting your CPU should run and it can cause your crashes. In either case, get the latest bios first and then try the xp install.

 

[timebecomes]

I don't have a floppy drive anymore, I got rid of it a couple of years ago and didn't think that I needed it. Any other way to get the new bios on there? I have a USB key drive but I am guessing that getting the USB ports need windows to be recognized - thanks

 

[myocardia]

Okay, you have a chip that's meant to be in a laptop in your desktop computer. They aren't recognized with most motherboards, though with a few, if you set them at a recognized speed (like 11x200), they will be recognized as an XP3200, for instance. But don't overclock at all, until you have Windows and all of your applications installed! And the reason you can't install Windows is because your hard-drive is a Western Digital. There are workarounds, including removing the jumper from the drive completely (that's the one that usually works), among others. Check WD's website if removing the jumper doesn't work. They have all of the workarounds on their site somewhere.

edit: And no, you don't have to have the newest bios to load Windows. Just upgrade it after you load Windows.

 

[BlueWeasel]

As far as the BIOS goes, do you have a Win95/98/ME CD lying around? I enable the CD/DVD as the first boot device in the BIOS and use the 95/98/ME CD to boot to DOS mode.

I just extract the BIOS updater and file to a directory on my HD and run it from the HD. You can only do this if the drive is formatted using FAT32, as you won't be able to access NTFS partitions without some type of program.

 

[timebecomes]

I have successfully installed windows - thanks for the tip about the jumper settings - I took the jumper pin out and it worked like a charm. Now I just need to figure out how to get the new bios on there so it can recognize my processor (without a floppy and in NTFS). Is it possible to make a boot cd with that info on it in nero or something? - thanks

 

[myocardia]

Yes, just load Nero to burn the CD and then do exactly what Blue describes, and you'll be fine. (After you download the bios and unzip it, of course!)

edit: Don't forget to load the bios files to the cd you burn.

 

[magratton]

Hold on! ABit has a windows based program called "FlashMenu". It will upgrade your BIOS whlie in Windows. That should take care of the floppy drive problem for you.

 

[timebecomes]

Excellent, thanks magratton! Now I have a new problem I dl'ed a driver for my chaintech ti4200 GF$ vid card and it basically made it so I cannot go into windows at all anymore. When it boots up it says that the system is either missing or has a corrupted file which is windows/system32 or one of the equally big ones for booting up correctly. It asks for the windows xp disk (to repair) but my xp does not boot correctly in the cd drive so i can't get to the repair screen even if I wanted to. Is there any way that I can get out of this without having to wipe the HD?

 

[magratton]

Load windows in Safe Mode? Right after your system finishes bios post and device identification, press F8 (before Windows start loading). Select Safe Mode with Networking Support.

Also this should allow you to go to the device manager, choose the video card and roll back the driver.

Michael.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: myocardia
Okay, you have a chip that's meant to be in a laptop in your desktop computer. They aren't recognized with most motherboards, though with a few, if you set them at a recognized speed (like 11x200), they will be recognized as an XP3200, for instance. But don't overclock at all, until you have Windows and all of your applications installed! And the reason you can't install Windows is because your hard-drive is a Western Digital. There are workarounds, including removing the jumper from the drive completely (that's the one that usually works), among others. Check WD's website if removing the jumper doesn't work. They have all of the workarounds on their site somewhere.

edit: And no, you don't have to have the newest bios to load Windows. Just upgrade it after you load Windows.

Nothing is wrong with western digital drives. However thats besides the point. DONT LOAD WINDOWS IN SAFE MODE USE LAST KNOWN GOOD CONFIGURATION! That way you dont have to do all that roll bavk crap. It should work if not try safe then.
Good Luck
-Kevin

 

[timebecomes]

I have just re-installed everything after wiping the HD and starting over. I have DL'ed the flashing utility from the abit site and have successfully flashed the bios with this new one: nVidia-nforce-6A61BA1BC-23 and it still cannot find my mobile 2500+ It boots and says it is an unknown cpu at 600 mhz. Any ideas? Do I need aa different bios? The bios build date was 3/24/2004 which is quite recent. - thanks

 

[timebecomes]

Here is the new problem. After trying to OC at various different multipliers, FSB speeds and voltages, after I restarted trying one of them the comp just refused to boot up. It got past the screen where it says "verifying pool data" or whatever that is, then goes either straight to a black screen and nothing else happens. I have tried loading failsafe defaults in the bios which didn't help, and I have tried clearing the CMOS on the Mobo which didn't help. (I also tried different settings (CS, Master etc. on my HD which also did nothing) Any help here would be apprecieted - thanks much

 

[high]

mine is an unrecognized CPU and I installedon a WD no problem

oh ya 11.5x218