It's Alive...Again! (PART II) (The New Guy Returns with an UPADATE and MORE QUESTIONS)

[MichaelD]

Well, isn't that special? Welcome back, faithful readers, to the ongoing saga of Mike's new rig.
As you recall, in our last episode, Mike had just built his first pc. Abit KTR-Raid mobo, 1Gig Tbird, and all the goodies. You also recall that the BIOS wouldn't boot, no matter what. But now...

What a cool intro, huh? I disconnected every single blasted thing from the mobo. Reseated the memory. I honestly think it was loose, even though I distinctly remember "snapping" it down into the socket. Reconnected only the hd, floppy and vidcard and fired it up.

FREAKIN' BINGO! It's alive! I got a "CMOS reset" message on the topline of the BIOS screen. It forced me to enter BIOS. I did. I set the CPU speed and boot order. Reformatted the hd. Two partitions this time (more on that in a minute). Reinstalled WIN98. Via drivers. Vidcard drivers. It's up and running. Idling at a nice 27 Celsius.

What was wrong? I have no idea. Maybe it was the memory, maybe it was a loose drive power plug. Maybe Uranus was not aligned with Mars. Who knows? It's up and running fine. Even with the POST, it boots to the desktop in under 10 seconds. Can't beat that with a bat.

Of course, what would a post from The New Guy be without one or more problems?

Problem 1.
I installed my printer (Epson 740). It's there on the control panel, set as the default printer. It's listed in my device manager with no conflicts. The problem is that I can't see my USB ports. In device manager, I can see all four ports (two on the mobo, and the two from the extension header) with no conflicts. Yet, when I try to print something, the pc tries to print to the LPT1 port. I don't understand; how do I set my USB ports as active? I installed the VIA 4-1 driver, which has the USB driver in it. Nothing wrong with the printer, used it yesterday off the other pc. Tried reinstalling the printer. It installs fine, no errors. (Hey and my pc even restarts now! ) Just tries to print to LPT1. How do I change it?

Problem 2.
I made two partitions. A 5 gig for windows and a 40 gig for storage/games. C and D drives, respectively. Don't know how to phrase this...how do I store stuff on the D drive? There's no operating system on it, right? I want to put all my games, mpeg's, pics and stuff on it. I guess my question is; how do I use my dual-partitioned hard drive?

I haven't installed the modem or the soundcard yet. I want to get my USB issue solved first. I want the system rock-solid before I install anything else. If you guys could help me out with these two probs, I'd appreciate it. Thank you SO MUCH for all your help in trouble shooting my "dead" pc. It wasn't dead....just comatose! Rock on Bill, Rock on Ted. Have a great day.

Mike The New Guy

 

[bacillus]

hmm,I would uninstall the printer software & reinstall it,turn on the printer with usb lead connectd to pc so it configures the usb port to use the printer. that's my understanding of the instructions though I use the LPT1 port out of preference!
2)easy enough to store stuff on D. just make a new folder/s on D & store
your stuff in the folders! easy

PS have you enabled usb in bios?

 

[MichaelD]

Hey, thanks bud. Can I put applications on D? I have Office 2000. It takes up a lot of room. Can I put it on "D", being that there's no windows operating system on it?

 

[Smbu]

Yes, you can put stuff on the D drive. When you are installing a program just change it from C:\Program Files\newapp or whatever the folder it's going to install on to something with the D instead of the C. e.g change the above from C:\Program Files\newapp to D:\Program Files\newapp , or whatever you want it to be as long as it starts w/the D:\

 

[bacillus]

yes you can! when the program asks where you want it to be installed, use d:\ instead of the default c:\program files\......! since you don't yet have a progams folder on d: you will be asked if you want one making & choose yes.
good luck!

 

[nickdakick]

<< Can I put applications on D? >>


Sure you can every installation routine nowadays gives you the option to change the default installation path. Just change it to D:\some_directory_you_like and you're set.

 

[Mykex]

You may need to change your printer port config in the bios. To have my printer work right it needs to be set to the ECP/EC<guessing but it is the only one with forward slash (***/**) The default setting didnt work at all for me. I guess my printer is getting old defaults not the answer anymore. I may have to buy some ink for it soon ....LOL.

I didnt need to use the USB fix for my SocketA like my SS7 did but it might be worth a shot USBFIX Best of luck,Happy PCing.

 

[StrangeRanger]

on the printer issue, the only pointers i can suggest are to make sure the usb is enabled (if it needs to be) in the bios and to check your owner's manual for install process. i only have to usb devices and both require the software/drivers to be installed FIRST, then i plug in the device and power it on and the install continues.
j

 

[Platypussssssss]

Yes you can put Office 2000 on D:. However it still puts it's shared files in c:\program files, but the larger part is on the D: drive.