New Computer New Problems

[dek]

I"m helping put together a computer for a friend. We got it all together and whatnot. It boots up fine, video works, it runs the bios, then when its time to load the system on the hard drive, it goes to load setup files, and then goes to a blank screen. The hard drive was used in his old dell. which makes me wonder if dell maybe put something on it that won't allow it to be used in a different computer. i understand that i have to reformat it when it's on a new mobo, but for some reason it just won't. so if you could give any insight it'd be appreciated.

System Specs-
Dfi Lanparty UT 250Gb
Amd 64 3400+
2X512 Corsair pc 3200
Geforce FX 5700 Le

Old parts
Dell Samsung cdrom/rw
Dell 80gig Western Digital

 

[meltdown75]

Have you switched the jumper settings around on the back of the drive? Some companies have their drives set to Cable Select by default... simple suggestion but just trying to get discussion going.

 

[jackschmittusa]

You can download WD's Data Lifeguard Tools from their website and make a bootable cd that will format and partition for you. Also their diagnostics are available.

 

[dek]

meltdown75 ya i tried that, and i encountered the same problem.

Jackschmittusa i'll try that out

 

[montag451]

Have you tried different cables?

Can you disable all onboard periperals, and take out ALL non essential hw for the time being

 

[dek]

cables were the first thing i tried. and there really isn't anything unnecessary to take out. The bios recognizes the hard drive as being there. it just won't install windows.

 

[montag451]

well - dont suppose you've got a hdd lying around that you could just plug in and see if anything happens?

 

[dek]

na i'm gonna make him go pick one up and see if it works.

 

[montag451]

yeah- get the peasants to do some work

 

[vwtankgirl]

I had the same problem with a friend's Dell. He had Windoze95 installed and I sold him my old 6.8 WD HD, it gave me nothing but problems until I did a complete reformat and installed Windoze98. It took me three weeks to try and upgrade the darn thing and then I had to bring it home and work on it for another 3 days! I have learned to hate Dells thanks to his 'puter. It runs fine now with Win98. Maybe an OS upgrade will work... what is he running now?

 

[dek]

xp home. was gonna upgrade it to xp pro, but can't get it to load

 

[DaleDell]

Dell doesn't put anything on there that would keep you from installing it on a different pc. To eliminate any software issue, I say Debug the drive. Debug script can be found here: http://support.dell.com/suppor...en&s=dhs&cs=19

 

[dek]

ok i'll be sure to try the debug. ty for the help from everyone thus far i appreciate it

 

[dek]

ok switched out for a different hard drive, same problem so its not the hard drive. we've switched out cd drives and still get the same problem. so i'm thinking mobo problem? possibly need to flash the bios?

 

[dek]

bump

 

[montag451]

Just to check - I know you said that the BIOS 'runs', but does the hdd show up in the BIOS?
If yes,
If you run a boot floppy, does DOS recognise it?

 

[dek]

Originally posted by: dek
The bios recognizes the hard drive as being there.

can't get it to boot into dos.

 

[montag451]

Have you disabled all onboard peripherals?
Can you UNDERclock the system?
Are the voltages correct for RAM [2.6 - 2.8v - start low]?
can you also try disabling L1/L2 cache?

Please try these one at a time

 

[razor2025]

download Ultimate Boot CD, and use their hard drive utilities to Zero the drive. (Usually it's called "Writing Zeroes"). If Dell did put anything on the MBR that might cause the installation failure, it'll be gone. Then use the manufacture specific diagnostic to run a thorough test on the hard drive. It'll detect if the drive is good or bad. Also, there are LOADS more utilities and diagnostic on that CD that you can test the CPU, RAM, and Mobo to see if there's any problems with them.

The CD will self-boot with it's own shell, so you don't need to boot to DOS first. Just set the frist boot up sequence to "CDROM" on the BIOS.

 

[montag451]

Was trying to see if OS on that drive is recoverable.
Does sound like it is

 

[dek]

its not a hard drive problem. i tried other hard drives and received the same problem

 

[dek]

bump