Sata II HD Issues

[TempletonPeck]

I've been having issues with a PC built with this mobo http://www.ncix.com/products/index [...] cture=ASUS of late.

On boot up, it started saying insert boot media. That wasn't the exact message, but along those lines.

I figured it was the hard drive that was the problem. So, I tested the hard drive on a different SATA port, with a different data cable and with a different power cable. Still the same result. Also, in the BIOS, it didn't seem to detect anything on that port. However, if I plugged in a SATA DVD drive, it picked it up. I didn't have a second computer to drop the HD in, to make 100% sure.

So, I picked up a "Seagate 500GB OEM SATA II 3.5 Inch Hard Drive" quickly and dropped it in today. Now, during POST and in the BIOS, when I booted, it picked up the drive.

I proceeded to format/install Windows and no more than say 5 seconds in, the computer just shut itself off. Now it keeps doing this, even if I don't put the disk in to install, sometimes it makes it to the "insert boot media" screen.

Is it the drive, or something else that is the problem here?

How could I make the drive work at this point? Am I just out of luck because of how old the mobo is?

 

[betaflame]

Am I correct in understanding that this problem is occurring with 2 separate hard drives, and no hard drive at all?

 

[TempletonPeck]

I fixed the problem with the auto shut off, but created another one.

I ran a BIOS test on the temperature of the system and found that the CPU was overheating. Either it came loose (the cpu fan), or I jarred it loose at some point, but I ran it with the case off after checking all fan connections and all fans started to spin.

It has stopped turning itself off. I was able to format the drive and install Windows (so I assume it was the other hard drive that was the problem). The disc I had for this system was only XP Home, before any of the latest service packs unfortunately. It has IE6 atm. I installed network drivers, chipset drivers and that's it so far.

Now I have a new problem. The windows site won't let me download any updates for some reason. It updated the updater and downloaded 4 updates with it (background intelligent service, windows verification, etc.) Now it just gives me an error every time I try and do updates and won't update. I even went as far as to re-install and reformat Windows again, but it still won't let me update, beyond the first 4 it gets for the updater itself. If I use Windows help for the error code, it give me some page from 5 years ago, but not being able to resolve the IP for the Windows update site.

Also, it seems to almost freeze up if I try to access certain parts of Windows at times. For example, I tried to load the control panel and it just didn't load, but I could still access what I already had open. I just couldn't start any new programs.

I have no idea what is going on, I just run into one problem after another it seems. I'm at a loss as to what to do at this point.