wretched computer.

[karlmarxisdead]

this machine is driving me insane. Right now, I have the system stripped down to the following:

abit ka7-100 motherboard
slot a athlon 750
128mb pc133 ram
30.7gb maxtor 7200rpm drive
floppy drive
10x acer dvd drive
16mb tnt agp video card (i had a 32mb elsa erazorx card in it, but after trying it in three different machines, i discovered that the card's bad. sigh.)

here's the problem. i put this computer together last night, and i couldn't get the hard drive to auto detect. after setting the drive setting in the bios to manual rather than auto, i could then get the hard drive to detect. i was ecstatic. finally i could install windows! so i did...kind of. i got to the part of the windows install where you enter the serial number, and the computer froze. since then, i haven't been able to get the computer to boot. when i try to boot, the computer hangs when it gets to the point where it's supposed to check the ram. does anyone know what's going on and how i can fix whatever the problem is? please help me ;(

 

[kingink]

hmm, did you take everything out and start all over again? just mobo, chip, ram. Did you get any beep codes? Then put in the video card, check for beep codes and bios. next add the floppy, etc. I had a similar prob with my abit bh6. wouldn't detect my hard drive in auto or manual. weird. If you have another computer, try formatting the drive in another system and then installing it on the athlon board.
good luck.
kingink

 

[Tonec]

Assuming that the hard drive is new, did you format it before trying to install windows. Brand new drives won't recognize unless they're properly formated. Make a Win98 boot disk, then fdisk it.

 

[hymy]

sounds like flaky ram to me. I'd start my investiagation there.

 

[KGB]

I agree with HYMY!
Take the RAM to a local shop to have it checked.
Chances are it's bad.

 

[karlmarxisdead]

After an evening of swapping parts with a friend's computer, the problem was discovered. It's a bad CPU, which is kind of strange and disappointing, because it was a retail box.

I must have bad karma.

 

[Peppy]

Make sure you send it back to where you bought it from and get your money back. Retail boxes have 3 year warranties on them, and you do want about $200 back, don't you?