[Vesk]

Hello there guys, I am hoping you can all help me with some very frustrating issues I have run into when attempting to build my new computer. So first off let me give you the parts:
The Parts
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128017
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115003
Power Supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817148027
Hard Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822144188
Optical Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827131039
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820211066
Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102067
Tower (Note mine did not come with a power supply): http://www.legitreviews.com/article/134/1/

The Problem
Okay so me and my brother spend the time connecting all the parts together. Now we don't claim to be EXPERTS but we do know our way around a tower and we know where everything is supposed to connect (or so we think). So after the construction came the moment of truth and we booted it up. It seemed to be a success as it got past the first POST screen (the part where you can enter the BIOS) and stopped after the PCI Listing (and notably stopping at ACPI if that makes any difference). I believed the reason it was not continuing was due to a lack of an OS (as this is a fresh rig) and so I set about installing Windows XP Home. So I throw in the CD and have it boot from the CD-ROM. Everything appears to be moving along smoothly as I enter the pre-setup setup where I am choose what Partition I want my OS to go into. Now it recognizes that my C drive has 320GB (roughly) on it so I, at the time, felt confident that it was recognizing properly. So I went ahead and allowed it to get Formatted and then let the setup copy the necessary files onto the disk.

So after that's all done I let it reset and it gets back to where it did before I ran the setup (to the ACPI in the PCI listing) and then it hangs there for a few moments and says "disk read error: ctrl+alt+delete to reset). So, confused, I do that a few more times and get the same result. So I fiddle around with the BIOS a little (assuming that it doesn't recognize the SATA format) and then trying reinstalling the pre-Windows setup. Now after this attempt the computer simply RESETS itself right after the ACPI listing in the PCI Listing interface. I have tried to fiddle with the BIOS and install some of the SATA drivers that came with my mother board but I have yet to get it to actually boot up.

Any help you guys could offer would mean a whole lot to me.

Thanks
~Vesk

[Frank4d]

In the BIOS Setup, Integrated Peripherals page, go to Onboard SATA/IDE Ctrl Mode. Choices are IDE, AHCI, and RAID. You want IDE.

[Wasper]

Hi,

Did the hard drive show up in the BIOS page? if it did, then I dont think it has anything to do with the machine seeing it.

What I think may be the problem is the power supply.

The reason I say this is becuase that PSU (power supply unit) that you put in that build is not a good choice. Cheap power supplies usually dont put out the wattage and amps that they claim they do. For the equiptment you have in that build, I think your PSU is struggleing to power everything.

You have a powerful CPU, a powerful graphics card, optical drive, hard drive, all the case fans, your motherboard, two sticks of DDR2 800.... I think its pauseing , and not allowing you to continue with the start up, because its under powered and is failing when attempting to power up your machine.

Do you have another PSU around, one that is known to be working? Maybe your friends or brother has one that you can try in your machine just to see if it boots all the way up. I think that just may be your problem.

Hope this helps,
Wasper

[Vesk]

Yes...a bum PSU could be the cause of the problem. Is there any way I can test its wattage without trying another PSU? Also do you have any recommendations for good solid power supplies.

And finally I was wondering if there are not any other things that could be causing this kind of a problem? And yes the Hard drive does show up in my BIOS.

[Rich-M]

I agree the psu bites but I don't see why they would get this far and then stop either...the timing could be video card that won't make the jump from posting or a bad hard drive, and that's the other thing they bought you could not give me for free is a Maxtor hard drive.

[crjdriver]

One thought. You have a 965 chipset board. There have been numerous issues regarding installing using an ide type CD / DVD drive. This is because the 965 chipset does not really support ide; many use a bridge or it uses the sata controller for the ide connector.

Check the board maker's site for any bios updates that address this issue. I know epox has had problems with this and has finally released a bios update to address this problem.

[replay]

did u install the gigabyte sata driver (f6) when first loading xp