I just built a new computer and I'm having some problems with it booting up. Here are my specs:

Matrix Case X-500 Aluminum Mid Tower
Powmax 500W power supply
ASUS P4P800 Mobo
120GB Western Digital "Special Edition" hard drive
Pentium 4 2.6GHz w/ hyper-threading technology (800MHz FSB)
1GB Geil 400MHz DDR-RAM
BFG Technologies-Asylum GeForce FX 5600 256MB DDR video card
Soundblaster Audigy 2
Lite-On 52x CD-RW
Logitech Cordless MX Duo (Keyboard & Mouse)

Now the problem I am having is I turn my computer on, the mobo load screen comes up where you can enter the BIOS from or allow it to continue loading. Now, the next screen it goes to is completely black with a cursor blinking in the very top left of the screen. It stays on this screen for a very long time until the Windows XP load screen comes on. Sometimes I get an error that says the boot device can not be located and to reboot. When I reboot and go into the BIOS the device on the primary IDE slot is not reconized (this is my hard drive w/ the OS on it).

What could the problem be? Is it a problem within the BIOS, a bad IDE cable or a faulty hard drive? I need to get this problem fixed because it's damn annoying waiting for it to boot...my old P3 450MHz booted faster than this computer is right now Other than this problem the system is running fine though

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You have got the cd rom and harddrive on seperate ide cables?

a) make sure the jumper on the harddrive is set to single or master ( it will say on the harddrive its self how to do this, if theres a single setting use that, if not use master)

b) make sure the harddrive is conected to the END conector on the ide cable, not the middle one.

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quote:

Originally posted by jonsimmonds You have got the cd rom and harddrive on seperate ide cables? a) make sure the jumper on the harddrive is set to single or master ( it will say on the harddrive its self how to do this, if theres a single setting use that, if not use master) b) make sure the harddrive is conected to the END conector on the ide cable, not the middle one.

Yes the hard drive & CD-RW are on different cables. I know I have my HD set to master...but I'll check if there is a single setting.

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A few suggestions:
1) Restore factory defaults in the BIOS, then start from scratch.
2) Update your BIOS - this solves a ton of miscellaneous computer problems.
3) Check the jumper settings on your drive, sometimes they don't come with the correct settings (and "cable select" often doesn't work like it should, make sure it's "master").
4) Swap the cable if you have an extra, see if it changes anything.
5) Swap the hard drive if possible, or try using it in another PC.

If none of those work, it could be a hardware problem with the mobo or something... take the mobo, CPU, hard drive and memory to the store you got it at and get them to test it all for you (and if they try to pull a stunt like "We don't do that", then tell them "Fine, ALL these parts are defective, I want them ALL replaced!").

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go to google.com and type in the Fing error

I changed my jumper settings from master to cable select and got an increase in boot time. It's still not terribly fast, but it's a hell of alot better than before.

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I noticed you don't have a floppy, make sure it's not waiting for one. Go into bios and make sure ide is selected as first boot device. Cable select is horrible btw, don't use it unless you ABSOLUTELY have too. It could also be the kb/mouse not syncing up properly and causing your PC to 'wait' for them, but I doubt it. If your case is sharp check the IDE cable for any cuts, do the same with the PSU molex cables. I'd also suggest testing that power supply next time you get into windows, does ASUS have a monitor type program? If not, try MBM and make sure your PSU voltages stay consistant. Is the outlet grounded properly?

quote:

Originally posted by TeKnoHe@d2025 I changed my jumper settings from master to cable select and got an increase in boot time. It's still not terribly fast, but it's a hell of alot better than before.

basically, the worst idea...ever. no one does that, you shouldnt either

quote:

Originally posted by Orbax basically, the worst idea...ever. no one does that, you shouldnt either

Explain your reasoning...

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quote:

Originally posted by TeKnoHe@d2025 Explain your reasoning...

because it never works properly and randomly causes drives not to be detected and/or read errors You're just asking for trouble, use master/slave settings

BTW, did you try any of my many suggestions, or are you pleasently ignoring them?

quote:

Originally posted by AvPPoW because it never works properly and randomly causes drives not to be detected and/or read errors You're just asking for trouble, use master/slave settings

Odd, because that is what I was getting using the master jumper. I do have a floppy, I just didn't list it because there its not really an essential item to list when showing specs.

As for your comment about the mouse & keyboard not syncing properly, you may be on to something with this. When I boot up sometimes my mouse is not working and I have to go in the back, unplug my mouse cord from the PS/2 slot and plug it back in. Then it works fine. I'm running the latest drivers as well.

For the voltage, I'm seeing that my +12V is running at about 11.8-11.9V which appears to be underpowered...but I don't know much about the power distribution in PCs.

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