Need Major Help!

[ReddawgT]

I have had nothing but problems with my custom computer since I tried to put it together. It seems after I would finish fixing 1 problem another would happen. Currently my System Specs are Motherboard: A7V333, Processor: Athlon 2100, RAM: RDRAM 256 at 233 speed. Operating System Trying to Install: Windows XP Home Edition. HD: 20 gig on primary IDE cable. 2nd HD: 80 gig on secondary IDE cable set as a slave. DVD-ROM: Took it out my old Compaq and put it in on secondary IDE cable as a master.

Taking some advice from my friends I cleared off the 20 gig since I was getting stuck at:

Examining 19070 MB Disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on atapi

I used fdisk to delete my partition and tried to restart my computer. Upon restarting with the CD set as the first bootable device I would get a grey screen with scrolling numbers, letters. After a few seconds it would finally reboot.


Could someone please help me figure out what is wrong with my computer. Been trying to put it together since Friday and I just keep finding problem after problem. 8(

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this.

[PartsMan]

If you put your second HDD on your secondary IDE ribbon there is no reason to (using the jumper) to set it as a slave drive, especially if there is no other IDE device on the end of that ribbon.

Your two HDDs should both be set (by jumpers) as master(s) and be on the end connections of your IDE ribbons. IF you have a CD-burner it should reside on the middile connection of your primary IDE ribbon thus only leaving the middle connection of your secondary IDE ribbon available for your plain CD-ROM (or DVD player).

[chris64]

I don't think FDISK can access that large a hard drive. Have you downloaded MaxBlast from www.maxtor.com under support>then downloads.

[DoctorReno]

Chris is correct FDisk used to not be able to access a HD that size however at: http://bootdisk.com/ you can link to the Microsoft site where you can get the improved FDisk that will let you access over 64Gb drives.

Also, I would put both hard drives on the primary IDE channel and jumper them master and slave respectively. Reason being is that if you put one harddrive on the secondary IDE with a CD the performance of the HD will be reduced to the performance of the CD which is usually far below the HD's capability.

I'm also a big believer in zero fill formating a HD drive before I reinstall my OS.

[ReddawgT]

Thank you for the help so far. I've figured out that problem only to run into another wall now. I let the Windows XP Home setup boot up from CD. When it does I can get up to the option screen of either hitting "Enter" or hitting "R". I hit "Enter" and it winds up getting stuck on "Examining 19070 MB Disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on atapi". I've disconnected my 80 gig HD for the moment because I just want to finally get this thing up and running and its one less obstacle to worry about thankfully.

I want to believe my HD is working correctly because I have been able to fdisk it and copy to the HD just as a test. After that I went back and used the Maxblast disk and Maxblast CD to reformat the HD. At the point where it asks for a "Startup Disk" I put in my Windows 98 Setup Disk that I downloaded from www.bootdisk.com. After doing all that I wind up getting the error above.

If you guys need more info please tell me and i'll try to write out more info on what is happening. But I really thank you guys for trying to help me with this.

[chris64]

Quote:

Originally posted by DoctorReno
Chris is correct FDisk used to not be able to access a HD that size however at: http://bootdisk.com/ you can link to the Microsoft site where you can get the improved FDisk that will let you access over 64Gb drives.

Also, I would put both hard drives on the primary IDE channel and jumper them master and slave respectively. Reason being is that if you put one harddrive on the secondary IDE with a CD the performance of the HD will be reduced to the performance of the CD which is usually far below the HD's capability.

I'm also a big believer in zero fill formating a HD drive before I reinstall my OS.

Zero fill formating is mainly used for deleting all the data on the hard drive so that if you sell it the person won't be able to find your personal data. Regular Formating is fine. The MaxBlast prog is easy to use and has a nice GUI

Quote:

20 gig on primary IDE cable. 2nd HD: 80 gig on secondary IDE cable set as a slave. DVD-ROM: Took it out my old Compaq and put it in on secondary IDE cable as a master

ok well fdisk should be able to read his drive because its only the 20 gig he's trying to partion...however your better off using the drive tools that came from the manufacture...as well as stated above you need to place the hdd's on the same cable and the optical{dvd} on another

[chris64]

Try running MaxBlast from the start with only the drive your installing the OS installed. Then Using MaxBlast Partitition the Drive, then format. I think there is some utility included with maxblast called powerblast(or something with power) that you can use to diagnose any probs with the drive.

[ReddawgT]

I believe i've tried running MaxBlast from the start if that is running it off of the floppy and CD-Rom on boot. I've use the partition tool on their to create 1 HD. But I use the Text Version of it when running thru. The last time I tried to run the GUI option one it froze after I picked it. Also I have tried to use Powerblast. When I click it though it seems like it just ignores it and lets me go on my way. I seriously am lost and confused 8(.

But thank you guys again for giving me help.

Is the 20 gig a new drive or an old one...ever had problems with it before? why not try to use the bigger drive instead...sounds to me like maybe your drive is bad there should be some drive diagnostic tools on the maxblast program try to run those if you can and see what comes up