1st build

S

shade46

Geek Trainee
I have several issues. I am new and don't exactly know how or where to ask questions so I'll start in general. I have posted in introduction section what I started with and what I now have.
ABIT KV7
Athlon XP 3000, 400FSB
Elixer 256 X2 PC 3200+ Dual DDR RAM
WD Caviar SE 1200JD 120GB SATA
Gigabyte GeForce FX5200 AGP 128MB DDR Video card
Evercool CPU fan 725 all copper
480W Thermaltake PS
Lite-On 16X IDE DVD-ROM
OptoRite double layer 12x4x2.4 DVD +-RW

When I turn on system it will go into BIOS and CMOS set up and I am able to choose settings, etc. I think the system is recognizing everything except my HD. This is set up through the SATA cables. Windows Xp won't load when I save and close. A friend said that I need a boot floppy so that I can install drivers to recognize IDE devices, and that I can create one off of my old system.

1)How do I create boot floppy? Can I use boot floppy from Win 98 and then install XP over it?

2)Where do I get drivers for DVD devices, they were purchased OEM?

3)My mobo does not state that it is combatible with dual DDR RAM. Does this mean I have to buy different RAM? I started with a different mobo that was DOA, it did support Dual DDR.

After 3 months of searching out parts, saving $, and trying to learn all I can, I just want the thing to work. My wife is reaching the end of her patience and does'nt believe the thing will ever work.

Help Please.

PS. It's got really cool fan and case lights.
 
Hehe, really cool lights are a must! Well you have to install SATA drivers for your motherboard! You need to get a floppy with the SATA drivers or save the drivers onto a blank floppy and boot from the floppy.
 
Wife bugging you over it? Yeah i know the feeling.

If your able to start up the PC and go into the BIOS etc then your mobo should be ok with the RAM. Follow the instructions for your particular SATA drivers and you should be ok.
 
back on topic guys!

You have the right RAM so nothing to worry about! For the hard drive you need the SATA drivers, I think you should have got them with the mobo or HD? But if not download the SATA drivers from [link=http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/drivers.php?categories=1&model=125]here[/link] then copy them over to a floppy and when you install XP (do a clean install) at the start press F6 and wait until it asks you for the SATA drives, insert the floppy and select the VIA drivers!

*After you download the drives, it extracts the files, copy the content of the DriverDisk folder to a floppy!

more info about the mobo [link=http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/products.php?categories=1&model=125]here[/link]

let us know if you need more help!
 
With XP, you don't need a floppy disk to setup Windows, unless your system is too old to support booting off the optical drive. The floppy you would need would be one that has the drivers for the SATA controller on them. The first time you boot off the XP install CD at the beginning, it'll say to hit F6 to load storage controller drivers. By this it means you'll need to hit F6 to tell XP setup that you have some storage controller drivers that aren't natively supported by XP. It won't ask for them immediately, but it will shortly.

XP will recognize the DVD-ROM as a DVD-ROM drive, and install a generic driver for it that will work fine, so you don't need a 3rd party driver.

By dual DDR, I assume you're talking about dual-channel DDR, which requires a minimum of two equal size (and hopefully speed) sticks of DDR. The second part of this requirement is that the chipset on the motherboard supports it, which yours does not. Since it's considered a big selling point, it would've been listed on the box if you had it available to you.
 
Waffle said:
You do? Guess the age of holy matronmahoney is a lot lower than in the UK!
Click to expand...

:D didn't mean i was married i just know the feeling of "Is it working yet?" over and over again.
 
Thanks everyone,
but I think Im not being clear.
XP pro won't load. I can't get to the place where it asks me to do the F6 thing.
After setting up the BIOS and saving, everything goes black. It just sits there and lets me look at the pretty lights and watch the fans spin. Yes. all the fans are spinning.
What am I missing?
 
Have you made sure that your setting the speed for your cpu correctly? There may be some jumpers on your mobo which you may have to use with the BIOS to set the speed.
 
There are no jumpers. There is a place in Soft set up to set speed. It looks like it is showing a 2500 with a 100 FSB? I thought I bought a 3000 with a 400FSB. Should I just change the setting, or is ther a way to check to see if I got what I paid for?
 
set the FSB to 166 and the multi to 13! which is around 2.167GHz

or I think it could be 10.5 x 200 which is 2.100GHz
 
OK so far. Now when I get to the part that tells me to press F6 to install SATA, nothing happens. It just goes over it and continues to try to install which, as you know, it won't. I get to a place that says it can't find a storage device and to insert floppy into A:, I do, but it still continues to say enter, and won't go on any farther. Is this where I put in the SATA disk? I tried that and it doesn't do anything but tell me to put a disk into A: The disk is in A: when it asks me to press F6 but it still goes passed it and does not let me install the SATA drive.
 
Ok, when you press F6 and have to wait for a while, then it asks you to for a floppy with the SATA drivers on it! If the floppy doesnt contain the drivers then windows will keep on asking you to insert a floppy! Until you insert a floppy with the correct drivers on it!

It seems as though the floppy you have doesnt contain the drivers!
 
OK just call me frustrated. Several times I got to the part that said press F6. I did and it just went right on never paused or asked me to put disk in A:. Tried it with disk in and out. (SATA driver).
Now when I reset to try again it stopped on a screen; System configurations, with the cursor set below a line that reads, "DMI pool data.....Update success" and won't move. I tried every key on the board, nothing worked except esc., to start the process all over again. Now what did I do? Am I starting to irritate you guys with so many questions? Should I just take it to someone who knows what they are doing? Seems to me like I'm giving up if I do.
 
Shade,

Unplug the power cable to your machine. The DMI Pool message should go away the next time you boot.

In the BIOS, make sure that your RAID controller is enabled.

Now, during the Windows XP setup....

When setup asks you whether you will need 3rd party drivers for the RAID controllers, you press F6. Now, it will not ask for a floppy disk right now. You are simply telling the Windows setup that you will need to install the 3rd party drivers from floppy disk when the time comes.

When Windows setup reaches the point where it needs the drivers, it will ask for the floppy disk. Make sure that the drivers for the RAID controller for your board are not in a folder, or zip file on the floppy disk...Windows setup will not see the drivers.
 
Thanks Shan. That was a lot of help. You said:

"When Windows setup reaches the point where it needs the drivers, it will ask for the floppy disk. Make sure that the drivers for the RAID controller for your board are not in a folder, or zip file on the floppy disk...Windows setup will not see the drivers."

They are in a folder. How do I get them out? Copy or something, maybe send to desktop and save to another floppy?

I'll check out your website while I wait for a response.

Shade
 
If you have the folder on the desktop, you should open the folder and highlight all of the files in the folder. if you right click on one the highlighted files, and choose Send To 3 1/2 Floppy, it will copy the selected files to the floppy.

You just need to have the files in the "root" of the floppy, not in any directory.
 
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