ok just built a system (my first build) i used the following:
MSI K7N2 Delta-l SocketA ATX Motherboard
Kingston 256MB DDR400
AMD XP 2400+ (w/thermaltake a4002d tr2 m2 heatsink and fan)
Gainward Pro 660TV/DVI 128MB Nvidia FX 5200 video card
20GB WD HDD (master)
80GB WD HDD (slave)
Lite-On CDRW
Windows XP Home Edition (full version)
case is a directron TT-461 Mid tower with TT-350W PS


got it started and put the windows cd in...
during setup it says loading all kinds of stuff then when
it says starting windows the whole thing shuts down..why is that?
also it has no floppy drive (gateway sells computers without a floppy now) so do i have my cd-r as my A drive??
have it running in bios right now (has been for the last 3hrs) as to watch temps but they are staying pretty steady (video card heatsink is pretty hot tho)


i am at a lost and am about to start smoking again...please help!!

thanks
Flagg

Welcome to http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif forums.


What temperature is the CPU idling at when you leave it in BIOS?

What are the specs on the power supply for each voltage leg.

Have you tried booting without the slave hard drive connected?

I don't think the A: drive gets reassigned if you don't have a floppy drive.

If it is crashing as you start to boot into WinXP, I would run the Repair Install program from the WinXP CD to see if that will fix it. It may simply be a faulty install.... You can find more about using Repair Install here... (http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm)

heres what the bios tells me
Award bios PC health status
System Temp 36C / 96F
Cpu Temp 40C / 104F
N/B Fan Speed 0 RPM
CPU Fan Speed 5192 RPM
Vcore 1.66V
+3.3V 3.39V
+5V 5.02V
+12V 11.85V
-12V -12.44V
-5V -4.94V
Battery 2.94V
5VSB (v) 4.61V

If after attempting the repair option and it still doesn't load properly, I would suggest trying to power up in SAFEMODE...if you make it there we can try some troubleshooting...;)

but i can not get windows installed at all the computer shuts down before setup is complete...brand new hard drive that i have never written to it

btw what should my boot process be? i have it so it looks at cd first then HDD0 then HDD1
is that the way it should be (disabled the floppy drive in bios)

I'm sorry flagg, I was under the impression that you had XP installed and that you were getting stuck during the boot process when Windoze was loading...

OKay...Is there any special reason why you are not wanting a floppy drive??

Since this is a new build, I would suggest running the Manufactuer's HDD diagnostics and also a RAM tester before proceeding. I realize floppies are "old fashioned," but for troubleshooting and possible anti-virus work they are the best...

If you've a bootable CD with the manufacturer's HDD diagnostics and RAM tester that would be all right. These 2 early tests can help eliminate many frustrations...

BIOS would be set to boot from the CD-ROM first...

First I would do a barebones boot. In your case, I'd try with only the Video Card, one Stick of RAM, the CD-Rom, and your main HDD jumpered as Primary Master...CD-ROM jumpered as Primary Slave. Try loading XP with this setup...

If successful, then you can shut down and begin to add devices one at a time...of course, making sure that all power to the MotherBoard is shut down as you add...

update:
it ran all night in bios (over 12 hrs) the temps seem to be within range

i tried to run windows xp setup again and went same as before but this time when it shut off it would not turn back on until i unplugged it from the wall
did it again and same thing only instead of unplugging it i flipped the switch on the power supply off and on then could turn the computer back on again...
also hooked a floppy drive up to it and ran WD hard drive utility and while running it shut the computer off

if i had any electrical connections in back wards the computer wouldnt power up right???...the wife wanted me to ask that but i am sure i have all connections right i double checked them before i turn it on the first time
i have another power supply (350W) and am going to swap them and will let you know what happens

Since you've a floppy hooked up you might want to run this also:

http://www.simmtester.com/PAGE/products/doc/docinfo.asp

In answer to the electrical connectors...most if not all are "keyed" these days so they will only fit one way...

You might just want to check the connections to ensure a tight fit...

Again, you may need to strip things back...and try the barebones I mentioned...it's easier to isolate a problem when adding one device back in at a time...

2 things to check:
Western Digital harddrives are fussy to their jumper settings. You mention when 'starting Windows' it shuts down. I had a similar problem with a single hardrive and found it had to do with the jumpers.

Another could be the virus setting in BIOS. Be sure it is off.

Some way or another the pc is not reading from the harddrive, only the cd or floppy.

And, BIOS should be set to AUTO DETECT the IDEs

ok i set it up barebone style and as set up was running a message that serenum.sys was corrupted (was a brand new OEM windows xp home cd)
but am looking on google to find out more about this

a very big thank you to all of you!!! went down to barebone system and it worked...added the second hard drive and am running win xp on it now
again i thank you all for the input


thank you!!!!!

:) :) :) :) :)

We might be curious as to just what, or combo did the trick... Pray tell... PLEASE!

Is there anything not reconnected that may still be shorted out?

How big a hammer did you need to resort too, to accomplish your task?

i reset bios (taking the battery out) and unhooked the two hard drive took the jumper off the 20G put jumper on cd player to slave and booted with windows cd in...and setup took off from there
however when in windows i checked and found that the processor was only reading 1.4GHz its an AMD XP 2400+....\
so me being me decided to go into bios and see if there were some setting to change...and i loaded the high preformace defaults...save and exit then computer shut down...now i cant get it back again...just did that this morning before bed...i am about to try again...
ya think i would learn but noooo....i think its time to dig out the old 350MHz computer and play around in bios alot more :)

If you reset the BIOS again, it will take you back to defaults. When you do, there are other options to get the speed up to the proper level.

2 easy ways to reset the BIOS:

1. Remove the battery and with the computer unplugged, press the power switch. This is supposed to drain the capacitors and reset the BIOS quickly.

2. Find the Clear CMOS jumper and move it from pin 1 and 2 to pin 2 and 3. Move it back and it should be reset. (the numbering on your board may be different, but the same idea applies....)

hey thanks for the info on resetting the bios quickly...didnt know about the powerswitch thing...got it up and running again...had to take it down to barebones again...but everything is working fine now except i am still at 1.5Ghz i know something in bios needs to be changed and there are two jumpers on the motherboard that i have to look up and see what they do...but like i said i tried to change bios and it really screwed things up...anyone know where i can go to discuss with other people that own the same motherboard/bios?? i am going to write down everything in bios tomarrow before i start messing with settings again i have seen in bios (while i was trying to get it back so i could boot into windows) that cpu was at 2000MHz but system wouldnt run while the speed was that high
again thanks all for your input and i will keep checking back and letting ya all know whats going on

HAND (Have A Nice Day)

Flagg

Here is an MSI link with specs (http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=436) for your board and here is the manual for download... (http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/manual/mnu/spt_mnu_detail.php?UID=436) It looks like the board is able to handle a wide range of options for setting the speed of the CPU. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about the details of doing that to be much help, but a lot of other people here do know how, so hang on and they will be around....

Check the motherboard manual for a bus speed jumper. The AMD XP2400+ runs at a bus speed of 133MHz. It's currently set at 100MHz, so it reads less than its stated speed rating. Find that jumper, set it at 133MHz and it should detect it as a 2400+.

Did you check to see if all of the components you used were compatible?

update:
i copied everything in bios and posted it at www.esbauman.com/pages/newcompbios.htm

i havent had the guts to once again try to change anything since i have it running but still only at 1.5GHz
i think maybe today i will play around with it more

update:
i got the speed up to 2.0GHz; changed cpu speed from 100MHz to 133MHz and it was running ok until i used 100% cpu then shut down...changed the ram speed to 266 now computer wont boot (well i see post but dosnt go much after that) i dont know i am about ready to take it to a shop but really dont want to spend more money on this thing
also was running it at 1.5GHz and kids installed "operation" on it and it shut down on them anyone got a stick of dynamite??

update: got this system working now...seems it was a cooling problem with the cpu...i put the heatsink on backwards!!!!...changed it around and now running fine, except one time the kid turned it off without shutting windows down and it wouldnt restart until i unplugged it..that one still has me puzzled anyway thanks for all your help this was a great learning exp. for me now for the next one!

i put the heatsink on backwards!!!!...Oh yeah, that'll be fraught with some interesting problems! :)

Glad you sorted things out...

If you're in a position where most things are new on your Harddrive and there's not much you would need to be saving...you might want to consider a fresh installation of Windows with all the correct parameters set...