Broken Computer...broken heart

[tw1112]

I recently bought parts to build my first computer at a computer show. Here's what i picked up:
AMD Athlon 650 mHz on a ASUS K7M motherboard
128 mb ram
ASUS geForce256 6800 graphics card (AGP)
SCSI Adaptec 2940
Creative Sound Blaster Live Platinum
disk drive, 20 gig HD(partitioned to 3 parts)
MAG innovision DX715T monitor
Microsoft keyboard/mouse & speakers
Kenwood True 62x CD-Rom
Yamaha 8x 4x 24x CDRW
and i swapped over my JAZ drive

Problem: I installed all the parts into the case(addtronics 6890) and then i started it up for the first time. After partitioning, i used xcopy32 to copy win98_se over to the hard drive then tried installing. I ran into multiple errors with things such as vxd errors. I then re-formatted then xcopied win98 regular to the hard drive. The same things happened. After finally getting it to work after 7x literally of formatting and reinstalling windows, i got it to work with only a couple blue screen errors. Tried installing programs and drivers, but then the computer wouldn't detect my Kenwood cdrom. I checked over all connections, tried with only graphics card onboard, but still ran into same troubles.

I dont know if it is a problem with the amibios settings, or with the way that i am doing things. I did try to install directly off the cdrom and it still gave errors. The cdrom never would detect, however, the cdrw would work and thats how i installed some programs. I reformatted now and have nothing on my system. Please help me.

Sorry so long.

thanks

[tw1112]

Oh sorry one more thing. On booting up the computer, the motherboard detects the right hard drive (ATA/66 detection) and it also detects the Kenwood cdrom...just doesnt seem to work =(

thanks again

[ram]

Wow thats bad news..My advice is to get rid of thatWin98/SE and install a good old reliable Win95/B.From all the problems ive been reading on this MB,98/se is bad news when it comes to drivers and errors like VXD
and blue screen of death,and not recognizing hardware.Just my two cents worth.

[socalgal]

ram, it's not my intent to sound rude so please don't take it as such, but not everyone can pop another OS on when something goes wrong. It's not a solution.


tw1112 - hang tough, I'm sure someone running 98SE will come along and be able to give you some help.

[Vincent22]

TW,
One thing I noticed about clean installs is that the fewer the devices the cleaner the install. Dumb down the bios, and install 98se with as few devices as you can get away with. In otherwords do it a piece at a time. It's a drag I know but hey it micht help sort out what isn't loading, or being detected properly. Sounds like a great system.


Good luck

sincerely

vincent

[richamies]

Two things :-

1. What power supply are you using? from what I've heard the Athlons need a hefty one http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

2. Do a clean install from scratch, with no sound card installed, or writers or anything. Just the bare bones. And make sure you have all the correct drivers for the system.

Keep us all posted as I know how bad it is to save up and build a system just to find it doesn't work properly http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif big bummer http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif

Best of luck to you, you'll get it sorted I'll put money on it http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif.

[BC]

Yes dumb it down that is the best way to find out what the real problem is. BTW are you using a copy of win98se or the real deal? I ask this cause you may have a problem with the cd itself. If you have a friend that has it you may need to try and see if his 98 works. Just put in the MB,CPU,mem,keyboard,mouse,oh ya hdd. Is your hdd scsi? If so then you will need to put the scsi card in as well. If not then leave it out. I would not put the cd in the equation yet either. If you can try and take your hdd to another comp and copy, format, & partiontion there.

**Edit** oh yeah video and floppy need to be installed too. Doh!

[This message has been edited by BC (edited 02-21-2000).]

[Vincent22]

TW,
there is a test you can do to check the motherboard and determine error codes, and I believe it involves disconnecting all drives except the floppy and leaving the floppy bay empty. There should be a series of beeps that will indicate what the problem is if it is motherboard, memory, bios, etc. Hey if anyone else familiar with this MOBO knows the ins and outs of this test proceedure please ring in. I have a different MOBO. TW I am assuming you recieved a book with the MOBO that will have a troubleshooting reference and a key for determining the "BEEP CODES". Might as well try to rule that out before going any further.

Good luck

Maybe your book has a guide to this proceedure, ie. if certain keys have to be held down during start up, etc

Hope this helps

sincerely

Vincent

[Axel]

waiting for a surface scan to complete on a laptop, so I've got a bit of time to help out - BOY what a Monday this has been!!!

I'd try replacing the ribbon cable going to the CD-ROM - a bad cable can cause some of the functions of the drive to malfunction, yet the BIOS sees the drive on start-up as you have described.

Within the BIOS set-up, how exactly are you setting up the IDE devices? - Are you allowing the BIOS to auto-detect the hard drive, or are you manually configuring it?

For a fresh install, I'd advise allowing the BIOS to autodetect the drive and auto-populate the CMOS HD settings from there.

Starting with just the basics without installing a sound card, NIC, or modem is a really good idea.

You'll want to check out the ASUS web site in the product support area for your board o see if they have any updated drivers there for the motherboard. Also, look for an AMD specific BIOS if they have one and flash it. You might need to get someone to make you a clean boot floppy to do a BIOS flash.

If you do find a BIOS file you need to install make EXTREMELY sure it's the exact one for your board and situation.

Next - while you are on the web visiting ASUS, go to the AMD web site and see if the RAM you bought is a type that will work with the ATHLON chip - not all RAM does - there are some exceptions - might be the BIOS/CMOS sees and tests all of your RAM okay, but the ATHLON just won't use it, so you don't get any system error beeps, the OS just won't load - sound familiar?

Next - if the Kenwood is SCSI, go to the SCSI adapter manufacturer home page and see if you need to flash the SCSI Adapter BIOS to work with the ATHLON - not all SCSI BIOS work with ATHLON out of the box. The manufacturer will know in any case, I'm sure.

Next - if the Kenwood is on SCSI, are you sure you have the SCSI ribbon , adapter, and all attached peripheral devices terminated properly? - In some cases, the adapter itself has to be told to self-terminate if it has an external port on it with nothing on it. This is typically a jumper which is easy to adjust.

Also, if the Kenwood is SCSI, you may need to jumper it, if it is the last thing on the SCSI chain, to self-terminate.

That's all that comes to mind right off. Let us know if any of that helped out. We'd all like to hear how you got it working so others can benefit from the experience.

Good Luck. Reads like you'll soon have a jamming little system there.



[This message has been edited by Axel (edited 02-21-2000).]

[tw1112]

Thank you all that have been helping me. I am very grateful towards all of the advice that i have been recieving.

Now for an update, everything went okay on the install with no components what so ever, just disk drive, hdd, graphics and thats all. No errors. Then when i tried installing the programs that i got with the motherboard, the K7M cd disk, i got my first vxd error. I got another true 62 cdrom and it seems to work every other time. If anyone knows what to do please help out. Thanks a bundle guys and gals.

[tw1112]

Here i am again...now another problem..i keep getting vxd cache and vxd fat errors...can anything help this??

[Dave_H]

Can you describe how you have these drives connected and set? Like if they share the same cable or each have there own, how the jumpers are set and how the bios recognizes them. Seems like it always goes back to a CD-Rom problem.
Dave

[Paul V]

Memory clock speed is at 100 MHz, you're not OCing are you? Can you try other memory? It's often been my experience that RAM is a component that fails more often than most, and if you have intermittant mem failures you could get errors or many types.

Oh! Also are you installing the DIMM in slot #1 (the one FARTHEST from the CPU)? Asus in the K7M's manual is pretty insistant that RAM slots be filled lowest to highest or instability could happen.

Also, do a scandisk thorough (there's a DOS scandisk on the CD), make sure the HD has no errors.

[tw1112]

THANK YOU ALL!! Well, here i am connecting to the internet with my new computer!! WOOHOO!! Everything works in a way =) I still get errors like vxd cache and vxd fat something errors...oh and when i was installing microsoft office 2000 i had a couple problems and it wouldnt work right so i think i will tackle that problem tomorrow. During the driver installations such as the sound card and the speakers, i encounteded the vxd errors and some other errors that directed me to an address on the computer(eg. 23000-00005) something like that. All and all i think everything will work out okay. I just need to get the programs to install correctly. Oh yeah...i put in the new cdrom and it worked the first time, then it didnt the second, and then it worked the third time...so on. It tends to work everytime basically. Dont know what's going on with that. hmm...last thing, my computer already freezes sometimes...no idea why, just gives me a blue screen sometimes or just freezes at the startup screen where you can enter a password to use another win98 user. I just reboot and it goes away, but i think that might be a problem later on. I did a scandisk early on and no problems on the hd..no bad sectors. The drives are both located on different ide cables..primary-secondary. Thank you all for all the help that you have given me. =) just need to figure out these problems and the most expensive venture so far in my life will be a positive memory.

[tw1112]

Thank you all for your responses. Hmm...well i did try the normal win98 version that i got from my friends, but it still didnt work. I am running my computer with a 300w ATX power supply, i think i should be well off on that one. Oh yeah, I've tried a clean system boot, nothing but my graphics, cdrom(not cdr), disk drive, and thats it. Still nothing. Please if anybody can help me out please help. Thank you very much!

ps. i think it might have something to do with my bios but i cant think of any else that i need to change, so if anybody is running a version of amibios i think v1.7 if there is anything that i need to make sure i change..