first time building pc

[jrturk]

someone gave me a motherboard,video card with memory and i bought a case (AT case to match mb.) I had a good hard drive from another pc and a floppy drive. I picked up a used monitor that works fine. I put everything together and I'm 99% sure it's all done correctly. I tried to boot up and got the usual "Phoenix Bios" stuff, it counts memory, checks the floppy and then says "failure fixed disk 0". It pauses and then just sits and does nothing. I get no response when I hit f2 to enter setup like the screen says. Please help

[luqa]

Try holding a key down during POST checks and cause a keyboard error to access the bios. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[Enigma]

Hello,,
When you set up the computer did you go into your CMOS and let is know the information on the hard-drive Heads, Sectors, LandZ etc.
I could be the it is not being recognized and just hanging.. If you Have Auto Detect IDE within your set-up it is a nice feature to use if you do not have auto detect you will have to enter the info yourself,, you will find the info on you hard-drive Heads, Sectors, etc.
Good Luck

Enigma.......

[Mr Twobit]

All the previous replies are good ones. When assembling a pc for the first time it's always good to start troubleshooting with the obvious. Physical connections. Jumpers set to Master or Slave? All plugs in all the way? Ribbon cable connected pin 1 properly? Ribbon cable on IDE channel 1 on M/B? If all connections are right, try to get to setup (CMOS) before you get the error message. Different pc's use different ways. <CNTRL><ALT><S> : <CNTRL><ALT><ESC> : <DEL> : <???>
If you can get there, follow the advice from the other members!!

[bdunn]

you may want to clear the cmos. It maybe trying to start your drive using your friends old information. Many boards have a jumpre to do this if you don't know which one just pull the battery before you go to bed and put it back in , in the morning

[daveleau]

Similar to what Enigma said- change IDE1 Master to Auto in the BIOS. That may fix it. Had similar problem myself.
Dave

[jadison]

Try going under CMOS, then under Standard CMOS setup where it says Halt On: put "no errors". Only do this if u know u did everything else correctly. It worked a couple of times when I 1st started.

[jrturk]

Thanks to all. I've checked and rechecked all connections. I can not get into the BIOS to check settings. The m.b. was good when removed from other system. It is a micronics mb with phoenix bios. If I hold down any key, I get a "keyboard error".