Newbie Problems

[illwillchill]

(Wasn't sure where exactly to put this because there are so many problems)

I was excited when i started to build my first comp.

Specs:

AMD Athlon XP 1900
Thermalright AX-7 Heatsink
Thermaltake 80x80x25mm
SOYO SY-K7V DRAGON PLUS
512MB 2100 DDR Samsung
80GB Samsung 7200 rpm
Toshiba 16 X dvd-ram
TNT2 32 MB soon Chaintech GF 4 ti4600 :) (if i can get it to work)
350w Enermax Whisper

I think that's enough of the specs Now for the problems


I just can't seem to get anything to work. I have to press insert for the comp to post and after that it gets worse.

1. the ram doesn't register
2. can't boot from cd-rom but it exists (checked bios)
3. only showing an Athlon 1200 not (xp 1900+)
4. can't install an OS

I am not using RAID controllers dvd-rom on ide 1 and HD on ide 2.
I've spent restless nights trying to figure it out. but im back at my PIII 600 for now. Any help would be most appreciated

Thanks.

[Matthew1001]

Is there something wrong with your motherboard?

[h20link]

sounds like a faulty mobo, can you swap it out with another to see if that works?

as far as the running only at 1200 mhz, i have a soyo board, and i had a similar problem: it turns out that they are set up to default to a 200mhz bus, read the manual and there should be a paragraph about a small switch on the motherboard.

my switch was a small blue box between the RAM slots and the edge of the mobo: it has four small switches, and i think switches 1 and 2 were set to on, and according to the manual turning off # 2 kicked the bus up to 266..... So i flipped it and rebooted-----then my machine ran at the proper speed.

anyways, read the manual and there should be some info about it....

also maybe download simmtester and test your ram (if you can) to see if that's the problem.

[Matthew1001]

Make sure everything is running at their defaults.

[cyber mouse45]

Originally posted by illwillchill


2. can't boot from cd-rom but it exists (checked bios)
4. can't install an OS


I had those two problems with my pc. Check all the jumpers, and make sure you hdd is formatted correctly.

[illwillchill]

Thanks for the suggestions, I solved the cd boot problem, new dvd-rom is a dud.
The tray works but it doesn't read anything.
I tried it on my old comp and it wont read anything, using new cd-rom(loading xp as we speak) but i need to optimize my bios settings

i dont want to overclock it but im tired of having only "Athlon 1200" all the time.

and the ram works now it wasn't seated properly (I guess it shows i'm a newbie)

[craigiz1]

HD goes on IDE 1, ROM's go on IDE 2.

WELCOME TO THE FORUMS.