Upgraded mobo, now what...?

Okay. I have this new case, mobo, processor, and graphics card installed with an old boot hdd and 512mb of some old memory, and a couple of old optical drives. I used the boot drive and memory in a working system about 1-2 weeks ago, so I know they work. Same thing with the optical drives.

However, I am having trouble getting the PC to boot. It starts up and does a couple of checks and then goes to another screen that reads "...oot and select proper boot device. Insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key".

Yes the first word is cut off, so maybe it says "reboot" i'm not exactly sure though. I've tried messing in BIOS settings with no luck. I've tried loading optimal settings with no luck as well. I've tried inserting a windows disc in my optical drives with no luck. I've tried narrowing it to just one of the two optical drives and trying the disc and those attempts didn't work either. I've tried unplugging both optical drives to see if it would boot from the hdd, but no good there either.

I've read on the microsoft website that you're supposed to put in a windows disc and 'repair' the hdd after you get a new mobo or a mobo dies and you put a new one in, but I can't seem to get any of my drives to be read.

Can I put my boot hdd in a different pc and install the mobo drivers or something? Can I make a floppy that will boot this PC somehow? What can/should I do? Thanks in advance guys.

The mobo I've got is: SRock P4i65G Socket 478 Intel 865G Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Dustin

 

It's prolly your hard drive
Does your bios tell you the hardware installed on your computer
like hard drive and cd drive?
If they do any it says none you prolly got the belts mixed up

 

you're going to be in for a world of issues and problems to straighten out if you try to get the old boot drive to work, even by running a repair install of windows on it. The old drivers will still exist, and likely cause conflicts.

Your best bet is to try to get the info you want to save off of the old hard drive (easiest way is to stick it into another computer as a slave drive) and then reformat and do a fresh install of Windows.

 

well, okay then. How do I even get ANYTHING to be read to even prompt me to put a disc into an optical drive to boot windows? right now I don't feel I'm even at that point. I can easily put the other drive into another pc and copy the crap, its only like 37 gb and I probably only need like 5gb if that. Let me know guys, thanks.

Dustin

 

power the computer on and put the windows disc in. reboot, and either enter the boot menu, if there is one, or the BIOS. If there is a boot menu, you should be able to select the CD drive and go form there. If you have to enter the BIOS, you will need to change the boot order to CDROM first, and save and exit.

then it should boot the the Windows disc (might read "Press space bar to boot from CD") and get into Windows setup.

you'll obviously need the hard drive you want to install windows on in the machine before booting to windows setup, so either backup the 5GB you wanted to save first, or put in a new hard drive.

 

There must be a problem with my optical drives being read...

I can hit F11 to enter the boot menu, but the only choice on the list is floppy drive.

In the BIOS settings, I made cd/dvd the first priority and hard drive the second priority, the third priority i chose disabled.

It still won't allow me to even open either optical drives. I've tried disconnecting one optical drive and it still won't let me open the optical drive.

The master drive doesn't even act like it has power, so it won't let me open it. The slave drive is a different story. From the moment the pc is powered on the 'activity' light on the optical drive is lit up and stays lit the whole time the pc is powered on. The eject button doesn't do anything on this either. The only way I can get the optical drive to open is to unplug the ide cable but leave power connected and then it will open.

When I go into the Advanced menu in BIOS and look at the IDE stuff, they all read NOT DETECTED. I've tried making the secondary master and slave 'cd/dvd' but that causes the pc to stop when it boots and brings back an error 'atapi incompatible' or something like that.

I have the optical drives hooked up to IDE2, and the one hard drive on IDE1.

I'm not sure what could be wrong, or if there is a setting I need to change.

Thanks guys.

Dustin

 

verify that the jumpers are set correctly on the optical drives-- and for the time being, take out the slave drive and only use 1 master optical drive on the end of the IDE ribbon. make sure it has power to it, and then turn on the computer and enter the BIOS to see if its detected.

if it is not, swap it out for the other optical drive and try that one. Let us know if you're successful.

 

Well, I don't know what did it, but I went out and bought a different cooler for the CPU b/c the other one I got ended up being too tall to fit in the case. I also picked up some round cables because I personally think they work/fit better. After installing all the new goodies and booting it up, it recognized the hard drive and the optical drives. I thought I was home free.

I put in the windows disc to 'repair' the windows setup. I hit R and all the good jazz but then it asks for an administrator password. It was my personal PC and I did have a password setup to login, but I tried it and it didn't work. I tried different variations that I used to have, but with no luck. They are talking about the password that logs you into windows right? I can't figure it out now. I've never really set a password for anything else on the pc. Is there a work around? I don't know what to do. Or am I going to just have to bite the bullet and install a fresh windows? Ah crap.

Dustin

 

are you talking about when you try to setup or repair your os, you get a prompt for a password, or something else?

 

my guess is that the password is blank, so just hit enter (if you didnt try that already).

However, i still recommend a reformat and fresh install of windows if you can back your data up first.

 

InYearsToCome, I agree with you because even if he does try to repair the install the hdd still won't work for him due to the fact that it was used and setup on a machine with different specs than the one he is using now. Sorry to say it, but your best bet in my opinion is to bite the bullet and lay down a fresh copy of xp.