Hey, i'm not much of a computer guy so maybe one of you can help me. About a week and a half ago I went out and got myself an EVGA nForce 680i LT sli motherboard and EVGA e-Geforce 8800 GT 512mb superclocked edition graphics card. Now I was stupid and didn't research anything before I bought these and went through a bunch of problems like getting a new CPU, power supply, and RAM which I just got in the mail today. The only thing I don't have is a SATA compatable HDD so i'm using the IDE socket for that instead while having no DVD/CD drive. Now for the big problem. I put my RAM into my computer today and started it up, so far so good, chose to start Windows normally and the Windows loading screen comes up. Now the little bar under the big "Windows" goes across two and a half times before it stops and then I get a blue screen error that disappears before I can even read anything and my computer restarts. I've tried to run Windows in safe mode but that doesn't help.
If you can't figure it out by my description i'm waiting on my camera's battery to charge so I can get a video of it.
Look at the BIOS and make sure it boots from HDD first, since you have no CD/DVD drive,the system may be looking for one. In BIOS make sure IDE is enabled and not SATA for the HDD. There are programs you can burn to a disc to test RAM and HDD without booting up an operating system. I think last fried HDD I had I seem to remember getting a windows splash screen and then it went........blue
Originally posted by Crab56: Look at the BIOS and make sure it boots from HDD first, since you have no CD/DVD drive,the system may be looking for one. In BIOS make sure IDE is enabled and not SATA for the HDD. There are programs you can burn to a disc to test RAM and HDD without booting up an operating system. I think last fried HDD I had I seem to remember getting a windows splash screen and then it went........blue
Well I tried it and still no luck, could I possible need the motherboard CD in the CD drive to boot off of it? Not that it would help any right now seeing as I can't hook up my HDD without disconnecting my DVD/CD drives.
Originally posted by pcdoc1: Did you reinstall your Windows, or is the drive from your old system?
The drive is from my old system, and since my HDD isn't compatable with SATA2 I can't reinstall Windows because my DVD/CD drives can't be hooked up at the same time as my HDD as there is only one IDE slot.
Alright, I'll try fill in for my brother here. I think in the first post he explained pretty well what the situation is. Basically he's bought a new motherboard, but all his old PC parts were incompatible with it.
He's purchased a proper graphics card, RAM, and CPU. He is using his old HDD, but it is not a SATA compatible drive (It's an IDE). Because the motherboard only has one IDE port, this means he cannot currently make use of his DVD drive until he purchases a new HDD.
The HDD has windows XP installed on it. Where we keep running into problems is the booting of Windows. The system reads the IDE port and loads the HDD correctly. It gives a floppy disk fail (We don't have a floppy drive on the PC though) and asks us to press F1 to continue or Del to run setup. We press F1 and the computer does its thing loading more stuff and then it gives and that error splash screen. It says a recent hardware change may have caused it (no, duh?) and asks us how we would like to run windows. In all cases (even safe mode) a blue screen comes up saying the system cannot go any farther because of a critical error and it must be restarted.
We never installed the motherboard drivers on the HDD prior to installing the motherboard. Could that be the issue? If so, how do we boot the drivers from startup? Or does Windows now need a new startup disk or something? Until we he can afford a new HDD, he's stuck with either using only the DVD or HDD. We could boot from a USB stick if there's a way. Otherwise I've tried a few things, but nothing seems to work... any suggestions are appreciated.
Good luck with this one. I think your only option is a new SATA HDD and reload windows. As for the floppy issue, enter BIOS and disable floppy in the boot sequence so it will stop looking for a floppy drive. Good luck
Yeah, I'm going to agree with the previous post. My experience with 'safe mode' is not strong, so I can't suggest methods to wiggle around some of the problems with any knowledge. I strongly believe that the 'old' install of Windows is configured for the old chipsets and drives, etc. Even Safe Mode gets goofy and doesn't just load 100% basic drivers. Somewhere, it's looking for old drivers and old programs and such that just hose up with the new empty configuration.
I wouldn't fight this any further. Just wait until the new SATA HDD is in your hands, install it, and re-install Windows if you have the license (not an OEM version configured for another model). If you don't have the right version of Windows, yep purchase another. New systems should be set up with a blank HDD and drivers, not 'tweaking' the old setup.
Remember, this is a bit beyond an 'upgrade' of the old system, and is more of an installation of a new system in the old box.
You don't need a SATA HD. You need to reinstall the Windows.
Windows is trying to load device drivers for your old system.
You can hook up two IDE devices to one channel. You will need a ribbon cable with three connectors on it, one for the mainboard and the other two for your hard drive and CD or DVD drive. Typically you set the hard drive as the master and the CD/DVD as the slave.
To stop the floppy drive error you need to set the BIOS to no floppy drive installed.
Doh! Wish I had caught that... I read and then forgot to think about the IDE connection and his 'therefore' reason for going to SATA. pcdoc1 is absolutely correct. I claim forgetfulness since 'everyone' has the two connector IDE cables, right? Hehe, okay, two smacks across my wrists for missing the obvious.
I am glad to see that the rest of my suggestion was re-iterated. Do a new install of Windows from the disc -- do NOT try to re-use the old install already on the hard drive.
