Problems with Building Computer

[King of Camelot]

I am having some problems with building my new computer, all the hardware seems to be working fine, I have configed the bios and now it says insert Boot Disk whenever I turn it on, I had a windows 98 boot disk in the whole time of configuring bios, etc. It says it can't find one though, it looks in the floppy(where it is), then the CD-ROM drive, then the hard drive, the it says, Not Found, Insert BOOT Disk Into A: and hit any key to continue. The floppy is getting power and I discovered while peaking inside while the comp was on that it spins when the disk is in so I think it is reading it. Also, the green flopply light is on all the time, even without the disk. Is that normal? I think I read somewhere it is not, and none of my other 2 comps do that. The floppy drive is made by Samsung, and the motherboard is an ECS. Like I said, everything else is working fine but this is kind of a major prob. Atleast I have a one week break to figure it out over . Does anyone have any idea what is causing the problem? If you need any other info about it just ask. Also, the boot disk is a valid one, I made it three times to be sure .

 

[gonzo_for_civ]

Your grey data cable to your A: drive is in backwards A common mistake. Symptoms are errors trying to read and the busy light doesn't turn off

Just unplug the grey data cable(not the power cable) from the a drive and plug it back in the other way making sure to cover all the pins.

 

[King of Camelot]

I thought of that Gonzo but if I flip it around the light doesn't come on with a disk in or not. Thats the weird thing, and I have done it several times(including a min ago) so it can't be the tightness, I push it down all the way. Another thing is the data cable has a small flip over part and the back again, like the wires in the middle of it a one point are kind of twisted around, then it goes back to normal. Could this be the prob?

 

[gonzo_for_civ]

Another thing is the data cable has a small flip over part and the back again, like the wires in the middle of it a one point are kind of twisted around, then it goes back to normal. Could this be the prob?

No, that's done intentionally by the manufacturer. Your problem really does seem like a backwards IDE cable though. Have you made sure to properly set the jumpers on the back of the drive? Also, is there another location on the IDE cable you can install it to?

 

[King of Camelot]

There are no jumpers, atleast that I can see on the back of the floppy drive, I bought a drive only one so there is no documentation, I don't think there are any jumpers...and yes, I had it on the very end of the cable, then I switched it to the middle to see if that helped but nothing changed. Hmmm, this is not good so far.

 

[gonzo_for_civ]

Check and see if pin number one is labeled on the drive. It shoud have a tiny one or perhaps an arrow pointing to it. The cable should have a red stripe where pin one goes or another labeling method. Make sure you have every single pin covered. That's the only thing I can think of Also, try swapping in another floppy that you know works/swap the new floppy out into a working computer into the position where your computers working floppy currently resides(a.k.a. test the drive)

 

[Chieftess]

hehe.. That's what I was telling him in chat. Well, I guess we'll see if he figures out if the floopy drive and/or cable is working...

 

[King of Camelot]

Thanks for all your help, the cable needed to be switchedm I thought it wasn't working because the light doesn't come on when you put in a floppy, it comes on when you call to the floppy, and on my other comp it just came on when you put a floppy in.

 

[gonzo_for_civ]

Thanks for all your help, the cable needed to be switchedm I thought it wasn't working because the light doesn't come on when you put in a floppy, it comes on when you call to the floppy, and on my other comp it just came on when you put a floppy in.

That was my first suspicion

Glad to hear you got everything working, good luck with the new system!

 

[King of Camelot]

Hehehe, now I have more problems. One is a prob with the graphics card, a GeForce 4 Ti 6400, it has pinkish areas and some greenish blue areas on the civ3 startup screen and other things(The graphics in the game are fine, and it runs smoothly! ). I saw a thread containing the same prob on pcmech and the last post was yesterday so hopefully I will get the answer if they solve it in that thread. The other prob is my display properties seem to lock up every time I hit apply or ok after changing something.

 

[animepornstar]

maybe it's a clash between the graphic card drivers and the mouse drivers (for example).

 

[damunzy]

Got the latest video drivers? That can help solve or create problems. Try out the latest NON-beta ones.

 

[King of Camelot]

Yeah PH, I dled the latest drivers right after I noticed the prob and still nothing. Animepornstart, how could I tell? I don't think it is the mouse thought cause they are there before I click it or touch it with the mouse.

 

[t92300]

hey guys i got a problem similar to king of camalots
i ve got this old machine a pentium overdrive socket 3 and the floppy comes up with the error
Seek error reading drive A
Abort, retry, Fail?

or this message comes when i think i have tha cables and everything the right way
Disk not ready reading drive A
Abort, Retry, Fail?
I do have a formated disk in the drive the light is off when i put the disk in and comes on after typing a: [enter] the thing inside spins as well

I have tried about 6 different floppy drives and about 5 different floppy controlers including one scsi / floppy controler card most of the drives were un jumpered(no jumpers) tried every position on the cables tried them backwards forewards and I would ve tried inside out if it had been possible

now my guess is ive stuffed either 6 or more disk drives or stuffed 5 controllers (i hope not)

could some one please tell me whether im right or not

please

t92300

 

[animepornstar]

Originally posted by King of Camelot
Yeah PH, I dled the latest drivers right after I noticed the prob and still nothing. Animepornstart, how could I tell? I don't think it is the mouse thought cause they are there before I click it or touch it with the mouse.

i read somewhere that green areas could appear on the screen when there was a clash between the graphic card drivers and and other driver, usually the mouse drivers. i guess you have to search in system or something. i'll try to find where i read about it when i come back from school.

 

[animepornstar]

didn't found the driver thing, but i found something else. how many watts are your power at? a g4 460 needs a lot of power and green lines can occur on the screen if it doesn't get enough.

 

[King of Camelot]

Its a 300 watt power supply for the case. Not sure how much power the card is getting but its not really green lines, more like areas and most of them are pinkish, thanks for your help though.

 

[King of Camelot]

More probs, I have had them for a while but they are finally on my nerves! My computer freezes up on startup while Updating Settings everytime I try to install my sound card drivers, I also can't run ANY benchmarking programs, they juist freeze my comp up...