[Transonic]

I built my first Athlon 64 system and it looks promising. It's not mine but it looks sweet! Here's the specs:

3000+ Winchester 939
Gigabyte K8NS NF3 Ultra board
Zalman 7700Cu HSF
1Gb Geil Ultra Series Dual Channel PC3200 RAM
XFX 6600 GT
Aspire Chameleon 550w PSU
160Gb WD SATA Hard Drive
16x Lite On Dual Layer DVD burner
Lian Li case
Viewsonic VP19b 19" LCD flat panel
Logitech MX-510 mouse

Now the guy's not gonna OC it at all or use it for gaming, he's just an Athlon loyalist who wants something good that's gonna last him a few years. I gonna install some games for him anyway so he can realize that the world doesn't revolve around xbox.

I do have a slight problem though... I use XP Pro boot floppy disks to format & install the OS but for some reason when the computer boots up (with the disk already in the drive) the computer gives me the error of "non system disk present, replace and press any key" bla bla blah. I thought it might've been the floppy drive itself but I used another one and still the same problem. Then I tried it on my computer thinking it the disk was messed up but it works here so I know the disks are fine. I doublechecked the bios and made sure the floppy was the first bootable device but still no luck. The floppy lights up like normal when I turn on the computer but it doesn't sound like it's reading the disk like normal... like when it makes that click sound when it's reading. Any suggestions or do I need to find me a bootable XP Pro CD.

 

[Inquisitor]

I had the similar problem

check to make sure your hdd is in nice good and tight

mine are a little bent so I have to put it on a particularway to get it to fit just right to boot

the only thing I can think is harddrive

 

[Transonic]

Thanks but no luck yet. I pulled out both the SATA data cable and the SATA power cable, reattached them both and still have the same problem. When it posts the HD does come up along with the floppy and DVD drives. I've never had this happen to me before

. What else?

 

[Evil XP2400]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Transonic Thanks but no luck yet. I pulled out both the SATA data cable and the SATA power cable, reattached them both and still have the same problem. When it posts the HD does come up along with the floppy and DVD drives. I've never had this happen to me before . What else?

I think your floppy cable is backwards at the floppy. Flip it and see if it works.

 

[Transonic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evil XP2400 I think your floppy cable is backwards at the floppy. Flip it and see if it works.

nah definately not that. i flipped it and the floppy light always stays lit. i even tried a windows 98 boot disk and same thing. btw the error sais "disk boot error..."

 

[apprentice21]

well, i had the cd to boot it but i didnt install the sata controller. what you do is find the floppy disk the came with your motherboard that says sata controller driver. you do this so it recognises the sata hdd. then after loading it, the setup should recognise the hdd. if it came with a cd instead of a floppy disk with your motherboard, go to a different computer (public library or something), insert the motherboard cd, find the sata driver and then copy it over to a spare floppy disk. then do the same thing as i said before.

hope this works out.

 

[Transonic]

UPDATE: OK I looked around on the mobo cd. i actually found the sata drivers. it even had a folder labeled "diskettes 1 & 2" i copied the contents onto it's own floppy and tried that. nothing, won't boot from the floppies but i tried putting in the mobo cd to see if that would boot. i got somewhere though, it gave me this message:

Boot from CD:
_____1. FD 1.44MB System Type-(0F)
Gigabyte Boot CD Loader
Press Any key to boot from CD ROM... (then if i don't press anything it'll say--->) ...Boot from HARD DISK (and then it freezes like that)

however if i do press "any key" before it gets to "Boot from HARD DISK" then I get this:

ERROR: Your HARD DISK doesn't support HPA!
press any key to restart

so *** happens now?

if i get a solution then reps on the house!

 

[aznchowboy650]

try putting os installation cd?

 

[Transonic]

I don't have a bootable XP CD that's why I use the floppies. Believe me I'd love to try that, I might have to track down a friend or two to see if they have one. anything else?

 

[aznchowboy650]

try installing linux get some linux and see if it works and loads www.linuxiso.com or www.linux.org

 

[Transonic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aznchowboy650 try installing linux get some linux and see if it works and loads www.linuxiso.com or www.linux.org

i've never touched linux in my life. i wouldn't know where to start. you think a bootable XP disk will work?

 

[Transonic]

Idea! What if I run one of my IDE HDs that has XP pro as the master (C: drive). then install the sata drivers on it and once that's up & running throw in the sata drive as the slave (D: drive). Or can I just swap the IDE for the sata right then? Or, I can run the boot disks and install windows on the sata (D: drive). once that's done i'll just pull the IDE drive and switch the sata to master (C: drive)... which one sounds more likely to work?

 

[Evil XP2400]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Transonic Idea! What if I run one of my IDE HDs that has XP pro as the master (C: drive). then install the sata drivers on it and once that's up & running throw in the sata drive as the slave (D: drive). Or can I just swap the IDE for the sata right then? Or, I can run the boot disks and install windows on the sata (D: drive). once that's done i'll just pull the IDE drive and switch the sata to master (C: drive)... which one sounds more likely to work?

This link shows you how to make a bootable XP CD. If you need the boot file or anything let me know.

 

[Transonic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evil XP2400 This link shows you how to make a bootable XP CD. If you need the boot file or anything let me know.

^ what link?

 

[Transonic]

OK now something weird's going on. I pulled out the sata hd and threw in one of my ide hds and the computer won't even boot. as soon as it gets to the black screen that shows the windows xp logo, like half a second later it automatically reboots in an endless cycle. i tried this with 2 ide hard drives and got the same results. what gives?

 

[Evil XP2400]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Transonic OK now something weird's going on. I pulled out the sata hd and threw in one of my ide hds and the computer won't even boot. as soon as it gets to the black screen that shows the windows xp logo, like half a second later it automatically reboots in an endless cycle. i tried this with 2 ide hard drives and got the same results. what gives?

If this HDD's have windows installs that were being used in a different computer it wont work. You need to do a repair install so it will recognize the new mobo.

 

[Transonic]

I went to that link, ran the registry file cuz i'm using nero, copied my xp disk to the desktop, copied that bootsector bin file to a floppy (need it on a floppy for some reason when using nero). then i burned a bootable cd using nero, and it found that bin file on the floppy while burning. once it was all done i put the cd & floppy into the new computer and when it went to boot this came up:

 

[Transonic]

bump

 

[Thrabulator]

I had a similar problem with the endless cycle of rebooting,and I ended up having to get a new hdd.Anyway,you are 100% sure you have went into the bios and enabled all of the SATA stuff,right?I would try setting the first boot device to floppy,and disabling all of the others.It sounds like there might be something wrong with the floppy too.You might be able to boot up an IDE drive and start a command prompt,type in A:/setup and set the dir as the sata drive,which will be running in slave mode.But, i'm not sure if this will work unless you can get your computer to recognize the SATA drive.You might try booting up the IDE drive,and going to the control panel,performance and maintenance,and go to the device mananger.Here you might be able to see if you need to install the RAID drivers,and you can just download the newest drivers off the interned onto a floppy.Or try going into the "Add New Hardware" section and see if any RAID stuff shows up there.I think that you need to install RAID drivers for any SATA drives,and they should have came as floppies with the hard drive.

 

[Thrabulator]

You also need to have the RAID controller drivers installed before your comp will recognize any SATA drives,and when you use an XP disc,it asks you to install RAID drivers before the XP setup.I have never used floppies so I am not sure how that works.I will make some floppies and see if i can figure anything out.