Computer Issues

[Compnewbie01]

So my friend recently upgraded his mobo, CPU, case, PSU, and video card. The only parts that he is reusing are the monitor, drives, and hard drive. Originally he had issues where windows would not boot and he could not get it to install properly. CD-ROM boot priority was selected in the BIOS but it would always hang while it actually booted up. The message was displayed "boot from CD/DVD" but it didn't actually boot. So he got these new parts and the same thing is happening. Eventually, the computer just starts booting off the hard drive which doesn't work. It flashes a blue screen with lots of writing for a split second then reboots entirely. I have to ask does this sound like a hard drive issue? The disk drive is pretty new (3 months old) and should not be the problem. Is it possible that a computer will not boot from a CD (windows) if it can't detect a working hard drive?

 

[KingofFah]

it depends. the way you describe it, i might guess its the mobo.

Where is it hanging? Have you tried disconnecting the drives all together? Boot from floppy? Everything detected on post? Ram tested to work? There are so many things it could be.

 

[mad0maxx]

My guess would be the motherboard as well because if everything else is in working order you should see the BIOS post screen and if the hard drive was bad it would say could not load operating something or something and if something else was bad the motherboard would beep at you and you look up how many beeps it did to see what type of error you got in your motherboard users manual.

 

[Compnewbie01]

The computer posts without a problem. The BIOS is accessible and everything seems to be fine. The computer reads "Boot from CD/DVD" and then hangs for about 20 seconds. At which point, it starts a hard drive boot even though all 3 boot devices are set to CD. Then as it is booting up in windows, it flashes a blue screen with 4-5 paragraphs of writing for like .25 seconds so you can't read ANY of it. At that point, it reboots to do the same thing.

 

[Compnewbie01]

Oh, and it can't be the motherboard. He replaced the motherboard FOR this reason. He also got a new CPU. So say it were the RAM..would bad RAM really cause it to not boot/not start the windows install process?

 

[dodgybob]

You said drives, so this is more than one optical drive? Try checking the jumpers are correct for the master and slave on the ide cable, you know master at end, slave in the middle. If they are already set correctly might want to try each optical drive individually as master on the ide cable. Also swap the ide cable for a known working ide cable, preferablly a 40 rather than 80 pin one. I did once have the issue that an 80 pin cable didn't work ok with an optical drive even though it worked fine with the hard drive, using a 40 pin ribbon sorted that problem out.

Since you can't get the optical drive to work i'm guessing this is a hard drive with a windows install from the previous machine? That might explain the bsod when windows loads as the install will be configured for different hardware. Might want to try a repair install of windows once you can get the optical drives working and hopefully that problem will go away. To be on the safe side might want to hook the drive up to another machine to get anything off it he wants to keep and hasn't backed up yet. If everything is backed up on the drive then a full format and install would provide better performance than a repair install depending on how much time he has.

 

[corkyg]

From all that has been said, I sense the problem is the CD drive. Either the drive itself, its connections/settings, or the bootable CD ain't really bootable. Can you try a different drive, etc.?

 

[Compnewbie01]

Well, it's a new drive that he bought about 3 months ago. Do CD drives really break down all that often? It worked fine until he had to reinstall windows.

 

[KingofFah]

I have a motherboard with a bad secondary ide channel. It works, but it is flaky. Also, the comment about the cable is right. Definitely check on the drive and cable. Check your jumper settings. Known working cable and drive will probably be your best option to test.

And replacing the mobo... I once got three bad ones in a row from abit...

 

[vorgusa]

Yeah I have gotten several motherboards that have not worked when I got them originally.. just cause parts are new does not mean they are working or in good condition.. You can also try taking the HD out and putting it into a computer you know is working and try it out, same with the CD drive.