OT: new PC catch-22

On Mon, 25 Dec 2006 00:04:16 GMT, Robert Baer Gave us:

I ALWAYS build my own boxes.

On Mon, 25 Dec 2006 22:22:40 GMT, Robert Baer Gave us:

It almost sounds like they gave you a bad CPU, and ESD is NOT typically a concern at these dingledorf operated computer stores.

Many times "bundled" packages are those motherboard they had a hard time selling, and want to get off their warehouse shelves. The CPU and RAM are what you pay for, and they eat a little margin dumping off the bad batch of MOBOs that nobody liked or bought that they bought hundreds of in anticipation of strong sales.\\

The only bundles I buy are the lightning fast gamer packages that have the same MOBO I would buy were I putting it together piece by piece.

On Thu, 28 Dec 2006 03:27:12 GMT, Robert Baer Gave us:

You could also try a different disc reader.

Win XP discs ARE bootable.

On Fri, 29 Dec 2006 09:08:58 GMT, Robert Baer Gave us:

Well, that was certainly not a good decision. One should ONLY install released BIOS files during initial set up routines.

On Mon, 01 Jan 2007 04:51:56 GMT, Robert Baer Gave us:

Cable Select does not function, and the drive data sheet usually even tells you that. You have OEM cables... cable select is non-fucntional.

Try placing your hard drive(s) on one IDE channel, and your optical disc readers on their own, separate IDE channel.

Master goes on the END of the cable. ALWAYS for UDMA. No toying around about it. Otherwise, you will get tied to PIO (if it works at all), and THAT could also be the problem.

More echos: i *said* that i had the 80-wire cables, directly from ASUS, and while i did not mention it, i have been assembling and fixing PCs since 1980 as well as doing electronic tech work for over 40 years; so i do know one end from the other. And by the same token, "auto" is the only mode i set the BIOS to if it does not default to "auto" which i see more often now than even 5 years ago. Will have to use one of the older computers and go thru the OEM "upgrade" path on installing WinXP so that the drive becomes a "clean" drive with all programs but no users, no passwords, ready to clone for the other computers. What a PITA, as that takes as long as a clean install. However, each cloned drive then can be quickly configured by the user, making each one unique and look as if they had done not only a fresh install but also installed all of that software (saving a goodly part of a day on installation for each new computer).

Win XP installed fine on the old computers; the new ones do not "see" the XP CDs. And these aer OEM CDs. "Should" and "does" are at least 19 different things. Going to do a special OEM "upgrade" on one of the older computers once all of the programs are loaded from it; will result in a copyable hard drive that copies can be individualized with owners name / password etc; sort of like what one might get from Smell.

And that is what was done here, except the motherboard / CPU / DRAM were bought as a "working" bundle. But the kicker was that the requirement was for "the fastest system", so bleeding edge parts were used; nothing older than 6 months since factory creation...

But of course they are ... by *older* systems.

A "released" BIOS version may not be available for another 6 months...

Yes, yes, and yes, i *said* i tried everything *INCLUDING* only the DVD drive as Primary Master (jumpered either as master or as cable select - made no difference).

On Sun, 07 Jan 2007 11:57:08 GMT, Robert Baer Gave us:

They are by new systems as well.

You machine is sporting a problem, and it has nothing to do with the BIOS boy, or anything Billy has up his sleeve.

XP CDs boot up fine on brand new top line hardware.

On Sun, 07 Jan 2007 11:58:01 GMT, Robert Baer Gave us:

NO! You stated that you updated it once, and then again with a beta. THT ONE file before the beta, but after the initial IS the most recent released version, and ruling it out because your stuff didn't work after putting it in was a mistake. Well... at least installing the beta was anyway.

I still suspect a CPU or MOBO issue. There are hundreds of pins, and those non-soldered mechanical links are where failures most often occur. Have you pulled the cpu and checked its pins? Made sure the RAM is properly seated, etc.

Here is some eXplicit info..

1) CPU: Intel Pentium D 960 (3.8GHz,800MHz FSB, L2 2X2MB, revD0) 2) Motherboard from ASUS supports that CPU but most recent BIOS is a beta. 3) Of 17 or so ASUS motherboards that can support that particular socket 775 CPU, only five have non-beta BIOS chips and for two of those, the specs etc cannot be accessed on the ASUS site. One of those three is their P5VDC-MX, a "value" board with onboard graphics video. The other two are the P5W64 WS Professional and the P5WDG2 WS Professional motherboards. The board that was "bundled" with the CPU and Kingston DDR2 800MHz memory was one of those with a BIOS that is a beta as mentioned above.