One good deed = 2 pc problems

albertross_2

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/20083

woj101

Thanks for the psu info - they used to cost more than that, but I guess most things did. PSU is not my only problem though...

I've inserted the Windows cd into the drive and the Windows setup starts. It asks me to accept the license agreement and then asks me to choose a partition on the hdd (it then quotes a correct amount of free space for my hdd, so it must be recognising it).

I select the only partition there is (with approx 76000mb free space) and it then begins loading several files and takes a couple of minutes to do this. It then says it is configuring windows. When that has finished a screen tells me that this part of the setup has finished and that the computer will restart before setup continues. A 15 second countdown begins and it tells me to take any disks out of the floppy drive (there are no disks in there).

When it restarts it just goes through the same process again, but when it asks me to choose a partition it tells me there is already an operating system installed on it (from the installation I just tried, obviously). The only options I have are to i) continue setup, in which case it then tells me to delete the previous partition as 2 OS shouldn't be in the same partition; ii) run the repair console (which I don't know anything about); iii) exit and abandon setup.

I've been through it about 3 times and it keeps doing the same thing. If I remove the Windows CD when the computer is resetting I just get the same error message I originally posted - i.e. no boot disk detected - insert system disk and retry.

I thought we were there, but clearly not. If I return to the Bios to investigate the boot sequence, I can only choose between floppy drive and Cd-rom, the hdd is still not recognised (even though it is clearly recognised by the windows setup).

Aaaarrrghhh!

albertross_2

There should be another screen in the bios, that shows the HD as a primary hd, can you see that? If it does show up, you could try something like dban to wipe out the partition table (shouldn't need to do a full wipe, just a 5 minute one), and try again. Are the HD jumpers correct?

woj101

No I can't. I know the screen you mean. It shows the CD-Rom as the secondary Master but just shows 'none' for the primary IDE.

albertross_2

Jumpers and wiring ok? If IDE, should be on the end of the cable, and set to master, or cable select.

woj101

Cable is new and works on other pc. Jumper set to master. Hdd on end of cable. The hdd itself is a Western Digital 80gb and shows up fine on my older emachines 2.3ghz celeron computer (the other one is pentium 2.4 Dell).

BritBrat

Format the drive and start all over again installing the hardware and the software on the computer it will all be on in the end.

Trying to mix and match from one computer to another is always going to end up with problems.

Also you may find Dell have there own power connections that are different from the standard ATX.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATX

woj101

Thanks Britbrat, but I've got that far now. Drive has been formatted multiple times but is not being recognised. I'm thinking flashing the bios or resetting it, but I'm struggling to find the manual for the motherboard. Just checking Dell site now.

wakandem

if the mb does not recognise the drive it will not be able to boot on it. When setup starts it may be able to use the drive to place the setup files as windows may have found the drive. when you reboot it will not see the drive to boot off, so looks for the cd or floppy. you must see the drive in bios. if it not working as 'master' the set to cable select some mb's are fussy. at this stage it does not matter whether it formatted or not, it just needs to be seen by the bios.

woj101

I must apologise to all those who have contributed above, for whilst everything I told you was correct, I have found the solution to be so tremendously simple I am thinking of trashing the computer to make a stand.

The jumper on the hdd was set as 'Master' each time I tried to boot. Foolish me, I wasn't aware that if there's only one drive on the cable it does not need to be set at 'Master'. I set it to 'cable select' instead and now it is booting fine.

To quadruple my frustration, if I had known this from the start then I doubt I would not now be having to wait for the delivery of a psu from ebuyer or get one 2nd hand (As a side point, how are they £6 on Ebuyer and 29.99 from PC World for the cheapest).

Thanks for your efforts everybody. If anyone lives in Suffolk and has a spare psu, drop me a line.

And I see in my slowness wakandem has said the exact same thing. Where were you when I needed you last night, Wakandem!? Only kidding, of course. Good spot, and thanks.