Hi Dragonfly, Last night I put everything back the way it was, since it was working in the shop when I left. I took the box to my son's house. First, even though I didn't think it would work, I plugged into his monitor with my box. No go. So I borrowed his video card out of his machine and just plugged my box in with only the power and monitor. Just got a black screen. So much for that. I thought I'd just rule out the video card being bad. I don't know if it was a very good test though because even though I seated his video card as far as it would go, it just didn't reach the screw hole very well, so I left it unscrewed just to test it.
I did get my Win98 installation disk back from him though, so I can now prove to the XP installation that I had one. That's why I didn't install a fresh XP to begin with. No, I don't need three drives. One is bad, that's why I bought a new one. I didn't know until I talked to the tech at the shop which drive was bad. At one point I got a "serious hard drive error on C" (probably not exact words). XP is installed on D, so...? The tech said it would be the drive my OS is installed on. Is that right? I hope so, because it's going bye bye anyway--it's the smallest drive. You told me what to do if I get video, but what do I do if I don't? Give up and take it in? Or..... I bought a stick of dyanamite just in case. :D Diane --- In [email protected], Dragonfly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Wow. I have been there and been truely frustrated. > > It is a good thing you have it apart because now you can do things the > right way. > > When I don't get video, I remove all interface cards and disconnect all > attached drives, cables..etc. Minimum boot requirements are video card, > RAM, motherboard and power cord. You can add a keyboard but you really > don't need it to test for video. Plug in the monitor and reboot. > > If you get video, power down and prepare to connect your drives. Make > sure the drive you intend to be C: is set to master and put it on IDE > channel 0. You want this to be your boot device. Put a slave drive on > the same cable. ( Is it worth booting to the bios to make sure that it > is the first channel? ) Go ahead and set up the CD and other drive. Do > you need all three drives? > > Make sure all components are connected. Boot from your Windows CD and > install your new operating system. > > Fly...... > > pekoe4849 wrote: > > > > Jim, > > > > Since my (grown) son was living with me at the time I needed the MB, > > etc. upgrade, he installed all this stuff for me. It's possible he > > just didn't know that he plugged the burners into the primary slot, > > and since it was working that way, didn't think much about it. My HP > > CD burner, at one time, wouldn't work unless it was Primary. (HP told > > me this.) I don't think I'll buy another HP burner. I still don't have > > updated drivers for it, just out of principle, because they wanted to > > charge me $10 for the update when everbody else and their brother just > > provides them on their website. > > > > Okay, well, even though I didn't change the position of the drives on > > the cable, and they were working before, I still went ahead and > > jumpered them correctly. However, I haven't been able to get a picture > > on the monitor to tell how it worked. > > > > I called the tech who told me all this stuff to do, and he said he > > misunderstood. He thought I would be installing the fresh copy of XP > > on the new drive at the same time. So, since I can't do that until I > > locate a stinkin' old copy of 95 or 98, he said to put those cards > > that I switched back in their original position and it should work > > fine. We'll see. I will do that tonight. I don't understand what the > > position of the cards in the slot makes a difference--they're all the > > same kind of slot--unless moving them made the BIOS or Windows or > > something not be able to find them. I didn't even move the graphics > > card. > > > > You make get a kick out of this. Since I had my box already out and > > apart, and I was bored--not having any hair left to pull out--so I > > painted the cd burner and floppy drive front black to match the rest > > of my case. :) I didn't know if it would work, but the putty color > > wasn't pretty with the black anyway, so....what the heck. I even taped > > off the non-painted parts and sprayed it with matt picture varnish > > (because I paint and had it on hand), so it--hopefully--won't scratch > > off. Looks great! > > > > Well, that's if for now. I'll see tonight what happens now. > > > > Diane *.* > > > > --- In [email protected] > > <mailto:A-1-Computer_Tech%40yahoogroups.com>, "JIM" <jpurcell@> wrote: > > > > > > Diane, > > > > > > Diane, > > > > > > >I had to move the CD burner a couple of slots lower > > > > > > So your IDE card is a plug in rather than on the motherboard? > > > Haven't seen that in quite awhile. Since hard disk and CD interface > > > hardware is nothing fancy there's no big deal if they just include > > > it on the mother board. Video and Audio cards are different. > > > Peop;le want choices of these cards these days. > > > > > > > plug on the MB. Then I plugged the HDs into the Primary slot. At > > this > > > > point, I didn't do anything with the HDs other than switching the > > > > position of where they were plugged on the MB. > > > > > > OK, I guess I misinterpreted what you said above. I would always > > plug > > > the hard drive into the primary, master slot. It probably doesn't > > make any > > > difference these days but I alwasys think of that slot bein the > > first one > > > that the bios looks to for an OS. > > > > > > > When I booted it went through the usual startup stuff--to a point. > > It > > > > came up with some deal about Maxtor being the primary drive and WD > > > > being the secondary--which was wrong. > > > > > > The bios doesn't lie. It knows where those drives are plugged. OR > > they > > > know how they are jumpered. If the WD had the OS on it then I think > > > you may have to change the jumpers, make certain that the drive with > > > the OS on it is a master. If there is no slave than it often doesn't > > matter > > > where > > > the drive is plugged in and how it is jumpered. At least I have had > > a drive > > > that showed up in the bios as a slave yet it still booted. But as I > > said, > > > I always stick with hard drives on the Primary chain and the one > > with > > > the OS on the master. I put the optical drives on the Secondary > > chain, > > > I guess the order ther doesn't matter much, except I generally put > > the > > > top drive as Master. Probably a bit anal. But conventions like that > > > can save a lot of grief. > > > > > > > XP is on the WD and it was plugged into the end of the cable. > > > > > > In most cases the position on the cable doesn't matter unless you > > > jumper the drive as 'cable select'. The jumpers are what determine > > > thich drive is Master. > > > > > > > changed the WD to primary. (Maybe I should't have done that.) > > > > > > It probably won't matter, next time you boot it will go where the > > > jumpers tell it. I think that changing the drives as I described > > above > > > will solbe any boot problems. But it's late and someone probably has > > > told you this already. > > > > > > Jim > > > > > > > > If you have any questions or problems with any aspect of this site, please feel free to contact me directly [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please do not post personal issues directly to the group. To unsubscribe from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thank you for using A-1 Computer Tech Yahoo! 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