Hello Everyone,
I am new to this newsgroup, as I am trying to help my next door neighbor's 13-year old son get a computer (that he built himself) up and running.
The father allowed the kid to purchase the components online, shortly before Christmas, using his credit card, but when boy failed to get the computer running, the father became angry and threatened to throw out the whole system. In fact, in an apparent tirade, he may have already thrown out some of the boxes with included software.
The kid is a parent's dream. He's quiet, well-mannered, does everything that's expected of him (homework, chores, etc.), without having to be told.
His main passion is playing games on the computer.
Thus, when the father explained his frustration over the issue, I offered to help, and explained that building one's own computer is only half the battle, and that setup can involve a number of issues which must be dealt with using patience and perseverance.
Regardless, the system involves the following components:
--ASUS Crosshair AM2 nForce 590 motherboard
--2 sticks of 512mb DDR2 RAM (Part #512MB532D2)
--Lite On CD/DVD combo
--Western Digital WD3200JB (Caviar SE--OEM version from newegg.com)
The first problem encountered was that pressing the Delete key during boot-up would not allow access to BIOS. There was just a screen showing the Crosshair logo with "Republic of Games."
By calling ASUS and explaining this problem of not being able to access BIOS, they agreed to send out a new BIOS chip, free-of-charge.
After receiving and installing the BIOS chip, I was then able to access the BIOS.
I set the Boot Priority to "Boot from CD ROM" as the first order of preference.
With a Windows XP Professional (with SP2) disk installed in the drive, the computer booted up, and began running the XP setup.
After only a few minutes, the computer displayed the following error message:
Windows XP Professional Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed on
your computer.
After contacting both ASUS again, as well as Western Digital, I am getting conflicting information regarding jumper settings. I did set jumper on the CD ROM to slave, and the jumper on the hard drive to master.
I also experimented with setting the hard drive jumper to master, and the CD ROM to Cable Select, as recommended by ASUS.
In either of these configurations, the BIOS is showing each device under the main section, yet when booting up the computer, the CD ROM starts spinning and the screen turns to color of an illuminated form of black, with a flashing white cursor.
As I used the Clear CMOS button, perhaps something was erased, which no longer allows the computer to recognize the CD ROM, even though it shows
up in the BIOS?
All I know is that when I first installed the new BIOS chipset, it did allow access to the BIOS, and that was the only time that Windows setup ran,
albeit, unsuccessfully.
Hence, given the aforesaid, if anyone can answer the following questions, I'd greatly appreciate it:
1. What are the correct jumper settings for these components?
2. Does this problem (not booting from CD ROM) sound like a BIOS issue?
3. If so to above, what steps should be taken, and in what order?
(e.g. Clear CMOS, Reset BIOS to factory defaults, use EZ FLash 2 or
other utility to flash BIOS through USB port, etc.)
In closing, I've read that this motherboard is one of the best for gaming, but that it is also one of the most troublesome to set up initially.
Thanks for taking the time to read this rather long post, and for any advice or input you may be able to offer, from your own experience.
You just might help me save this kid's computer from the trash bin!
Respectfully submitted,
Glen (strum4u)
I am new to this newsgroup, as I am trying to help my next door neighbor's 13-year old son get a computer (that he built himself) up and running.
The father allowed the kid to purchase the components online, shortly before Christmas, using his credit card, but when boy failed to get the computer running, the father became angry and threatened to throw out the whole system. In fact, in an apparent tirade, he may have already thrown out some of the boxes with included software.
The kid is a parent's dream. He's quiet, well-mannered, does everything that's expected of him (homework, chores, etc.), without having to be told.
His main passion is playing games on the computer.
Thus, when the father explained his frustration over the issue, I offered to help, and explained that building one's own computer is only half the battle, and that setup can involve a number of issues which must be dealt with using patience and perseverance.
Regardless, the system involves the following components:
--ASUS Crosshair AM2 nForce 590 motherboard
--2 sticks of 512mb DDR2 RAM (Part #512MB532D2)
--Lite On CD/DVD combo
--Western Digital WD3200JB (Caviar SE--OEM version from newegg.com)
The first problem encountered was that pressing the Delete key during boot-up would not allow access to BIOS. There was just a screen showing the Crosshair logo with "Republic of Games."
By calling ASUS and explaining this problem of not being able to access BIOS, they agreed to send out a new BIOS chip, free-of-charge.
After receiving and installing the BIOS chip, I was then able to access the BIOS.
I set the Boot Priority to "Boot from CD ROM" as the first order of preference.
With a Windows XP Professional (with SP2) disk installed in the drive, the computer booted up, and began running the XP setup.
After only a few minutes, the computer displayed the following error message:
Windows XP Professional Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed on
your computer.
After contacting both ASUS again, as well as Western Digital, I am getting conflicting information regarding jumper settings. I did set jumper on the CD ROM to slave, and the jumper on the hard drive to master.
I also experimented with setting the hard drive jumper to master, and the CD ROM to Cable Select, as recommended by ASUS.
In either of these configurations, the BIOS is showing each device under the main section, yet when booting up the computer, the CD ROM starts spinning and the screen turns to color of an illuminated form of black, with a flashing white cursor.
As I used the Clear CMOS button, perhaps something was erased, which no longer allows the computer to recognize the CD ROM, even though it shows
up in the BIOS?
All I know is that when I first installed the new BIOS chipset, it did allow access to the BIOS, and that was the only time that Windows setup ran,
albeit, unsuccessfully.
Hence, given the aforesaid, if anyone can answer the following questions, I'd greatly appreciate it:
1. What are the correct jumper settings for these components?
2. Does this problem (not booting from CD ROM) sound like a BIOS issue?
3. If so to above, what steps should be taken, and in what order?
(e.g. Clear CMOS, Reset BIOS to factory defaults, use EZ FLash 2 or
other utility to flash BIOS through USB port, etc.)
In closing, I've read that this motherboard is one of the best for gaming, but that it is also one of the most troublesome to set up initially.
Thanks for taking the time to read this rather long post, and for any advice or input you may be able to offer, from your own experience.
You just might help me save this kid's computer from the trash bin!
Respectfully submitted,
Glen (strum4u)
