Trying to build pc....

Status
Not open for further replies.
H

hayden

hello...well ok i'm trying to build a pc...i'm pretty new to this stuff, so i checked out a few sites. i couldn't find "and *****s guide to pc building" anywhere. i really want to do this. right now i have a emachine w1640 in front of me. i have all the parts. when i hooked everything up, it wouldn't even turn on. all i see is a little red light on, on the motherboard. i doubt i'll get any serious answers to this. i've tried quite a few message boards. maybe someone could point me in the right direction? if not, thank you anyway. oh and happy 4th :giddy:

oh yeah and as for my other pc, which is kinda old. (packard bell multimedia) i try to boot and i get an error something like "invalid system disk" or whatever. its like it doesn't recognize the hard drive. could someone also maybe tell me how to get it to boot from my hard drive? or set it up in bios? sorry, i know i'm asking alot. and probably not even in the correct part of the site to ask.
 
Hello, welcome to Techspot!

Ok, do you mean you've already got all the parts to build the pc, or you have your emachine tore apart and are doing a "test run"?

Can you say exactly what happens? Do fans spin? Do led's come on? Does the cd drive open/close?

What hardware are you working with?


Second question, do you have a floppy in the floppy drive in packard bell?
IIRC, a floppy in the drive will give you that error, and I guess a bad hd(or disconnected hd).

Here's a pc building guide page.
One for intel, one for amd.
http://www.hardwarezone.com/guides/intel-socketT/
http://www.hardwarezone.com/guides/amd-socket939/
 
vnf4ultra said:
Hello, welcome to Techspot!

Ok, do you mean you've already got all the parts to build the pc, or you have your emachine tore apart and are doing a "test run"?

Can you say exactly what happens? Do fans spin? Do led's come on? Does the cd drive open/close?

What hardware are you working with?


Second question, do you have a floppy in the floppy drive in packard bell?
IIRC, a floppy in the drive will give you that error, and I guess a bad hd(or disconnected hd).

Here's a pc building guide page.
One for intel, one for amd.
http://www.hardwarezone.com/guides/intel-socketT/
http://www.hardwarezone.com/guides/amd-socket939/
Click to expand...
first of all thank you for responding. i will try to explain to the best of my ability. ok well like i said i have the emachine w1640 in front of me. i did switch the motherboard in it. (i'll explain why i did this, later) (the motherboard is an Abit-va-10 , if this helps at all) the cpu and all that fits just fine(AMD Athlon xp processor). i must have it all hooked up wrong maybe. cuz all i see when i try to turn it on is a little red light on the bottom right corner . it's really annoying me. i am attempting to put a picture of my motherboard on here. if you can see it, the light came on in the bottom right hand coner, right next to where the screw is (lol if you can see it) i have my hard drive connected to the ide 1. my floppy is to the right of that one and the cd-rom is in ide 2. (i have the original hard drive , floppy and cd-rom that came with the machine. ) i probably left some stuff out. if so, please tell me. and thank you very much for your help. i have no place to turn to. i do not want to resort to bringing it to get fixed. not until i have exhausted every other resource.


thanks, hayden :)
 
vnf4ultra said:
Hello, welcome to Techspot!

Ok, do you mean you've already got all the parts to build the pc, or you have your emachine tore apart and are doing a "test run"?

Can you say exactly what happens? Do fans spin? Do led's come on? Does the cd drive open/close?

What hardware are you working with?


Second question, do you have a floppy in the floppy drive in packard bell?
IIRC, a floppy in the drive will give you that error, and I guess a bad hd(or disconnected hd).

Here's a pc building guide page.
One for intel, one for amd.
http://www.hardwarezone.com/guides/intel-socketT/
http://www.hardwarezone.com/guides/amd-socket939/
Click to expand...
first of all thank you for responding. i will try to explain to the best of my ability. ok well like i said i have the emachine w1640 in front of me. i did switch the motherboard in it. (i'll explain why i did this, later) (the motherboard is an Abit-va-10 , if this helps at all) the cpu and all that fits just fine(AMD Athlon xp processor). i must have it all hooked up wrong maybe. cuz all i see when i try to turn it on is a little red light on the bottom right corner . it's really annoying me. i am attempting to put a picture of my motherboard on here. if you can see it, the light came on in the bottom right hand coner, right next to where the screw is (lol if you can see it) i have my hard drive connected to the ide 1. my floppy is to the right of that one and the cd-rom is in ide 2. (i have the original hard drive , floppy and cd-rom that came with the machine. ) i probably left some stuff out. if so, please tell me. and thank you very much for your help. i have no place to turn to. i do not want to resort to bringing it to get fixed. not until i have exhausted every other resource.
for some reason i cannot put the picture of my motherboard, such a shame to because this is just what it looks like, maybe i can email it? i tried to put in in here but when i put the location of the file, it said "no data"
maybe this link will work, it's my motherboard.http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/large.php?model=136
thanks again for your patience.

thanks, hayden :)
 
Hmm. Do you have the p4 connector connected? It's the white 2x2 connector below the cpu.

Is your ram fully seated?

Cpu fully seated?

Hope you get it fixed.
 
vnf4ultra said:
Hmm. Do you have the p4 connector connected? It's the white 2x2 connector below the cpu.

Is your ram fully seated?

Cpu fully seated?

Hope you get it fixed.
Click to expand...

i do not have a p4..i have p2.3.5.6.8
 
ok this is going to show you how handicapped i am when it comes to this stuff...i was messing around with it , after smashing my head off the walls, i looked in on the mobo and noticed the power led and the others weren't all plugged into the correct spots. i plugged the "power sw" thing into it's spot and when i tried to power the pc, the pcu fan started for just a grief second. i have tried plugging the rest (3 all together) in their spots. but i can't see the writing, it's far too small. perhaps maybe the fan going on for a grief sec and then shutting off means the power supply is no good?
 
Take another look at the motherboard picture you posted. Do you see the white, square, 2X2 connector near the top of the picture in the center? That is the P4 connector vnf4ultra was referring to. It needs to be powered.
 
mailpup said:
Take another look at the motherboard picture you posted. Do you see the white, square, 2X2 connector near the top of the picture in the center? That is the P4 connector vnf4ultra was referring to. It needs to be powered.
Click to expand...
2x2 , looks more like 1/2 x 1/2 .oh yeah that, that is powered. i think i'm going to give up. i tried just about everything. like i said, the motherboard is getting power, just not enough. when i try to power it on, the cpu fan starts real quick and then stops. but the little red light stays on. if i unplug the pc and let it sit for a second, then start it again, it does the same. :confused: i can't believe i didn't mention that i had to replace the motherboard. i had to replace it because the cpu fam came loose somehow and hit it. i probably just fried everything else. sorry if this changes everything, and for wasting everyones time.
 
By 2x2 I mean 2 pins by 2 pins, not 2"x2" or 2cm x 2cm.
It could be your power supply is underpowered.
 
i did think of trying that. on the power supply there is a red switch, it says 115 and 230. 230 seems pretty low. i am pretty sure it was set to 115 when it was bought.
 
That's not what he meant by underpowered. The 115 and 230 on your power supply should be set to match your household wall socket voltage.
 
mailpup said:
That's not what he meant by underpowered. The 115 and 230 on your power supply should be set to match your household wall socket voltage.
Click to expand...
oh sorry, what is that suppose to mean?
 
I really shouldn't speak for vnf4ultra but he was suggesting your power supply might not be adequate for the demands of your system.

That said, when you change your motherboard you should reinstall your operating system.
 
I didn't mean the switch, if you're in the us, 115v is right, overseas, 230v. I'm not sure if it'd actually hurt the power supply to go from 115 to 230 on 115v current(it wouldn't work for sure, but I'm guessing it wouldn't fry it), but if you have 230v current and switch it to 115v, it'll fry the psu for sure.

I mean, if you have some low powered psu, like 200w, and have more stuff than a 200w psu can handle it won't work. Do you know what wattage your psu is?
If it's too small, you'd need to get a higher powered psu.

Here's a calculator to figure out what wattage you need.
http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/
 
vnf4ultra said:
I didn't mean the switch, if you're in the us, 115v is right, overseas, 230v. I'm not sure if it'd actually hurt the power supply to go from 115 to 230 on 115v current(it wouldn't work for sure, but I'm guessing it wouldn't fry it), but if you have 230v current and switch it to 115v, it'll fry the psu for sure.

I mean, if you have some low powered psu, like 200w, and have more stuff than a 200w psu can handle it won't work. Do you know what wattage your psu is?
If it's too small, you'd need to get a higher powered psu.

Here's a calculator to figure out what wattage you need.
http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/
Click to expand...
heres my pc, ina nutshell:
# Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
# AMD Athlon™ XP processor 1600+ (1.400 GHz) with QuantiSpeed™ architecture
# VIA KM 266
# 128 MB DDR (PC2100)
# 40 GB HDD 1
# 40x Max. CD-RW Drive; 3.5" 1.44MB FDD
# Includes eMachines 15" eView™ 15w2 Monitor
(13.8" Viewable, 0.28mm dot pitch)
# S3 ProSavage8 integrated (1 AGP slot available for upgrade)
# 56K ITU v.92 ready Fax/Modem
# AC '97 Audio
# Standard Windows Keyboard, Wheel Mouse, Amplified Speakers
# 6 USB 2.0 ports (2 on front), 1 Serial, 1 Parallel, 2 PS/2, Mic-In & Head Phone jack on front, Audio In & Out, 3 PCI slots (2 available)
# 7.25"w x 14.125"h x 16"d
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

bruno167573
What should i do?
Replies
15
Views
180
bruno167573
bruno167573
M
Looking for advice on new PC build
Replies
4
Views
673
mbk34
M
M
Need Help for Choosing a Part to Build Gaming PC
Replies
5
Views
936
m3tavision
m3tavision

Latest posts

Back