Frustration is it the HD or is it the MoBo

[plaidfro]

My new computer is now giving me fitz! I built the computer and it ran perfectly, in fact it was just awesome. I went to Boston for a week and the first time I booted it up when I got back, it acted like the OS wasn't there... I reintalled the OS quickly to see if it would stay. It has stayed so far, but I now want to format the HD, and reinstall WIN XP cleanly. My MoBo has the code of FF showing, which my manual shows is:
1. Bios chip insertd incorrectly
2. Incorrect BIOS update version.
3. Mainboard problem
4. Add-on card inserted incorectly

Any thoughts on this?

Also I can't seem to get my HD formatted? I put in a boot disk that gets me to an A: but then the computer doesn't see any other drives, whats with that? shouldn't you be able to go to a c: and then format c: ? This is what is frustrating me. Is there some freeware I should have to help format this drive?

All my parts were bought through newegg so I gotta find the problem. Could the battery on the MoBo be dead? Could the HD be messed? Is it all the MoBos fault?

Please ask me any additional questions I could respond to, that could help me solve this issue.

Comp Specs:
AMD 3000+ CPU
Epox 9NPA Ultra
1 Gig DDR RAM
80 GB Seagate SATA

 

[amdskip]

Well you have a SATA hard drive which means you need to install the driver for the controller I believe first when windows xp ask you to hit F6 if you need to install the controller driver.

As far as the FF, do you mean on screen display or on the motherboard itself? I believe FF is normal actually. What power supply are you using (brand/model)?

 

[plaidfro]

The FF is on the actual Motherboard.

I am using a Antec Sonata II 450W PSU.

My SATA drive didn't come with a disk... I heard this was necessary but newegg never sent a disk with the drive, so I figured it didn't need it. This "controller driver" sounds like it could resolve my problems. How do I go about getting it?

This is my HD:
80 GB SEAGATE ST380817AS

I looked on seagates website there are 3 installation softwares:
1.DiscWizard Starter Edition
2.DiscWizard for Windows
3.DiscWizard Online

Which is right for me?

 

[Blake]

The disk you are talking about is to install "Raid" drivers for SATA. You need at least two hard drives for Raid. A single HDD SATA installation doesn't need the floppy for Windows installation.

I assume you are using the latest Windows XP operating system. I would think when you put the installation cd in that you would be asked to format and partition the drive. Any previous installation of the operating system would be lost when you format. You should get a new clean installation.

Can you set the Bios to boot from the CD-Rom and then boot from the XP installation cd?

 

[amdskip]

Blake, you are wrong. The disk is required for SATA hard drives in most cases. Raid is an irrelevant thing here.

Stolen from FlyingPeguin:

XP SP2 is no guarantee that you won't need to install seperate RAID drivers. It all depends on the RAID chipset. If the XP installer doesn't see your RAID drive then you need to install the drivers.

There should be a copy of them on the CD that came with your mobo but they need to be placed on a floppy (they have to be on a floppy and you must have a floppy drive installed - even if it's a USB one). Comtimes there's a folder with the 3 or 4 files you need for the RAID that you just copy to a floppy, and sometimes there's an installer that creates the floppy for you.

Press F6 when prompted by the XP installer, then wait and insert the floppy when prompted.

 

[Doug117]

I think we're all missing something. You said you used a boot disk to get to A: but cant find C:. What boot disk are you talking about? Some DOS/Win98 disk? Cause that wont see your (most likely) formatted NTFS partition at all. Boot from the Windows CD and all should be OK. If you do need the SATA driver though (ie if Windows setup doesnt see your drive) its part of the nforce drivers. Download them here and extract the EXE with WinRAR. Go into IDE/WinXP/sata_ide and put those files on a disk. When Windows setup prompts you to press F6 to install 3rd party drivers, hit F6 and put the floppy with the 7 files on it in the floppy drive.

 

[plaidfro]

K, I did as you requested but after you push F6 a minute later it asks to identify the device - put a disk in a: and push enter... I do and I get the file txtsetup.oem could not be found. now in the list of extraced files I could have chosen from there are 2 files named txtsetup.oem on is in the \IDE\WINXP\pataraid and the other \IDE\WINXP\sataraid. So do i need to add one of these files to the a: for the WinXP startup F6 thing?

 

[Doug117]

Hrm now that is wierd... but then again I havent done this myself, just speaking from past experience. Well you can always try copying the sataraid folder to a disk and trying that

 

[Slowlearner]