I just put my new computer together... I have some small issues.

[tec699]

Hey all.. Here are my system specs:

Gigabyte KT400 7VAX
AMD XP 2000
Dynatron processor fan (AMD approved)
WD 100 gig (hard drive)
WD 40 gig (hard drive)
512 mb. 3200 ddr
Samsung 16x 48x dvd drive
TDK 48x 24x 48x cdrw
Sony floppy drive
Geforce 4 Ti 4200 (128mb)
Audigy Sound Card
Enermax 430 watts (power supply)
Dell 19" LCD monitor
Windows XP (home edition)

Ok... Mostly everything went off without any major problems, but I do have some small nagging issues that hopefully someone can answer.

My problems are:

1) When I installed Windows XP I installed it on my 100 gig hd, and I used the NTFS full format. Now I was able to install Win XP with no problems, but when I went into (my computer) to check the computers configuration I didn't see the systems 40 gig hd. It's not listed. Everything else is listed and is working fine, but where is my 40 gig hd?

Oh.. and I do have it set up correctly in my bios. The 100 gig hd and 40 gig hd are on my primamry IDE channel. The 100 gig is my master and the 40 gig is my slave. All are working properly, so no problems there.

Do I have to go back and install win xp on my 40 gig? In the (my computer) setting, it's set up like this...

Hard Disk Drives: Local Disk (C) - that's my 100 gig hd
Devices w/ Removal Storage: 31/2 Floopy (B) CD-RW (D) DVD (E)

Isn't that set up incorrectly? I'm looking at my mother's Sony computer and her's is set up differently. Also, like I said... my second hard drive isn't showing.

Which leads me to my second problem...

2) In an attempt to install win xp on 40 gig hd, I accidently reinstalled win xp on my 100 gig. Am I going to see stability problems since I did this? I hope not, as win xp seems to be running fine.

3) How should have my bios set up, after win xp is installed? I know that you have to boot off the cd in the beginning since your hard drive is empty, but what about after installing windows? After I installed win xp I went back into my bios and set it up accordingly:

First Boot Device [HDD-0]
Second Boot Device [HDD-1]
Third Boot Device [HDD-2]
Boot up Floopy Seek [Disabled]

Is this correct? Should i still set my first boot device to cdrom or set it up like this?

4) My back usb ports seem a little flaky. When I first start win xp I'll (sometimes) need to reconnect my usb mouse and keyboard to get them to work properly. Now I didn't install any drivers yet, so is this normal? I didn't install my mobo drivers, VIA 4:1 drivers, nothing. So is this normal?

5) I have front usb ports and they seem flaky as well. Could the wires be improperly connected?

6) My system temp in my case is 47*C and 115*F. Is this a safe temperature, or should I worry about this? At what temperature should I worry that my system might become unstable, and I may fry my processor? Also my processor fan is spinning at 5273 RPM.

7) My front lights aren't working on my case. Should I rearrange the wires until I get the front lights to work?


We'll that are my questions. like I said i only have some small issues that I'm sure can easily be fixed. This was the first computer that I built by myself and it was a great learning experience. Thanks again guys....

 

[ChefJoe]

Did you go to the Disk Management portion and see if you HD appears unformatted there. You have to add a new HD through the disk manager in XP usu.

 

[tec699]

thanks for the reply...

Both Hard Drives are working properly and in good condition. I checked on their system status in the bios and thru Win XP. No hardware conflicts what so ever. I bet that the 40 gig hd isn't formatted. If this is the case how do I go back and fromat the 40 gig hd?

With the USB ports being flaky, I'm going to withhold judgement till I install the drivers. No drivers are installed yet, so this may be the problem.

Finally that's 47*F on load. It's stable so I'm not really worried. Just thought I asked.


Thanks for the help, and have a nice Christmas.

If anyone else could help me I would appreciate it.

 

[tec699]

Originally posted by: ChefJoe
Did you go to the Disk Management portion and see if you HD appears unformatted there. You have to add a new HD through the disk manager in XP usu.

How would I do this? I've been fooling with trying to have my 40 gig hd show up in win xp, but i don't want to mess things up. So i thought i asked. Could you (quickly) expalin how to do this. I don't want to take up all your time.

thanks.

 

[joshInAlaska]

I agree with chefjoe. It sounds to me that during your XP install, the installation process was smart enough to partition and format your C drive. However, it wouldn't do anything with your slave drive. You would have to manually format that drive yourself.

Click Start, right-click on My Computer, select Manage. In the Tree to the left, under the Storage section, you'll click on Disk Management. In the top window, you should see your drives that are on your computer. It'll be obvious which one is your 40G drive. Right-click on it, and select format.

 

[PCMarine]

Yep...Disk Management =

Merry XMas everyone...cant wait to open up my XP 2100+ tomarrow morning >