I need some help

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PC By Design

I need some help. I am building my first pc and have run into some problems.
So with that in mind, I would like to pose a few questions:
1: How do I set the jumpers. I know where they are, but can't figure it out.
I left them the way they shipped.

2: I am getting a "Beep" spaced every 2-3 seconds when I turn it on. I
checked all my connections and they are secure.

3: I haven't installed the OS yet. Dumb question but is that a problem? I
put the winxp disc in the drive and turned it on. Just got the beep noise. I
tried starting it with a WIN NT startup floppy but that didn't work either.

4: Oh yeah, did I mention I thought the problem was with the floppy because
the light stayed on when I powered up? I learned that if you disconnedt the
floppy from the mother board, but not the power supply, you will creat
intense smoke and fire!!!!!!!!! I had to get a new power supply. I probably
need a new floppy drive too right? I did connect it all back when I put in
the new power supply but I didn't get a light or noise from the floppy.

I have plenty more questions, but I will waitfor some help on these.
Thanks all!

Dave
 
I need some help. I am building my first pc and have run into some problems.
So with that in mind, I would like to pose a few questions:
1: How do I set the jumpers. I know where they are, but can't figure it out.
I left them the way they shipped.
Click to expand...

The jumpers on WHAT?
2: I am getting a "Beep" spaced every 2-3 seconds when I turn it on. I
checked all my connections and they are secure.
Click to expand...
3: I haven't installed the OS yet. Dumb question but is that a problem? I
put the winxp disc in the drive and turned it on. Just got the beep noise. I
tried starting it with a WIN NT startup floppy but that didn't work either.

4: Oh yeah, did I mention I thought the problem was with the floppy because
the light stayed on when I powered up? I learned that if you disconnedt the
floppy from the mother board, but not the power supply, you will creat
intense smoke and fire!!!!!!!!! I had to get a new power supply. I probably
need a new floppy drive too right? I did connect it all back when I put in
the new power supply but I didn't get a light or noise from the floppy.

I have plenty more questions, but I will waitfor some help on these.
Thanks all!

Dave
Click to expand...

Do yourself a favor, Dave. Look in the yellow pages for a shop that
can build that computer for you.

Or...

Start reading on how to build a system.

You have no idea what yer doing. And we don't have the time to teach
you the basics.


Have a nice week...

Trent

Follow Joan Rivers' example --- get pre-embalmed!
 
PC By Design said:
I need some help. I am building my first pc and have run into some problems.
So with that in mind, I would like to pose a few questions:
1: How do I set the jumpers. I know where they are, but can't figure it out.
I left them the way they shipped.

2: I am getting a "Beep" spaced every 2-3 seconds when I turn it on. I
checked all my connections and they are secure.

3: I haven't installed the OS yet. Dumb question but is that a problem? I
put the winxp disc in the drive and turned it on. Just got the beep noise. I
tried starting it with a WIN NT startup floppy but that didn't work either.

4: Oh yeah, did I mention I thought the problem was with the floppy because
the light stayed on when I powered up? I learned that if you disconnedt the
floppy from the mother board, but not the power supply, you will creat
intense smoke and fire!!!!!!!!! I had to get a new power supply. I probably
need a new floppy drive too right? I did connect it all back when I put in
the new power supply but I didn't get a light or noise from the floppy.

I have plenty more questions, but I will waitfor some help on these.
Thanks all!
Click to expand...

I have to agree with Trent.

You need to atleast give the make and model of the motherboard.

Here are some beep codes, not all mothergoards are the same. Go the the
website for the one one you have.
Beep Code Meaning
--------------------------------------------------------------------
No tone Power out
Continuous tone Power supply defective
Many short beeps Defective Motherboard
1 DRAM refresh failure
2 Parity Circuit failure
3 Base 64K RAM failure
4 System Timer failure
5 Processor failure
6 Keyboard Controller Gate A20 error
7 Virtual Mode Exception error
8 Display Memory R/W Test failure
9 ROM-BIOS Checksum failure

1 long RAM Refresh
1 long 1 short Defective Motherboard or ROM-BASIC
1 long 2 short Video card error or dip switch(XT)
1 long 3 short Error on EGA card
2 long 1 short Synchronization of monitor adapter
2 short Parity error(incorrect memory chechsum)

The computer should beep once and then load off a drive. YOu have to set up
the BIOS in most cases on a new computer.

Unless you hooked the power connector up backwards on the power supply it
should not have caused any problems. If the light is on all the time on a
drive , you probably have the larger data cable plugged in backwards. Thid
does not harm, jsut turn it around.
 
Building a pc can be a satisfying experience---when everything works, but it
can be rather frustrating sometimes. I've recently built my first computer and
the thing I find ironic is that it takes a computer in order to build another
computer. When I started gathering parts I read everything I could about each
part by going to the manufacturer's website or by searching newsgroup posts on
Google. When I decided to buy an Intel 875pbz motherboard I went to Intel's
website and clicked on every last link and downloaded every single update
available related to that particular motherboard. I didn't install them all
but I had them just in case. I also checked out the disk that came with the
motherboard and studied it very carefully, especially the part about the BIOS
settings. I checked out the websites for everything else from the case itself
to the floppy drive and everything in between. I'm sure someone who builds
computers all the time knows what parts work together and can just throw them
all together in no time, but for your first computer you have got to do your
homework.
 
don't be put by negative comments, we've all been there and knackered
something as part of our learing curve.

1 the jumpers on what, the motherboard, the hard disc drive or something
else?

2 probably means your memory is not seated correctly, try reseating it, but
could also mean the same about the CPU or graphics card.

3 until 2 is sorted you won't be able to

4 the light staying on means you had the floppy drive cable on the wrong way
round at one end and it needed to be rotated through 180 deg. You should
never ever adjust anything in the case with the power on - but you know that
now :-)
Whilst its a real pain to switch off every time you want to adjust
something, and then back on again, it is the only safe way.

Take your time, read the manuals (!) and if you can, find a mate who has
built before who can show you some of the trickier steps, but don't give up!
P
 
Hi,

I'm in complete agreement with Paul and DJ about building your computer.
Slapping parts together is a 99% certainty that one will get a negative
result. Reasonable care to avoid things such as static discharge, incomplete
seating of components, misaligned cables, etc is an absolute necessity here.
Even then not doing ones' homework of reading the mb manual to know what to
adjust before turning the computer on will most likely give a negative
outcome.
The Han Solo approach to getting into hyperdrive, such as kicking the
console on the space ship, is mostly fiction. It's more of an organized
approach to the task that gets you where you want to go with building these
things.
 
Thanks to everyone for all their help. I definitely SHOLD have read a bit
more before I tried to slap a bunch of components together and call it a
computer. BUT...I have it working! I finally figurred out the jumpers. I
just couldn't see what to do with them they are soooooooooo small! Now I
know. The floppy is fried. But that is it. Everything else works like a
dream. Now I have a nice AMD Atholon XP2000, 512 DDR, 40GB HD, 52x CD Burner
and a Radeon 9000 AGP video card and they all run nice and smooth! Just have
to buy a new floppy! DOH! (Wife wasn't too happy about having to spend
extra $$$ on a new power supply ans floppy! LOL)
 
The first time I built my own PC I was pretty clueless as well. Here's
the various stuff I've forgotten over the years that caused the system
not to work correctly ...

1. Did you install the mobo stand-offs on the metal backplane in the
case according to the arrangement of screw holes in your mobo?

2. Did you connect all power switch / power LED / HD LED / internal
speaker leads correctly according to your mobo documentation? (I didn't
even know I had to do this the first time I built a computer, LOL, no
wonder it didn't work).

3. Is everything powered? (Including mobo, had a problem with that once).

4. Is everything cabled correctly? I.e. primary hard drive should be
on the master on the first IDE channel?
 
PC said:
I need some help. I am building my first pc and have run into some problems.
So with that in mind, I would like to pose a few questions:
1: How do I set the jumpers. I know where they are, but can't figure it out.
I left them the way they shipped.
Click to expand...

What jumpers? There are lots of jumpers in a system ... on optical
drives, on hard drives, on video cards, on sound cards, on the mobo, on
the power supply ... you need to be more specific!
2: I am getting a "Beep" spaced every 2-3 seconds when I turn it on. I
checked all my connections and they are secure.
Click to expand...

At least the internal speaker is working.
3: I haven't installed the OS yet. Dumb question but is that a problem? I
put the winxp disc in the drive and turned it on. Just got the beep noise. I
tried starting it with a WIN NT startup floppy but that didn't work either.
Click to expand...

If you can't boot into the BIOS yet then don't worry about the OS yet.
The OS comes once the computer is working.
4: Oh yeah, did I mention I thought the problem was with the floppy because
the light stayed on when I powered up? I learned that if you disconnedt the
floppy from the mother board, but not the power supply, you will creat
intense smoke and fire!!!!!!!!! I had to get a new power supply. I probably
need a new floppy drive too right? I did connect it all back when I put in
the new power supply but I didn't get a light or noise from the floppy.
Click to expand...

Disconnecting the data channel from the floppy drive but not the power
cord should NOT cause the kind of problems you described. Either you
did something else wrong, or the PSU was faulty to begin with.
I have plenty more questions, but I will waitfor some help on these.
Thanks all!
Click to expand...

How much experience do you have with hardware? Have you ever upgraded
your system before (i.e. installing new drives, RAM, whatever), or are
you going into this with entirely cold feet?
 
PC said:
Thanks to everyone for all their help. I definitely SHOLD have read a bit
more before I tried to slap a bunch of components together and call it a
computer. BUT...I have it working! I finally figurred out the jumpers. I
just couldn't see what to do with them they are soooooooooo small! Now I
know. The floppy is fried. But that is it. Everything else works like a
dream. Now I have a nice AMD Atholon XP2000, 512 DDR, 40GB HD, 52x CD Burner
and a Radeon 9000 AGP video card and they all run nice and smooth! Just have
to buy a new floppy! DOH! (Wife wasn't too happy about having to spend
extra $$$ on a new power supply ans floppy! LOL)
Click to expand...

I'm glad everything worked out for you. Too bad about the frying
though. I don't think it was your fault - sounds like bad components.
 
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