Looking at building a new PC

[James]

It was due for delivery today but I was emailed yesterday to say they didn't have the graphics card in stock. So after a few exchanged emails today I went for the same model but a different manufacturer for £6 less, and got a PCI Firewire card added to the bundle with no extra postage. I have to pay for the PCI Card, of course. But I was going to order it separately when I got some other stuff because the base postage cost is £6 up to a certain weight. Getting it added to this order has saved me £6.

So they're back in my good books... Except I noticed the memory I ordered is now showing as out of stock. Hopefully it's out of stock because one of the last ones was picked for my order.

Now I need to make sure dad stays home tomorrow so he can collect it. He often works from home, so staying home shouldn't be a problem for him. I don't want to miss my Thursday work, though.

[James]

I got everything today. It all went together - eventually.

I'm using a PCI adaptor to use my two old IDE hard drives because the motherboard only has one IDE connector. The two hard drives show up in CMOS but when I try installing Windows it says it can't find any hard drives. When I try installing the drivers from my CD it says to insert a floppy. I didn't get a floppy with my motherboard or the PCI adaptor. What now, other than buying a SATA hard drive?

[The Metamorphosing Leon]

God I hate computers. It's always something ain't it?

I'm sure it'll all work out, it'll just take hours and hours of screwing with it.

[Hydrobond]

I got everything today. It all went together - eventually.

I'm using a PCI adaptor to use my two old IDE hard drives because the motherboard only has one IDE connector. The two hard drives show up in CMOS but when I try installing Windows it says it can't find any hard drives. When I try installing the drivers from my CD it says to insert a floppy. I didn't get a floppy with my motherboard or the PCI adaptor. What now, other than buying a SATA hard drive?

What about your old computer? Can't you get the drivers off of the CD on your old computer.

And you can put two IDE hard drives on the same IDE port. 

[Tynstar]

Two hard drives can go on one IDE port. You just need the right cable and then set the jumpers to Master and Slave.

[James]

The motherboard only has one IDE connection - I'm using it for the two optical drives, which work fine. The PCI Adaptor is so I can also use my two old hard drives.


I'm trying to work out what drivers I need. There were two folders on the PCI Adaptor CD for ATA 133 and ATA 133 RAID. The RAID one was 6mb, so I couldnt put it on the floppy. I tried the ATA 133 drivers, which showed up in the Windows installation but didn't help.

Computers hate me.

I'm on my laptop at the moment.

[Tynstar]

Get a new SATA drive.

[James]

I managed to find some drivers to put on a floppy which sounded right. They installed when I tried installing Windows, but I got the same message that no hard drives could be found.

Time to get on to Scan.co.uk and ask them what I should do.

[James]

I knew it was the drivers. I was kind of stupid, though. I looked at the paper instructions as if they were saying how to install the PCI Adaptor after Windows had been installed.

It turned out they said exactly where the drivers i needed were. I was looking in D:\ATA 133 RAID/ iTE1212/drivers/XP, or something similar, and copied the contents of /XP onto a floppy disc, which didn't work. I should have copied everything in /drivers to a floppy.

So I did that and it came up with a choice of operating systems for the driver when I installed XP. I chose the XP driver and it started installing the OS.

It's formatting the hard drive at the moment.

[Hydrobond]

/grats :-)

[James]

I installed Windows with a couple of problems, needing a restart. Started installing some drivers then noticed the activation icon in the tray, so clicked on it and activated Windows over the internet. I finished installing the drivers then took the PC upstairs to my bedroom. When I turned it on I got a message saying there had been "significant hardware changes" and I had to reactivate it. Except I couldn't do it over the internet again. I hate telephones, so I was reluctant to call Microsoft. I dialled the number in my mobile to be by the PC but mobile networks charge different rates for toll free numbers. So I moved the PC into a room with a telephone, bit my lip and called them. It turned out to be entirely automated! So I got it reactivated with no problems. They were sneaky with their questions, though. "How many computers have you installed this copy of Windows XP on? Press 1 for two or more computers... Press 2 for one computer..."

I had installed Windows on a formatted hard drive and kept my old hard drive as a secondary one to easily transfer files. However, when I tried going into my old account folder it said access was denied. I started in safe mode and logged in as the administrator and after a bit of a poke around I changed ownership of the folder to Administrators. While I was there, I changed my old old account folder which I had been locked out of before. I got all my damn music back! I was pissed off about that before because I had to rip all my music again.

Everything's running fine now. I'm chuffed. Thanks for the help, it's been quite a learning curve for me. It's also been fun, despite the problems.

[The Metamorphosing Leon]

I told you, it just takes hours upon hours of fiddling.

[James]

I may as well keep to one thread:

I've got the sound from my motherboard connected to my sound system by digital optical because that's the only 5.1 connection the speakers have got. I can get surround sound from DVDs (DD) but not from games (Which play in Dolby Pro Logic 2). Is there any way around that or will I have to buy a sound system with analogue connections?

I know someone who I might be able to flog my current system to for a decent amount...

[Tynstar]

Good work man!