[Bladesilver]

it boots, checks the RAM, waits for a while, then goes on to "CHecking IDE drives" then hangs at this point. It doesn't make it far enough for me to use Del to enter the CMOS config or anything. Does anyone know what could be causing this problem?

 

[johnwill]

Did you unplug all the IDE devices to see if it enters the BIOS at that point? Have you checked the IDE cables to see if you have one in backwards, either on the MB or the drive(s)? The stripe is to the key or (1) on the MB, and toward the power connector on almost all drives.

 

[SPEEDO]

How about some more info on what your running there! Is this a new build or an established running machine?

 

[Bladesilver]

new build

KD7A board, 512MB PC3200, Athlon XP 2600+, GeForce2 Ti card I believe but that has nothing to do with anything, using the ATA 133 cable that came with the board, WD 7200 RPM 120GB HD, Toshiba DVD-RW, both set to cable select, Thermaltake Volcano 11 heatsink on the CPU using nanotherm heatsink compound and a thermaltake shim.

 

[Bladesilver]

Did you unplug all the IDE devices to see if it enters the BIOS at that point? Have you checked the IDE cables to see if you have one in backwards, either on the MB or the drive(s)? The stripe is to the key or (1) on the MB, and toward the power connector on almost all drives.

they're in the right way, they have the little tab that makes the plug only go in one direction.

 

[SPEEDO]

Try removing all the jumpers on the hard drive. Then make sure the blue end of the IDE cable is on the motherboard on the first IDE controller. The black end should be attached to the hard drive.

Put the jumper on your DVD-RW to master and hook it up the same way as the hard drive except on the second IDE contoller.

If it fails to recognize the hard drive try putting the jumper on master and see if that works.