[Ralfman]

hi i want to installl a hard drive in to a asus motherboard.. it is a p4p800 motherbaord, but im a bit of a newb so does anyone no of a step by step newb giude to wipe a old hard drive clean and install it onto a new computer.. then i have to buy windows xp and install it on the hard drive, however that means i need to get the dvd drive working aswell, but it keeps comeing up with these messages,

scanning IDE drives
no drive attached to fastrak controller. bois is not installed.
reboot and select a proper boot device or insert media in selected boot device and press any key
disk I/O error
replace the disk, and then press any key
starting...
Microsoft windows millennium copy write Microsoft corp. 1981- 1999
A:\>
what do i need to do ? how do i install drive to fastrak controller?
Microsoft windows

im a newb so is their any giude i can read to wipe the old hdd then install it on a new comp then install window xp??

 

[linderman]

Welcome to TSF:

unfortunately there is no guide that i remeber seeing / however we will assist you question after question until you are running !!!!


first thing about the fastrak controller / thats a sat or raid (most likely raid) controller thats bugging you

is your current drive you want to install is it IDE or SATA / how old and what model number and maker is the drive ????? you have windows ME nagging at you so I will assume the drive was born about 2000 give or take a year / if that tru then its and IDE drive / if this is tru / enter the bios on your motherboard then go to "advanced options" then "disable" the fastrak controller or raid controller

then you will need to connect your IDE drive to the BLUE ide drive connector on your motherboard (are you using the asus supplied cables with the mobo???). You will need to put the blue end of your drive cable into the mobo blue socket / then the far opposite end of the cable there is a black connector connect that to your hard drive / make sure the jumper pins on your hard drive are set to "master"
start the computer and check to be sure the new ide drive is listed on the bios splash screen and gets identified by make, size and primary master if the drive gets recognised / then proceed to the erasing step

then you are ready to erase your drive

download this prog (free)
http://dban.sourceforge.net/ >>>>> download floppy version
it loads and runs from a floppy drive / once the program console opens just select "auto mode" / it takes a while to erase >>> its a three pass affair

then after completing this task / you are ready for the win XP install / that an easy one / just boot from the win xp disk and choose install / it will automatically walk you thru the partitioning & formatting part / I would choose no multiple partitions if I were you to get started / you will see a question on the partition screen like what size do you want the partition to be / enter 100%

now you should have you boot order set to / in the bios prior to doing anything / once windows xp does a complete install you will need to remove the cd from the cd-rom or it will keep trying to boot from it.

floppy first
cd-rom second
hard drive third

dont hesitate to ask more questions

regards

joe

 

[Ralfman]

ahhh man thank you for ur replie, i have just gone to pc world and bought window xp and a UltraDMA hard drive for 133 pounds ... i didnt want to use my old hard drive anymore becuase i no if i wiped it for a clean install i wont be able to get it back on for online support....

then i go home praying this will fix my problem but ... no luck...
i connect the hard drive useing the cables i got with the motherboard blue end to the blue ide conecter on the motherboard other far end to the hard drive, then the black end of the cable into the black ide slot on motherboard, other end then into the cd rom drive.. then i plug a white cable into the cd rom drive and i think one into the hard drive aswell... so is that all the hard ware connected up properly??

PRI_IDE1------->HDD
PRI_IDE2------->CR ROM

ok thats the hardware over now to bios ... im takeing a dislike to bios lol..
it detects all my stuff in the list in the boot menu

however but it still says the same error messages....
i have the xp cd put it in but nothing happens, i have made a c-mos boot cd put it in and it just says I/O power fialure please replace disk.. next i am going to follow the manual and try the AFUDOS method of booting..
i have the xp cd now so are there any buttons i should be pressing to boot the comp from that? and then install xp from that ? i have never done this before and have never seem it be done.. i am gonna buy a HOW TO BIULD A PC book aswell to broaden my newb knowledge..

i think my main problem is not being able to boot the comp and install windows

 

[linderman]

Welcome to TSF:

what you need to do is boot the computer up (with win xp cd in the cd-rom drive) immediately after the bios splash screen is done reporting drives and stuff / starting tapping the F8 key about once every second / that should make a seelction windows pop-up / when it does choose you cd-rom drive fromt the list of devices

the win xp disk will then go into 'set-up & install mode"

it will ask you if you are ready to partition the drive / yes you must have at least one partition to install windows / that will be the "C" drive when it asks you what size to make the partition / input 100%

then after partitioning / it will format the drive / this takes a very long time depending on your drive / never interrupt the install process / sometimes it may look like its doing nothing or hung-up / its not !!!!! / just let the install do its thing


dont hesitate to ask more questions


regards

joe