I really need help please!

[madweirdo]

I put together a p4 computer last weekend with new graphics card, dual 400gb hd, new case, and floppy drive. All the cables and parts besides the motherboard are new.

Everything seemed fine but when I went to start it is when the problems started.
1. It said floppy drive error
2. Then I started it from an xp cd and told it to install windows
3.When it finished it said to restart and then says disk read error. ctrl+alt+del to restart and if I do that it goes back to the same thing.
4. I tried to boot from the cd, thinking it was a bad install and it says checking hardware config and then gives me a black screen and never changes.
5. I tried reformatting the hds with my laptop and put them back in and the same thing keeps happening.

I can get to the bios but the screen right after that is when it stops.

I have no idea what else to do so any help would be really great.

 

[heyman421]

first of all, if you don't have a floppy, disable it

secondly, go into boot priority

set cd-rom group 1st
hard drive group 2nd

then go into the hard drive boot priority, and set the hard drive with the o/s on it to 1st

it's trying to boot from the 2nd hard drive

that's the message it gives when you don't have an o/s installed

 

[madweirdo]

I tried that. I disabled the secondary cd drive and the slave hd and nothing changed. I switched the slave and the master hds and it says the same thing.

I changed the boot sequence and it still does the same thing.

Is there a way to install windows on an external hd? I have a external case I can hook up to my laptop but I dont know any way to tell it to install not on the main drive.