New Comp Problems

S

Spigitty

New Member
I've just completed my new computer. This is my first build. this is what is in it.

Case: CM Stacker 830 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119103
Motherboard: EVGA NForce 680i http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813188013
CPU: C2D E6700 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115002
CPU Cooler: Vigor Monsoon II http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835702002
GPU: EVGA 8800GTS http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130038
RAM: G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231112
Powersupply: Silverstone 850W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817256011
HD: WD 500gb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136073
DVD-rw x2: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136108

1 of my problems is the ram only registers 2.75gb and not the full 4gb.

The second problem is when i plug in the power to the slave DVD-RW. windows wont boot. but as soon as i unplug the power from the writer, everything boots up fine. The drive isn't registered in the BIOS as well.

If you have further questions please ask.
 
Most likely your RAM is fully supported by your motherboard, a common problem... not sure about the DVD drive though... do you only have one IDE drive? If so, it should not be set as slave, but as either cable select or master, and you should use the plug on the end of the cable, not the one in the middle.
 
Both 32-bit XP and Vista cannot detect 4GB of RAM, the max is 3GB. Reason you see only 2.75GB is because the rest is being used by Windows' kernels and system files.

Your HDD should be setup as SATA; DVD as IDE. Use a dedicated IDE ribbon cable for the DVD Drive. Update your BIOS to the latest version. Go to the DVD Drive's manufacturer site to download its latest driver as well.
 
The ram problem with the pair of 2gb dimms suggests a possible fault with one dimm or the latency is not supported. If the board takes 5-5-5-12 and you go with 4-4-4-? or faster ? The specifications show that the board should run 2gb dimms without problem. The DDR2 1200 is the standard memory while DDR2 800 should run.

The single hard drive there is a sata not ide drive. The dvd drive should be set as secondary master if you plans of later adding an ide hard drive. Besides the jumper setting look in the bios to see which device is set as the first in the boot order. An ide controller will override sata by default. I hope you didn't grab the last WD 500gb sata there. I'm ordering a second this week!
 
ok thanks for the ram issue.

i have 2 DVD drives. 1 works just fine. thats the on on the middle connection. the second DVD drive is on the end and its the one that doesn't register. and yes the HD is SATA
 
Crimsonite said:
Both 32-bit XP and Vista cannot detect 4GB of RAM, the max is 3GB. Reason you see only 2.75GB is because the rest is being used by Windows' kernels and system files.

Your HDD should be setup as SATA; DVD as IDE. Use a dedicated IDE ribbon cable for the DVD Drive. Update your BIOS to the latest version. Go to the DVD Drive's manufacturer site to download its latest driver as well.
Click to expand...

The maximum memory on XP is 4gb not 3gb. I ran 98SE with 1gb over the 512mb by simply editing the autoexec.bat file to add a different value on the older Windows there. A good tweak for going over 4gb isn't even needed. For most users even with Vista 2gb works well.

Spigitty said:
ok thanks for the ram issue.

i have 2 DVD drives. 1 works just fine. thats the on on the middle connection. the second DVD drive is on the end and its the one that doesn't register. and yes the HD is SATA
Click to expand...

The dvd drive on the end should be set as master there. Optical drives require the master/slave configuration. Cable select is generally only seen with ide hard drives. Prebuilt systems like Dell and eMachines will see the main drive set as cable select. The boards are made specific for their models.
 
I was trying to get it to work but no go. Either DVD drive works independently but the BIOS doesn't recognize when the second DVD drive is connected, no matter whitch one it is. they're both the exact same drive.
 
Do you have set as master on the end connector and slave on the middle of the second ide cable? If you have the drive on the end set as slave that will fail every time. With both drives not being seen with the correct jumper setting then the end connector becomes a concern. Trying a new cable would be the next step if you haven't already tried that. Sometimes you get two bad cables in a row if they are the flat riboon type. Here I've seen the best actual results with the more expensive Antec Cobra round cables with a nylon wrap. They take a lot and still work.

anteccobraidekb2.jpg


A review on the 18" version is seen at http://www.dvhardware.net/review31_anteccobra.html
 
i have tried another cable. either one works no matter what part of the cable it is on the only time it doesn't work is when both are conected at the same time with power to both. i can pull the power from 1 and the other one works. same thing visa-versa. the ide cable seems to be working fine. could it be the BIOS?
 
What are the jumpers set to on the two DVD drives? You should have one set on Master and the other set on Slave.
 
That's what I have been trying to get to him ceewi1. With both drives working well and both tried on the cable in reversed order there's only one thing left. I think someone has been setting both to one setting or to master on the middle there. The one on the end should be set the MA or master position with the one on the middle to SL, SA, slave. The drive casing will generally have a marking to specify which one is what. CS is cable select not used on optical drives.
 
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