New desktop build won't recognize any drives

CleverNinja

New Member
I finished putting together my first desktop build yesterday(go me). I went to power it on, yet it won't read any of the disks. None of them. I tried disconnecting and connecting the IDE cables several times but it still won't read them. The dumb thing is, if I power the machine on with the IDE cable OFF, and just the 4 pin PSU cable connected, the drives will turn on and function properly. So I have no clue where the error lies in. I messed with BIOS boot order to see if it would help any, but it still won't work. I put in 8 nonstop man hours building this machine then trying to troubleshoot it but I couldn't solve the problem. If any of you can please help me out here so I can get this thing up and running ASAP I'd appreciate it, so that my time and money put into this doesn't go to waste :(. Below are the parts I ordered to build this thing, with links to the specs.

ASUS A8N5X Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131569
ATRIX CSCI-G8022C-C43 Black Zinc plated treatment,S.E.C.C.steel sheeting FCC class CB&CE approved ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 480W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811209018
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3200BPBOX - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535
Leadtek PX6600GT TDH Geforce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814122201
Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JB 80GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144122
NEC Black IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner Model ND-3550A - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model VS1GBKIT400 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058
SONY Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1615/B2s - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827101131
 
Have you looked at the jumper config on the HDD and the DVD-ROM drives.
When you go into the BIOS does it show anything at all on the IDE devices ?
 
I have the DVD rom setup as master, burner setup as slave. I had the HDD jumper set to master, then I read that if it's the only one you had it's not neccessary to put a jumper on it, so I took it off momentarily. I tried turning on the system with only the hard drive attached yet still no luck. My BIOS don't detect any of the drives. I set the boot sequence back to default, which is in the order of Removable Drives-Hard Drive-CD Rom-Disabled. I turned off all the RAID setting just incase it interfered with anything, yet still no luck. Do the drives come with anything else when you buy them retail? I bought them all OEM, and they only had jumpers on them, so maybe I'm missing another piece I don't know about? Cause according to the light the Mobo is working correctly, and the PSU is probably working fine since without the IDE cables connected it'll power the drives fine. Maybe I got defected cables with my mobo :/
 
Try booting with the windows CD in too see if that loads, but remove the hdd ide cable, also have u definately got all the cables the right way round?
Are the processor and ram inserted correctly? GPU definately present?
Lee
 
Yea everythings inserted correctly. With the IDE cables the CD-Rom drives won't respond or open, so I couldn't try that. I've basically left my desktop sitting in a box now, cause I ran out of options. It's either a messed up Power Supply (I hope), or somehow my motherboard is messed up(god forbid). I built 1 pc before in school and had no problems with it :/
 
Sounds like the power supply has died, seen as the cd drives won't respond or open, so i would say to get a new one, although first try connecting a different power cable from the PSU to the CD drive, to see if that works, as it could just be a faulty cable.
Or maybe even a broken drive, if so try using a different CD drive in there.
Lee
 
k

Alright, the thing is, when I have both the IDE cable and power cable connected, the CD drive wont respond(it does this with all 3 drives, just using CD as an example). But when only the power cable is connected, the CD drive will respond, open and close no problem. I dunno if this is a problem with the power supply not being able to power it correctly, or that sadly I might have a messed up motherboard. Can't tell.
 
hmmm, sounds odd, i am really puzzled about this, and cannot think of anything other than the fac tthe the motherboard is broke, although you say you have been able to enter the bios, so that sorta eliminates that problem, the simple thing that i can think of is broken IDE cables
 
k

That's what I was thinking, cause frankly the motherboard light stays green, meaning its fine. And the power supply powers the drives without having IDE cables connected to it. I couldn't try anything since I didn't get paid till today, so I made this topic to see if it could be anything else. Anyway I'll pick some cables up on my way home in an hour so I'll post back to see if anything changes.
 
k

Alright the cables didn't work. I'm just gonna have to accept that the motherboard area dealing with the IDE cables is probably dead or fried. I'm gonna contact newegg and get it replaced.
 
Ok

Alright I got a brand new motherboard sent and the thing STILL wont read hard drives. I'm just gonna give up and send everything back I'm tired of dealing with this. I'll get it prebuilt from a custom company
 
That's what I was thinking, cause frankly the motherboard light stays green, meaning its fine
Thats not what it means. That means there is power available.

Alright I got a brand new motherboard sent and the thing STILL wont read hard drives. I'm just gonna give up and send everything back I'm tired of dealing with this. I'll get it prebuilt from a custom company
Have you tried the straight forward solution of um... lets try just 1 drive at a time?
 
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