'Almost Built' PC.......getting it working...?

[MereKat]

This was given to me as an 'almost complete' build, from various bits from different PCs. All i can say about that is that it has a 1.8Ghz P4 procesor, 512mb RAM, currently no HDD and a GeForce 6200 DDR2 128mb AGP Video card. It also has a 'Zalman' fan on the processor? Previous guy said it was one of the 'many good bits' the PC h as?

 

I have a HDD, that was also given to me, but it doesn't load anything past the BIOS screen, just restarts continually, so i'm guessing it was used as a second HDD by the last user and as such no OS on it. I have tried it in both PC's with the same outcome, so guess it's an issue with either the HDD or software?

 

I have 2 IDE cable's in my current working PC, one is marked MOTHER BOARD, the other is marked Master and Slave CD-Rom and Motherboard. Are both essentially the same thing? I connected both HDD's using the CD-Rom IDE cable, with the current working HDD on master and other HDD on slave (Intention of Reformatting it for fresh use), but in the BIOS it didn't recognise either HDD's?

 

I'd like to use this as a kind of 'media center', as it's smaller and looks nicer, so ideal for putting near a TV etc, but not sure if it would be capable? Mainly for watching stuff on Netflix, DVD's and Music. Netflix works fine on our Wii, and i don't think the Wii is as 'Powerful' as the PC could be?

I'm not sure whether to run it on XP, or try it with a Linux base? I have a RaspberryPi which people have said can be used as a media centre with the right bits plugged in, so guessing Linux would work?

 

More RAM can be put in if it'll help with speeding things up, but anything more complicated than taking something off, or putting something in, i'm i little clueless about! Solving software issues is a little sketchy, but i can follow instruction quite well :o

[KenB]

Hi,

 

Thanks for creating a new thread - it will be less confusing.

 

HDD, that was also given to me, but it doesn't load anything past the BIOS screen,

Even if there is an OS on the drive it will not boot up as Windows was installed in a different environment ( motherboard etc ) and it will recognise this.

 

If there is an OS on it and it is XP it is possible to do a "Repair Install" to correct this - the XP version would need to be exactly the same as the installed version

(and there is no way of finding out :) )

 

I connected both HDD's using the CD-Rom IDE cable,

 

Disconnect the CDROM Drive from the IDE cable at the motherboard end.

Take the molex power connection out from the drive too.

 

Using either cable ( they are both basically the same ) connect just one HDD to the end and put the other end to the motherboard.

Attach a molex power connection to the drive.

[it is not worth mounting the drive in the case - just let it hang for the moment.]

 

Make sure that the jumper on the back of the drive is set to the "Master" position.

 

Switch on and you should see the drive information on screen.

It still may not boot up - but we need to see the drive recognised.

[MereKat]

Got this working now, had an old XP disc laying about and borrowed the DVD-RW drive form the other PC, but have used the key for my other laptop to get it working.

 

For some reason though, my laptop has XP Proffesional Inc SP2, which is printed on the disc, but the PC has loaded as XP Media Edition. During installation it asked for CD2 to be inserted, which i've never had, and as such has missed a lot of files, including all network drivers...

 

Would i simply need a new disc to either reinstall or repair the 'failed' current install? If successful, the laptop will be made redundant as it is pretty old and had a very hard life!

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, that disk you loaded is it one that has been used on another computer, or is it the disk you got with the laptop?

Whichever it is it is likely to be not legal, especially as you used the key for the laptop. I would consider and recommend you to go and buy a full new copy, there are still some knocking about, possibly Amazon or even E Bay. As it stands, until we know you have a legal install, we cannot help further.

You also mention Linux, I recently tried Linux Mint, it is very similar to Windows in layout, if you choose that there will be no problems with legality or copyright issues that you will have with the Windows.

As to the drivers, they will be different and according to your motherboard, you will need to search the motherboards manufacturers site for the relevant drivers. Ancillaries such as DVD/CD drives Windows will install them once you have a legal copy installed, but you may need the drivers if you choose a Linux operating system.

 

Nev.