URGENT: Lots A7N8X DLX mobo questions!! OS loading etc...

[Eryk]

Ok, I just built my system yesterday, everything looks fine, it boots up etc...

why is the IDE detection so slow?? will it always be like this?

what are the changes i am supposed to make before i save and exit?? my 2500 barton is running at 1100 mhz, what do i do to change it??

how do i know if dual ddr is enabled?? will it say? i have the ram in slots 2+3

I tried installing windows NT but it kept giving me an error
-error disk I/O error

then i get this a few mins later

*** Stop 0x000007b (more stuff here) INACCESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE

DDL Base Date Stmp -Name
blah blah blah blah blah
blah

Address Dword dump
BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH

Restart and set the recovery options in the system control panel or the /Crashdebug system start option. If this message reappears contact your system admin or tech support group (you guys )

please dont tell me my mobo is messed, could it be my lite on dvd??

system specs
Amd 2500
1GB GD giel ram
asus a7n8x dlx
geforce 4 ti4200
120 gb wd hd

Basically I need to know how to load the OS properly without getting errors or whatnot...

Thanks again

Eryk

[jmebonner]

The processor is showing 1100 b/c your fsb is set too slow, It should be 166 Go to bios, advanced chipset options, and set the FSB to 166.

To enable Dual DDR, you need to have the ram is nlots 1 and 3
Do you have a manual? I printed one out from Asus' site, it tells you most of this stuff.

Make sure you have your boot sequence set up correctly in the BIOs, i.e. floppy first, cd second (for now) Then move the HDD to secon after you get the OS on it.

[Eryk]

is it supposed to be this slow detecting the ide drives?!?!

[grandchehaw]

Why are you installing WinNT on this system? I would suggest WinXP Pro. As jmebonner mentioned you need to increase the FSB. That should get your proc and memory running at the correct speed. This board is picky about the memory being used. The no name brands tend not to work well in this board. I have never heard of GD giel ram. This could also be part of your problem.

[Eryk]

is it normal for the thing to hang for like 1 min for the detection of the ide drives?

[jmebonner]

He's right about the ram. You might download www.memtest86.com and test the memory on the new system. You can make either a bootable floppy or an iso cd which will boot directly from the cd w/ no OS installed.

[Eryk]

:/ i was afraid i would have to do this...

many people have bought the same ram, and it seems to have worked fine for them...

thanks for the suggestions.

btw whats wrong with NT?

[Eryk]

ahh crap, it happend again... so i guess its my ram ??

[jmebonner]

No way to tell for 100% sure until you run memtest on it, but that would be my guess. I'd take the ram back and opt for some Mushkin www.muskin.com, but of course, that's just my opinion.

[JohnE.]

What drives do you have that are taking so long to detect? Could be a drive configuration thing.

JohnE.