p4/2400 wont start right away

[billniceguy]

Got this new p4/2400, 512 ram, 80 hd, 512 cache, 533 mhz fsb, VIA p4x333 northbridge & vt8235/8233a de3 southbridge chipsets..mom p4vxasd2+ chip is via-vt8235-0251cd23a3985411..bios 686 amibios sb98-0399..via chipset via4 in 1.
When i turn on, can see redlight showing hard drive working, but will not boot...red light goes off, i press reset, red light back on, light off, reset, and boots ok and runs ok.
Why wont it start first time??? tnx for help , bill

[dauss]

p4/2400? you mean 2.4 ghz?
What kind of hard drive is it? My friend had the same exact problem with his computer, but he had a SCSI HD and it didn't spin up fast enough for the bios to load it.

[billniceguy]

yes, p4/2.4 Gig...i use 2400 as size of mhz which most people identify with as a p3/733.
Hard drive is western digital 60 gig...some times i have to keep trying, hitting delete, enter, esc, anything to get it started. Usually start it and go to su and use (old brain lock right now) the difinitive settings, not the best performance settings....cant remember the name, anyway, just above best perf...u know what i mean. Once i turned power on, and waited couple mins before starting computer, and i think it worked first time, cant remember for sure...will try again. Ready to go back to my p3/733 and sell this thing. anyone with suggestions, i will try it, tnx bill

Not so fast.

Seems like a BIOS issue, assuming the drive ain't fried.

Try setting the BIOS to setup defaults.

We'll have to eliminate one by one. This smells of BIOS problem. And, just reset the BIOS by using the jumpers or taking out that round button cell for 2 seconds.

Awaiting your reply.

[billniceguy]

drive not fried...using now...it always works, just so hard to get started. I have tried many many things...but since it always starts up and works, i ignore it, but thot one of u whiz kids in here would recognize the problem and give me a miracle answer...If shahani dont have the answer, im in trouble...well not really since it works...just not right, and is new..tnx bill

[billniceguy]

Hay there all u brainy, experienced guys out there...u answer hundreds of times other threads, why only 1 to mine...Dont anybody have an answer for me? Help!!

Did you do the BIOS battery routine as above?

[SPEEDO]

Did you pull all the jumpers off of the drive? Western Digital needs no jumpers on it if used alone as master.

[billniceguy]

computer works just fine...just dont start up till reset 2-3 times...i have built a few thousand computers, so know about hard drives, jumpers, and alot of other stuff, but this new stuff has me going...would just like to see it work RIGHT...u know, turn on, and boom it goes to my desktop, tnx bill

[Scott Tiger]

Originally posted by SPEEDO
Did you pull all the jumpers off of the drive? Western Digital needs no jumpers on it if used alone as master.

Sorry, but I've found that with Western Digital sometimes you have to jumper then as Cable Select (CS) in order for then to get through IDE detection without pausing. I've seen a few different models do this over a 2 year period so I know it's not just an anomoly with that one drive mobo configuration.

This is kinda off the wall but have you tried putting the operating parts of the computer in a different case? Could just be a flaky power switch.