Problem: Brand new Shuttle SB51G gives me "Error loading OS" on first boot....

[luifigo]

Hello all,

I recently put together a brand new SB51G system I got from Ajump. Here are the specs:

-P4 2.4, 533fsb
-512 2700 ddr kingston ram
-WD Caviar 40gig, Seagate 40 gig
-Sony 510a DVD+-RW drive
-NEC lcd monitor
-Otherwise running onboard everything (video, audio)

Installed the cpu just fine, all the wires, and made the CDRom the first boot device and when I booted up (with a WinXP cd), I got the message: "Error loading OS". I've deleted the floppy, hd's from the startup in bios, and even made the CDRom all three startup items. Bios recognizes everything, HDs are displayed normally, however for the secondary master (my CDRom), there is only an "S", and some weird character next to a lower case 'h' highlighted with a bar of red near the bottom of the blue bios screen. Other than that, the CDRom spins, opens, closes, etc. Got any insight on this? Any help at all would be greatly appreciated, I'm stumped.......

[CubKid]

Have you checked the jumpers on the CDROM? Just a thought....

[luifigo]

My jumpers on the drive itself are set to master.....

[Micro Bean]

Okay Quick question

WD Hd and The Seagate HD is one set to Master and the other to slave on one IDE controller?

And also How many CD-Rom drives you have just that DVD?

[luifigo]

The WD is master and the Sea is slave, they're connected to primary IDE on the MB, and the Master is connected to the black end, and the slave is connected to the grey middle connector. The Sony DVD is the only CDROM i got, no floppy at all btw.....

[Micro Bean]

Try Something Different Take one of the HD and make it master and make the CDrom as slave to that on one IDE controller and the other HD as a master. Cuz we will see it could be that... that second IDE controller could be bad or maybe not it wouldnt hurt to try :P

[luifigo]

ok, i'll give that a try..... thanks!

[CubKid]

Also, try (and this sounds wack) putting the WDs jumper on cable select, along with the other drive. Ive had a few picky WDs cause a PC to not boot.

[Reknup]

I had a problem like this once
Windows kept failing over and over no matter what i did
And finally i rebuilt the system... tried my other cdrw drive

Turns out my CDRom was blown... BIOS said it was fine and normal... but hey... it didnt work with it... worked without it... i chucked the beast... *PLUMP*

Maybe you need to test some of your parts... may have fried something during installation

[luifigo]

Well folks, there will be no dramatic conclusion to this saga..... The culprit: bad IDE cable. Apparently when I was installing the cable from secondary IDE to the CDRom, I must have clipped an edge just a bit (just barely I can't even see a wire or if I broke the plastic casing....). So I switched out the old with a brand new on, and this baby's working like a charm. Sorry for such a bland resolution, but hell I'll take it..... Thanks, and keep posting, all these forums really help people out..... pz.