asus mobo problems! HELP!!!

[eatme207]

Alright, so here's my problem... I just built my new computer (my first build) and I'm using an asus A7N8X-E deluxe mobo. When I try to install XP, It won't work. It says "setup is inspecting your hardware configuration.." and then the screen goes black and nothing else happens. I've successfully run Knoppix live on it before..... any help would be very much appreciated! btw.... I'm using 2x 256 MB patriot dual channel ram and a powercolor ati radeon video card... with an amd athalon XP 2800+ processor.

 

[Apokalipse]

try cleaning the CD

 

[z3phyr04]

doesn't really sound like a h/ware problem to me - try the disc in another machine if you can (not to obviously install just to see if it can get past where it blacks out on yours)

 

[Trotter]

Yeah, because if it can run the Knoppix, obviously your hardware is working...

 

[eatme207]

well, I've successfully used the disc in other computers.. and I even tried a new one.. still no luck

 

[eatme207]

also, something else peculiar that it does... when I boot up, It sees everything that I have plugged into IDE.. but it says "secondary IDE channel no 80 conductor cable installed" Any Idea what this means?

 

[Samm]

also, something else peculiar that it does... when I boot up, It sees everything that I have plugged into IDE.. but it says "secondary IDE channel no 80 conductor cable installed" Any Idea what this means?

80 conductor cables are IDE cables that support ATA-66/100/133 drives. 40 conductor support only ATA-33 drives. The message you are getting means you have a 40 conductor cable instead of an 80 but if there are only CDROM drives on the secondary channel, then this is fine as they will be ATA-33.

Only time you should need to change it to an 80 cable is if there are hard drives attached.

 

[Samm]

As far as the original problem is concerned.....This certainly doesn't sound like a dirty/scratched CD issue to me, more like a hardware/config problem.

Can you list the rest of the specs?
i.e are u using S-ATA drive? If so, single drive or raid? Size?
graphics card make/model
RAM manufacturer
CPU specs
etc

 

[Apokalipse]

Samm is correct, you need to find yourself an 80 wire IDE cable for your hard drive(s)

 

[eatme207]

Alright, here are my system specs:
asus A7N8X-E Deluxe Mobo
2x IDE Western Digital Hard drives, 7200 rpm, 80 gigs a peice (160 total)
Aopen dvd burner.. and also a sony cd burner
Powercolor ATI radeon 9600 SE graphics card
350W aspire PSU
Termaltake tower112 heatsink
AMD athalon XP 2800+ processor 2.0 Ghz... unfortunately, It's an OEM processor, I didn't think that that would have a lot of bearing though
and finally ram: 2x 256 MB 184 pin daul channel ram made by PDP Systems/Patriot oh.. yeah.. PC 2700 also

I'm so incredibly baffled as to what could be wrong with this thing..... I'm going to try changinf IDE cables, But I would greatly appreciate any more help!