Hi all,
Ok, bought a brand new tower,here's the specs:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 5000+ Processor
2.6GHz
2 x 512KB L2 Cache
2GB Memory
DDR II
677MHz
320GB Hard Drive
SATA II
7200rpm
DVD Writer
Double Layer/Dual Format Support
ATX Tower Case
12 Month Return-To-Base Warranty
No Operating System Supplied
3 Month Kaspersky Internet Security Trial

from here:Buy CCL Value AMD PC System Base Unit (No OS)*CCL1010 from CCL - Online Retailer of the Year 2008, 2007 & 2006 for laptops, desktops and computer hardware

Chuffed with the price and they're literally just up the road from me
Going to use my original mouse, monitor etc.
Here's my problem,
The tower came in its box,with a mobo box as well.Mobo's in the tower,it's all built up at the factory,so there's just 2 cd's in that box,one for the dvd writer and one for 'foxconn motherboard'. The pc has no Operating System,stating it won't run - this is fine,i have Win XP Pro on cd.
Ok, so i've plugged the monitor,mouse,keyboard + power lead in - no 'net ,printer or any extras.I'm thinking hmm,if they've put the mobo in,and tested it,it must have the drivers in from said cd's? so i don't want to run them myself yet,in case it causes a conflict etc.
So i power it up,can't seem to hear any beeps,then it flicks past a Foxconn screen,and then i'm stuck where i am now, just a black screen with "reboot and select proper boot device and press a key".hmm.
I restart and hit del and into bios.It's set to boot from cd,then hdd A or something,thought it would be hdd 0,but hey.Anyway,the bios date etc is all there and ok so the drivers must be loaded? So why won't it boot from my XP cd? because it's an OS,not a boot device?
I have an xp floppy startup disk,normally i'd be able to get into fdisk etc so i can see if there's even an active c:\ partition as it's brand new,but there's no floppy drive in this new tower..so what now,plug an old floppy drive in?
Any ideas appreciated,

cheers, Dave.

XP doesn't come native with Sata driver support I think. Need Vista for that. I'm not a Windows user anymore so I'm not a expert. One of the other Forum members running Windows might be able to tell you how to get your new box to boot up with a XP CD using your motherboard cd or changing something with bios settings to enable IDE support so XP will boot. Good Luck

Yeah,the sata thing is all new to me and i knew it might cause problems.All our pc'c have the fat ide ribbon, this new one has a thin red cable,less than 1cm wide...

Hope i can get xp on it, i'm not a fan of vista.

* edit*
wifey's just noticed it says 'Designed for Windows XP' and 'Certified for windows vista' on the motherboard box

You need to load an operating system (XP) before any drivers but you will need to load the SATA drivers during the XP Setup.

The question "Why your XP CD won't boot" is the question at this point.

Do you have another boot CD/DVD you can try just to see if it will boot from CD/DVD?

Hi Jephree,

No, i've only got this XP cd,the kids have lost the other will see if we can find it,but, it's never been a problem before, and i've just put it in this 'old' pc that i'm on now and explored it,so i'm thinking the xp cd is ok.
I even searched the xp cd for SATA and found nothing, so where would i load the sata drivers if i could get into setup? (and obviously the new pc isn't set up for the 'net).

edit - I also have a copy of xp home,maybe i'll try that, but this SATA thing's puzzling me at the moment.

The SATA drivers are on the motherboard CD.

When you boot the XP CD and go to Setup you will see a prompt to "Press F6 to load drivers".

Press F6 and after a minute or two you will be prompted to insert said drivers.

The easiest way to do this is to have copied them to a floppy and insert floppy.

Otherwise you'll need to shift CD's and to know where the SATA/RAID drivers are on the motherboard CD so you can point them out to XP Setup.

Again however the computer needs to boot the XP CD first.

'The SATA drivers are on the motherboard CD.'

Thanks,i was going to search the mobo cd on this 'old' pc. Should i run the mobo cd in the new machine first? I didn't want it to cause conflicts etc.

'When you boot the XP CD and go to Setup you will see a prompt to "Press F6 to load drivers".

Yes,this is my main issue - "So i power it up,can't seem to hear any beeps,then it flicks past a Foxconn screen,and then i'm stuck where i am now, just a black screen with "reboot and select proper boot device and press a key".
So i can't get into setup.

'The easiest way to do this is to have copied them to a floppy and insert floppy.'

There's no FDD installed,although there's provision for one.This is what i was thinking,put an xp startup floppy in, just so i can get into fdisk etc,as it's a new HDD, will i need to create/set active a partition etc?

'Otherwise you'll need to shift CD's and to know where the SATA/RAID drivers are on the motherboard CD so you can point them out to XP Setup.'

How would i go about this, there's only one cdrom in the machine,so how would XP setup see the SATA drivers if they're on the mobo cd..

Sorry to sound thick and thanks for your time jephree

First thing that has to happen is boot the XP CD.

If for whatever reason you cannot boot the XP CD then you can do nothing.

XP setup will do all the formatting etc.

In the in initial stages of setup the XP CD copies files to the hard drive. When it asks for drivers the XP CD is no longer engaged. Hence switching to the motherboard CD is not an issue. XP Setup is running off the hard drive already. XP Setup will ask you to point it to the drivers.

Browse the motherboard CD for SATA/RAID drivers. There may be a couple of them.

After they are copied put back the XP CD and Setup will continue.

When XP was developed SATA did not exist so the XP CD has no idea what SATA is until you show it these drivers.

But as said you can do nothing until you successfully boot the XP CD.

Ahh, I see! Thankyou.

Ok,my 'new' tower is all unplugged from my monitor/desk etc, as I hooked the 'old' tower back up to look on the 'net for advice.
So I'm going to plug another monitor,keyb,mouse into the new tower and try get it to boot with my Home XP disc.If it doesn't see that disk as well,what then? would the new tower be faulty? I shall see later and report back

oh, I searched the mobo cd and couldn't find any SATA drivers but there's a few RAID ones on there.

Thanks again,

Dave.

What is the exact Foxconn model?

If you cannot boot from CD check that the BIOS sees the drive and verify it is set to boot first.

Verify that the drive is set to Master and on the proper channel (cable).

The BIOS should give you a prompt to "Press Any Key to Boot from CD".

At this point you press the infamous any key.