Anyone buy a $99 PC at FRYS during BF?

[linjy2]

ok they usually sell them for $199, but are $99 on blackfriday/after thanksgiving sale.

GQ 3131
AMD sempron 2400+
etc.

anyways my question, anyone bought one and installed windows xp on it? The 40gb seagate that comes in it is wierd. The computer is preformatted with lindows. Good stuff, but just not that compatible.

So I pop in the windows xp pro sp2 disc, format, after it restarts, it gives in error loading windows. Any ways i reformat a few times, fix the boot file, etc, still doesnt work. unplug the seagate and load windows on another hdd i have laying around, installs perfectly.

i look over the seagate and try again.

jumper config
[:] [:] [:] [:]
from left to right.
1. master, 2. CS, 3. blank, 4. read as 32gb or something, forgot?

the default jumper is on cable select and hooked on the primary cable's, master. i switch the jumper to master and still gives error. doesnt have an option for slave on the sticker diagram. so i move the jumper to 3rd position, same thing. then 4th position. its boots in and install. anyways, everything works now, but the jumper is still bothering me and the drive is detected as a slave even though its hooked up to the master. what gives?

o well, maybe someone can answer this, if not, this is how i formated this cheapo comp for anyone who might want to install windows on it.

pretty ok deal at $99 and i overclocked it to 2ghz on this ecs motherboard.

edited: my cable setup.

 

[killa62]

the drive is detected as a secondary even though its hooked up to the primary. what gives?

Are you sure?
Theres primary mobo 40 pin thing
theres a secondary mobo 40 pin thing
from each one, theres a master and slave.
So, my question is, is it being detected as on the secondary ide channel when its plugged in to the primary? because that would be weird
or is it being detected slave when it should be master on whatever channel it is on?

 

[Lord_Exodia]

Are you sure?
Theres primary mobo 40 pin thing
theres a secondary mobo 40 pin thing
from each one, theres a master and slave.
So, my question is, is it being detected as on the secondary ide channel when its plugged in to the primary? because that would be weird
or is it being detected slave when it should be master on whatever channel it is on?

It's possible that it was plugged into the secondary ide channel by accident. I can see how one would overlook this. So O.P. is this the case. If so good thinking killa62.

 

[linjy2]

yeah i meant to say master, primary...blah, haha. primary has the hdd. secondary has the cd-rom. both are plugged into master slot by default.

Are you sure?
So, my question is, is it being detected as on the secondary ide channel when its plugged in to the primary? because that would be weird

no

or is it being detected slave when it should be master on whatever channel it is on?

yes, i have the primary cable plugged with the seagate on the master, but the drive is detected as slave.

i'm thinking its just that i dont know the right jumper configs. See when i put the jumper in master according to the seagate diagram stuck on the hdd, it wont boot into windows.

all this is fine with another hdd, just with the oem seagate that came with the computer, it's doing this.

 

[linjy2]

It's possible that it was plugged into the secondary ide channel by accident. I can see how one would overlook this. So O.P. is this the case. If so good thinking killa62.

nope, even then the drive is detected as a slave when the cable is clearly hooked as a master.

 

[BlackTigers91]

ooo.....from what ive heard its not good to have an optical and a HDD on the same IDE cables, but just my $.02

 

[MiG29TangentBoy]

Yeah...hard drives drop to ATA 33 when sharing a cable with an optical drive, I believe...

 

[pxc]

I bought one of these PCs on BF and WinXP installed fine.

Last 2 posts above: what linjy2 is saying above is that both the CD-ROM and HD are both set as master by default, one on the primary IDE channel and the other on the secondary IDE channel.

 

[ScHpAnKy]

Yeah...hard drives drop to ATA 33 when sharing a cable with an optical drive, I believe...

Yup, also... SEAGATES DONT LIKE ANY OTHER DRIVES ON THE SAME CABLE!!!!!

Don't try it, all kinds of funky shit will happen!
Everything from misdetection to system not posting!

 

[lithium726]

have you tried completly wiping the bootsector?

sometimes windows dont like writing over that linux shit, and gives problems exactly like you have having.

 

[Frank4d]

have you tried completly wiping the bootsector?

sometimes windows dont like writing over that linux shit, and gives problems exactly like you have having.

I have fixed a few messed up Seagate drives using the zero fill utility part of DiscWizard Starter
Edition (the DOS version).

 

[linjy2]

I have fixed a few messed up Seagate drives using the zero fill utility part of DiscWizard Starter
Edition (the DOS version).

yeah i went through that too, that was the first thing i did, i figured the seagate program would completely format the drive. still didnt work lol. anyways the wierd way i did it worked.

the one way i didnt do was this program FRYS site recommended.
http://fryssupport.net/supportGQ3131.cfm
i did not run the del-pat utility given on the frys site.

 

[linjy2]

I bought one of these PCs on BF and WinXP installed fine.

you didnt need to change the jumper or nothing huh? what was your method? pop in the windows disc and reformat and was good to go? cause i went this route first without opening the case and gave me error so i had to play with the seagatejumpers.

have you tried completly wiping the bootsector?

sometimes windows dont like writing over that linux shit, and gives problems exactly like you have having.

yup, done that too, hehe, where i said fix the boot files and etc.

 

[Jason_Wall]

its not good to have an optical and a HDD on the same IDE cables

Yup, also... SEAGATES DONT LIKE ANY OTHER DRIVES ON THE SAME CABLE!!!!!

Start with this. With as quirky as Seagate drives are (especially the 40's), this might help uncomplicate matters.

 

[Frank4d]

yeah i went through that too, that was the first thing i did, i figured the seagate program would completely format the drive. still didnt work lol.

You tried the zero-fill utility (which you still need to format afterward)? Not just the copy drive to drive option.

 

[linjy2]

Start with this. With as quirky as Seagate drives are (especially the 40's), this might help uncomplicate matters.

it was never on the same cable, maybe i should reedit my o.p. since its misleading. i clarified it in my second post. both are hooked as master on their own cable.

You tried the zero-fill utility (which you still need to format afterward)? Not just the copy drive to drive option.

thats the one i used, exact link you gave, extracted to 2 floppies and booted from dos in that. but i dont remember what i did, been like 2 days or so since i did it so i dont remember what button i pressed. but it zeroed/formatted the drive and then i reformated again through the windows xp setup/bootdisk.

 

[Jason_Wall]

it was never on the same cable, maybe i should reedit my o.p. since its misleading. i clarified it in my second post. both are hooked as master on their own cable.

That's what I thought you said, but since everyone was talking about them being on the same cable, I figured I might have missed something. No substitute for reading posts in their entirety...

 

[pxc]

you didnt need to change the jumper or nothing huh? what was your method? pop in the windows disc and reformat and was good to go?

Yep, nothing special. I just put in a recycled Dell WinXP CD and installed it without problems.

 

[killa62]

if you have another jumper laying around, try jumping more than 1 jumper at a time

 

[linjy2]

Yep, nothing special. I just put in a recycled Dell WinXP CD and installed it without problems.

great, i must of got a dud. heh

if you have another jumper laying around, try jumping more than 1 jumper at a time

yeah i got plenty of jumpers laying around, but you dont want to go jumping stuff without knowing what is what, might short it out, no? haha

 

[MajorLeagueSurfer]

Bought one of the same cheapo PC's and had the same issue as the OP. A different HD did fix the problem. I'll have to look at the jumpers to see tonight.

FWIW, Linspire didn't boot out of the box, at all.

 

[linjy2]

cool, so i wasnt the only one.

gay seagate.

 

[MajorLeagueSurfer]

Also, the CD-Rom is of dubious quality, too. Kept giving read errors on perfect CD's.

Oh well. I suppose we get what we pay for.

 

[marley1]

did u try removing hte jumper on the seagate drive?

usually no jumper means master or single drive.

put it on its own channel and go.

u should not need to do any of those other utilities to install an os on a lindows setup.

usually they have just 2 partition and you can just format using the XP cd. All those errors are probably from the cdrom drive, i have that problem at work when i get older machines in, some just dont like installing off burned cds, i always just use a diff cdrom for hte install.

 

[pxc]

Also, the CD-Rom is of dubious quality, too. Kept giving read errors on perfect CD's.

The one I bought on BF 2004 has a LiteOn drive and the one I bought this year has a Benq drive. I've had no problems with either one.

 

[linjy2]

The one I bought on BF 2004 has a LiteOn drive and the one I bought this year has a Benq drive. I've had no problems with either one.

i think its quality control issue, i talked to some people who bought the same comp and they just pop the xp disk in and go, no need to even open the case up and play with the jumper. in my case i had to open the case up. and yes i even played with the no jumper, no go.

 

[Brian Boyko]

Hmm, sorry I missed out on this.

A $99 PC, even if it's a 2400+ crammed onto a SocketA or 759, well, you throw in a cheap Radeon on there with a TV Tuner or two, and you've got yourself a TV recorder for less than the price of an actual TiVo. I would have liked to have given it a look for myself.

 

[MajorLeagueSurfer]

After wrestling with this for a couple days, I managed to turn it into a decent computer for a gift.

Added: XP Pro, 512MB of PC2700, a TI4600 128MB and a Combo Drive.

Total Cost: 220 bucks.


That BenQ drive is garbage (or at least mine is), same problems in test machine as well.

 

[caco794]

Late to the party here.

A friend of mine got this pc and we're having a hard time doing the steps that the frys website says to remove linspire. other posters here have said they just popped the xp disc in. I know that the boot order would be the cdrom first. so i would just pop the xp disc right at the begining? would i have to format anything? we havent formatted anything before. thanks in advance.

 

[linjy2]

yeah, change the boot order to cdrom first. make sure the xp disc is already in the comp, then right after the memory check just keep hitting any keys when it says boot from cd-rom.

delete both partition and format.

i fixed the funky drive issue for mine by installing another jumper in master and fat 32. so in total i used two jumper while other people didnt need to change nothing. prime 95 perfectly.

 

[CHAoS_NiNJA]

ooo.....from what ive heard its not good to have an optical and a HDD on the same IDE cables, but just my $.02

Yeah...hard drives drop to ATA 33 when sharing a cable with an optical drive, I believe...

Yup, also... SEAGATES DONT LIKE ANY OTHER DRIVES ON THE SAME CABLE!!!!!

All incorrect. I run a 40GB Seagate as my OS drive with a CD-ROM on slave and I haven't had a problem. It loads just as fast as it did with my 120 as slave.

 

[Jason_Wall]

All incorrect.

Certainly not incorrect, but perhaps not all-inclusive. Generally, sharing hard drives and opticals on the same IDE cable is bad news. I've heard/seen/fixed many more failure stories than successful ones.

 

[mzs_biteme]

HERE IS THE FIX.....(drumm roll).....:
>>>>> go into BIOS and change the drive mode from Auto to LARGE <<<<< Tadaaaa...

Mike S.

 

[mjwagner24]

After many failed attempts, I solved this problem with software (Linux cfdisk)

DOS FDISK could not wipe the drive totally clean. Linspire would attempt to boot from the “cleaned” drive, then hang..

My fix began by installing College Linux, cfdisk sub engaged, choose option bare drive (none of the DOS partition options worked either).

Reboot to DOS FDISK, FORMAT and install WIN OS

The College Linux package is a no-brainer while Linux cfdisk requires Linux speak;
“dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda1 bs=512 count=1” should do it.