PC not able to continue past POST beep

I recently bought a new PC and decided to use my old one as a linux box. After cannabilising some parts (Dvd-Rom, some RAM) from the old box to put into the new one, I discovered that the linux box now refuses to boot up properly. It gets as far as the POST beep and displays the "press DEL to enter BIOS" message, however it hangs and I can't to anything

Anyone able to give me some advise on how to get it working again?

 

The most common cause of these problems is the ram... make sure it is perfectly inserted into the sockets

 

Can you give any more details on the system?

First of all I'd take out everything you don't need to get a post, keep mobo, cpu, fans, vid and ram, disconnect hd, cd, sound, etc. Check all wires, connections and make sure all cards are firmly pressed in.

 

Found the problem, something to do with the IDE cables me thinks

disconnect the cd-writer and HD, works perfectly, plug either of them in, same problem *sob*

I'm off to check that I ahve the correct cables in the correct IDE ports, I can't remember if I took the cables out or not

System:

Asus A7VN motherboard
256MB RaM
AMD XP 2000+ CPU
Seagate 80Gb HD
AOpen Cd-writer
Gforce 256 Video Card (this is one of the reasons why I bought a new pc )

[update]It was the Seagate HD, it has died *sob* off to get a new one now :/[/update]

 

i would of thought if it was the harddrive causing the problem the machine would still boot, but would say no os found.

 

That's what I thought, but the minute I had the IDE cable in, it refused to go past the POST beep :/ I even checked the cable by plugging the cd-writer into it, the cable works fine, so its the HD being stupid *sighs* and here I thought I wouldn't have to spend any more money for Xmas

 

I hate to say this, but the systems you describe match what happens if you have the IDE cable plugged in upside down.

 

nah, not that, my IDE cables can only be plugged in one way, its the first thing i checked when i checked the cables.

 

That's good to know.

I've made that error more than a few times.

 

You and me both Computers from 6 years ago or so and older didn't have the nice notched in tab, working in such a small confined space it's easy to do...Glad to see someone else has done that...

Glad you figured out the problem Relixx

-edit
Relixx did you try to run the hard drive by itself w/o the cd rom plugged in? Just to make sure you don't have a jumper F up, as this could cause this as well

 

Yeah, I did check that. When i realised that the HD was to blame, I started checking every possible combination of IDE cable configuration possible to see if the problem would occur again, but it only appears when the HD is connected.

What I find strange is that this is happening with a Seagate HD, I normally only get problems with old Western Digitals :/

 

I've had the exact opposite experience and only run WD HD's myself