Ok, this is a general problem not 100% sure whats causing it. Im building my own pc, 2nd one Ive built, 1st one no probs, this one a complete nightmare. I've got a Gigabyte 915P mobo (GA-81915P Dual Graphic) with a 915P Express chipset in it. All of the other hardware excluding the graphics card are old components from another pc that worked fine including: Maxtor HD 80Gb Asus CDROM Justlink CD writer Card: Msi NVIDIA PCI-Express GeForce 6600 NX6600-TD256E Ok the problem is this. I hooked up everything keeping the cables all the same as my old pc. Followed the manual to the letter and the HD couldnt be found on the primary IDE 1. I checked all of the jumpers and ensured that it was the master (although I dont have anything else on that cable) and it shows up in the BIOS but when the computer boots to DOS it says it couldnt find it. I changed the HD and the CDROM/DVD writer from IDE2 to the IDE1 and the HD to IDE2 and it eventually found the optical drive and I managed to load ME but half way through the installation it said SUWIN SU991009 unknown error (oX3fl) and aborted installation or SUWIN error in application or.....general protection fault in module SETUPX.DLL at 001A:1EFE. I changed the cables back and now it cant find the CDROM and says MSD001 (which I assume is the generic driver off the boot disk) "no drives found aborting installation". I have to say at this time, I partitioned the HD and formatted it before all of the installation. The first time I managed to load ME (half of it) it said the graphics card was conflicting so i changed the IRQ to another setting and it didnt make any difference (although I dont have even this message now). So now I have the problem to begin with the HD wont work on the primary although it is found in the BIOS. If I keep the HD as IDE 1 master then the CDROM cant be found. If I change them around the CDROM works but the HD wont load ME. (I have tried different cables to no avail). If i boot in safe mode I get a grey blank screen with safe mode written on it in all four corners and nothing else. I only have an XP pro upgrade so cant boot from CDROM as it doesnt work in DOS. I have tried CS Slave and master in all combinations on all hardware and when I boot now I either lose the optical drives or I cant fully install ME without error messages "setup aborting". Also when I go through scandisk i get repairing classes.new, and 2 other .new. If anyone could help me with this Id be eternally grateful. If you need more information then please ask! (sorry about the essay!) Latigotig I did it 'cause it seemed like fun, then I sobered up.....

primary (IDE 1) master = Maxtor HDD primary slave = CD-ROM 2ndary (IDE 2) master = CD Writer 2ndary slave = none Do NOT use the cable select jumper setting...use master or slave. Check the top of the drives for a diagram or look for MA, SL, or CS printed near the jumper pins. http://service.maxtor.com/rightnow/images/maxtor_quantum%20jumpers.htm ASUS A7N8X-X Athlon XP 1800+ 8.5 x 200MHz 1024MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7 Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB WinME/WinXP Pro SP1

Try just using the HD and one CD-Drive only and leave all other drives out. Try that first. When you go into the BIOS setup screens are you trying to Auto Detect or manual detect the HD? Write down the sopecs on the HD and try manual. Sectors, Cylinders and heads. <===Lefty===

Tried both of the above and.......... IT WORKED!!! I placed the HD in another pc, loaded XP and then popped it back in my pc. Then...I took off the dvd drive and attached the cdrom as the slave to the HD's master from the primary IDE. Then booted the pc and sat back amazed. I owe you guys a HUGE thankyou!! so........THANKYOU!!!! I did it 'cause it seemed like fun, then I sobered up.....