Comprehensive Walkthrough for Setting up a New Computer.

Hello, I'm Ciroton, and I'm not very tech savvy. >_>;; Why, just the other day I mistook a blank DVD for a CD and tried to transfer stuff onto it, but that's another story. Anyways, I and my family desperatly need help setting up this kick-ass new computer we purchased. If anyone knows, or can write a breif, to the point, and detailed Walkthrough of the procedures, that would be just grand.

We've tried a little ourselves, and have accomplished the following:

- The Hard Disk isn't being recognized.

- The Operating System (Windows XP) will not install. We've tried it before, but got confused and had to abort.

Also, we need to know how to seperate a Hard Drive into three segments. (Drive C with 60 GB and two other with 220 GB apeice. (500 GB total)

We're going to try again tomorrow, so a responce, or a link(s) to stuff that answers all these problems would be just wonderful.

What it sounds like you need to do is set up partitions on your harddrive (to create the "drives" you mentioned). As far as the harddisk not being recognized, what is the error that it is giving you?

Yeah, you'll want to partition the drive, and there are a few ways of doing that, but first, we need some info:

Did you build this computer yourself?
If not, is an OS installed on it already?
If not, have you tried installing one?

And, of course, what error is it you're getting?

Originally Posted by John

Yeah, you'll want to partition the drive, and there are a few ways of doing that, but first, we need some info:

Did you build this computer yourself?
If not, is an OS installed on it already?
If not, have you tried installing one?

And, of course, what error is it you're getting?

1) Not ourselves, but it is a custom build computer.

2) No OS installed yet.

3) Yes, we have tried XP before, but I cannot recall the exact errors, since they flashed by so fast. I would say this first is that the Hard Disk is not recognized, then it says there was an error loading the non-existant OS.

Is your harddrive an IDE harddrive or a SATA harddrive? Whichever one you have, double check that the HDD ribbon is properly connected to both the drive and the motherboard. :3

Originally Posted by Ciroton

1) Not ourselves, but it is a custom build computer.

Alright, you may want to open it up to make sure

2) No OS installed yet.

Alright, so you're booting up your computer with the XP CD in the drive, and you've set your BIOS to be able to boot from CD, then?

3) Yes, we have tried XP before, but I cannot recall the exact errors, since they flashed by so fast. I would say this first is that the Hard Disk is not recognized, then it says there was an error loading the non-existant OS.

Just the final error that it gets hung up on is all we'd really need to see.

Well, the computer is all set up now, so thank you for your input... however, it is not recognizing the speakers, despite the fact we plugged them into the correct (green) plug. >_>

Got the correct audio drivers installed? Newest ones? Volume levels all set up okay and sound isn't muted? Tried with other speakers?

Originally Posted by sea

Got the correct audio drivers installed? Newest ones? Volume levels all set up okay and sound isn't muted? Tried with other speakers?

I'm not sure if they are all installed properly, the sounds are not muted either. When we go to edit the sound properties, it says there is no device detected, despite having tried it in all the coloured slots on the rear end of the computer.

Alright, so it's not detecting your sound card.

You should have a bunch of CDs with drivers for various hardware parts, yes? Run the one for your sound card (or, if you don't have a specific sound card, than for your motherboard).

If you don't have any driver discs then you'll need to know the model of your sound card or motherboard and then go online and download the drivers.

I suggest identifying your motherboard and then downloading the latest drivers, but whatever, yeah, the CD works too.

Originally Posted by Ciroton

I'm not sure if they are all installed properly, the sounds are not muted either. When we go to edit the sound properties, it says there is no device detected, despite having tried it in all the coloured slots on the rear end of the computer.

It doesn't get affected by where you plug your speakers - only if your sound card is recognized or not.