I recently built a whole new system for myself.

Then I come to realize that this family I know doesn't have the cash or the means to get their kid a computer; he just started junior high. He's a good mutt so I figured I could build these good folks a system using all of my old hardware that I have laying around.

System Specs on it are:

939 socket with AMD 3500+
2 gigs of ram
250 seagate SATA hdd
6800GT vid card
SB live!
IDE LiteOn DVDrom
No name SATA DVDburner

The system posts(?) and then on boot it says:

No Operating System Installed


I have BIOS set to only boot from CDrom, but in the other boot options (sorry words failing me here) I only have options to boot from floppy and boot from hdd.

I read somewhere that there might be a problem with the southbridge not having support for IDE's on older boards, but I can't find a solution to that to even check and see if that might be the problem.

I'd really like to help these people out, I know the hardware all works on that rig, but right now I'm looking the fool because I can't get this gift up and running.

Ah a socket 939 board isn't very descriptive, can you find the model name?

For a reply I can give you the exact board.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813180064

I think it's a matter of configurations. I'm leaning towards the SATA dvd burner. Assuming the harddisk is installed an os, things to try:

1 - unplug power cord, remove battery, short clear cmos jumper for 1 min, load defaults in bios. You might try 5min to 1 hour. In most cases, 1 min is plenty.

2 - remove both optical drives, make sure the hdd shows up in bios & the boot order is correct, boot up the harddisk. If no go, try another IDE connector or even data cable. Oh yeah, double-check your master/slave jumper settings. HDD should be master. Middle connector on cable should be disconnected for now.

[mobo]===========[N/A]===========[HDD]

3 - If no go, disable USB storage & "boot other devices". Try the harddisk.

4 - If no go, unplug everything else other than the bare minimum - vga, keyb, hdd, cpu, hsf & ram.

5 - once you get get the hdd to boot, connect the ide dvdrom, boot up windows, if ok, connect the other sata dvd writer, boot up windows. If still ok, connect everything else one at a time & boot up windows.

The process of elimination should help find the culprit, assuming the parts aren't faulty & the bios settings are correct.

try setting the boot order FDD, CD, HD, that way you can put a dos disk in if you really get in a pinch, or a bootable CD rom to run diagnostics, the board is old enough that it should boot from all devices, is the hard drive have a OS on it, or did you reformat it for a fresh install, 939's are plenty good enough to do what the kid needs in school

Sorry guys I think I may have poorly explained the problem.

I am trying to do a clean install of XP.

Is there a floppy boot disk I should be using to get it all going? It seems even when I first built that rig it was an easy power up, set boot from cd, insert cd and it went. No floppy needed.

Ok. Fumbled around the BIOS. Don't ask me what I changed because I can't really recall.

Now it'll recognize the boot cd. It'll start to install windows. It'll start and then I get blue screen

0x0000007b (think thats the one).

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324103
sorry Im a little busy right now but try this link and see if it helps
It explains the 07b error

So what I'm getting from this is that I need to find the proper SATA controller?

Is this correct? If so can someone point me in the right direction for the proper controller for that board?

Or if I'm wrong I use some assistance there too.