I'm building my own computer. Everything is fine, except....

When I turn on the computer...

- It would very quickly display the motherboard's logo and say something like "Press DELETE to being setup", which is what it's supposed to display.

- It would quickly change though to displaying a "PXE-E61 Media test failure" error though.

I finally quickly pressed DELETE while the message was displayed, and I got to the BIOS. Yea! So, I basically just exited it out for then.

Now, when I turn on the computer...

- It displays an incorrect amount of RAM very quickly (I have dual-channel DDR2 containing 512MB each, and it displays 64MB)

- Then, it quickly changes and gives me a "PXE-E61 Media test failure", and tells me to check the cable and "Reboot and select the proper boot device" or something like that.

I searched Google, and it seemed that to solve my problem, I have to change the boot order of the BIOS and put the hard drive first. First of all, that may not even be correct. Second of all, I searched Google and couldn't find an answer how to do that without already having an operating system installed. Any ideas? Maybe a RAM failure? Would there be any way to change the boot order without using the BIOS?

This is probably your video ram. My computer displays

Code:


When it starts up.

What exactly are you trying to boot off of? What is your drive setup (ie. Primary Master, Slave, Secondaries if applicable)? What is your current Boot Order (shown in the BIOS).

The BIOS wasn't even loading. I just have on hard drive, I think I have it set up as a "Master", although I don't think that should matter much anyway because there's only one....

Anyway, I got to the BIOS. Now I need to figure out how to configure the stuff properly.

PXE is for booting from the network. Handy when you want to install an OS from a server without being in front of the machine. You need to change your boot order. Maybe you HDD could be having issues. Put it in another computer and see if you have issues with it being a slave there.

that matters VERY much. If you have a drive's jumper set to MASTER+SLAVE, it WILL NOT WORK 85% of the time if it is the only drive on the cable. The jumper MUST BE SET CORRECTLY or you WILL GET ERRORS

Oh, and the BIOS is the first thing that loads. If it didn't load, your computer would just sit there with the fans spinning, making noise. Your BIOS is loading, thats why you see something



Boot order is always changed in the BIOS, its not even possible to do it from an OS. However, it changes for every motherboard, hence why you can't find a walk-through. Try READING THE MANUAL.

I lost the manual.

*bfr hides*

I can look online, I guess.

Oh, and the BIOS thinks that my CD/DVD drive is a floppy drive. (I plugged it in into the correct place)

Why do you say that? Floppy drives aren't autodetected, so a BIOS defaults to having one enabled. Just disable it. If your CD/DVD drive isn't showing up, then you probably have the jumpers all screwed up

and go to the motherboard manufacturers site, they almost always have a PDF of the manual (sometimes its even better than the printed one) The driver CD should also have it on there

Better yet, why don't you read this tutorial on building computers. It looks like you know less about building these than me, and I have yet to even build one.

That tutorial looks pretty good.

I downloaded Fedora as a .torrent.

Now, I am a complete n00b at Linux and .torrents. What do I do with it? I have ISO Recorder.

*bfr hides*

EDIT: Nevermind, I think I got it. For now....

Hey, no worries friend. We're all here to help, just don't claim to know stuff when you don't. Be humble and be thorough, and help will be offered. I would strongly suggest that you consider running Ubuntu if you want to use linux on it. I've been using it for over a year and I can vouch for it's stability, ease of use, and n00b friendlyness. Also, it's the most widely used version of linux currently which means that there's a big community to help with any technical issues and make updates. Plus, it's a fifth of the size of Fedora.


Ok, assuming you still want to go ahead with Fedora, from what I see you have three steps left before you have a usable computer.

1.
*If you downloaded the dvd image, you will need a dvd burner. I'm not 100% familiar with ISO recorder, but the idea is that you use it to burn the dvd image to the disk. It's NOT the same as copying the file to the dvd, and that's why you need the ISO recorder program. You will also need this new computer to have a dvd rom in order to boot and install off of this dvd.

*If you downloaded the cd images (all five), you have a bunch of work ahead of you. You need to use ISO Recorder to burn five cds. Then I would guess that you just need a cd-rom drive in this new computer.

2.
Ok, now you need to fix up this boot order problem. Make sure that you stick in the Optical drive (be it cd or dvd) as Secondary Master (if your mobo can handle it. Primary Slave will suffice if it doesn't), and the harddrive as Primary Master. You can read your motherboard's manual to find out exactly how to do this.

Now go into the BIOS, find out where the boot order is and make sure that it is in this order:

1. <Optical Drive>
2. <Hard Drive>
3. <Floppy Drive>*
4. <External Devices or Network>*

*If applicable

3.

Now pop in the dvd or first cd into your optical drive, and start up the computer. If all goes well, the computer should boot off of the disk and you should be prompted with the install. From there you can follow a tutorial if you need it on how exactly to install it, or figure it out yourself. I know the Ubuntu installer is cake, but I'm not sure how the Fedora one is.


BTW. You really should at least try Ubuntu. You can download the disk image (yes, a single cd is the entire OS) and run a live session to try it before you buy it (install it).

OK, I downloaded Ubuntu, put it on a CD-R, and put it into my new computer. After pressing "Start and Install Ubuntu", I get some errors:

hda: ide_intr: huh? expected NULL handler on exit

Buffer I/O error on device hda, logical block 357566

Go into the BIOS and make sure your harddrive is being detected, AND that it is the primary master (which means its connected to the first IDE socket on the mobo, and it is connected to the end of the cable)

Again, double check your jumpers

I added the "irqpoll acpi=ht" to the boot parameters, and now it works.

Well, kind of. When Ubuntu starts up (with the desktop and all), it looks normal. There is a program on my desktop called "Install." I ran it, and went through the wizard, but it didn't seem to work, because it was at 33% in installing for about three hours.

My optical mouse also isn't working correctly. Clicking and scrolling (with the scroller button thingy on the mouse) are detected, but when I move the mouse, the cursor doesn't move. The mouse uses a USB 1.1/2.0 (it says it is compatible with both) interface, and I plugged it into one of the USB 2.0 places on the motherboard on the back of my computer, in case that helps.

EDIT: I stole my mom's wireless standard wheel mouse. The cursor moves now.

EDIT AGAIN: Do I even have to run the "Install" program on the desktop? Ubuntu already looks like it's working fine (and it's looking awesome, and it kind of reminds me of Windows...except it's...different). Or would I have to go through the whole setup process every time I turn on my computer if I don't run it (I'm guessing this is the case)?

EDIT YET AGAIN: Yes! Ubuntu comes with Nibbles! I LOVE Linux! And I can even adjust the worm's color!11111!!!

EDIT...AGAIN: It's this that's the root of my problems:

hda: ide_intr: huh? expected NULL handler on exit
Buffer I/O error on device hda, logical block 357566

I checked to make connections are secure, etc. One thing to note though, is that the CD/DVD drive makes an odd sound, as if the CD-R disc inside it is bumping around its edges abnormally.

Did you CHECK THE JUMPERS? FREAKING CHECK THE JUMPERS MAN!

Oh, and if you don't install it, nothing will get saved, and it will be much, much slower (and you can't really install stuff, either)

And go use the Ubuntu forums, they will be able to help you much better - thats why they are there, after all

I checked the jumpers.

I also posted at the Ubuntu forums, but nobody replied. Yet.

In my (and Kllrnohj's, etc) opinion, the issue is hardware-based, and has nothing to do with any OS, including Ubuntu. Your problems start before anything starts to boot, therefore, you have a hardware misconfiguration.

You two are most likely write.

I have an IDE CD/DVD drive and one SATA hard drive. Should they both be set up as masters because one is a hard drive and the other is an optical drive (and they use different cables)? I only have on IDE cable, but I have multiple SATA cables, in case that helps. I currently have them both set up as masters.

AHA! If its a SATA harddrive (connected with a small, usb-sized cable rather than a huge, 40 wire ribbon cable), make absolutely sure to tell ubuntu that it is installing to the drive /dev/sda NOT /dev/hda

That could very well be the problem.

But, I can't even find either dev/sda or dev/hda being mentioned in the boot options.

no no no, in the INSTALLER. As in boot to the LiveCD, then when you run the "Install Ubuntu" thing, it should be in there somewhere