Multi-faceted problem w/ i7 rig! Woot!

[ImmaPC]

Okay okay okay, I've been kinda on this troubleshooting forum too much lately, so I'll give the guys under a bump with as much help as I can offer to make it fair.

So the other day I go to dual-boot XP on my Windows 7 computer using an ~300GB partition I split off from the main partition used for Win7. I lost my legit XP CD, but fortunately I had a backup so I used that.

Popped in disc and re-started. Booted from the disc no problem and it began copying the .cab files for the installation. So it finishes, restarts. Then when it boots from the disc again, it copies the .cab files again! So I restart and try it again, restart and try it again, restart and try it again. No luck. Check in the BIOS and the HDD isn't detected. Switched SATA ports and it was detected by the BIOS. Tried again no luck. Switched back to normal SATA port (and various others) and was detected on all of them, but it would only copy the .cab files and never actually install.

So then I get kinda messed up and see if it would work with Linux. Get my trusty Ubuntu liveCD and boot it. Hard drive detects, files and stuff are intact. Cool. Just to confirm it I grab my Windows 7 disc and go to the disc partitioning portion of the setup. It says that there is no drive detected. For the hell of it I try my XP disc and it detects "A" hard disk, but it says its 135GB and I dont have a 135GB partition on my drive. For the hell of it I try installing XP on there, but it continues to copy .cab files, reboot, copy .cab files again. Dang.

So I get really ticked off and I was wondering if there's something wrong with the HDD itself. Grab a copy of SLAX 6, or GParted, or SysResQCD (one of those, I forgot which one worked) and check the hard drive and it's...corrupted...or something. Neither of the two partitions were intact. Files were gone. I got most my stuff on DVD's anyway so it's no big deal (NBD). So I re-format the whole hard drive and completely wipe the S.O.B. and get two nice ~300GB partitions on my ~600GB or "640GB" drive (yeah I know why it's like that).

Now to try this again. Perhaps it was something with my XP disc so I borrow my buddy's shiny new XP disc. Pop it in and the computer doesn't boot. Lights come on, fans spin, no beep or anything. No BIOS. No POST. Clear CMOS, try again. No luck. Go back again next day and try again. Get into the BIOS, set the system clock and boot priority to HDD first. Reboot. Again, same problem, no POST, no nothing. Little red light on my 4850 is constantly illuminated which is strange because normally when my system boots, it starts, restarts, boots, and the light flickers on and off twice or so during that process.

GREAT! Try it with a P.O.S GT5200 or QS or FX or something, an ancient PCI card from the 1950's I got kicking around. STILL no luck. Tried doing it without video card. Still no luck. It's between the motherboard and the PSU now. What should I do? Opinions?

TL;DR: Tried to simply install XP but got a whole whack of problems instead.

[Sagath]

I would pull that hard drive first. It could be screwing up and causing your mobo to not post, or any of the other symptoms you have. Ive personally had this exact problem. Actually, I would do a base-install boot. Minimal everything. Mobo+Ram+gfx. No DVDroms/sound/hdd's etc. I always do my first post with NO periprials to make sure it works. This way I know my system isnt DoA and I'm ready to begin work. And if I run into problems after that its (99%) not the main hardware

But yeah, try just pulling that hard drive first, and see what happens.

[element291]

How much ram are you trying to run in it? I had to run 2gb to install the os. then put the extra stuff back in after everything was setup.

[ImmaPC]

Okay, so just now...

- Disconnected HDD power and SATA connectors. No dice.
- Disconnected DVD power and IDE connectors. No dice.
- Pulled 2 of my 3 sticks of RAM and left 2GB in. DICE!

Sweet. So I set system clock again and blah blah blah. Of course it wouldn't boot since it had nothing to boot from. So I plugged HDD and DVD back in to start installing OS's. Then it didn't work. Pulled them out again, and it STILL doesn't work. Tried with DVD only, no dice. Tried with HDD only, no dice. Disconnected both, tried with 6GB, no dice. LOL WUT?

[SugarJ]

If you're in the Surrey area, I've got a 3gb set of Aeneon you can borrow if you want for troubleshooting.

[ImmaPC]

I'd love to but I'm in the Burnaby area, thanks anyways

[Perineum]

He's only 8 minutes away at 240kph.....

[ImmaPC]

Well I WISH I had a car, and one that could go half that otherwise I'd be down there like white on rice.

[Chilly]

I suspect either the PSU or Motherboard at this point as well. Perhaps some kind of mini surge, or brownout killed your PSU or MB(and HDD along with it).

Replace the PSU first, see if thats the issue, if not...

[Perineum]

I have a "tester" 1000W PSU I could bring over....