Make sure your IDE hard disk drive is connected to IDE1 port and that the data cable is fully connected. Also check the jumper on the IDE drive. If you are using only one IDE hard disk drive set the jumper on the drive as a Master without a slave. If you are running two IDE hard disk drives set the primary drive's jumper as a Master with a slave. Set your second IDE disk drive's jumper as a slave. The master drive should be connected at the end of the data cable and the slave drive should be connected to the next data connector. Than check your bios settings. Power on the system and press the Delete key every 2 seconds until the bios menu loads. See page 3-1 in your manual. If you need the manual for the NF8-V MB click on the link provided below and download it;
http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_detail.php?pMODEL_NAME=NF8-V&fMTYPE=Socket+754
You'll also need the program Adobe reader to view the manual. Adobe reader is a free download; http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/
Once you’re in the bios go to page 3-4, Standard CMOS Features.
Follow the instruction listed for IDE HDD Auto-Detection. Your HDD should be listed here. Than see page 3-7 in the manual. Open Advanced BIOS Features. A normal boot menu for the Abit would read;
First boot device Floppy disk drive (If one is connected). 2nd boot device should be (CD-ROM/DVD-ROM). Third boot device should list your primary hard disk drive's (Model number). Load your windows CD into your CD-ROM drive.
Once the settings above are set, press the F10 key to save your changes and exit the bios. Your system will auto restart. Windows should begin to load.
Cheers!
Mike
When answering questions from user's it is important to know all facts. You failed to include the MB experienced a power surge!
However, if the bios see's the hard disk drive and you are using Windows XP with SP1. Windows should see your entire 320GB drive. Suggest you download the manufactures bootable utilities/tools software and setup the drive "from within a Dos like mode".
Their software will allow you to set the HDD up. Set the cluster size and FAT. If you are unable to do this with the drive connected to IDE1, try using IDE2 port. I have found, 9 times out of ten one can set up their drive with the manufactures software far better than windows can. If this option still fails than the power surge may have impaired your MB.
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Making sure the cable is connected is basic repair and yes, it is connected properly. Ive been building computers for 10 years and know about Master/Slaves. The only reason I'd go into the BIOS is to see if the computer sees the HD and it does. Boot order will not affect anything other than to tell the computer where to boot from. All beginner ideas.
Ive been to the Abit website and they suggested I boot from the MoBo install disk but my computer doesn't see the disc as such. When I looked at the files it did not look like it could boot anyway.
Microsoft wasn't much help either. They suggested I go to the i386 folder and run Winnt.exe but that failed to work too.
I heard win XP doesn't see HD bigger that about 127 GB or so (was using a 320GB) - so I bought an 80 GB HD.
Either the XP disc isn't copying the right files to the HD or there is a strange reason why I can't run Winnt.exe
I only wish there wasn't a power surge in the first place...
The motherboard that took the power surge was already in the recycle box when I presented this question. I bought another working Mobo of the same type. I have already tried to find manufacture information and what they gave was of no help. The info said to boot from the utility CD but this failed. I looked on the CD and could not find any indication that booting from it was even possible. I suppose I could use FAT to set things up but to get the full use of XP I would then have to convert to NTFS once things are set up. Further searching on the internet has told me that the Mobo uses NvRaid and I have info on how to install this driver. The reason I brought this up was that I was hoping to find someone who owns this same type of Mobo and see if they had the same problems trying to install XP...
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