Building a System for the First Time - Need help!

Ok, after struggling for a long-ass time trying to get the motherboard to play nicely with the backplate and finally getting all the power cables and everything connected, I boot up the computer to see...


CMOS Checksum Error: Using Defaults

Press F1 to Continue, Del to enter Setup


I'm actually seeing text so I'm assuming the video card is working, and it's counting the amount of RAM properly, so I'm good there as well. All the lights are turning on, so I think I'm cool with the power.

I press F1 and Del, but nothing happens for either of them (so I don't know if it's reading in keyboard input even :( )

So now my system specs:
Abit KV8-Pro Motherboard
Seagate 160 GB SATA HDD
NEC nd2510A DVDRW
1GB PC3200 Crucial RAM
ATi Radeon x800 Pro

So actually before it says "checksum error" it says some stuff about IDE and not found (slave/master). So I'm thinking it's an IDE thing, I only have 1 IDE device connected and that's the DVD writer, but I don't think it's being set as Master in the jumpers, and it's OEM, and I can't find documentation on what the jumper settings need to be. Everything is brand new so there's no OS or anything on it.

The other weird thing is that before that screen comes up, I get a splash screen for the mobo saying "Press Tab to go to some screen, and Del to go to setup" But again, even if I try pressing those buttons nothing happens :(

Any ideas???

I BELIEVE that the IDE errors mean that it is cycling through all possible boot devices, and can't find one.

Have you installed your OS? :x

If not, you can't just boot from an empty HD, you have to put your OS CD into the drive and boot from that, and install.

:shrug:

I BELIEVE that the IDE errors mean that it is cycling through all possible boot devices, and can't find one.

Have you installed your OS? :x

If not, you can't just boot from an empty HD, you have to put your OS CD into the drive and boot from that, and install.

:shrug:

^ what he said

and make sure u go into setup (press delete when the comp boots up) and make ur DVD drive the first boot device

Well, I've booted up a computer without installing an OS before and it doesn't give this error, it just says "No OS" and stops, but if that's the case it should get past this error it's giving.

And I can't even press a key on the keyboard to go into the BIOS, I mean it tells me to press one, but it's not reading in my keyboard :(

That error doesn't imply that you don't have an OS as it hasn't even gotten to the part of the boot process where it searches for a boot device. It could be a lot of things, but first I'd try removing the IDE cable from your motherboard to see if that's the cause.

Is it saying checksum error each time you boot? Normally you get that message when you reset the CMOS by using the jumper or by removing the battery. In fact, AFAIK, that is the only time you should be seeing that message. It is not an error per se, just a message letting you know. As to the keyboard not working, I don't mean to condescend or anything, but could the keyboard and mouse be switched? Some motherboards don't seem to care, others don't work.

BTW, SATA hard drives will not show up on the BIOS boot screen, so that is not the problem.

Is it saying checksum error each time you boot? Normally you get that message when you reset the CMOS by using the jumper or by removing the battery. In fact, AFAIK, that is the only time you should be seeing that message. It is not an error per se, just a message letting you know. As to the keyboard not working, I don't mean to condescend or anything, but could the keyboard and mouse be switched? Some motherboards don't seem to care, others don't work.

BTW, SATA hard drives will not show up on the BIOS boot screen, so that is not the problem.

yea, I got that when I upgraded my bios. Then it went away.

Getting it on first boot.. thats kinda weird.