Primary and Secondary should refer to the IDE controllers, not the channels, since there are 2 and one is the Primary and the other the Secondary, each having a Master and a Slave channel.

oh, look at me nerd out.

UPDATE: I Have Built a Computer.

Thanks go out to ICJ, JQW, Worm, and Chris for putting up with my inane queries and helping me to rock this bitch in the manner which she deserved.

[quote="S&M Rights Activist"][quote="PoliticallyCorrect Police"][quote="chris"]If you have two, one needs to be set as "Master", and the other as "Slave".[/quote]
We prefer that you use the terms "Primary" and "Secondary" as the terms master and slave are offensive to some groups of people.[/quote]

We'll use whatever terms we want! That is, unless you want to [i]punish[/i] us.[/quote]
My girlfriend and I would love to tie you up and make you perform oral sex on us.

[quote="PoliticallyCorrect Police"][quote="chris"]If you have two, one needs to be set as "Master", and the other as "Slave".[/quote]
We prefer that you use the terms "Primary" and "Secondary" as the terms master and slave are offensive to some groups of people.[/quote]

We'll use whatever terms we want! That is, unless you want to [i]punish[/i] us.

[quote="chris"]If you have two, one needs to be set as "Master", and the other as "Slave".[/quote]
We prefer that you use the terms "Primary" and "Secondary" as the terms master and slave are offensive to some groups of people.

[quote="chris"]Is it booting off of the CD-ROM drive?[/quote]

Yeah, turns out this was the issue. I finally figured out how to get into the BIOS (the onscreen "hit del to enter bios" message flashes in and out before my monitor clicks on 9 times out of 10) and now it looks to be installing. Thanks!

[quote="Debaser"]Okay! I've got an XP disk and a CD key! But I can't seem to get the machine to recognize much of anything. It's definitely reading the two disk drives and hopefully the HD, but I can't seem to do anything.[/quote]

Is it booting off of the CD-ROM drive?

First off, you want the hard drives on the primary IDE chain, and the CD-ROM/DVD drive(s) on the secondary chain. Mixing them will result in slower hard drive performance. If you have one device on a chain, make sure it's set as "Master". If you have two, one needs to be set as "Master", and the other as "Slave". I never bother with cable select...it's a pain in the ass. Also make sure the orientation of your IDE cables is correct. If the cable connectors don't have keys on them, look at the motherboard carefully...one corner of the IDE connector should be labeled with either a "1", "2", "39" or "40". The stripe on the cable goes towards the "1" and "2". On the hard drive, the stripe is on the edge closest to the power connector.

Once you've verified all of this is correct, go into the computer's BIOS and make sure it's seeing all of your devices. Also make sure that the boot order is set so that the CD will boot before the hard drive. That'll allow you to boot off of the XP CD and install the OS (which will format the drive for you).

Okay! I've got an XP disk and a CD key! But I can't seem to get the machine to recognize much of anything. It's definitely reading the two disk drives and hopefully the HD, but I can't seem to do anything.

Allllright! Thanks to Chris and google image search, I know:

A. Have the motherboard secured.

B. Know what threaded standoffs are.

Onwards and upwards!!

[quote="Debaser"]Heeeeeeeeeeelp. Okay, I've got the processor and the DIMM on the motherboard, but getting the motherboard secured into the case is proving problematic. I don't know if I need longer screws or what, but trying to get it all secured down with the screws that came with is threatening to bend the board in all sorts of ways Cambodia never intended.[/quote]

Did the motherboard or case come with some threaded standoffs for the motherboard? There should be holes in the case bottom that match holes in the motherboard (the holes with metal around them). You screw the threaded standoffs into the case, place the motherboard on top of them, then secure the motherboard with short screws.

Heeeeeeeeeeelp. Okay, I've got the processor and the DIMM on the motherboard, but getting the motherboard secured into the case is proving problematic. I don't know if I need longer screws or what, but trying to get it all secured down with the screws that came with is threatening to bend the board in all sorts of ways Cambodia never intended.