The drives are from this computer. He's just changing out the motherboard, CPU and RAM because the old motherboard was messing up. I can't boot from anything because when any of the drives are plugged into the IDE port, they don't power up. I thought it might be the hard drive but what I did was plug just the CD drives into the first IDE port and left the hard drive unplugged, and they still don't power up. I honestly don't think it's the motherboard because it's brand new. Maybe I have something set incorrectly? A CPU only goes in one way, right? If that wasn't in, would it still matter?

Oh, by the way I unplugged the power supply, unplugged the power cord from the motherboard, took out the battery, and waited for 5 minutes. Didn't do anything.

Hey Roryt2000,

I'm afraid that it still sounds like the board is at fault, check with your supplier about warranty and see if you can get a replacement. By the way have you checked that the IDE cables ae plugging into the board the right way around, I have done that before, not fun.
All the best

Yeah the IDE cables are facing the right way. There's a notch preventing it from going in the other way. We're gonna try exchanging it later or tomorow. I'll see how that goes. Any suggestions in the mean time would still be appreciated.

By the way- is it possible it's the CPU that isn't working correctly or do you defenitely think it's the motherboard?

I've never seen a CPU problem translate into no power to the drives.

THis might be a silly question but have you tried using a different plug from the power supply in your drives?

Did the CD ROMs not power up when you put them in the HDD's IDE controller? If that's the case I'm afraid it's your board. Try moving the drives around the board.

Yeah I tried using a different plug. Nothing. No, they didn't power up. I moved the drives around, still nothing.

Hmm, well I think a new Board may solve this. Is it still under warranty?