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I finally got around to having the shop test the drives. Both failed.

Cables tested okay. The sata hdd wouldn't spin. The IDE drive wouldn't open and wasn't deteted just as on my mobo. So, now I wonder if both drives were faulty from the start (though I'm pretty sure I had the IDE drive working at one point on another mobo) or if my power supply may be bad and somehow fried them.

I'm gonna try to RMA the hdd (it's OEM by the way so I may be out of luck). The ide drive came from walmart so I shouldn't have any problems returning it. I just hate to plug any new drives into the psu until I know it's okay. I've got a multimeter but am really not sure how to test it - don't wanna fry myself. The power to the mobo and case fans, etc. seems to be okay.

One thing that I'm not sure about (remember, this is my first build) is that the power cables that came w/ the case all have multiple leads and some are different. Maybe I'd better off with new power connectors that are just 1 to 1 connections ?

Naa, you'll find that with almost any power supply you buy. I suspect you were just unlucky in the HDD's you received, however, it's possible it could be the PSU as you suggested, there is no way to tell without testing. If your in any doubt at all, get it replaced. Also, make sure that you have adequate surge protection for your PC.

Thanks for the ongoing feedback on this. I guess I'll start tonight by exchanging the IDE dvd drive at Walmart and seeing how it acts. If it seems like that drive is having problems due to the PSU then I'll feel pretty confident I've got a PSU problem. Otherwise, if it seems to work okay, I'll go forward w/ replacing the HDD and hopefully, I'll be able to actually try installing the OS.

Sounds good. We'll still be here is you need any more advice on this one dur

I've got a new IDE dvd drive and am waiting on a replacemnt SATA hdd. Would you recommend I connect them on separate power connectors or is it okay if they're on a single molex connector "Y" type that has 2 leads in addition to the main power source connector. I have a molex to SATA cable that I could plug into one lead and then I could plug the other lead directly into the IDE drive. What do you think?

That's great, you shouldn't have problems either way, but if you try to even things out would be good

Finally had the time this weekend to try installing the new drives. Everything worked like a charm and I was able to install XP.

Turns out, it was just bad drives and bad luck all along.

Thanks for all the help.