[katana]

i have resurrected my crappy p4 computer and at first it started fine, then i added a second hdd, set it as slave and the original as master. then the computer wouldn't recognize either hdd, both were working before they were paired. then when i disconnected the new hdd (slave) windows wouldnt start on the old hdd, so i reinstalled windows, but half way through the screen started turning on and off every couple of seconds and windows couldnt find files on the windows cd that i know contain the files as thats the disk that i first used to install windows. now no hard drives show up in the bios and my nearly new dvd burner doesnt either, which i am quite angry about. any ideas as to whats going on?

[Carbon]

PSU could be outputting dirty power.

[Razer]

Some compnents may have broke, test them in another system. If they have then thats unlucky.. =(
Your best bet is to just put all the parts in a new machine one by one and see if they work, your cables might be broken or something? Maybe the older hardware is on its last legs too

[katana]

i switched the psu and im able to start the computer up now. but ive come to the conclusion that both hdd's and the motherboard are pretty stuffed. the entire system is outdated anyway, so im not gonna bother to fix anything up, just save up for a new system