Requiring CD to boot from Hard drive

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

I've just installed an Abit IS7-V2 motherboard and installed windows
2000. Everything works fine except that I can NOT boot from the hard
drive unless the windows 2000 CD is in the CD-ROM drive (I haven't
tried with a different bootable CD present, but a non-bootable CD
failed).

Without the CD present, I get the "DISK BOOT FAILURE. PLEASE INSERT A
BOOTABLE DISK AND PRESS ENTER" (or something similar--I'm typing it
from memory).

With the CD present, I get the prompt to press a key to boot from the
CD, and if I do nothing, the hard drive boots. Of course, if I press
a key, I boot from the CD.

Again, everything appears to work fine once booted. I can read and
write to any partition (or other disk) with NO errors.

I've tried:
1. another bootable hard drive
2. moving the hard drive to the secondary IDE channel
3. booted without the CD-ROM plugged in.
4. removed everything except the floppy, video card, and hard drive
5. different IDE cables
6. booted into the recovery console and used fixboot (and fixmbr) on
the drive.

I've checked and rechecked all cabling, BIOS settings, and voltages
(all within +/- 2%).

Anyone have any more ideas? I'd rather not have to keep a bootable CD
in the CD-ROM drive just to boot!

System:
Abit IS7-V2 with 1GB RAM
Celeron 2.93
WD 120 JB drive (though I've tried others).
Not using SATA (have tried with it disabled, as well).
Matrox G400 graphics card

Thanks!
Bob

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

If the WD is the only drive did you remove the jumper from the back of
the drive?

Leon Rowell


Robert E. Wilson wrote:
> I've just installed an Abit IS7-V2 motherboard and installed windows
> 2000. Everything works fine except that I can NOT boot from the hard
> drive unless the windows 2000 CD is in the CD-ROM drive (I haven't
> tried with a different bootable CD present, but a non-bootable CD
> failed).
>
> Without the CD present, I get the "DISK BOOT FAILURE. PLEASE INSERT A
> BOOTABLE DISK AND PRESS ENTER" (or something similar--I'm typing it
> from memory).
>
> With the CD present, I get the prompt to press a key to boot from the
> CD, and if I do nothing, the hard drive boots. Of course, if I press
> a key, I boot from the CD.
>
> Again, everything appears to work fine once booted. I can read and
> write to any partition (or other disk) with NO errors.
>
> I've tried:
> 1. another bootable hard drive
> 2. moving the hard drive to the secondary IDE channel
> 3. booted without the CD-ROM plugged in.
> 4. removed everything except the floppy, video card, and hard drive
> 5. different IDE cables
> 6. booted into the recovery console and used fixboot (and fixmbr) on
> the drive.
>
> I've checked and rechecked all cabling, BIOS settings, and voltages
> (all within +/- 2%).
>
> Anyone have any more ideas? I'd rather not have to keep a bootable CD
> in the CD-ROM drive just to boot!
>
> System:
> Abit IS7-V2 with 1GB RAM
> Celeron 2.93
> WD 120 JB drive (though I've tried others).
> Not using SATA (have tried with it disabled, as well).
> Matrox G400 graphics card
>
> Thanks!
> Bob

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

"Robert E. Wilson" <not.me@adelphia.net> wrote in message...
> I've just installed an Abit IS7-V2 motherboard and installed
> windows 2000. Everything works fine except that I can NOT
> boot from the hard drive unless the windows 2000 CD is in
> the CD-ROM drive (I haven't tried with a different bootable
> CD present, but a non-bootable CD failed).
>
> Without the CD present, I get the "DISK BOOT FAILURE. PLEASE
> INSERT A BOOTABLE DISK AND PRESS ENTER" (or something
> similar--I'm typing it from memory).

Sounds like the boot device order settings in the Advanced section of the
BIOS are wrong.

> I've checked and rechecked all cabling,

It ain't cabling as the disk obviously works.

> BIOS settings,

Which settings? Tell us how you've set up the boot device options from the
Advanced page of the BIOS.

Actually, before you do that, try setting the First Boot Device to Hard
Disk, setting the Second and Third Boot Devices to Disabled, and then
setting Boot Other Device to Disabled. See what that does.

> and voltages

It's nothing to do with your voltages either. The drive works and is
bootable.

> Anyone have any more ideas?

When you installed Win2000, did you partition and format the drive using the
Win2k setup utility?
--


Richard Hopkins
Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
(replace nospam with pipex in reply address)

The UK's leading technology reseller www.dabs.com

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 00:21:52 +0100, "Richard Hopkins"
<richh@dsl.nospam.com> wrote:

>
>Sounds like the boot device order settings in the Advanced section of the
>BIOS are wrong.
>
>
>> BIOS settings,
>
>Which settings? Tell us how you've set up the boot device options from the
>Advanced page of the BIOS.
>
>Actually, before you do that, try setting the First Boot Device to Hard
>Disk, setting the Second and Third Boot Devices to Disabled, and then
>setting Boot Other Device to Disabled. See what that does.
>

I've done that: set 1st device to hard disk, disabled all others.
Disabled boot from "other" devices. I've then checked that the "hard
disk boot order" lists the correct drive.

Of course, if I ONLY enable booting from the hard drive, then I can't
boot at all.

I've also tried the usual "normal" combinations with floppy and CD-ROM
enabled. As long as it can boot from the CD, I can then get it to
boot from the hard drive.


>When you installed Win2000, did you partition and format the drive using the
>Win2k setup utility?

The disk had previously been partitioned via Win2k into several
partitions. I deleted the 1st (system; c partition and then
re-created and formatted it when I re-installed win2k this time. I
wanted a fresh install as the previous win2k installation was using a
different motherboard. The other drives (in an extended partition)
were not changed.

The other drive I tried to boot from (same problem) was a DOS
formatted (FAT) DOS installation.


Thanks for the ideas, b ut unfortunately, I'd already tried them! :-(

I'll take any others!

--Bob

 

[bill]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

In article <vbcpi15o2sq58bv9h82b46tikjb8i07spe@4ax.com>,
not.me@adelphia.net says...
> On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 00:21:52 +0100, "Richard Hopkins"
> <richh@dsl.nospam.com> wrote:
>
> >
> >Sounds like the boot device order settings in the Advanced section of the
> >BIOS are wrong.
> >
> >
> >> BIOS settings,
> >
> >Which settings? Tell us how you've set up the boot device options from the
> >Advanced page of the BIOS.
> >
> >Actually, before you do that, try setting the First Boot Device to Hard
> >Disk, setting the Second and Third Boot Devices to Disabled, and then
> >setting Boot Other Device to Disabled. See what that does.
> >
>
> I've done that: set 1st device to hard disk, disabled all others.
> Disabled boot from "other" devices. I've then checked that the "hard
> disk boot order" lists the correct drive.
>
> Of course, if I ONLY enable booting from the hard drive, then I can't
> boot at all.
>
> I've also tried the usual "normal" combinations with floppy and CD-ROM
> enabled. As long as it can boot from the CD, I can then get it to
> boot from the hard drive.
>
>
> >When you installed Win2000, did you partition and format the drive using the
> >Win2k setup utility?
>
> The disk had previously been partitioned via Win2k into several
> partitions. I deleted the 1st (system; c partition and then
> re-created and formatted it when I re-installed win2k this time. I
> wanted a fresh install as the previous win2k installation was using a
> different motherboard. The other drives (in an extended partition)
> were not changed.
>
> The other drive I tried to boot from (same problem) was a DOS
> formatted (FAT) DOS installation.
>
>
> Thanks for the ideas, b ut unfortunately, I'd already tried them! :-(
>
> I'll take any others!
>
> --Bob
>

Partition set "active"?

Bill

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

On Sat, 17 Sep 2005 18:15:57 -0700, Bill
<spamtrap@tinlc.lumbercartel.com> wrote:

>>
>
> Partition set "active"?
>
> Bill

yep!

Thanks.

 

[bill]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

In article <u4hpi1pb0ug5tmd9tmu90aprg9v6kf8thi@4ax.com>,
not.me@adelphia.net says...
> On Sat, 17 Sep 2005 18:15:57 -0700, Bill
> <spamtrap@tinlc.lumbercartel.com> wrote:
>
> >>
> >
> > Partition set "active"?
> >
> > Bill
>
> yep!
>
> Thanks.
>

You've run the manufacturers hard drive diagnostics?
I had a WD drive once that would only sometimes boot.
MS/Win2K didn't find anything but the WD Diags said the
second FAT didn't match the first. Took the WD diag
program writing over the entire disk and then reloading
the OS to get it working again.

Bill

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

In article <cc3pi1dflj06srgqq5opbh65sq5ool3h6l@4ax.com>, Robert E.
Wilson <not.me@adelphia.net> writes
>I've just installed an Abit IS7-V2 motherboard and installed windows
>2000. Everything works fine except that I can NOT boot from the hard
>drive unless the windows 2000 CD is in the CD-ROM drive (I haven't
>tried with a different bootable CD present, but a non-bootable CD
>failed).
>
>Without the CD present, I get the "DISK BOOT FAILURE. PLEASE INSERT A
>BOOTABLE DISK AND PRESS ENTER" (or something similar--I'm typing it
>from memory).
>
>With the CD present, I get the prompt to press a key to boot from the
>CD, and if I do nothing, the hard drive boots. Of course, if I press
>a key, I boot from the CD.
>
>Again, everything appears to work fine once booted. I can read and
>write to any partition (or other disk) with NO errors.
>
>I've tried:
> 1. another bootable hard drive
> 2. moving the hard drive to the secondary IDE channel
> 3. booted without the CD-ROM plugged in.
> 4. removed everything except the floppy, video card, and hard drive
> 5. different IDE cables
> 6. booted into the recovery console and used fixboot (and fixmbr) on
>the drive.
>
>I've checked and rechecked all cabling, BIOS settings, and voltages
>(all within +/- 2%).
>
>Anyone have any more ideas? I'd rather not have to keep a bootable CD
>in the CD-ROM drive just to boot!
>
>System:
> Abit IS7-V2 with 1GB RAM
> Celeron 2.93
> WD 120 JB drive (though I've tried others).
> Not using SATA (have tried with it disabled, as well).
> Matrox G400 graphics card
>
>Thanks!

You seem to have done most of the obvious things.

Have you checked that the BIOS is detecting the drive correctly, or has
a user setting for a drive that was previously attached to the IDE
channel?

Try setting the BIOS to autodetect the drive and then re-instal Windows
2000.

--
Nicholas David Richards -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 01:58:30 +0100, Nicholas D Richards
<nicholas@salmiron.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>You seem to have done most of the obvious things.
>
>Have you checked that the BIOS is detecting the drive correctly, or has
>a user setting for a drive that was previously attached to the IDE
>channel?
>
>Try setting the BIOS to autodetect the drive and then re-instal Windows
>2000.

Thanks for your reply.

The BIOS does report the drive properly (and I've also had it
re-detect it from within the BIOS setup screens). THe motherboard is
new and has not been used previously. I've also tried clearing the
CMOS and returning to the "fail-safe" defaults.

The BIOS appears to recognize the disk as it does boot from the hard
drive (not the win2k CD) if the win2k CD is present.

Also, it will not boot from a DOS hard drive (different drive--FAT
formatted). However, if I boot from a floppy into DOS, I can read all
partitions of the hard drive. I can't do this with the win2k hard
drive as it is formatted NTFS, so the DOS boot floppy can't read it.

I do appreciate these ideas (even if I've tried them). Hopefully one
will be the answer, or it will prompt me to think of something else,
that does work!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

"Robert E. Wilson" wrote in message...
> Of course, if I ONLY enable booting from the hard drive, then I
> can't boot at all.

Kay. Have you followed Leon's advice regarding the jumper?

> The disk had previously been partitioned via Win2k into several
> partitions. I deleted the 1st (system; c partition and then
> re-created and formatted it when I re-installed win2k this time. I
> wanted a fresh install as the previous win2k installation was using a
> different motherboard. The other drives (in an extended partition)
> were not changed.

Sounds like something strange has happened during this delete/recreate
partition routine. Is this new primary partition formatted as FAT32 or NTFS?

By the way, when you say that you've checked whether the partition is active
and found that it is, what utility did you use to check?

Other thing you might want to do is to copy and paste the contents of your
boot.ini file here so we can have a look at it, as if you've gone through
the BIOS and not fixed it, incorrect settings here would be the next most
likely cause of your problem.

Oh, while I remember, did you have any USB or removable hard disks connected
to the motherboard during the Win2k install process?
--


Richard Hopkins
Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
(replace nospam with pipex in reply address)

The UK's leading technology reseller www.dabs.com

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

On Sat, 17 Sep 2005 19:20:50 -0700, Bill
<spamtrap@tinlc.lumbercartel.com> wrote:

> You've run the manufacturers hard drive diagnostics?
>I had a WD drive once that would only sometimes boot.
>MS/Win2K didn't find anything but the WD Diags said the
>second FAT didn't match the first. Took the WD diag
>program writing over the entire disk and then reloading
>the OS to get it working again.
>
> Bill


No, I've not run the diag on the drive. However, remember that the
disk works without any problem once booted. I've been able to
completely install w2k and all updates/patches withoug ANY difficulty.
I've started installing my other software, again without any problems.
I've done quite a bit of disk activity and have received no errors and
found no corruption. The only catch is that I need the bootable w2k
cd inthe cd-rom drive in order to boot.

THe boot partition was re-created as part of the install, so if it is
corrupted, I should be seeing problems once booted (and I've already
tried re-writing the MBR using the recovery console).

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 06:14:08 +0100, "Richard Hopkins"
<richh@dsl.nospam.com> wrote:

>
>Kay. Have you followed Leon's advice regarding the jumper?

Yes.


>
>Sounds like something strange has happened during this delete/recreate
>partition routine. Is this new primary partition formatted as FAT32 or NTFS?

All partitions on the disk are NTFS


>
>By the way, when you say that you've checked whether the partition is active
>and found that it is, what utility did you use to check?

Partition Magic v8. I also tried making another partition active,
then making the desired one active again just to make sure it was set.


>
>Other thing you might want to do is to copy and paste the contents of your
>boot.ini file here so we can have a look at it, as if you've gone through
>the BIOS and not fixed it, incorrect settings here would be the next most
>likely cause of your problem.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect


>
>Oh, while I remember, did you have any USB or removable hard disks connected
>to the motherboard during the Win2k install process?

No other hard drives connected. Set up (at installation and
currently) is:

Primary IDE:
Master = Hard drive (the one I want top boot)
Slave = CD-ROM (actually DVD/CD writer)
Secondary IDE:
Master = EMPTY removable IDE caddy
Slave = NOT USED
SATA not used
Promise Ultra100/TX2 PCI card--
Primary Master = EMPTY removable IDE caddy
Secondary Master = EMPTY removable IDE caddy

(I use this system to test hardware and drives, as well as a recovery
system when another drive gets trashed. That is why there are several
removable caddies. However, the main drive is currently NOT in a
caddy, though it was when I used the older motherboard.

There are NO USB hard drives attached, though there is a USB card
reader (eg. compact flash, secure digital, etc), but with NO cards in
it.

I've tried disconnectint everything except the primary HD and the
video card (not even a CD-ROM ) and no boot. Add in the CD-ROM and
still no boot. Put the w2k disk in the cd-rom and the HD boots.

With everything installed, I've successfully fully installed w2k and
all patches. All devices are working (drivers installed) without
problem. The ONLY issue is getting it to boot without the w2k CD
inserted.


Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

On Sat, 17 Sep 2005 21:41:16 -0500, Leon Rowell <leon429@netins.net>
wrote:

>If the WD is the only drive did you remove the jumper from the back of
>the drive?
>
>Leon Rowell
>
>

When connected as the only drive, I've tried both NO jumper (single
drive) and with the jumper set as cable select.

When connected as the master with the CD-ROM as the slave, I've had it
jumpered cable select. Now that you mention this, I do not remember
every trying the jumper in the master (with slave present) position in
this configuration. However, the CS setting worked on the old
motherboard and the drive won't boot when it is the only drive present
(NO slave).

I've also tried it as master on the secondary IDE channel (CD on the
Primary channel).

I've also tried to boot with it on an add-in PCI IDE card (Promise
Ultra100 TX2), after making the necessary BIOS boot order changes.

Thanks!
Bob

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

In article <a3gpi151491rs34o48rboqug1kupjfns1t@4ax.com>, Robert E.
Wilson <not.me@adelphia.net> writes
>On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 01:58:30 +0100, Nicholas D Richards
><nicholas@salmiron.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>You seem to have done most of the obvious things.
>>
>>Have you checked that the BIOS is detecting the drive correctly, or has
>>a user setting for a drive that was previously attached to the IDE
>>channel?
>>
>>Try setting the BIOS to autodetect the drive and then re-instal Windows
>>2000.
>
>Thanks for your reply.
>
>The BIOS does report the drive properly (and I've also had it
>re-detect it from within the BIOS setup screens). THe motherboard is
>new and has not been used previously. I've also tried clearing the
>CMOS and returning to the "fail-safe" defaults.
>
>The BIOS appears to recognize the disk as it does boot from the hard
>drive (not the win2k CD) if the win2k CD is present.
>
>Also, it will not boot from a DOS hard drive (different drive--FAT
>formatted). However, if I boot from a floppy into DOS, I can read all
>partitions of the hard drive. I can't do this with the win2k hard
>drive as it is formatted NTFS, so the DOS boot floppy can't read it.
>
>I do appreciate these ideas (even if I've tried them). Hopefully one
>will be the answer, or it will prompt me to think of something else,
>that does work!

The fact that you are having problems if you use a different physical
disk, on a different operating system, suggests to me that it has
something to do with your motherboard, your connection to the
motherboard or its settings.

You have eliminated the IDE ribbon as being a problem by replacing it.
You have taken yourself down to a minimum configuration, so there should
be no conflict with another IDE device. Was the CD drive on the
secondary IDE port and you definitely have the hard drive set to Master?
It is not something silly (we have all been there, even if we do not
admit it), like the IDE ribbons are connected back to front, like the
black connector is attached to the IDE port?

I have two final suggestions:

Set your BIOS settings to 'Fail-Safe' adjusting only the CPU settings to
those of your CPU as recommended by the Intel. If this works then adjust
one setting at a time and test.

If the Fail-Safe setting does not work, I would suggest that you may
well have a faulty board.
--
Nicholas David Richards -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 11:36:36 +0100, Nicholas D Richards
<nicholas@salmiron.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>The fact that you are having problems if you use a different physical
>disk, on a different operating system, suggests to me that it has
>something to do with your motherboard, your connection to the
>motherboard or its settings.

I agree. Also, I would suspect the PS, as marginal power can do all
sorts of odd things, but voltages appear to be good, both via the BIOS
report as well as voltmeter measurements.


>
>You have eliminated the IDE ribbon as being a problem by replacing it.
>You have taken yourself down to a minimum configuration, so there should
>be no conflict with another IDE device. Was the CD drive on the
>secondary IDE port and you definitely have the hard drive set to Master?
>It is not something silly (we have all been there, even if we do not
>admit it), like the IDE ribbons are connected back to front, like the
>black connector is attached to the IDE port?

I wish it was something stupid (and easy to fix) as that!
Unfortunately, I've been careful to orient the cables correctly and
have tried several different ones.


>
>I have two final suggestions:
>
>Set your BIOS settings to 'Fail-Safe' adjusting only the CPU settings to
>those of your CPU as recommended by the Intel. If this works then adjust
>one setting at a time and test.
>
>If the Fail-Safe setting does not work, I would suggest that you may
>well have a faulty board.

I've tried clearing CMOS and setting "fail-safe" settings. I wonder
about the board, but then, wouldn't a faulty board give problems once
the system is booted? Once booted (with the w2k cd in the cd drive),
the system runs very stabily.

BTW, I never mentioned it in any other thread, but the MB came with
the most recent BIOS as listed onthe Abit site, so I have NOT flashed
it (eliminating a faulty flash from the list of possibilities--unless
it was faulty from the factory).


Thanks!

 

[bill]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

In article <ickqi1t5v90ojlh1senf86umpf1v7alno6@4ax.com>,
not.me@adelphia.net says...
> On Sat, 17 Sep 2005 19:20:50 -0700, Bill
> <spamtrap@tinlc.lumbercartel.com> wrote:
>
> > You've run the manufacturers hard drive diagnostics?
> >I had a WD drive once that would only sometimes boot.
> >MS/Win2K didn't find anything but the WD Diags said the
> >second FAT didn't match the first. Took the WD diag
> >program writing over the entire disk and then reloading
> >the OS to get it working again.
> >
> > Bill
>
>
> No, I've not run the diag on the drive. However, remember that the
> disk works without any problem once booted. I've been able to
> completely install w2k and all updates/patches withoug ANY difficulty.
> I've started installing my other software, again without any problems.
> I've done quite a bit of disk activity and have received no errors and
> found no corruption. The only catch is that I need the bootable w2k
> cd inthe cd-rom drive in order to boot.
>
> THe boot partition was re-created as part of the install, so if it is
> corrupted, I should be seeing problems once booted (and I've already
> tried re-writing the MBR using the recovery console).
>
> Thanks!
>

Well, the diags are a free download from the manufacturer and they
might tell you something, otherwise you may have a flaky drive or
motherboard and I would not trust either in a system used for work more
important than browsing the Internet.

Good luck,

Bill

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

Try unhooking your cd drive and see what happens......

--
Russ

Visit Alaska @ http://www.tannersacre.com

"Robert E. Wilson" <not.me@adelphia.net> wrote in message
news:a3gpi151491rs34o48rboqug1kupjfns1t@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 01:58:30 +0100, Nicholas D Richards
> <nicholas@salmiron.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
> >You seem to have done most of the obvious things.
> >
> >Have you checked that the BIOS is detecting the drive correctly, or has
> >a user setting for a drive that was previously attached to the IDE
> >channel?
> >
> >Try setting the BIOS to autodetect the drive and then re-instal Windows
> >2000.
>
> Thanks for your reply.
>
> The BIOS does report the drive properly (and I've also had it
> re-detect it from within the BIOS setup screens). THe motherboard is
> new and has not been used previously. I've also tried clearing the
> CMOS and returning to the "fail-safe" defaults.
>
> The BIOS appears to recognize the disk as it does boot from the hard
> drive (not the win2k CD) if the win2k CD is present.
>
> Also, it will not boot from a DOS hard drive (different drive--FAT
> formatted). However, if I boot from a floppy into DOS, I can read all
> partitions of the hard drive. I can't do this with the win2k hard
> drive as it is formatted NTFS, so the DOS boot floppy can't read it.
>
> I do appreciate these ideas (even if I've tried them). Hopefully one
> will be the answer, or it will prompt me to think of something else,
> that does work!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 13:16:33 -0700, Bill
<spamtrap@tinlc.lumbercartel.com> wrote:

>
> Well, the diags are a free download from the manufacturer and they
>might tell you something, otherwise you may have a flaky drive or
>motherboard and I would not trust either in a system used for work more
>important than browsing the Internet.
>
> Good luck,
>
> Bill

Thanks. I already have the WD diags. I'll eventually get around to
running them. I tried installing windows on a newer Seagate drive and
am having the same problem. So, unless both drives are bad in the
same way, I doubt the problem is the drive.

--Bob

 

[bill]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

In article <voori1d3tlur94cmr5ud2uqa8h3ciiou46@4ax.com>,
not.me@adelphia.net says...
> On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 13:16:33 -0700, Bill
> <spamtrap@tinlc.lumbercartel.com> wrote:
>
> >
> > Well, the diags are a free download from the manufacturer and they
> >might tell you something, otherwise you may have a flaky drive or
> >motherboard and I would not trust either in a system used for work more
> >important than browsing the Internet.
> >
> > Good luck,
> >
> > Bill
>
> Thanks. I already have the WD diags. I'll eventually get around to
> running them. I tried installing windows on a newer Seagate drive and
> am having the same problem. So, unless both drives are bad in the
> same way, I doubt the problem is the drive.
>
> --Bob
>

If you have the ability in the bios, try setting a delay of a few
seconds to give your hard drives time to spin up to speed. If that
does't work and a new/more powerful power supply doesn't work, it looks
like it's time to replace the motherboard, it would seem.

Bill

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 13:22:06 -0800, "Russ" <sourdo55 at yahoo.com>
wrote:

>Try unhooking your cd drive and see what happens......

No cd-drive, no boot. :-(

I'ce disconnected EVERYTHING except the hard drive and the graphics
card and it won't boot (disk boot error). If I then reconnect the CD
drive, still no boot (same error). If I then insert a bootable CD in
the CD drive (where else!) then it boots the hard drive.

It seems that the MB is unable to read the MBR from the HD, but can
from the CD. The CD boot loader then gives the option of transfering
control to the HD which then does boot properly.

Thanks,
Bob

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

"Robert E. Wilson" <not.me@adelphia.net> wrote in message...
>>By the way, when you say that you've checked whether the partition is
>> active and found that it is, what utility did you use to check?
>
> Partition Magic v8. I also tried making another partition active,
> then making the desired one active again just to make sure it
> was set.

I've seen PM8 screw up royally in the past, so it remains possible that
there's something funky going on with the disk here.

As a matter of diagnostic interest, have you tried connecting this disk to
another motherboard and seeing if it tries to boot? If it does, then
suspicion falls fairly squarely on the motherboard. If you still get a
complete failure, the culprit is equally clearly pointed up as the disk.

If you have an old Win98SE or WinMe setup CD around, it might also be worth
you trying good old-fashioned FDISK to see if that reports the partition
active.

> [boot loader]
> timeout=30
> default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
> [operating systems]
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
> Professional" /fastdetect

Well that's alright. The plot thickens.

> No other hard drives connected. Set up (at installation and
> currently) is:
>
> Primary IDE:
> Master = Hard drive (the one I want top boot)
> Slave = CD-ROM (actually DVD/CD writer)

You may have mentioned it above, but, for the sake of thoroughness, could
you tell us exactly how you've jumpered these two devices?

> There are NO USB hard drives attached, though there is a
> USB card reader (eg. compact flash, secure digital, etc), but
> with NO cards in it.

That shouldn't affect things, but as a diagnostic step have you tried
unplugging it?

> With everything installed, I've successfully fully installed w2k and
> all patches. All devices are working (drivers installed) without
> problem. The ONLY issue is getting it to boot without the w2k CD
> inserted.

So we have a complete handle on the nature of the problem here, could you
tell us exactly what happens if:

1) You boot from the Win2k setup CD
2) You begin the Win2k setup process, to the point where the machine wants
to restart for the first time
3) When the computer POSTS, you Del into the BIOS and set "Hard Disk" as the
First Boot Device
4) You remove the Win2k CD from the drive after saving changes.

Does the system boot successfully into the GUI portion of 2k setup, or does
it just hang with the Boot Device Failure message?

>
--


Richard Hopkins
Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
(replace nospam with pipex in reply address)

The UK's leading technology reseller www.dabs.com

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 18:57:34 +0100, "Richard Hopkins"
<richh@dsl.nospam.com> wrote:

>
>I've seen PM8 screw up royally in the past, so it remains possible that
>there's something funky going on with the disk here.
>
>As a matter of diagnostic interest, have you tried connecting this disk to
>another motherboard and seeing if it tries to boot? If it does, then
>suspicion falls fairly squarely on the motherboard. If you still get a
>complete failure, the culprit is equally clearly pointed up as the disk.
>
>If you have an old Win98SE or WinMe setup CD around, it might also be worth
>you trying good old-fashioned FDISK to see if that reports the partition
>active.

I had originally used PM just to check the active state. However, I
did boot to DOS using a floppy and FDisk also indicated it was active.

I've not tried the WD hard drive in another computer, but I did get
another HD that I was not using, a new model Seagate and used the
win2k setup program (booting from the w2k cd) to delete all partitions
on it and create just one partition of just under 8GB. I installed
w2k on it and am having the same problem. I booted from the w2k cd,
deleted the old partitions, created the new one, formatted ntfs, then
started a new installation of windows. It copied files and then
rebooted (cd still in the drive). It then ran the rest of the w2k
installation, prompted me to remove the cd and to reboot. I did this
and got the disk boot failure message.


>>
>> Primary IDE:
>> Master = Hard drive (the one I want top boot)
>> Slave = CD-ROM (actually DVD/CD writer)
>
>You may have mentioned it above, but, for the sake of thoroughness, could
>you tell us exactly how you've jumpered these two devices?

Both Master=CS, slave=slave and Master=master (with slave present) and
slave=slave.

On the try with the Seagate HD, I jumpered it as master and the CD-rom
as slave.


>
>> There are NO USB hard drives attached, though there is a
>> USB card reader (eg. compact flash, secure digital, etc), but
>> with NO cards in it.
>
>That shouldn't affect things, but as a diagnostic step have you tried
>unplugging it?

I've tried unplugging everything except the HD and video card.


>
>> With everything installed, I've successfully fully installed w2k and
>> all patches. All devices are working (drivers installed) without
>> problem. The ONLY issue is getting it to boot without the w2k CD
>> inserted.
>
>So we have a complete handle on the nature of the problem here, could you
>tell us exactly what happens if:
>
>1) You boot from the Win2k setup CD

Setup runs correctly


>2) You begin the Win2k setup process, to the point where the machine wants
>to restart for the first time

Machine reboots and setup continues. I've NOT removed the CD at this
step. When it is ready to restart the second time, w2k tells me
toremove the CD and I do then. It then fails to restart.


>3) When the computer POSTS, you Del into the BIOS and set "Hard Disk" as the
>First Boot Device

Yes. as first and ONLY boot device.


>4) You remove the Win2k CD from the drive after saving changes.

Boot fails.


>
>Does the system boot successfully into the GUI portion of 2k setup, or does
>it just hang with the Boot Device Failure message?

If I respond to the "Press any key to boot from CD", it boots into the
setup program (from the CD) as it should. If I do nothing at that
prompt (let it time out), then it boots into windows properly.

If there is NO CD in the drive, then I'm not asked about booting from
the CD. I then just get the boot failure message, along with the
message to insert a valid disk and press any key. I can press a key
and get the message over and over again for as long as I want! Nothing
is valid until I insert the cd, then it boots. In other words, it
isn't really hung after the failure message as it will retry if I
press a key.

Thanks for the ideas. I think I'll try replacing the Power Supply as
I've seen some weird things happen as a PS goes bad. However, I doubt
that is my problem as the system is rock stable when it does boot. and
it ALWAYS boots when the CD is present, but NEVER boots when the CD is
not present. I would think a power supply problem would either affect
more things or be more intermittent.

Bob

>
>>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

On Sat, 17 Sep 2005 17:51:53 -0400, Robert E. Wilson
<not.me@adelphia.net> wrote:

>I've just installed an Abit IS7-V2 motherboard and installed windows
>2000. Everything works fine except that I can NOT boot from the hard
>drive unless the windows 2000 CD is in the CD-ROM drive (I haven't
>tried with a different bootable CD present, but a non-bootable CD
>failed).
>
>Without the CD present, I get the "DISK BOOT FAILURE. PLEASE INSERT A
>BOOTABLE DISK AND PRESS ENTER" (or something similar--I'm typing it
>from memory).
>
>With the CD present, I get the prompt to press a key to boot from the
>CD, and if I do nothing, the hard drive boots. Of course, if I press
>a key, I boot from the CD.
>
>Again, everything appears to work fine once booted. I can read and
>write to any partition (or other disk) with NO errors.
>
>I've tried:
> 1. another bootable hard drive
> 2. moving the hard drive to the secondary IDE channel
> 3. booted without the CD-ROM plugged in.
> 4. removed everything except the floppy, video card, and hard drive
> 5. different IDE cables
> 6. booted into the recovery console and used fixboot (and fixmbr) on
>the drive.
>
>I've checked and rechecked all cabling, BIOS settings, and voltages
>(all within +/- 2%).
>
>Anyone have any more ideas? I'd rather not have to keep a bootable CD
>in the CD-ROM drive just to boot!
>

Since you tried most everything else, try clearing the BIOS CMOS
with the CMOS jumper in the alternate position for 30 seconds
AND the PC completely disconnected from the power-line.

John Lewis

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 16:15:38 -0700, Bill
<spamtrap@tinlc.lumbercartel.com> wrote:

> If you have the ability in the bios, try setting a delay of a few
>seconds to give your hard drives time to spin up to speed. If that
>does't work and a new/more powerful power supply doesn't work, it looks
>like it's time to replace the motherboard, it would seem.
>
> Bill

I did try 2 seconds. No luck.

However, I removed my SCSI cards (both a LVD and a HVD card, both LSI
Logic) and it booted without the W2K CD. I reinstalled the LVD card
and it wouldn't boot. I then ran out of time to test, so I'll get
back to it tomorrow after work. I do have Adaptec cards that I can
try instead of the LSI Logic cards.

What is odd about this is that I had previously removed ALL of the
cards and it didn't boot. Maybe something else was set wrong, or
maybe it only boots intermittently with the cards out. I have a bit
more experimenting to do (and only one night this week to do it in as
I have meetings essentially every other night!).

Thanks,
Bob

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 21:54:22 GMT, john.dsl@verizon.net (John Lewis)
wrote:

>Since you tried most everything else, try clearing the BIOS CMOS
>with the CMOS jumper in the alternate position for 30 seconds
>AND the PC completely disconnected from the power-line.
>
>John Lewis

Thanks. I did do that, but probably didn't wait a full 30 seconds. I
have some other leads to pursue, but will try reseting the CMOS again
if they don't pan out. I might also try re-flashing it in case it was
corrupt from the factory (It came with the latest BIOS).

--Bob