Hi there. I've got a couple of computers to mash together. I need a fast one because I run 3d graphics software. My old scsi hard drive went 'bye bye' so I've got an IEDE one to replace it. Which IDE channel should I connect it to - when I tried IDE#1 it said 'searching for boot record from floppy' and then came up with 'no SCSI boot device found'. Any ideas? Do I *have* to have a SCSI hard drive?

I may need a new motherboard now too. I've got a GEForce2 card and I need plenty of slots for RAM and dual PII 450 processors. Any suggestions (not too expensive).

Thanks everyone. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Adam.

Adam:

You may be able set your computer to boot from IDE 1 in CMOS. But, is your HDD bootable? If it’s brand new and you haven’t booted with it installed yet, probably not.

The boot choices I get are A, C, D, E, F, SCSI, CDROM, and LS/ZIP. Different sequences are available. For example, “CDROM, A, C” is one choice. Your sequence may be “A, SCSI” based on the message you got when you tried to boot.

Go into BIOS and enable IDE (EIDE) channels 1 and 2 (0 and 1), redo your boot options to remove SCSI from them (no more scsi devices), remove scsi controller (no longer needed (unless scsi tape, etc. are on it). Use fdisk or appropriate partitioning utility (depending on your OS), format the ide drive (which should be on primary ide channel). If your ide drive is ATA/66/100/etc, make sure you have 80 wire/40 pin eide cable attached (to take advantage of the fastest ata speed your mobo controller is capable of in keeping w/hdd). Also make sure your hdd(s) jumpers are set correctly. Don't forget to make sure that first ide is included in boot options, usually in this order: A, C (or ide 0 or 1), CDROM.

After hdd is partitioned and system rebooted, format the drive (partitions in linux and other file systems, like unix). Even a single drive hdd in windows/dos needs to be partitioned and formatted.

Install operating system on newly formatted hdd, then drivers (windows), then all of your software that you need.

That is normal procedure.

On mobo ide, first (ide1 (sometimes 0)) channel is used for hdds, while the secondary one is used for cd/dvd drives.

Have fun and good luck!

Charles
{veteran of many OS installs and hardware upgrades}