Hi guys, i decided to resurrect on old pc.o/s unknown though could be xp pro or server2k. it checks cpu,memory, detects h/d's a/drive, cd rom. then waits with curser flashing for upto 30 mins. then goes to next page with details of the hard drives and system configuration. one bleep so presume its passed post. then sits with curser flashing will not boot from floppy, will not boot from cd rom. Any idea's of what is wrong or what is next step. thanks in advance for any help Bizzy boy

Check the Bios bootup sequence. You might have to move the floppy or CD to the front.

i've changed boot sequence was cd.rom, a, c. now a, cd.rom, c. still very slow thru post?

the situation is the same with 4 different h/d's. a couple pass the system config page and then i get blank page and SYSTEM HALTED!

Are all your harddrives showing up correctly ??? I had a problem like that only a few days ago while working on an old Pentium 133. I installed 4 old drives with secondary master in a removable rack (I have three of them with different older drives). Installation worked well but then I inserted another drive in the rack and it wouldn't boot anymore. It took me a while to realise that the secondary slave drive showed up in post but with strange letters and signs in the name. Somehow the old 130MB drive wouldn't work with the new drive in the rack and in bios it showed very strange data on autodetect. I had to change the two slave drives to make it work again! Maybe you have a similiar problem! Why don't you try to install with only primary master connected (check jumpers - some drives have a special setting for only one drive). You can add the other drives later one at a time to see if there is a problem!

the hard drives are showing up correctly. changed the jumper settings , is ti the cable select/ factory default jumper that one drive. it still seeks the pri slave :not detected will continue to t/shoot