This problem drives me krayzee... (It is Jetway 830CH MB) When starting the PC, it hangs while "Checking Drives" (on the very first screen you see after switching it on). Sometimes, after 30 mins, it continues to the next screen, and then states DISK BOOT FAILURE. On that 2nd screen, you can see that it not recognising the hard drive, saying there is none. I inserted another HDD, and it still hags at "Checking drives" and still doesnt recognise it. So, methinks it is not a HDD problem. I should add that shortly before, my friend installed a USB patch on the system, because the USB ports didnt seem to be working. Anyone have any ideas from off the top of their heads? Thanks.

remove the USB patch if you can. Reboot the computer and go into the BIOS and see if the HD is detected there. If all else fails try reinstalling XP.

Thanks, RayMan I will try that, but the problem is I have trouble even getting into the BIOS, let alone starting the OS to remove the patch! Will let you know if it works. Cheers mate cjleroux

OK. if you don't have an emergency boot disk go here: www.bootdisk.com and create one. open up the computer, keep 1 hand on the chassis, disconnect the hard drive ribbon cable. Try booting again. After reviewing that motherboard here: http://www.jetway.com.tw/evisn/index.html i don't know if that will work. Does the thing Beep when boot begine?

hi, if u can't get into bios, try resetting the bios by removing the battery on the motherboard and then reinserting it.this should reset the bios.then check whether there are any conflicts between the CDROM and HDD, i mean whether the jumpers are set in correct order and the master and slave settings are in correct order.

Doh! a very good idea.

Thanks for the tips guys. Yes - it beeps normally when booting. Finally gotten into the OS, it takes about 30 mins to boot. i then saw that the CPU is running continuously at nearly 100% capacity, which explains why the PC is so slow. XP keeps reporting that there is an "unrecognised USB device attached", and you can see it in Device Manager. BUt, alas, you can't remove because the PC is so slow, when you attempt to Uninstall or Disable, it goes into Not Responding. weird thing, though, is that even you are in Setup (in CMOS) the PC is very slow too. I took the HDD out, put it in another PC, virus checked it, defragged it, and the disk appears to be normal and healthy. So, it is not the disk. I even swopped the memory, so it isnt that either. Is the CPU (an AMD Duron 800Mhz) screwed up? My hunch is that it is the Motherboard - any further ideas?