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First, Thanks to everyone who took the time to read this long post and/or respond to it.
Hello my computer has been giving problems problem.
My computer will not boot up. It says:
"Insert Boot diskette in A:..Press any key when ready"
"Searching for boot record from floppy...not found"
"Searching for boot record from CD/DVD-O...not found"I have a WD 40gig hard drive attached, however when the system starts-up it doesn't recognize it to boot from it. When I go into the bios and I go auto-detect the hard drive, it shows up.
What's the deal? Whay does it not boot from the harddrive? I did a HD test with the program SPinRite(level 2) and the drive was ok.
I changed some setting in the bios when I got the boot-error, but with no luck. Can someone also tell me what the bios settings should be? I can't remember what was there before I changed them.
Also once out of ten times it will boot without giving the HD error, however another error come up where it is searching for the VIARhine ethernet. It then does a count-up and then fails. Computer just hangs. What's the deal?
Thanks to everyone who took the time to read my long post and/or respond to it.
What make is your motherboard?
You could be sufferring from bad / laeking capacitors problem.
This is a known problem whereby initially the motherboard starts failing and you get intermittent boot up problems on power up. Eventually it fails altogether and fails to boot at all.
For more details look here and see if it applies to you:
http://badcaps.net/___________________________________________
☺ When everything else fails, read the instructions.
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l-o-n-g-s-h-o-t--- check (as in renew) the cmos battery; this notwithstanding Mosaddique's excellent advice.
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Yes I set the hard-drive to boot first which is IDE-O.
How do I check or renew the CMOS battery? Do I have to buy something?
Thanks.
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cmos battery typically (but not always) resembles a watch battery - but "a little" larger (about size a US/Canadian quarter?).
They cost a few $$$ - but they don't break the bank.
Usually snaps out/in - but first remove power into the PC itself (safety etc...).
If in doubt where it is - it's usually reasonably obvious... - check in the manual for your system; it will "usually" tell you where it is - and often the type as well.
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Do you have the XP cd? If so try booting with that then let it go to the setup part. To boot with cd you may have to set the boot order in bios first. It will look for previous window versions, then choose repair the existing one. You may have a bad and or corrupted MBR and registry.
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I tried the Windows XP cd, clicked "R", however all it did was load some drivers. Then it brought me to a dos prompt. I was unsure what to do after that.
Just as an FYI, before this problem my HD was running CHkdsk everytime it booted. I could not even defrag. Tried various solutions but none worked.
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Should have asked the drive size too. Defrag won't run unless there is at least 15% of the drive capacity free.
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If you have a non bootable floppy disk in the floppy drive you will get that error. Check the floppy drive.
Watch the POST screens at startup to see if the harddrive is identified by model. If showing then try tapping F8 at startup and select to boot from harddrive.
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Hello got some more info.
My motherboard is PCDDR266 System board. Soket A. M825 Series, V3.1. VKM266/December 2002.
I think it is made by PC Chips.
Also the post screen at start-up does not show the hard Drive, it shows the cd, floppy and DVD- Rom drive.
What can I do to fix this problem. Thanks.
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mmm - power off (and totally remove power into the system); carefully remake drive ribbon connections at both ends; and verify power cable to hard-drive is also securely installed.
And whilst "in there" carefully press home all other plug-in connectors to the MoBo...
Restore power and see what happens?
Also rereading your initial post; you refer to altering a bios setting - and now don't whit it was and ought to be? When you access the bios page(s) there is an option on one of them to restore to default settings. After the above routine, try the option to restore bios default settings; it won't do any damage or make things worse...
Typically most current systems use the auto-detect option in the bios for the hard-drive; but occasionally one may have to enter the parameters manually (once a year as they used to say...).
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Enter the BIOS and verify the IDE controllers are both enabled. Set all four channels to AUTO in the drive setup screen. Check the cables to the drive to verify the connections are solid. Feel the sides of the drie when the computer is booting for indications the drive is spinning. If drive is spinning then either the drive is defective, the cable is defective, or the controller is defective. You can switch the connectors on the MBoard to try the other IDE channel with the harddrive.
I just noticed your note about ethernet message. If you have an add in network card, physically remove it. If the network is integrated enter the BIOS and disable it.
You didin't indicate if you checked the floppy drive for an inserted disk.
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Have you checked your capacitors as per post response number 2?
What was the outcome of your checks?
___________________________________________
☺ When everything else fails, read the instructions.
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I did a visual check of the capacitors, however they all looked ok to me. Did not see any bulging or leaking.
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Visual check is good start - but sadly many modern (and not so) capacitors can/will look perfectly OK - even when they're otherwise...
See if you can restore bios to defaults as suggested above; and if that doesn't resolve it then enter the parameters manually?
Next step might be to try the drive (as Slave) in another system; if that system finds it it removes the drive from the equation...
Also perhaps borrow a controller-card and see if that resolves it all? One "might" be able to buy one from say Compu$a and test it out. If it resolves it all - keep the card. If it doesn't they will usually accept a return - as long as you have packaging, receipts etc... and it's in good order?
But first try to get bios defaults restored etc.?
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I did a clear of the CMOS yesterday, so I think that reset the bios. I had to set the clock after the CMOS cleared.
I also replace the hard drive IDE connector with a connectior I had from an older system. I then using a Windows XP disk, reformatted and install windows on the hard drive. The Bios now sees the hard drive, during start-up, however whenever it tries to boot from the hard drive, the computer restarts.
What am I doing wrong?
Help please.
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How far into the boot cycle does the machine get before it restarts? Try tapping F8 at startup and select Safe mode. If you get that far open Device Manager and look for items with red or yellow marks next to the item.
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Thanks. I can get to f8 where it asks me what do I want to boot first, that is floppy, hard drive, cd or dvd-rom. Unsure where booting in safe mode is? Also it looks like it is not recoginizing the windows on the hard drive which might be the reason why it restarts when it reaches booting from the hard drive?
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If things still keep entering in this loop you appear to be in try rebooting to the CD and selecting R for repair. You should be offered an installation of WinXP to repair. If that doesn't happen then you cna't repair. When the command prompt comes up you can type help for a list of legal commands. Try typing fixmbr and hit enter. Then type fixboot and hit enter. exit the repair console, remove the CD and reboot.
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Just thought... What kind of drive is this - EIDE or SATA? Initial/early info says WD 40Gig - but which type? Do SATA drives come in 40gig size - or are they usually larger?
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trvlr
I don't think SATA drive were ever manufactured in 40GB size. I think 160GB was the smallest. The only way a SATA drive could exist on a Duron system would be via a controller card.
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"where it is searching for the VIARhine ethernet". The preceeding excerpt is from your first post. This refers to a network controller. A search of the PC Chips site brings up two possible boards. There is some confusion here because the details you cite in #14 don't match up to just one board. The ver 3.1 references a M811LU (V3.1). The M825 number you cite references to later versions. At any rate they are basically the same board.
The MBoard has integrated LAN (network controller). Are you using it to connect to the internet? The controller is a VIA part and it appears this hardware may be causing the computer to halt on boot.
Try entering the BIOS screens and disabling this device to see if that clears up the problem. If it does, once in Windows go to Device manager and remove the network device.
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 hard drive showing up as ...
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boot trouble
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