Boot problem

[confission]

Hello all. I've recently been putting together a new system and have run into a snag. Hopefully someone here will have a possible answer.

The components are:
ASUS A7V-E Mobo (200fsb/PC133/ATA100)
Duron 1.1Ghz
512MB PC133 SDRAM
Voodoo Banshee (to be upgraded ;-)
IBM Deskstar 40GB HD
1.44 Floppy
CD-ROM

All components seem to seat properly and I've double-checked to make sure all connections are tight and properly oriented. The graphic BIOS splashes properly and the POST runs through the memory without error. All IDE devices are detected accurately and there are no error messages.

The problem occurs immediately after the system configuration summary, after the PCI device listing - with no error messages - exactly where the OS should load, but doesn't. There is no message such as "Non-System disk" or something, and I can't Ctrl-Alt-Del to reset. There's only a blinking cursor.

The floppy drive, hard drive nor CDROM seek, regardless of what boot order they appear in in the BIOS. I have tried removing all items, and having one in at a time to no avail. Also, I have tried it in another case which I had handy with the same problem, so it shouldn't be the power supply's fault.

Any answers are much appreciated,
Matt

 

[JohnS9051]

It sounds like your system is stalling when it trys to load the video driver.

I assume you are running Windows.

Can you boot into Safe Mode?
If so, go to Device Manager and remove all Display Adapters listed.
Change the video driver to Standard Display Adapter (VGA).

Reboot.

If it boots to Windows in Normal Mode, install the correct video driver.

If you can't get to Windows in Safe Mode, try booting to a floppy disk with system files installed. (e.g. setup disk, recovery disk, or any bootable floppy disk)

Can you boot to the Windows CD?

Let me know what you find. Also tell me what Operating System you are using.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

John

 

[CyberVenom]

John, I don't think booting to safe mode (or any mode) will work if it won't even seek the drives.
You might try making sure all of the drives cables are connected correctly (red lead goes to pin 1, usually on the power cable side of the drive). Do the drives initialize during the POST? Do any dirve lights seem to be stuck on? (that would be a telltale sign of an inverted cable) Are they all powered properly? Can the BIOS autodetect the drive types? (It should list them on the memory test page, and again on the hardware config page.) Do the drives work in another computer? Are the Master/Slave jumper settings correct? Is the on-board IDE controller enabled in the BIOS? Have you run the BIOS IDE Auto-Detect utility? Do you need to manually set cylinders, sectors, and heads? (You really shouldn't, but for some unrecognized drives, you may need to.) Are you using 80-lead ATA-100 cable, not 40-lead? (It should work anyway, but it will work better with the proper cable.) Is there a CD in the CD-ROM drive? Try removing it. Try disconnecting all but one drive. (for testing) Try a different boot floppy. Try a BIOS upgrade if you can boot from a floppy only. Try a different motherboard. Hire the neighborhood geek to fix it.

 

[confission]

Hi John, thanks for your reply.

Actually no OS has been installed yet, but I plan on installing Win98. Unfortunately I can't load the OS from any of my devices (boot disk, HD, CD); they just don't respond when the BIOS should make its call to load the OS.

Hope this clarifies a bit,
Matt

 

[confission]

Thanks Cyber. The devices should all be connected properly, and this is borne out by the fact that all the IDE devices auto-detect and display the proper make. Also, if the floppy is set to scan at startup it does so, which indicates that it is installed properly. None of the LEDs are stuck on - the floppy light only comes on briefly, as it should, when it does the POST seek.

Unfortunately I am my neighborhood geek. I might have an easier time fixing if I had more swappable parts. If my friend Dave still lived here I'd get him to check it out but he moved to Edmonton .

Matt

 

[CyberVenom]

Try disconnecting all drived but you floppy - your CD-ROM or HDD may be confused, defective, misconfigured, or otherwise problematic (probably you CD-ROM if either). That way you can narrow it down.
Video, power, memory, and CPU obviously work, so try with just floppy drive, video, memory, cpu, and power. If that fails try with a different floppy cable. (rip one out of the machine you are using to post if you have to; you can put it back once you isolate the problem) If that fails, try a different floppy drive. (again from your posting machine.) If that fails, try the CMOS reset and try to stick to the defaults. If that fails, return the motherboard - it is irreperably defective.

 

[JimEkleberry]

If you put a boot floppy in the drive will your system boot from it?

Have you tweaked your BIOS or changed any of the memory timing settings? If so, set them back to default and see if that makes a difference. Also, set your CAS latency to 3 (even if your RAM is CAS 2).

 

[CyberVenom]

If it is a memory issue, it should manifest before that point. If it is a diskette problem, the drive light should still come on as it attempts to read even if there is no useful boot sector. (The light obviously works, since it comes on during the POST floppy seek).

 

[confission]

Jim - No the system won't boot from the floppy. However, as Cyber was inquiring, the floppy does work, as I have swapped it back into this system I'm posting with to make sure. I have tried fiddling with more obvious things in the BIOS, including leaving defaults on and removing the battery to reset it. I will try re-setting the latency as you suggest.

Cyber - The system has been loaded with: solo HD; solo CD; solo floppy. None of them responded - even with a message such as "NO OS FOUND" or something.

Also, because I can't use the KB to reset, I believe the system is hung rather than simply not performing a scheduled task.

Thanks again,
Matt

 

[CyberVenom]

If you need to reset the CMOS and don't have a jumper to do it, you can remove the battery and short across the battery holder's contacts to discharge the memory. (with power off, of course)

It is beginning to sound like a defective motherboard.
You might also try (if you have 2 or more memory chips) running with only one, or only the other, in case one is defective.

 

[JimEkleberry]

Have you tried a different keyboard?

 

[JohnS9051]

I tried everything I could think of to duplicate your problem with no success.

The only thing I can imagine that would cause the hard drive, floppy drive, and CD-ROM drive not to attempt a boot is if the system is freezing before it gets to that point.

The last BIOS routine to run before loading the Operating System is DMI pool verification.

This seems to make sense because the system is freezing at the flashing cursor. That is the point where you would see "Verifying DMI Pool...."

Your BIOS supports DMI but you aren't seeing the message because it isn't echoed to the screen by your particular BIOS.

Reset the BIOS to the default values.

Check all of the critical settings in the BIOS Setup especially the hard drive parameters.

Be sure that your hard drive wasn't formatted with the wrong parameters set.

Delete any partitions to bring the hard drive back to original condition.

Make sure the memory matches what is reported in the BIOS Setup and is properly seated.

Make sure the floppy is set to 1.44MB 3.5in. Although, that didn't make a difference in my tests.

Let us know what you find.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

John