Floppy boot halt / stop

[TheFoxy]

While trying to boot DOS from a Win98 boot floppy disk, I encountered an annoying problem. After the BIOS checks the hardware and list IRQs it detects the floppy disk as it should, and there is a bit of activity from the floppy drive. It then stops and I get left with an unresponsive command line screen with a flashing cursor. If I press any key there will be a short period of floppy activity but nothing at all will happen on-screen. The disk isn't the problem as I've tried a recently created one and one I created many years ago and there is no difference. If I remove the disk when there is no activity the computer will display the Windows screen and happily load Windows. If I remove it when there is FDD activity then it will complain that the boot disk is missing.

I did get it to work once by disabling 'Quick Power On Self Test' in the BIOS. But, after the couple of times it worked a few days ago it now doesn't!!! (It prompts me to choose a boot device with 'Quick Power On Self Test' disabled, before it does the same infuriating halt). Also, when I have the option disabled the BIOS's memory check runs in an infinite loop for some strange reason. It counts slowly up to 256MB and then it starts from 0 again... :| It also counts more memory than it displays when the option is enabled. This is worrying since at one time a while ago I got recurring registry corruption in Win98 (possibly a sign of bad memory). This went away though. The fact that the Win98 install is quite old (and that the HD has never been reformatted) makes it difficult for me to conclude that the other general screwiness of the computer in Win98 is due to faulty memory.

I have not encountered this floppy boot problem before on the computer. However, I'm not entirely sure whether I have actually tried before now since I think I used the Win98 CD when I first built it.

Any help with this problem would be much appreciated, as I'm itching to repartition the computer's HD for fresh OS installs. I can't do this while I can't boot to DOS with a floppy. :/

Computer's specifications:

Athlon 850MHz
256MB RAM (Generic, I've no idea what manufacturer)
Asus K7V Motherboard (VIA KX133 Chipset)
Leadtek Winfast GeForce 4 Ti4600

 

[ajroxit]

the infinite loop your talking about is just the memory test cycling in a full POST. when you say the memory is counting more than is physically there, the count is actually right, unless it counts past 300 MB. there is allway a little over head {8 bits to a byte and we count in 10's, hence the over head your seeing}. the floppy error could be a bad floppy or the controller chip, replace the floppy with a known good one and see what happens, if the error persists, replace the cable, if the error persists , probly a bad floppy controller on the mother board.
good luck
AJ

 

[kjv1611]

Have you considerred trying a different floppy drive (not disk), and see if there are some malfunctions there? Also, is there some form of DOS istalled on the hard drive?

Stephen
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6 KJV

 

[TheFoxy]

There is a version of DOS on the hard drive as it currently has Win98 installed on it.

 

[kjv1611]

Have you tried checking online at the motherboard manufacturer (or pc manufacture if you purchased Dell or Compaq, etc) to see if there are any BIOS updates?

If so, I would suggest just try installing a different floppy drive (if you can get your hands on one), and see if that works.

Another way to test would be try changing the BIOS settings to default or the one that is more or less the "safest" option, called something like "fail proof" or similar - forget exact name at moment. If nothing else, find the 2 pins for the BIOS on the motherboard, and use a (non-magnetic) screwdriver or other metal object to short the pins (with the power off, not on for computer), you just have to cause a connection between the two pins for a couple seconds in order to reset the BIOS to the factory default settings. This can fix some problems in the BIOS.

Stephen
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6 KJV

 

[TheFoxy]

Thanks for the help so far!

Right, after some fiddling I've swapped the computer's floppy drive for an old LS-120 drive that was sitting in another one. This drive connects to the ATA interface, and shows up as 'LS-120' but it will also read/write to normal floppy disks and so masquerades as a normal floppy drive. I tried to boot from a floppy disk again, using the 'Floppy Drive' (L-120 in disguise) and I had the same problem. However, using device 'LS-120' I could boot from the floppy. :|

This indicates that the problem is not either the floppy drive or the floppy cable, (they were not in use!) so I'm thinking it's to do with the BIOS/motherboard.

The BIOS doesn't have a 'safest'/'default' option from what I remember. I'm rather relcutant to go shorting the board as well, since if I screw up and the board is damaged I'm unlikely to find a replacement, which means the whole PC is screwed. (We're talking a Slot A mobo here, lol.)

I'm going to have a look for BIOS updates now.

 

[TheFoxy]

The ASUS site is horrible, so I couldn't locate any updates. I did try disbaling boot virus protection in the BIOS yesterday. After this I could boot from a floppy! However, I just turned the computer on today to begin work and it now DOESN'T work again!

 

[kjv1611]

That's too bad (working one day, and now not working. By the way, so long as you locate the correct pins for your mobo, you should have no possibility of messing it up by shorting them. The only way you could possibly mess up, I would think, would be to use a magnetised screw driver. So, just use some plain piece of metal, screw driver or other. Make sure the computer power is off when you do it, of course. Also, if you can post your motherboard model # here, we may can help find the drivers/updates/manual for you.

Stephen
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6 KJV

 

[kjv1611]

If you are still having troubles with this, and not given up, I have a computer with pretty much the same board (didn't look at your signature for the mobo type, duh! Anyway, if you are still looking here, I do recall there is a Set Bios or CMOS defaults. I have the Asus k7v-t board with a slot a 900mhz athlon processor and 1 gb of pc133 ram installed. It works no problems. Everytime I've thought I was having problems with the mobo (switching out parts, cases, etc, I have found the problem was always something else. Try going into your BIOS settings and hitting the Function key that says load setup defaults or something like that.. It's either listed on the main screen or under the exit "tab"...

Stephen
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6 KJV