HD failure or currupt BIOS?

[Giacomo1234]

New computer, modern gigabyte motherboard SINXP1934, Western digital WD600JB 60GB hard drive. System hangs before asking for boot disk (no OS yet). the message is 'veryfing DMI pool data....'. CMOS recognises all hardware with the exeption of the cylinder (28000) for the hard drive which is well over the specs given by Western Digital (around 16000). Changing the HD specs in CMOS manually to the correct cylinder automatically sets drive capacity to a miserable 8.4 GB(??). Tried resetting CMOS but no result. Tried changing boot disk order, if i put CD ROM before the HD the system boots but hangs on agreement of the Windows XP terms and conditions. Awaiting another HD to check weather it may be the probelm. Would i be corect in saying the HD is at fault? or could it be the motherboard????

 

[BuckeyeComputers]

repeating your post is not going to get your answer any faster, just confuses people trying to help... but did you try booting the system with a Windows ME boot disk(floppy) and at the A: prompt typing fdisk to see if it could see the drive as suggested before?

 

[Giacomo1234]

sorry about that.
I have tried another (empty/clean/new) HD and this is what happens:
1. initially everything is fine and recognised in the CMOS
2. It says the system can't boot and requires disk (i suppose this is normal).
3. Insert Windows XP CD and it starts the setup. Fine.
4. Reaches terms and conditions and hangs. I can scroll the terms and conditions but cannot accept (F8). Nothing happens when i press F8 (agree). However I can decline (Esc).
5. From now on i get the message verifying DMI pool data.
and cannot boot.
6. I avoid the message and start the Windows setup if i set the CDrom boot priority (i.e. before HD) in the BIOS settings. However everything stops once again at the terms and conditions.

At this stage i assume it is not the HD. Is it the MB?

p.s also used new IDE cables for HD test.

 

[BuckeyeComputers]

"p.s also used new IDE cables for HD test."
what kind of test?

 

[Comtech]

Have you tried a different keyboard?
If you're using a USB keyboard, you must enable Legacy USB keyboard support in BIOS.

Cheers,
Jim

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/

 

[BuckeyeComputers]

I think his keyboard is ok Comtech as in he can hit enter to get to the licence agreement... still have not got an answer on using fdisk to see if the drive is at least accessable.... from the sounds of it after you accept the licence agreement the next step is to access the harddrive for partition info.. which is where it hangs

 

[Comtech]

Portions of the keyboard might be ok...
Enter and ESC may work, even without USB legacy support, but nothing else does, been there, done that.
Was just a suggestion.

Is the "Trend Chip Away" anti-virus disabled in BIOS? (It should be).
Have you tried an install with only the bare system components in place, and no peripheral cards?
Have you checked CPU and RAM FSB timings?
Is PnP OS Installed set to NO? (It should be).
Have you tried fdisk, with a standard bootdisk?
Are you positive that your BIOS version recognizes drives of that size?
Is LBA enabled?
Just a few more things to check.

Cheers,
Jim

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/

 

[BuckeyeComputers]

interesting to know Comtech, but will remember that if i come across that problem with keyboards in the future

 

[Giacomo1234]

Thanks so much for your help!
My keyboard is USB but is fitted with a PS2 adaptor i suppose that is ok. Anyhow I can use F8 key for access of my Q-Flash utility in CMOS setup. I will now try the fdisk strategy now. Was a little hesitant before because im not entirely sure what im doing there and i wanted to check with a new hard drive first since this was available.now will get copy of WinME boot disk and run Fdisk

In terms of the PnP/PCI settings in CMOS ive come across your suggestion in another website. However all i have in the CMOS PnP/PCI settings are the IRQ assignments for PCI (which are all set to auto) no refernece to OS.

CPU clock set at 133 (thats ok for Pentium northwood CPU 2.53 GHz isn't it?)
Linear frequency Control is Disabled (so all default values)

thanks again guys

 

[Giacomo1234]

Actually could it just be a dodgy copy of Windows XP?

 

[Giacomo1234]

there are two WinME boot disks avaailable OEM and custom no ram drive im guessing either will do so i will use the former.

 

[Giacomo1234]

ok ive downloaded winME bootdisk OEM (bootme application) from

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

when i put this into the new (problematic) PC i get the folowing message:

'veryfing DMI pool data.......
Non-System disk or disk error
Replace and strike any key when ready'

Then system hangs when the instructions are followed. Have no idea what is going on but it doesn't sound good!

 

[Grenage]

If it automatically detects it as the wrong size on a new computer thats not a good sign to begin with. Do you have another HD to test on the MB?

 

[Giacomo1234]

the size of the hd is detected ok in CMOS.
what do you mean?

 

[Grenage]

Did you not say in your original post that the BIOS recognised the drive incorrectly ?

CMOS recognises all hardware with the exeption of the cylinder (28000) for the hard drive which is well over the specs given by Western Digital (around 16000). Changing the HD specs in CMOS manually to the correct cylinder automatically sets drive capacity to a miserable 8.4 GB(??)

 

[Giacomo1234]

yes i see what u mean.
actually ive tried a 40GB HD by the same manufactuer again the CMOS states a cylinder 19158 while the website states 16383 (incidentally the same value as for the 60GB drive for which i had the same problem).
However all the capaccities are identified correctly by the CMOS

 

[Grenage]

I see what you mean, it does appear Motherboard related then doesn't it.

 

[Giacomo1234]

is there any other way i could check?

 

[Comtech]

Maybe try the latest flash for that board.

http://www.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/Support/BIOS/BIOS_GA-SINXP1394(GA-8SQ800 Ultra2).htm

I would think it should support the hard drive.
Are you sure it's jumpered correctly to CS, on an 80 wire cable, and it's in the master position (black connector, with blue to mobo, and grey empty)?

Cheers,
Jim

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/

 

[Giacomo1234]

ive jumpered it as master without slave
and yes its set up as the master in terms of cables
how can i tell wether its 40 or 80 cable