HD recognised in BIOS, but wont boot 1

[fbslim]

i installed dr hardware 2003, ran tests, was trying to figure out pc100 or pc133 before installing ram. then i changed out the ram and turned it back on.

the hard drive is recognized in the bios but wont boot up. changed the ram back, cleared the cmos, nothing.

the erd commander 2003 boots up fine, but thats expected.

can't figure out what else the problem could be. its an old system, but does the job.

award modular v.6.00bg

thanks for any help

 

[fbslim]

seagate 160gb

 

[Enkrypted]

Are you getting any type or error message when trying to boot to the hard drive?

Enkrypted
A+

 

[fbslim]

nothing. just a blank screen. nothing else past the bios load.

 

[Enkrypted]

Well the first step would be working from the point where you said you changed the RAM since it stopped working after that. What type of motherboard is it? Are you sure you have the correct RAM for it? (PC100/133). Did you make sure that nothing came lose after installing the RAM? Those would be a few of the steps I would list here so we can help you determine the issue.

Enkrypted
A+

 

[fbslim]

had the correct ram. i unplugged all the IDEs w/o battery, nothing. BioStar M6TWG ver 1.2

 

[Freestone]

Try booting a DOS diskette (available at

http://www.bootdisk.com).

Does a DIR C: show anything? If so, does FDISK show the C: partition as active?

 

[wolluf]

which operating system is installed?

If freestone's tip isn't the answer, and its 2k or XP, try booting into recovery console (apart from anything else, it will only load recovery console if it finds an operating system on there).

If it loads, run chkdsk /p, then fixmbr and fixboot. Restart and see if any joy.

If it doesn't load, get the drive manufacturer's diagnostic (usually available from their website) and run that to check the drive's status.

 

[fbslim]

partition showed as active.
the recovery console worked.
thanks wolluf, Freestone & Enkrypted