how do i get bios to find my hard drive 1

[chops2602]

hi all,when i run fdisk(win98se)the pc is returning no fixed disk..how do i correct this problem.i had striped the pc & rebuilt it.but i can not get the BIOS to find my drive

 

[edfair]

What shows in CMOS setup?

Ed Fair
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[chops2602]

hi ya.thanxs 4 responding...

nothing is showing in the CMOS.

 

[wolluf]

Is bios set to autodetect drive on boot?
Drive definitely working before?

Jumpers set correctly? IDE cable connected correctly & firmly (& no broken connectors)?

Is this only drive in machine?

 

[chops2602]

Hi ED
do not know if it is set to auto detect ed.do let me know how to set this.there are no jumpers on the rear of the drive(only 1 drive installed).before i dismantled this system
kept getting conflict I/O errors to do with the mouse(serial).it is a pen 1@75mhz.i think all the connectors r ok..do have a cdrom connected to the same ribbon as the hard drive ed...

 

[edemiere]

Make sure the jumper on the back of the CD-ROM is set to Cable Select (it is probably labeled "CS" on the back, and make sure the hard drive is on the END of the ribbon cable, i.e. the opposite end of the cable that attaches to the motherboard.

Go into the BIOS/CMOS settings of your PC and go into System Settings or Basic Options (usually the first menu option once you enter the BIOS) and make sure that the drive type and access modes are set to AUTO.

Also, do you know what brand the hard drive is?

Cheers!

 

[chops2602]

Hi Ed
Thanxs,it is a western digital hard drive..

 

[edemiere]

First, put the WD hard drive jumper (located on the back of the drive next to the ribbon cable) on the first 2 pins (vertically). The first 2 pins are considered the ones furthest from the ribbon cable. This will make the hard drive master.

Second, put the CD-ROM as slave (or cable select as I suggest above). The Slave settings on most CD-ROMS is the middle set of pins. Place the jumper on the middle two pins (again vertically).

Third, make sure the hard drive is the LAST drive on the cable, that is to say the opposite end on the ribbon cable that connects to the motherboard.

Lastly, go into your BIOS/CMOS into the first menu option and make sure all drive properties are set to AUTO. This will allow the BIOS to correctly detect the installed drives and will allow you to access them.

Do those four simple things and I think you should be in good shape.

Good luck!

 

[edfair]

I prefer to let the BIOS pick the drive up, using drive identification (if your BIOS can do it-one of the choices on the first screen) and it will enter the relevant information in drive types in the basic setup screen.
Usally , if it finds a drive, it will give you choices as to how the drive should be recognized with the preferred method as a first choice.

If the hard drive was active before you rebuilt the machine, then it should be usable on the rebuild unless you have plugged the cables in wrong or set something wrong on the CMOS.

You evidently have net , go to the WD support page and look at the jumper settings for you drive model. There will be some explanation as to what they do.

Ed Fair
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[chops2602]

Hi Ed
Thanxs so much 4 your help.I now have my Drive back However
I have put in a card to the motherboard to operate the serial mouse..what comes up is this. CONFLIICT I/O PORTS
378:2F8:3F8.On this pci board are jumpers numbered j1 to j10
all in a line any ideas as to what the settings are ED.

 

[edemiere]

Go into your BIOS and disable COM1 and COM2, generally found under the INTEGRATED CHIPSET FEATURES section (or something of the like name).

That is where your conflict is coming from.

Is there a reason why you can't use the onboard COM1 connector on the back of the PC?

Cheers!

 

[edfair]

The jumpers will allow you to set the address to other than com1 or com2. (3&4 likely candidates)
From the error message you installed an ATIO board. And the ports active on it are in conflict with the ports active on the M/B. 378 is parallel, 3f8 abd 2f8 are serial.

Edemiere is correct on the cripple of the serial ports, but you need to cripple the parallel port also.

The jumpers allow you to change I/O addresses and IRQs. Documentation is in the manual, user card , or printed on the card. Every manufacturer does it their own way, so any advice from me is 99.99% probability wrong. Use the FCC ID and get to the manufacturer and download the specs.

Ed Fair
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[chops2602]

Hi Ed.
This is a pre-historic pc Ed.the pci board i placed on the motherboard is the only way i can connect a mouse(serial).
without this board i have no mouse opperation.but i will try & see if i can disable the comms ports
thanxs 4 everything Ed
steve wiseman