nForce4 mobo : Cannot boot from DVD drive ??!!

[transtec]

Help me I'm desparately in need of help here,

I have received a bootable copy of Windows 64 on a DVD. Im so eager to try it out, but the prob is I cant get it to boot in my system.

No this is not a problem with the DVD , cos I tried it in the morning and it worked then ! ( meaning it booted into the Windows setup 'bluescreen' ). Since I dint have time then I thought I'd install it later. But in the eve when i popped the DVD into the Asus DVD Writer it didnt boot at all. My system is like ignoring the drive completely at startup and going into the Hard drive for booting. I tried with the Windows XP bootable CD that I used to setup XP on this machine and nor does it boot with that CD now. But previosuly it was working fine.

Im sure this is some settings gone off in da BIOS, so could someone help me in giving the correct settings. No matter how much I change the boot priority ( from Hard drive to CDROM in the first boot device ) it doesnt work. I tried resetting the BIOS nor did it work then. I disabled RAID and that wudnt help either.

The biggest mystery is that altho the drive is ignored at startup it is detected in Windows and Im able to run the DVD ( altho Im unable to setup Windows 64 within Windows , cos Windows XP is a 32 bit environment )

My MoBo and config are :
Gigabyte GA-k8nf-9 motherboard,
AMD Athlon64 3000+ ( 1.8 GHz clock ),
ASUS 16X DVD Writer,
1 Hitachi 160 GB SATA drive
1 Maxtor 120 GB ATA Diamond Plus drive

 

[mikker]

You said you tried all of the boot priorities. Have you tried to disable all of the boot devices except the dvd drive in the BIOS? Another thing is that unless the O.S. is an upgrade , then you will have to install it to a hard drive without a previous O.S. In other words if it isn't an upgrade you will have to format your hard drive.

 

[transtec]

I have tried all of the boot priorities but still it doesnt work. Yes, I know about needing a new partition for the OS, thats why Im goin to install it on the first partition of the PATA drive.

But I found something interesting now. When I booted my machine jus an hour ago I found that it actually detected my DVD Writer and PATA hard drive on the POST setup ( usually it doesnt show these drive names on POST ). But unfortunately I wasnt able to go into booting from my DVD as I pressed "del" then to go into the BIOS. Altho I dint save any changes in BIOS, when I restarted the machine I found that it dint show the drives again and I wasnt able to boot fromt the DVD either. So I am back to where I started.

So pls guys cud u tell me what the heck is wrong with my MoBo ?

 

[electronicsfreak]

Heres a few things to try. First off follow the manual on how you go about resetting your bios just insure that the power supply is unpluged. If that does not work , look at the manufacturers website and see if theres a bios update. If so flash the bios to newest version. If it still does not pick it up go to the site below, make a windows 98 boot disc, enable cdrom support and then just type setup.exe from the prompt and that should load the disc.

http://www.bootdisk.com/

 

[transtec]

thanx for the replies guys, Im still unable to boot from the DVD Writer.

What baffles me mostly is why my MoBo detects the 2 IDE drives ( 120 GB Maxtor hard drive and the Asus DVD Writer ) during POST only at times and otherwise DONT !
Cud this be a problem with my MoBo ?

And also I dont understand how to set the boot prioroity in this MoBo, since under "Advanced .." tab it says
> Hard Disk Boot Priority ... which is a separate menu where I get to set priority for the following - SCSi hard drive, Built-in Cards and my Western Digital External Hard drive

and then just below >Hard Disk Boot Priority is the 3 options as follows
First Boot Device
Second Boot Device
Third Boot Device

So how shud a user set the boot priority in this MoBo ?

If I set the first boot device to CDROM and leave the others as Disabled it would still go to the Hard Drive.... So what I understand is that this MoBo doesnt detect the 2 IDE drives at POST and becaous of that I am unble to set them Boot Priority.

 

[electronicsfreak]

The first boot device make floppy, make the second boot device cdrom, then 3rd one hard drive. Or make the first 2 cdrom. If it still dont detect it sounds like either bad hardware or improperly setup hardware. Ensure your jumpers are correct.

 

[rvnguy]

transtec,

Start with IDE Devices and cable.

Determine which IDE Header is 'primary" on the mobo and insure you use this one.

Devices; Insure that HD is jumpered as Master. DVD as slave.

Cable; has three connectors, two that are closer to each other than the one remaining. This lone connector (farthest from other two) connects to the mobo. The middle connector connects to the slave and the end connector to the master.

This order can be important and some are more picky than others,

Also might cause intermittant detection. Re-check connectors for seating. Lastly try another IDE cable.

try first to get reliable post detection before trying to proceed.

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[transtec]

hey guys, thanx for the replies,

I got things sorted out. I jus pulled out my System Unit and ripped the cover off and then did some tappings here and there arnd the cables and the 2 IDE drives. Then I started the machine while the case was open and Voila ! the PATA hard disk got detected. I knew this was a problem with the cable then, and then to my amazement I saw 2 IDE ports on the mobo ( up until then I was thinkin that there was only one ). Since there were two IDE cables with me I replaced the old cable along with a new one and got another new one for the other PATA drive and connected it to the mobo... Since then my Mobo boots faster since no slow POSTing.

So the problem that I was thinking it was only 1 IDE port and fixing the IDE cable the other way whilst twisting it a lot to manage to connect it to 2 IDE drives. Because of this there wud not hav bin a good connection and hence the irregular detection of the IDE drives at POST.

Thanx again for the support from all you guuys... catch ya arnd.

 

[electronicsfreak]

n/p and glad to hear you got it working. Its always good when people post what the solution was so when future people look these up.

 

[transtec]

Yea I jus hope this thread helps the community from future truble similar to this.
I was so damn pissed with this particular MoBo and in a real chaos the last weekend ( mind you and its the best time of the year ) screwing arnd changin BIOS settings, the whole of it. So next time anyone get into truble like this, dont be a jackass like me trying to make things work changing BIOS settings since there's a limit to what you can do there. Always remember there are other things you need to do like "checking the nuts and bolts under your hood." i.e to remove the casing and check the cables and also whether things are where they should be, in proper order.