Andrew Bestfrenn wrote:
"relic" wrote in message
. ..
Andrew Bestfrenn wrote:


Now I have an even bigger problem. I was in the bios
trying different settings.
It is a Fujitsu MPC3102A hard drive
I tried setting the bios to:

user type: HDD
Translation method: manual
cylinders: 16383
head: 16
sector: 63
multisector transfers: maximum
smart monitoring: enabled
PIO mode: 4
Ultra DMA mode: 2

I saved the new settings and rebooted
this time it booted up and said 'primary master fail'
while listing primary slave, secondary master, secondary slave etc.
as: none

It seemed to be at least detecting the hard drive or trying to.
From there I tried a program called Device Manager
It said 'cannot detect hard disk' so I exited.
I kept trying to get either Device Manager or the BIOS
to detect the hard drive.
NOW, I have somehow reset the bios so that I cannot get even get
into the IDE settings. When I bootup from A drive, I press delete
to enter setup, but now hen I enter setup, it no longer takes
me straight to the boot menu, but to the main menu instead. From the
bios
setup main menu, I go to the boot menu, and IDE hard drive is
listed as
'none' . When I try to change the IDE hard drive setting from
'none' (and get back to the IDE parameter settings) , I cannot get
in. I get two thoroughly demoralizing
options, either 'none' or 'disabled' Now what do I do?
----------
You won't be able to select a boot device that isn't seen first.

1. If you set the IDE Devices to Auto, do they detect anything?
2. What make/model is your Motherboard?
3. Where did you get the XP CD? It sounds like a copy of a KaZaA
download, not a Microsoft Windows XP CD.
--------
1. no, it was initially set to autodetect for the IDE hard drive,
and though it did not detect the IDE drive, at least it allowed
me several options other than 'auto' when I clicked on it. (user
type, etc.) Now that I have switched it from 'auto' to 'none' ,
when I click on 'none', to change it, it only gives me one other
option: 'disabled', so therefore I can't switch it back to autodetect
or even get in to manually set the parameters.
2. the motherboard is an asus a7V133
3. the xp cd is a download

thankyou for your help and interest


It sounds like you're mixing up screens. If you don't have your motherboard
manual, you can download one he
http://www.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/sock...a7v133-105.pdf

The 'Auto', 'None', 'Disabled' choices you're talking about should be on the
"BOOT" menu. You're not going to be able to do anything there until the disk
is detected. Note that every BIOS menu has a Reset Defaults option (F5), do
that!

In the BIOS, select the "MAIN" menu (page 54 in the manual) and set the four
IDE channels to Auto like shown in the picture. If you highlight each and hit
Enter, you should see a sub-menu like shown on page 55. With it set to Auto
at the top, it should fill out the drive statistics beneath. If it does not,
there is no drive detected. If you start with the Primary Master, it should
see your disk assuming that's where you installed it (that's where it /should/
be installed). You can check the other three positions to see if your hard
disk is detected on any of them. While you're doing that, is your CD being
detected?

If it is detected somewhere else, I'd move it (and its master/slave jumper) so
it is the Primary Master.
If it isn't detected anywhere, either the disk is bad (you need a new one),
the motherboard is bad (ditto), or the cabling to the drive is not installed
correctly.

I'd check the cabling and jumpers:
The IDE Cable is made with 3 plugs like this "|_______|___|" The 1st plug (at
the end of the long piece from the middle plug) goes to the motherboard. Most
are keyed on the edge, but not all; pin 1 is on the end with the colored wire
on the edge of the cable... pin 1 on the motherboard is marked where you can
see it, pin 1 on the drive end (last plug) is towards the Power Plug.

On the drive will be a sticker or some labling of where to place a jumper over
pins to set Master or Slave (some drives also have a Cable Select setting).
Make sure the disk is jumpered to be the Master. If it still doesn't get
detected, try it connected as Secondary Master to see if it could just be a
problem with the Primary IDE Channel.

You're not going to be able to begin installing anything until a Disk is
detected in BIOS. Cables, Jumpers, BIOS Settings all have to be right, then
if it doesn't work, Bad Disk, Bad Cable (but you can easily try another one),
Bad Motherboard.

--
- relic -
They call it PMS because Mad Cow Disease was already taken.