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I have an older computer that won't boot up. It gets as far as 'Detecting HDD Primary Master' [Press F4 to Skip]. There is no response from the F4 Key. I've checked the CMOS and BIOS and they look fine. I haven't installed any new devices except to swap out the Hard Drive to see if that made a difference, it didn't. From what I've read I have come to the conclusion that the BIOS chip is corrupted. I've tried several different Boot Disks to no avail. The MB is a Freetech, I tried contacting them for support but my email was 'undeliverable'. Is there any way to determine whether or not the BIOS is working and if not how to repair it. The chip set is an Intel Triton TX. And the Bios is an Award No. 2A591F29C-00. If you have any guesses as to what might be the problem I would like to hear from you.

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Dani AI

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Brief summary and what that pattern means: ’s thread shows two different behaviours — an early hang at the BIOS message about the Primary Master, then (after swapping drives) the installer gets as far as copying files before stopping. When an install can start but stalls on file copying the BIOS/POST is usually working well enough to hand control to the installer, so the most likely culprits are drive/configuration/cable/power problems rather than an immediately “dead” BIOS chip. Start with hardware isolation and simple checks. Seagate master/slave and cable guidance.

Practical isolation steps to try now: power off, detach every nonessential device, leave only one drive on the primary IDE channel and set that drive’s jumper to Single/Master; replace the 40‑pin/80‑conductor ribbon cable and use a different Molex power connector; try the drive as the only device. If the installer still stops, move the drive to another working PC (or use a USB‑to‑IDE adapter) and run vendor diagnostics (SeaTools or WD Data Lifeguard) — these will quickly tell you if the media/SMART or bad sectors are the problem. SeaTools bootable diagnostics · WD Data Lifeguard manual.

BIOS/CMOS and keyboard notes: clear CMOS (jumper or remove the coin cell for a few minutes) to restore defaults and eliminate odd BIOS settings. If the F4 prompt doesn’t accept input at power‑on, try a different keyboard (preferably PS/2 on older boards) — some older BIOSes need “legacy USB” support to accept USB keyboards during early POST. How to clear CMOS · legacy USB support explanation.

When to consider BIOS reflash or chip service: only after exhaustive hardware and drive tests. Award‑platform boards can be recovered with a DOS AWDFLASH procedure or a vendor recovery disk, but flashing with the wrong file or interrupting the flash will make things worse. If a recovery disk/flash utility fails, reprogramming the flash chip or replacing the board is the usual next step — this is advanced and best done by a service if you’re not set up to flash chips safely. AWDFLASH/BIOS recovery notes.

Quick checklist: set drive to master/single, swap ribbon + power, single‑drive only, clear CMOS, run SeaTools/WD DLG on another machine, then consider AWDFLASH or board service. Thanks to for prompting the basic triage and to for the clear symptom summary — follow the isolation steps above before assuming a bad BIOS.

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Member Avatar for craiger

Did you try going through the My PC won't start - Read this first! stickied thread?

Yes, I tried that. I found an old Western Digital that is the same size as the Maxtor, 40 Gig. I followed the Protocol from the WD install page and now time it hangs up at "copying files need for set up". Based on this can I now rule out the BIOS as being the problem.

Member Avatar for J_Search

craiger,

Original Problem: Original configuration startup halts at HDD detection. You cannot boot with a startup disk.

New Problem: New configuration (new HDD) Windows install halts during "coying system files". You can boot with a startup disk.

Please confirm, deny, and/or add to the above information.

J_

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