confused...

[chrisbrunke]

so, i inserted windows xp into the drive attempting to format, and re-install...
everything was running smoothly, until about half way through, it asked for the SP2 disc (i have xp pro WITH sp2 on the disc)... so obviously i didnt have the disc.
restarted, and tried again, but then, it didn't boot from the CD at all. it just went right into the installation again.
i took the hard drive out, and installed it on another comp. formatted, and ran the installation through comp#2, and everything worked fine.
switched the HD back to comp #1... no operating system found... wont boot from cd... nothing.
i checked the BIOS and its showing both the HD, and the CDrom drives exactly how they should be.
any suggestions? now im lost...
p.s. yes, the bios is set to boot from CD first.

[dcc]

When you take a hdd with a Windows OS installed on it that you have been using on one computer and then install it as a master in another computer you are asking for major problems. The excerpt below is from a Intel article which describes in detail what happens. The article also mentions a reference to an article by Microsoft, it can be seen here .

"Moving a hard drive with Windows* 2000 or Windows XP* already installed to a new motherboard without reinstalling the operating system is not recommended.

If a hard drive is moved to a new computer, the registry entries and drivers for the mass storage controller hardware on the new motherboard are not installed in Windows for the new computer and you may not be able to start Windows. This is documented in Microsoft's knowledge base article. This is true even if you move the hard drive to a motherboard with the same chipset, as different hardware revisions can cause this issue as well.

Additionally, moving a hard drive to a new motherboard may not exhibit any errors until you install new IDE drivers. This is because each chipset uses a different Plug-n-Play (PNP) ID to identify it. If you move your motherboard, your registry will have multiple PNP IDs (for the old hardware as well as the new hardware). If there are multiple entries in the registry, Windows cannot determine which hardware to initialize and therefore fails with a STOP error."

You could try doing a repair installation, this has had some success.

[dcc]

If the condition of the hdd is questionable, go to the manufacturer's web site and download their diagnostic tool and run it. If there is a short test and a long test, run the long test.

[chrisbrunke]

thanks for the info... any ideas why it's not booting from cd OR usb??
i've set the bios to do so, and neither is working, yet both the cd rom, and the usb drive are recognized in bios.

[chrisbrunke]

okay. figured i'd give you the update. i got it figured out... and it was stupid at best... there just wasn't any driver for the system to read from the CD rom. the bios picked it up, but didn't know what to do with it.
i swapped the cd rom for an older one. popped in win 98 boot floppy... and went through the motions. im currently installing win 98, and ill upgrade to XP later.
and once XP is installed, ill just swap the CD roms back. *sigh* what a relief.
thanks for the help.

[Master Rattley]

well, i don't blame you for being confused, that wouldn't have been my first guess!

[chrisbrunke]

... the confusion continues...
i got the hard drive situation all figured out... XP pro is installed, and working fine... all the drivers are in, and im surfin the web...
but now, i can't get ANY cd roms to work (including the one i used to install windows with).
i just can't figure it out. i've tried 5 different drives. every time, the comp detects the 'new hardware' and 'installs it' and it's 'ready to use'...
pop in a cd, and i can't get ANY data from it. no auto run, and nothing through my computer. i've tried switching the roms from master, slave, and cable select, with no luck... i've also tried swapping IDE cables with no luck... i've tried installing new drivers, and still no luck.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP!!!

[gerbil]

" there just wasn't any driver for the system to read from the CD rom."
Hang on a mo... if you think a bit, the sys has to be able to read a cd without the aid of any OS... just with BIOS. It is how it loads from one when you choose to boot from a cd. So. Either your BIOS has a code hiccup and requires flashing, or worse, your motherboard drive interface is a bit cronk - it can handle an hdd, but not a cd data stream. That would be the Southbridge. You might try cooling it a bit, with fingers well crossed. Loading an OS can warm things up.

[chrisbrunke]

so you think it's a problem with either the BIOS or the mobo itself...?
but i used an older CD rom to install win xp in the first place. then when i swapped it back to the original, it wouldn't work. i've tried 5 different optical drives with the same result (removing old drivers every time). i even tried putting that old one in (the one that i used to install windows) and that wouldn't work either.

"Either your BIOS has a code hiccup and requires flashing, or worse, your motherboard drive interface is a bit cronk"

i really hope you're wrong.

[gerbil]

Because most IDE-based machines have two interfaces, try plugging the cd drive into the other interface.. eg.. as slave on IDE 01, or as master on IDE 02.
And if that does not work, try a BIOS flash. But... it is just an IDE data stream, and i could guess that it is pretty much the same as a hdd stream. I know that Southbridges fail.. I had to get a warranty replacement on one.... it was fine with small files, but any transfer approaching even a few MB simply overheated it and the board would just freeze. Why yours handles a hdd transfer and not that of a cd drive, though, does puzzle me: an hdd puts way more heat load in there. Flash the BIOS, even with the same file if there is no update available.
Let me know what you find.

[chrisbrunke]

okay...

so, i've tried switching which IDE controller i was using...
completely disconnected the HDD from the system, and plugged in the CD rom to run as a solitary master... popped in the XP CD... booted right into start up, no problem!!

but then get this:

i then decided that there was a problem with that IDE controller, so i used a longer IDE cable... made the rom my master, and the HDD the slave...
nothing.
booted windwows xp normally... tried to access the cd rom through my computer... nothing.
it's there. and the driver is there to run it, but it's just not reading data with both drives connected. im at a complete loss for ideas. and i personally dont think that a BIOS flash will be able to fix my problem... just doens't make sense...
anyways, i've hooked everything back up to original OEM settings...
cd rom still doesn't work, but at least i can install programs through USB.

p.s. i even bough a brand new cd-rw drive (just incase the previous 6 i tried were busted) and still didn't work.

i think i will give up hope with this thread... thanks to all who tried.

[chrisbrunke]

okay...

so, i've tried switching which IDE controller i was using...
completely disconnected the HDD from the system, and plugged in the CD rom to run as a solitary master... popped in the XP CD... booted right into start up, no problem!!

but then get this:

i then decided that there was a problem with that IDE controller, so i used a longer IDE cable... made the rom my master, and the HDD the slave...
nothing.
booted windwows xp normally... tried to access the cd rom through my computer... nothing.
it's there. and the driver is there to run it, but it's just not reading data with both drives connected. im at a complete loss for ideas. and i personally dont think that a BIOS flash will be able to fix my problem... just doens't make sense...
anyways, i've hooked everything back up to original OEM settings...
cd rom still doesn't work, but at least i can install programs through USB.

p.s. i even bough a brand new cd-rw drive (just incase the previous 6 i tried were busted) and still didn't work.

i think i will give up hope with this thread... thanks to all who tried.

[gerbil]

When I used IDE I had the hdds as Master + Slave on one interface [sorry, I've been calling it a controller...], and an optical drive as Master on the second interface.. [current sys has but one IDE interface, and it is unused, all Sata gear].
Anyway, I could get confused here.. are you saying that your sys has only one IDE interface? An interface can handle two drives, it is the software drivers that interpret to which the data should flow. So the BIOS software integrity is still relevant. Are you using the 80-wire IDE cables [same connectors, just internally connected grounded shield wires]?

[chrisbrunke]

the mobo that we are referring to has no SATA controllers installed. one IDE for 3.5"floppy, and 2 IDE for HDD and optical.
read the first few posts in this thread, and you will see where the issue springs from.
the BIOS and OS both completely recognize the optical drive, and in windows, it installs the optical drive, and says it's ready for use.
but put a CD in, and it doesn't read from it.
this is where it gets confusing...
i removed the original optical drive and replaced it with an older one in order to install win98 initially, once win98 was installed, i used that same (older) optical drive to install XP. once in XP, and all the proper drivers were installed, i switched the opticals back, and it didn't work. (i've removed old drivers before the switch).
tried 6 different drives... all didn't work. switched back to the old one (which worked before)... nothing.

any ideas?

[pcfresh]

Out of curiosity have tried resetting the "CMOS" or even loading the bios defaults?