Solve : New Here; Rebuid'g Older PC; can't boot from CD; Hard Drive ne

1.	Solve : New Here; Rebuid'g Older PC; can't boot from CD; Hard Drive needs files??
Answer» Hello, I am new here. I took on installing a new MB and CPU on an older desktop. The technology of the MB and CPU are about 10 years old (could not afford higher priced components). The ATX MB and Intel 2.8 GHz CPU were "new old stock" and seem to be fine. I have the 80GB Maxtor ATA Hard Drive which I formatted using another PC with XP Home on it and I did the partitioning and formatting of this drive using XP Disk Manager on the working PC. (FYI the HD is NOT SATA, and no RAID will be installed at this time) With the Hard Drive installed on the so-called "NEW" PC, I cannot load any Operating System on to the Hard Drive. AND the CD drive does not run a bootable CD at start-up. The only thing I have been able to "read" is a Win 95 Start-up Disk in the A drive (3.5 floppy) "Yes I said, Old Technology system"! In the OLD DAYS, I seem to recall that in order for a CD drive to be "usable" you had to load some drivers for it ?? The Win 95 floppy has 16 DOS files on it and in the list I see that the MSCDEX.exe is there as is the OAKCDROM.SYS file. If my memory serves me right, those were the files that DOS (Windows) needed to "make the CD ROM Drive work" Is that right? With an "A" prompt on my monitor (A:\>) I can list the files from the floppy. But if I type a C: is GIVES the error message "Invalid drive specification" (This is true for any letter (with colon) that I try. EXCEPT for B: which if I do the DIR command, B:\> has the same 16 DOS files listed as the ones on A:\>DIR .... An exact copy on "B" what is that? But again, no C: drive no D: etc. They are set up and showing in the BIOS setup menu..... So why not on the system (because I have "NO SYSTEM" === right?) How do I proceed? I am stuck and I cannot find an answer on the web! Anybody understand what I am saying (I know it is OLD Technology- but I REALLY want to get the OS to be 32 bit XP Home Edition). BY THE WAY... I have a Windows 98 Start-up Diskette (3.5 floppy) as well but the PC will not boot up on it.... I really need some help, my BRAIN is getting tired and I need it to get some rest! NLOL (not laughing out loud) WHO IS BRAVE ENOUGH to Try and Help Me? Thanks to all who read this and especially to those who answer this post! Blessings! Richard in Michiigan Quote AND the CD drive does not run a bootable CD at start-up. I am assuming you checked the boot order in the BIOS. I have had the same problem before. I have a floppy disk, but I can't remember the name of it. There is a type of boot floppy you can download that allows you to boot a CD. Basically, the computer reads the floppy and the floppy passes the control to the CD drive. I tried to find it again, but can't. If someone knows the name of that particullar boot floppy, please post it.Found it: http://sourceforge.net/projects/btmgr/Linux711, Thanks for the help. I will go to the site and download the file and copy it to a 3.5 floppy and see if that works. Are you sure I do not need anything on the hard drive for it to allow files to be written to it? Like I said it is a clean HD which I F-disk'ed (one large partition), and did a full format on using another PC under XP using the XP disk management tool. Let me do the d'load and try that "SMART BOOTMANAGER" to see if that will allow the XP disc to be read at boot-up.... I will let you know, please keep with me here for a short while if you have the time? THANKS! Richard OK... I went to the site. I did a download but it is the "USER GUIDE" and it is in some file extension tgz which I never heard of? What is this I thought it was some kind of boot disk file that will allow you to do what you SAY??Make sure you download the right file. For some reason the user guide is listed as the main download. You have to go to the files tab, then to the newest version, then to sbminst.exe Quote Are you sure I do not need anything on the hard drive for it to allow files to be written to it? Like I said it is a clean HD which I F-disk'ed No, you don't. The XP install CD should take care of it.can you just list the direct link for the d'load here for me that site is confusing to a novice like me! OK, is this what it is??? I Downloaded it to my desktop just now.... "Sbminst.exe" "Application" "64KB" OK, is this the file for sure?http://sourceforge.net/projects/btmgr/files/btmgr/3.7-1/sbminst.exe/download After the download, insert a blank floppy and open notepad. Copy and paste the following code into notepad and save as .bat (put it in the same location as the sbminst). I don't mean to make this too hard for a novice, but it's how they designed it. Once you get the floppy written, it should be easy. Code: [Select]echo off sbmins~1.exe -t us -d 0 Yes, that is the file, but it is an installation program, so you can't just copy it to the floppy. You have to use the code I posted in previous post. Copy it into notepad and save it to your desktop as [whatever].bat Gotta go. Quote from: richard in michigan on May 05, 2011, 10:20:10 AM ...AND the CD drive does not run a bootable CD at start-up... This is what you want to concentrate on. Set boot order in BIOS: 1. FDD 2. CDROM 3. HDD F10 to save & exit. All XP CD's are bootable. Try powering on with the CD already loaded in the drive. BTW, you will have a lot more problems after the install, since the XP CD is not intended for this motherboard. Where, exactly, did you get the WinXP-Home CD? If it is from your other computer, then it is not licensed for this computer.Yeah I am a NOVICE alright! OK you are saying that to make this floppy "executable" when I go to use it on the PC I am trying to get working, I need to get a HD (high density) 3.5 floppy, make sure it is formatted, then create a (so-called) text file (actually a "batch bat file) using Notepad... and that I write the two lines of text in the Notepad from the two lines of text you list in your post. Thus creating a "bat. file". Then.... Here is what is confusing do I save the text ie bat file ie code (from notepad) onto the floppy? And do I do this first then copy or move the downloaded files (from sbminst.exe) also onto the floppy ALONG with the bat.file Eah gads! I am sure not a program savvy person am I? Dose it matter which way the file lines show up on the floppy?? Quote from: Computer_Commando on May 05, 2011, 12:02:31 PM This is what you want to concentrate on. Set boot order in BIOS: 1. FDD 2. CDROM 3. HDD F10 to save & exit. All XP CD's are bootable. Try powering on with the CD already loaded in the drive. BTW, you will have a lot more problems after the install, since the XP CD is not intended for this motherboard. Where, exactly, did you get the WinXP-Home CD? If it is from your other computer, then it is not licensed for this computer. Commando.... 1st thanks for the reply. (yes I have the BIOS set up like that - but CD drive is not recognized), Like I say, I try to do a start-up with the XP CD in the CD drive but the CD it will not execute (or run) it is as though the drive is dead? But the light came on and the door opens and closes. But what I end up with at the boot-up attempt is the error message "DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISC AND PRESS ENTER". (Pressing enter does nothing as the CD still will not "run"). 2nd the Win XP Home certificate was tied to this PC before the MB burned up so It is cool there. 3rd I am trying to follow along with what Linux711 is trying to tell me... Yes the MB is older technology, so I may be asking for more issues than I want to deal with ? Any concerns there? Linux had to leave the thread. Thanks again Richard Quote from: richard in michigan on May 05, 2011, 12:13:12 PM ...I have the BIOS set up like that - but CD drive is not recognized... BIOS does not recognize CD drive? Quote from: Computer_Commando on May 05, 2011, 12:27:50 PM BIOS does not recognize CD drive? Commando.... Should the CD drive be listed in the BIOS menu on the first page (Std CMOS Features) as one of the IDE Channel (drives)?? What I have is: IDE Channel 0 (zero) Master (equal to) Maxtor 6Y080L0 (the 80GB HD) IDE Channel 0 Slave = [None] IDE Channel 1 Master = [None] IDE Channel 1 Slave = [None] IDE Channel 2 master = [None] IDE Channel 2 Slave = [None} Should I connect the CD drive up as "slave to the Maxtor off the HD Ribbon? Will this help? SOLVED! YES I needed to connect the CD drive as slave to the hard drive to get the message "BOOT FROM CD" at the start-up! YEAH! I am now loading XP onto the computer.... Please wish me luck on the rest of the installation! THANKS to You all for putting up with my mess!Your problem is obvious, although root cause is not. If BIOS doesn't recognize drive, computer is not going to boot from a drive it cannot see. I see 3 IDE channels, 0,1,2 Most motherboards have only 1 or 2 channels. I suspect a SATA port somewhere. Quote from: richard in michigan on May 05, 2011, 12:42:07 PM ...I needed to connect the CD drive as slave to the hard drive to get the message "BOOT FROM CD"... That's one way, read this: Connecting IDE Hard Drives Please provide make & model of motherboard. EDIT: You will still need the "chipset drivers" for the motherboard. Quote from: Computer_Commando on May 05, 2011, 12:54:01 PM Your problem is obvious, although root cause is not. If BIOS doesn't recognize drive, computer is not going to boot from a drive it cannot see. I see 3 IDE channels, 0,1,2 Most motherboards have only 1 or 2 channels. I suspect a SATA port somewhere. Connecting IDE Hard Drives Please provide make & model of motherboard. Commando.... The MB is a FOXCONN 915P7AC (circa 2004-06) with a Phoenix Award BIOS (date/version unknown), the CPU is an Intel P4 511 2.8GB single core processor, I have 1GB or DDR400 RAM. I am now loading windows XP Home Edition (with license to this PC only). It seems to be loading OK so far I need to watch it though for errors.

Solve : New Here; Rebuid'g Older PC; can't boot from CD; Hard Drive needs files??

Answer»

Hello,

I am new here. I took on installing a new MB and CPU on an older desktop. The technology of the MB and CPU are about 10 years old (could not afford higher priced components). The ATX MB and Intel 2.8 GHz CPU were "new old stock" and seem to be fine.

I have the 80GB Maxtor ATA Hard Drive which I formatted using another PC with XP Home on it and I did the partitioning and formatting of this drive using XP Disk Manager on the working PC. (FYI the HD is NOT SATA, and no RAID will be installed at this time)

With the Hard Drive installed on the so-called "NEW" PC, I cannot load any Operating System on to the Hard Drive.

AND the CD drive does not run a bootable CD at start-up. The only thing I have been able to "read" is a Win 95 Start-up Disk in the A drive (3.5 floppy) "Yes I said, Old Technology system"!

In the OLD DAYS, I seem to recall that in order for a CD drive to be "usable" you had to load some drivers for it ??

The Win 95 floppy has 16 DOS files on it and in the list I see that the MSCDEX.exe is there as is the OAKCDROM.SYS file. If my memory serves me right, those were the files that DOS (Windows) needed to "make the CD ROM Drive work" Is that right?

With an "A" prompt on my monitor (A:\>) I can list the files from the floppy. But if I type a C: is GIVES the error message "Invalid drive specification" (This is true for any letter (with colon) that I try. EXCEPT for B: which if I do the DIR command, B:\> has the same 16 DOS files listed as the ones on A:\>DIR .... An exact copy on "B" what is that?

But again, no C: drive no D: etc.

They are set up and showing in the BIOS setup menu..... So why not on the system (because I have "NO SYSTEM" === right?)

How do I proceed? I am stuck and I cannot find an answer on the web!
Anybody understand what I am saying (I know it is OLD Technology- but I REALLY want to get the OS to be 32 bit XP Home Edition).

BY THE WAY... I have a Windows 98 Start-up Diskette (3.5 floppy) as well but the PC will not boot up on it.... I really need some help, my BRAIN is getting tired and I need it to get some rest! NLOL (not laughing out loud)

WHO IS BRAVE ENOUGH to Try and Help Me?

Thanks to all who read this and especially to those who answer this post! Blessings! Richard in Michiigan

Quote

AND the CD drive does not run a bootable CD at start-up.

I am assuming you checked the boot order in the BIOS. I have had the same problem before. I have a floppy disk, but I can't remember the name of it. There is a type of boot floppy you can download that allows you to boot a CD. Basically, the computer reads the floppy and the floppy passes the control to the CD drive. I tried to find it again, but can't. If someone knows the name of that particullar boot floppy, please post it.Found it: http://sourceforge.net/projects/btmgr/Linux711, Thanks for the help.

I will go to the site and download the file and copy it to a 3.5 floppy and see if that works.

Are you sure I do not need anything on the hard drive for it to allow files to be written to it? Like I said it is a clean HD which I F-disk'ed (one large partition), and did a full format on using another PC under XP using the XP disk management tool.

Let me do the d'load and try that "SMART BOOTMANAGER" to see if that will allow the XP disc to be read at boot-up....

I will let you know, please keep with me here for a short while if you have the time? THANKS! Richard

OK... I went to the site. I did a download but it is the "USER GUIDE" and it is in some file extension tgz which I never heard of? What is this I thought it was some kind of boot disk file that will allow you to do what you SAY??Make sure you download the right file. For some reason the user guide is listed as the main download. You have to go to the files tab, then to the newest version, then to sbminst.exe

Quote

Are you sure I do not need anything on the hard drive for it to allow files to be written to it? Like I said it is a clean HD which I F-disk'ed

No, you don't. The XP install CD should take care of it.can you just list the direct link for the d'load here for me that site is confusing to a novice like me!

OK, is this what it is??? I Downloaded it to my desktop just now.... "Sbminst.exe" "Application" "64KB" OK, is this the file for sure?http://sourceforge.net/projects/btmgr/files/btmgr/3.7-1/sbminst.exe/download

After the download, insert a blank floppy and open notepad.

Copy and paste the following code into notepad and save as .bat (put it in the same location as the sbminst). I don't mean to make this too hard for a novice, but it's how they designed it. Once you get the floppy written, it should be easy.

Code: [Select]echo off
sbmins~1.exe -t us -d 0
Yes, that is the file, but it is an installation program, so you can't just copy it to the floppy. You have to use the code I posted in previous post. Copy it into notepad and save it to your desktop as [whatever].bat

Gotta go. Quote from: richard in michigan on May 05, 2011, 10:20:10 AM

...AND the CD drive does not run a bootable CD at start-up...

This is what you want to concentrate on. Set boot order in BIOS:
1. FDD
2. CDROM
3. HDD
F10 to save & exit.
All XP CD's are bootable. Try powering on with the CD already loaded in the drive.
BTW, you will have a lot more problems after the install, since the XP CD is not intended for this motherboard.
Where, exactly, did you get the WinXP-Home CD? If it is from your other computer, then it is not licensed for this computer.Yeah I am a NOVICE alright!

OK you are saying that to make this floppy "executable" when I go to use it on the PC I am trying to get working, I need to get a HD (high density) 3.5 floppy, make sure it is formatted, then create a (so-called) text file (actually a "batch bat file) using Notepad... and that I write the two lines of text in the Notepad from the two lines of text you list in your post. Thus creating a "bat. file".

Then.... Here is what is confusing do I save the text ie bat file ie code (from notepad) onto the floppy? And do I do this first then copy or move the downloaded files (from sbminst.exe) also onto the floppy ALONG with the bat.file

Eah gads! I am sure not a program savvy person am I?

Dose it matter which way the file lines show up on the floppy?? Quote from: Computer_Commando on May 05, 2011, 12:02:31 PM

This is what you want to concentrate on. Set boot order in BIOS:
1. FDD
2. CDROM
3. HDD
F10 to save & exit.
All XP CD's are bootable. Try powering on with the CD already loaded in the drive.
BTW, you will have a lot more problems after the install, since the XP CD is not intended for this motherboard.
Where, exactly, did you get the WinXP-Home CD? If it is from your other computer, then it is not licensed for this computer.

Commando.... 1st thanks for the reply. (yes I have the BIOS set up like that - but CD drive is not recognized),
Like I say, I try to do a start-up with the XP CD in the CD drive but the CD it will not execute (or run) it is as though the drive is dead? But the light came on and the door opens and closes.

But what I end up with at the boot-up attempt is the error message "DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISC AND PRESS ENTER". (Pressing enter does nothing as the CD still will not "run").

2nd the Win XP Home certificate was tied to this PC before the MB burned up so It is cool there. 3rd I am trying to follow along with what Linux711 is trying to tell me... Yes the MB is older technology, so I may be asking for more issues than I want to deal with ? Any concerns there? Linux had to leave the thread. Thanks again Richard Quote from: richard in michigan on May 05, 2011, 12:13:12 PM

...I have the BIOS set up like that - but CD drive is not recognized...

BIOS does not recognize CD drive? Quote from: Computer_Commando on May 05, 2011, 12:27:50 PM

BIOS does not recognize CD drive?

Commando.... Should the CD drive be listed in the BIOS menu on the first page (Std CMOS Features) as one of the IDE Channel (drives)??

What I have is:

IDE Channel 0 (zero) Master (equal to) Maxtor 6Y080L0 (the 80GB HD)

IDE Channel 0 Slave = [None]

IDE Channel 1 Master = [None]

IDE Channel 1 Slave = [None]

IDE Channel 2 master = [None]

IDE Channel 2 Slave = [None}

Should I connect the CD drive up as "slave to the Maxtor off the HD Ribbon? Will this help?

SOLVED! YES I needed to connect the CD drive as slave to the hard drive to get the message "BOOT FROM CD" at the start-up! YEAH! I am now loading XP onto the computer.... Please wish me luck on the rest of the installation! THANKS to You all for putting up with my mess!Your problem is obvious, although root cause is not.
If BIOS doesn't recognize drive, computer is not going to boot from a drive it cannot see.

I see 3 IDE channels, 0,1,2
Most motherboards have only 1 or 2 channels.
I suspect a SATA port somewhere.

Quote from: richard in michigan on May 05, 2011, 12:42:07 PM

...I needed to connect the CD drive as slave to the hard drive to get the message "BOOT FROM CD"...

That's one way, read this:
Connecting IDE Hard Drives

Please provide make & model of motherboard.

EDIT: You will still need the "chipset drivers" for the motherboard. Quote from: Computer_Commando on May 05, 2011, 12:54:01 PM

Your problem is obvious, although root cause is not.
If BIOS doesn't recognize drive, computer is not going to boot from a drive it cannot see.

I see 3 IDE channels, 0,1,2
Most motherboards have only 1 or 2 channels.
I suspect a SATA port somewhere.

Connecting IDE Hard Drives

Please provide make & model of motherboard.

Commando.... The MB is a FOXCONN 915P7AC (circa 2004-06) with a Phoenix Award BIOS (date/version unknown), the CPU is an Intel P4 511 2.8GB single core processor, I have 1GB or DDR400 RAM.

I am now loading windows XP Home Edition (with license to this PC only). It seems to be loading OK so far I need to watch it though for errors.

Solve : New Here; Rebuid'g Older PC; can't boot from CD; Hard Drive needs files??

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