Trouble with Abit SA6R

[Slava237]

Abit SA6R
Celeron 600
When I first turned the power on, I went into SoftMenu III in BIOS Setup and selected 600. Next time it detected it as Celeron 600 (66x9). Then I connected WD 13 GB HDD, but it wouldn't detect it until I used cable select. Then it started having problems - the system would hang up on Verifying DVI Pool Data. I thought it was something with my FDD or HDD, but then it stopped going past the very first boot screen. It didn't want to go into SetUp either. I finally figured out that everything works if I turn SoftMenu off with a dip-switch. Well, the only way I can overclock without the SoftMenu is put in on the 100 FSB, which makes it 100x9=900 MHz, a little bit too extreme, it needs better cooling.
So, what's wrong? Did SoftMenu die a slow death? Or is there something wrong with the CPU?
Originally, I planned to overclock it some, but how to do it without the SoftMenu? Yes, I flashed BIOS with the latest one, tried clearing CMOS, nothing helps.

[Philip1952]

Are you trying to use the ata 100 connector. I had the same problem when I booted up my BE6-2. When I had my WD hooked up on the 100 controler it acted up big time. Moved it over to the ide controler and the problem stoped. It would see the drive no problem. So I didn't play with the 100 controler till I set the raid up. It work good on raid with WD's. Figure that one out.

[Slava237]

Philip1952
My hdd was on IDE1. Then I disconnected all hdd and fdd - just to make sure the problem is not with them. And it isn't! I can't get into SoftMenuIII - no matter what.

[Philip1952]

Cable select requires a special cable. Put the drive back in master. Or replace the cable with the correct one.
Now when you said it wouldn't detect it. Is that after you went thru the bious standard CMOS Features Setup menu? If it doesn't see it on that page. The Abit manual says!"If you are using an old hard drive that is already formatted, auto detection can not detect the correct parameters. You may need to do a low level format or set the parameters manually, and then check if the hard drive is working."
You didn't say if this was a new HDD. Or if you went thru the auto detection process. They way you have writen it. It looks like you just set the cpu only. In your manul look under the section that says IDE HDD Auto-Detection. I'll keep checking back. I work seconds. So it might be tomorrow night before I can catch your reply.
Turn off all the dip switches. And retry soft menu. Clear out the bious by removing the battery agin. This time have everything plugged in. And put the HDD on master not cable select. Go thru auto on HDD. If it doesn't see it. Put settings in manually. Then when you get into your boot disk part. Do a fdisk and format. Then do another auto detect. I hope this will cure it.


[This message has been edited by Philip1952 (edited 05-01-2001).]

[Slava237]

Philip1952
I think I have found the problem. As I already mentioned above, I could not get into SoftMenuIII no matter what. For the purity of the experiment, I disconnected all hdd and fdd, so it wasn't them. I tried everything I could, but the problem persisted: if the SoftMenu was enabled with the dip-switch, the system wouldn't go past the very first screen - "CPU unworkable or has been changed" Then down below - F1 to skip, Del to enter Setup. But at this time it already froze. Or, I turned SoftMenu off with the dip-switch - and then everything worked. I was ready to take the board out and go check it with a different power supply, CPU and memory - but then I looked at the pin connectors. By mistake I put one of the Power LED connectors on pin 4, which is "Keyboard inhibit signal." I disconnected that - and everything worked!!! SoftMenu worked!

The problem with my hdd is still the same - it would not want to be detected if it is selected as a master, only if I use cable select. The cable has 80 wires. The hdd is WD 13,4 GB.

[Philip1952]

You still haven't said if this drive has Windows already intalled or not. Lets say it does. Now you can get past the setup page. Put the WD disk in your A: drive and reboot it. Do a full scan of the drive.With the WD program on the disk. Also have the program to zero out the drive. This will make your drive look like brand new to the computer. A new drive is all zero's from the factory. After you have done this. Reboot with your windows boot disk. Do a FDISK then a Format C:. Then reboot and do an auto detect on the drive agin. It sould see it then. The reason I say I think your drive isn't seen is because of the old programing on it. The post above with the " " marks around it came right out of the abit manual for an Abit BE6-2 I am on right now. Its on page 3-10. It sould be close to the same place in your manual. Let me know. I'll be watching.