Disk Boot Failure

[Liquidex]

Okay I'll try to make this as quick as possible:

I just got a new system from mwave.com. I based it on their Barebone System deals, which means they'll assemble the case, CPU, RAM, cooling fan and floppy drive for me.

Anyway, today I assembled the rest: A 75 GB IBM EIDE hard drive, a Sony EIDE DVD drive, a GeForce 3, and a SoundBlaster Live. Anyway, everything seemed to install fine, so I hooked up the peripherals-- the monitor, keyboard, speakers and mouse.

According to the IBM instructions for the hard drive, I was supposed to format and partition the hard disk before installing an OS, so I put in the IBM boot disk they included and powered it up for the first time. Everything seemed to go fine, it recognized the GeForce, the DVD and the hard disk. Unfortunetly, I got the "DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER" error. Assuming at first that the IBM boot disk was corrupted, I tried the Win98 boot disk that also came with my system. It didn't work either.

I then went into the AwardBIOS setup to check the boot sequence. The first step is set for "Legacy Floppy", which is defined somewhere else as a 1.44 3.5" drive. This is consistent everywhere. So basically I'm stumped.

The upshot to all of this is the following:

- *EVERYTHING* in the system is brand new, right out of the box.
- The CPU, RAM, Fan and floppy drive were installed by mwave.com, not me.
- I installed the DVD, hard disk, and the sound and video cards.
- Both boot disks are brand new, one is from IBM and came right out of a sealed box with the hard disk, the other came right out of the sealed Win98 package.
- The boot sequence apparently starts with the floppy drive.
- Floppy drive seeking is enabled in the BIOS setup.
- The floppy drive is defined as a 1.44 3.5" drive, which I assume is correct.
- The ribbon cable connecting the drive to the motherboard seems correctly placed; the side with the twist in it is connected to the drive, and the red stripe is facing the right direction (I know this because the connector and the cables are molded in such a way that they'll only go in one direction, so you phyisically cant get the stripe on the other side).

Anyway, I have no idea why this error is occuring given all of the above. Unless the drive was damaged during shipping somehow, none of the elements in this situation have any real reason to be defective. The system is also apparently tested (which includes a floppy drive) before mwave.com send it out. I'd call them for tech support but they're closed for most of the weekend.

Heh sorry this is such a long post, I just wanted to get all the relevant details otu of the way up front. Anyway, please help! Thanks

BTW-- one last detail-- the floppy drive light is always on, if that means anything as well. It never turns off as long as the system is on.

--Liq

[Bovon]

Its kinda late, and I was on my way out, but I'll stop back by in the am...one thing tho..when the LED on the floppy drive stays on all of the time, usually is because the ribbon cable is reversed. BIOS should be setup for the A: drive to be a 1.44 3 1/2 inch, and the drive its self goes to the last connector on the ribbon cable, after the twist in the wires...the twisted wires in a floppy ribbon tells the system which is A: drive and which id B: drive. recheck the ribbon cable, and me or someone will work with you tomorrow.

[Liquidex]

Well okay, but from what I've read on the board, the twisty side of the ribbon cable is supposed to be connected to the drive (as opposed to the mobo) and it is. Also, like I said, due to the way the connector and cable are molded, I physically cant reverse the red stripe. So based on that I don't think the cable could be the problem.

--Liq

[rlpos]

I agree usually if the light stays on the cable is reversed. check it at the motherboard and make sure the stripe is on pin 1 or just reverse it at the motherboard and give it a whirl

[Liquidex]

Okay, thanks a lot guys! It turns out I was wrong about the plastic ridge thing. Only the motherboard side of the cable forces you to put it in in a certain direction. The drive side had provisions for putting the cable in either way. So I tried the other way, and sure enough, it worked.

Heh... suprisingly enough, however, it turns out that while my IBM boot disk works fine, the Win98 boot disk somehow *was* corrupt out of the box. The IBM format/partition utility can't read the disk, nor can my older Pentium 2 system I'm writing this from now. So once again the maiden voyage of this new system is on hold. Pretty bad luck so far.

Anyway, hopefully all I'll have to do now is find myself another Win98 boot disk and everything should be okay.

Thanks again guys.

--Liq

[Bovon]

If you want, I will zip up my Win98 boot disk (home made) with fdisk, format and cd rom drivers included and email it to you. All you would have to do then is, unzip it to a new, formatted floppy...and boot your new system on it..

LMK...

[rlpos]

download one here http://clubs.lycos.com/live/Director...cdhuo&AID=6101


[This message has been edited by rlpos (edited 05-27-2001).]

[elroy]

Lots of boot disks at www.bootdisk.com

[Liquidex]

Well heh thanks guys. One thing tho-- I was just talking to someone last night about boot disks who was saying that a boot disk is more than just the files on it, so you can't just copy the image and paste it onto a new disk. But then, I'll trust a giant board of tech guys over one guy so gracias.

--Liq

[Bovon]

A boot disk is first setup as a 'system disk' by making it bootable with the necessary command.com and other necessary files to make it bootable. Then, you add an autoexec.bat file to it if you want stuff executed at dos, like mscdex.exe and the proper script?, to make it work on some specific drives. Then add format.com, and fdisk.exe and you have a good universal boot disk that will find the cd rom drive, and assign a drive letter in dos, or...fdisk the new/old hard drive and format it when you want to...

I forgot, I have emailed one of these several times, and they unzipped it onto a floppy disk, and it booted the system just fine.

[This message has been edited by Bovon (edited 05-27-2001).]