. . .on any devices."

So I got the Compaq HDD out and someone downloaded it for me (Dwnldd the C:\File, My Docs etc). I get it back and reconnect it. There is a broad gray cable that form-fits into its connector on the HDD, and there is a set of interconnecting wires labled P2, P3, and P4. P4 is the longest and last in the series and hangs right over the socket that it fits into, four female holes on the cable side, males connectors on the HDD side.

Now, between those two there is another cable recepetor on the HDD. It has pins sticking up and a divider bar in the middle. It is a little smaller than the four holer to the right of it. However, there is nothing to plug into it. So, I'm thinking who's the smart guy that removed the cable, and, since I live alone, there aren't many choices.

I have looked in the box, it ain't that big, and everything is connected to something. and there is no cable to fit into that connector receptor.

When I turn on the PC, I get the COMPAQ splash screen in big red letters, like it should be, and then that terrifying (7 days to go until the service plan runs out) message:

OPERATING SYSTEM NOT FOUND ON ANY DEVICES.

I called the guiy who did the download, and he hasn't (since last night) returned my message. Very disturbing, that.

Please place the startling simple solution to this dilemma in the next post box below this one, and embarrass me to death with the obvious I overlooked.

Thanks. . . :(

So I got the Compaq HDD out and someone downloaded it for me. Not sure I follow you here Donn. Downloaded what? An Operating System??? :confused:
The "broad gray cable that form-fits into its connector on the HDD", is your IDE Cable I'm assuming, which connects (usually) to the Primary IDE Connector on you Motherboard.

I'm going to take a wild guess here and assume that the area with "pins sticking up and a divider bar in the middle", is where a small (very small) jumper goes to select "Master", Slave", "Cable Select" etc. (Sometimes, more than one jumper for a particular configuration)
Look closely and see if there is a little "M" and an "S" or whatever where a jumper would go. If that is missing, it would certainly cause problems.
(The jumper would be on "Master" if this was the Only Hard Drive on a particular IDE Channel.

If I've missed something here, or I'm way off base, please enlighten us some more. ;)

Not sure what you mean by "downloading" a HDD. Do you mean "formatted".

If it was formatted, then there will be no operating system on it until you reinstall one.

HDD's have two cables. The power cable has four wires - yellow, red, black, black, and there is a data cable which has 40 or 80 wires and a 80 pin connector.

The 9-10 pin connector in between is not a connector at all. It's what's used to select how you configure the drive - Master, Slave or Cable Select. The mode is selected by a jumper which connects two of the pins. The thing you called a bar is the jumper. You can pull it off of the pins and see for yourself.

No, not formatting, I had the C:\file downloaded onto discs (My Pics, My Docs, etc), sorry 'bout that. I edit the post. :o

Most likely the jumper was put to slave by the person to do the 'download'? Set it to master by sliding it off the slave oins and replacing it on the master pins.

Was this a tech from Compaq?

Edit:
You posted as I was replying.

What you did was copy or cut the contents of the HDD and pasted them to another drive.

Well, as you can see from my post, you guys are leaning toward the same thing I am.
Only my contention is that the Master/Slave Jumper is missing completely. :eek:

Okay, Jaber, the little connecting plug inbetween the broad cable and the four (?) prong connector has 8 very small prongs sticking up in it, with the second set of two o o o o having a cinnecting bar between them, that actually
I
o o o o

touches both prongs ans is layed in a block of plastic that surrounds all four of them. I don't see any indicator anywhere of the M, S,C designation, not anywhere on the HDD. The numbers 84680-2 and REV-A but they are imbedded in the plastic lip, look like maybe serial numbers.

I have the HDD completely out again, so I can see everything on it. No indicator of M,S, C.....

Well I tried to draw it but it didn't come through in the last post, the vertical bar is supposed to connect the prongs 2nd from the left top to bottom.......

FTT: The techie is an independent. He does all the tech work for the comp system at a landscape architechture firm that I do painting for. I looked at the HDD with a 50X magnifyer and there is no M,S, C indicator, only very faintly embedded in the plastic is the term " + AMP" next to the four prong receptor.

Is the connecting bar betwween the 2nd set of prongs from the left on the terminal in question, is that a jumper. Would moving it to the left-most set put it back to master? Ya think? How do I move it, or should I ? Tweezers?

the vertical bar is supposed to connect the prongs 2nd from the left top to bottom....... How do you know that? Did you find an indication of "Master" showing the jumper should go there?
And if so, is it there? On a different set of pins?
Or...is it missing completely?

(Edit) OK...we're playing tag here now. :p
Anyway, yes, that's the Jumper we're talking about. Usually, there it is marked Master or Slave.
In this case, you may have to find the Model Number of the drive and find a diagram of the pins in order to make it master.
I would venture to say it's to the far left, but that's not always the case.
And yes...Tweezers, long nose pliers. Whatever. :p

No no mon ami, I'm just sayiong in my attempt to make a diagram of what is there...the vertical bar is supposed to show that on the HDD it is set between the two prongs 2nd from the left , but the PCG didn't print the drawing the way I drew it. There's four prongs oooo and then imagine there is four below them. The connecting bar is between the 2nd set of prongs from the left, but I can't put in the row of prongs below the ones I typed in because the PCG format will move them away, see?

Yep...got you Donn. We're definitely talking a Jumper here to choose Master/Slave/Cable Select (See edit above.)
It needs to be Master.

Ah, cool, I get the idea now. Nice of Compaq not to have labeled that clearly, so now we get to go looking for the code :mad: Well I will call the tech guy, Pete, again and leave a message. But another question is, pleaswe, bear with me here, should something be plugged into this recptor? Or is it not a receptor until you need it to be? Dumb question, couldn't resist...

Yes, a "little plastic bar" you referred to is the Jumper that needs to be used to select the configuration you want. (That would be the ONLY thing plugged into this "receptor". Not a cable if that's what you mean....Simply a small Jumper. (A TWEEZER like jumper) :)
Sometimes leaving it out completely is a particular option, but if there is no Jumper there at all, then it may have been lost or misplaced while the drive was traveling around to where ever.

Ah, well, I learned something, that's good. Thanks guys, Iwill give the tech guy another blast on the blower and see if he recalls how or if it was set before.

:)

Donn....I just grabbed the first illustration a Google search turned up, but the link below will show better what we've been talking about.

Notice the different settings for "Master", "Slave" "Cable Select" etc? (The Red circle area)
And we're talking, as I said, a very small vertical jumper as shown in the Pics.

Notice also in the case of this particular illustration, that the absence of any Jumper at all would be the "Slave" setting.

If you only have one Hard Drive on this Computer, you would not want the Slave setting but instead "Master" setting.

http://support.ap.dell.com/docs/storage/88871/Jumpers.htm

BTW...that's a fairly old drive, but the idea is still the same. ;)

(If you could find an exact Model Number, we could probably find a Jumper setting Diagram somewhere with a search, or through Compaq support.
I'm still guessing that it's in the wrong position.
Maybe your Guy will call back and shed some more light too. ;)

OK, here's another link to my Component ID (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=25502) thread. Take a look at the third post, CD ROM jumpers. Your hard drive should have a similar setup, without the labeling and probably with more available jumpers.

Check the label on the drive, many have a small diagram of the jumper settings printed on them. If you have a large drive using an 80 conductor cable, usually cable select works fine although some drives cooperate better set as Master/Single when used without another drive connected.

With smaller drives using 40 conductor cable, designating each as Master or Slave usually works better and Cable Select is usually best avoided.

If no diagram is on the label, find out the drive make and model and we can probably find out what the settings are.

Pete:

The diagram was under an added-on sticker showing what the Compaq replacement HDD's UPC # is. Smart place to put it. According to the diagram, very easy to follow, he left it on "enable cable select," and Jaber was right--moving it to the left brings it back to: "master or single drive."

Or as inspector Cluseau would have said:
I love a good 'leave-it-on-cable-select' ploy, yes....

The other two settings are "Master with a non-ATA compatible slave"
and "Drive is a slave."

It's a Seagate U series 5, model ST340823A, 40 gigs

Edit: I got into your "components" posts--just what I'm ready for now, thanks...

I have a Compaq Drive made by Seagate U series 5 but just 20GB:-

I : : : = Master or single drive.
: : : : = Drive is a slave.
I I : : = Master with a non-ATA-compatible drive.
: I : : = Enable cable select.

Anyway - seems like you have got there by now - and with just the one drive connected at the end of the cable does your system now boot up?

Cable select is often a good setting (because if it works you can add and remove slaves and so on and not have to change the jumpers) but may require an 80 and not a 40 wire ribbon cable to work.

Hi,

I think you guys are going in the wrong direction, I think the problem is not the jumper setting but the way the drive was prepared. I think the the files were copied to the harddrive rather than installing the OS. I believe the "OS not found" message comes after the POST so if the problem is from master/slave then computer freezes up and nothing happens. But if the computer sees the right hard drive then it would give you the "OS not found" if it can't find the startup files on the Harddrive.

OK, now we have progress. A 40GB drive should work fine jumpered to Cable Select, most do but Seagate may be one of those that likes the Master/Single when used alone (I can't remember what brand it is). An 80 conductor cable will be required, but that's probably already connected or you would have seen a "No 80 conductor cable found" error message long ago.

If it still won't work jumpered as Master, try a new ribbon cable. Also are you positive it's plugged into IDE1 on the motherboard? (You'll have to check the silk-screening on the board, some are marked IDE1/2, some are IDE0/1. Another thing that should be standardized. Still others may be marked Primary and Secondary...)

OPERATING SYSTEM NOT FOUND on any devices."

So I got the Compaq HDD out and someone downloaded it for me (Dwnldd the C:\File, My Docs etc). I get it back and reconnect it.
It just occurred to me this Morning, (I always think a little more clearly in the Morning), :p that Donn had this problem BEFORE the drive was ever removed and given to his friend to add more Files or whatever. (Why this didn't hit me last night beats me)

This tells me that something went wrong before Donn ever pulled the Drive out. And that most likely, the Jumper remains where it always was....in the Cable Select Position.

And ziba-june, I see what you're getting at here, but from what I can gather from all of these (confusing at times) posts, the OS was never touched. Some "My Documents" files and other stuff were simply added.
Why this was a "fix" for an "OS not found" message still eludes me, but I'm thinking now that there is indeed a lose cable or something else amiss rather than the Jumper setting.

Donn...was everything booting up fine and all of the sudden one day it booted to "Operating System not found on any device?". (Or had you messed with something or changed something just before this happened?)

The Compaq screen in probably programed into the Bios chip and has nothing to do with the OS itself.
Anyway, in light of my new logic, (Which at times is not so logical), I'm not so sure where to look now until all connections are checked and we have more exact information as to when and how this started.

Man! I just typed way too much! :p

Donn,
Didn't you have the files copied so you would be able to do a clean install of your recovery disks? With a plan to reinstall the documents afterwards?

If so, what does it matter if there's an OS detected or not? Put the first disk in and begin reinstallation of your system by formatting it (which will wipe the OS anyway).

But just before, you may want to make some partitions first? Personally, I'd slice a 40 gig drive into about 4-6 sections. One for your C: drive, another for Memory Swap File, another for email, one for Program Files storage plus a few more for odds and ends such as the 'My Docs' folder.

I just had another really silly thought.
You didn't happen to leave a non-bootable Floppy Disk in your Floppy drive, did you Donn? :rolleyes: :eek:

Anyway, we all look forward to hearing more about when and how this problem started. ;)

Jaber: the "operating system not found on any device" did not come up until after the techie dwnldd the C:\ files (My Docs etc) onto CD ROM disks--that much worked.

What I had before was the message that "configurations options have been updated automatically" and then the disk order, that was indicating that the CD burner was no longer considered there--no listing for it in My Computer, or in Device Manager, although it does list in DM in Safe Mode.

Edit: no disks in any trays or slots, if only. . . .

Ok, I just spent about a half hour moving the jumper to every possible position, and I get "operating system not found on any devices" at every position. I checked all the cables, everything is tight, the gray ribbon cable, btw, has 39 pins, there is a blank spot with no hole at the middle position below a pin--with a corresponding blank plug on the cable end.

I checked the diagram on the HDD, and I am sure I am seeing it right. There is an embossed 1 and 2 next to the #1 and #2 pins for the ribbon cable at the right side of it (on the HDD end), and the diagram for the jumper shows the jumper is supposed to go on the left-most pair of the four pairs of pins, which is the pair closest to the right side of the receptor for the ribbon cable (where the 1--2 pair of pins are labled for that cable). That's what the diagram shows, and that's the way I put it in. And then I moved it to the 3 other positions to the right of that....zip.

I have five days left on the service plan to establish that the CD burner is in hell because of a hardware problem--and if it is I get a free one installed for free.

FTT, I don't know how to partition the disk, but this is sounding like the last ditch thing to do.

More bad news, the techie's cell phone is disconneted.

Could things get any worse... ? Sure could: the Yankees won the series division playoff in the 12th inning on a stolen base and a passed ball. Geeez!!!


:( :confused: :mad: :o


:cool:

I must have been still half asleep when I posted this morning...I completely missed the point ziba-june made, the "OS not found" error message should indicate that POST was completed and now it's looking for system files and finds none. I think I was still typing while ziba posted.

"the gray ribbon cable, btw, has 39 pins"

So does the 80 conductor cable. It's the number of wires, not pins that matters. I'm pretty sure it's an 80 conductor, most boards will complain with an error message if you use a 40 conductor, and some larger hard drives won't work at all with them. also 80 conductor cables are usually keyed so they can't be plugged in backwards.

Donn: Drop by a local computer shop and ask them to show you one of each, so you'll be able to tell easily which type of cable yours is. The 80 conductor has much thinner wires.

Do you have a way to test the drive on another system just long enough to see if it is identified? You can use the F8 key to get a boot menu and try command prompt only, that won't try to load Windows and install drivers for the unfamiliar motherboard. It might also give you the chance to get a directory listing of C drive and see if it has command.com or win.com on it. If it's an NTFS volume a win98 start up disk won't read it, but if it's FAT 32 DOS will read it, and fdisk will work with either to VIEW the partition setup and be sure it does have a recognizeable partition available. (That's option #4 in fdisk and will you not damage any data by checking to see what type of partition is in use.)

I'm wondering if somehow when copying files it managed to overwrite the system files or corrupt them.

or...

Maybe we've missed something, or are misunderstanding what you're trying to get across. If I understand the last few posts correctly, this computer already had a boot problem before these files were copied. Right? If so, trying to transfer files to the drive may have made matters worse.

so we need to know if:

The drive already had a working Windows installation BEFORE it was pulled, or already had boot issues,
The files copied were actually the Windows OS or things like text and document fil4es, pictures, etc.
The drive was formatted or partitioned during this process. (I think you've already indicated that didn't happen, but let's be sure)

The cable is mostly a minor issue, but you need to know which type you're using for future reference if nothing else. And you need to try a different cable (IDE ribbon cable) in case the cable is damaged.

I think it might also be a good idea to check for Bad Capacitors (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=25482). Sudden odd behavior is common when capacitors go bad. And it only takes half a minute to check it out. If you have decent eyes and possibly a small flashlight, you're well equipped for it.

I think zibajune is "on the money" regarding operating system not found (http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/sys/booterrGBER44-c.html).

It has been unclear from the start just what the tech did to this drive. The term downloaded meaning different things to different people. So rather than using the term downloaded can you say (a) whether stuff was copied to the drive and if so what or (b) whether an OS was supposed to have been installed/restored/repaired.

All the time bearing in mind that Compaqs are highly proprietary and are usually "recovered" using a recovery disk or hidden partition. BTW, in my experience, trying to sub-partition these drives is only worth doing after an installation since any Compaq restores that I have seen wipe all the (non-compaq) partitions from the drive.

The "operating system not found on any device" did not come up until after the techie dwnldd the C:\ files (My Docs, My Pics, etc.) onto CD ROM disks--that much worked. The reason I had him do that is because the burner is in the Twilight Zone. If I can establish before Oct 15th that it is a hardware problem and NOT a software problem--TAH DAH!! Best Buy has to send a tech to my house to replace the burner. Hence the need to download from my HDD all my files to save on disks so i can then insert the recovery disks and take it bak to factory settings--at which time either the burner will come bak to life--software problem--or it won't come back to life--hardware problem. I specifically told him, wrote it down, what to do--My Docs to CD-ROM disks, nothing else. What he ACTUALLY did...I dunno because he isn't returning my messages to his cell phone, and now I am getting a 'this line is temoporarly disconnected' message from that number.

What I had BEFORE, that prompted me to download My Docs was the message that "configurations options have been updated automatically" and then the disk order That was indicating that the CD burner was no longer considered there--no listing for it in My Computer, or in Device Manager, although it does list in DM in Safe Mode, and it wasn't working. . . . This "configuration options..." message is apparently an indicator of a hardware change. I didn't change nuthin' nowhere...I was reading PCG and I went to ge a can 'o' soda and when I came back--screeen freeze, restart, "the configuration options..." and that whole circus started. Nothing would bring the burner back on line or get it noted in MY Comp or Device Manager except in Device Manager in safe mode...so factory reset is called for etc.

The tray wouldn't even open by pushing the button, but sometimes it would open all by itself, and stay open, even after I shut down, hence the original thread was titled "I need an excorcist," and for my money folks--I STILL need an excorcist.

To recap:

I spent about a half hour moving the jumper to every possible position, and I get "operating system not found on any devices" at every position. I checked all the cables, everything is tight, the gray ribbon cable, btw, has 39 pins, there is a blank spot with no hole at the middle position below a pin--with a corresponding blank plug on the cable end.

I checked the diagram on the HDD, and I am sure I am seeing it right. There is an embossed 1 and 2 next to the #1 and #2 pins for the ribbon cable at the right side of it (on the HDD end), and the diagram for the jumper shows the jumper is supposed to go on the left-most pair of the four pairs of pins, which is the pair closest to the right side of the receptor for the ribbon cable (where the 1--2 pair of pins are labled for that cable). That's what the diagram shows, and that's the way I put it in. And then I moved it to the 3 other positions to the right of that....zip.

There are no disks in any trays or slots, if only. . . .

What else can I tell yas ?? :(

Pete wrote:

"Maybe we've missed something, or are misunderstanding what you're trying to get across. If I understand the last few posts correctly, this computer already had a boot problem before these files were copied. Right? If so, trying to transfer files to the drive may have made matters worse. "

Donn writes:

Pete, no previous boot problem except the constant notice about the "configutration options..." that's a boot problem, isn't it? But it would eventuially go through and boot up, it just kept notifying me of this configuration change and restarting, usually three times, but then it would boot all the way.

Edit: after a while it stopped doing that, and just booted normally, and the tray stopped jumping out on its own, and it was just "normal" except the burner was totally unresponsive, and remained unlisted except in safe mode.

2nd edit: make sure to read my post just before this one.

Paul, nothing was loaded TO the HDD, only FROM the HDD to CD-ROMS. Well, at least that's what I told him to do. . . . I'm going over to Comp USA now and gaze at the cables.... :D

Well I don't know about others but what you have now posted puts a new slant on things. Is it correct that the possibly dodgy burner is still in the PC; if so I would remove the power and IDE cables from it. Then go into the BIOS setup and check two things; the boot order and which IDE/ATAPI devices are recognised there.

Well I don't know about others but what you have now posted puts a new slant on things. Is it correct that the possibly dodgy burner is still in the PC; if so I would remove the power and IDE cables from it. Then go into the BIOS setup and check two things; the boot order and which IDE/ATAPI devices are recognised there.

Right, but we already did that about 4 times after I posted a clean HJT--thought it was a bug, still do. Trust me, FTT, Sylvander and I went all through the "Compaq Utility Set-up" and it doesn't have any settings you can change like "auto" . The boot order is default, it can be rearranged but it still doesn't show the CD burner. It doesn't show IDE/ATAPI devices specifically--drove FTT and Sylvander and myself crazy trying to get it to show me that, but it just doesn't. If it does we couldn't figure out how to get it to show it. Tried pushing every function key on the board at various stages...zip.

I went over to CompUSA to look at the cables, but they were so busy and understaffed I couldn't get any assistance. All the cables they had on the rack by the tech shop were all tube shaped cables (IDE), no ribbon shaped. I think tomorrow I will go again and just spend the $12 or whatever and replace the cable. There is a small beebee shaped crimp in the ribbon cable, but apparently it has always been there.....

I wonder if FTT doesn't have the right idea about just putting the System Restore disks in and just letting it reset the whole contraption, ya think? :p

Now you've got me wondering if the jury is out or not... :confused:

Donn,
As soon as your warranty expires and we can do a 'clean install', the better. Until then, welllll, it's up to you...

The warranty expired years ago, what I am under is a paid-for 3 year service contract. That's why I need to get this resolved before the 15th when it runs out. . . .

This Thread has my head spinning now. (Boy, I should complain...Imagine how Donn feels). :p

Anyway, I think there are enough people in the boiling pot at the moment, so I've basically been "observing" recently.
HOWEVER, something just struck me again: (Don't you just HATE my "howevers"?)
If I can establish before Oct 15th that it is a hardware problem and NOT a software problem--TAH DAH!! Best Buy has to send a tech to my house to replace the burner.
Donn....Is it just the burner that is under Warranty or the whole dang Computer??? :confused:

If we're talking the Burner under Warranty, that's one thing. But if the Computer was bought at Best Buy and is still under warranty, I would have dropped the thing off and demanded a fix or a new one.
I sure wouldn't have been yanking the hard drive out, or replace cables, or anything else for that matter. And as it is, we're all ready to roll up our sleeves and see if we can do some more damage. :p

Just tell me it's not the whole Computer that's still under Warranty, (Well, before you tore the Case open and yanked the hard Drive out anyway), and I'll feel better.
Go ahead....I can take it! ;)

(EDIT) I can't believe I just typed all of that and Donn snuck in there while I was typing!
Anyway, you answered my question. However, I'm no less confused. :D

HOWEVER. (Hehe- There I go again) If you paid for one of those overpriced, generally useless Service Contracts, I would tell them to come over and get the thing working properly.
You might get lucky...EXTREMELY LUCKY, and get some of your investment back from that Service contract.
You can kick back and have a Beer or two while they're working on it. :p

Okay--one more time--I have to establish for them that it is in fact a HARDWARE problem that has sent the burner into the Twilight Zone, If I could just call them up for a free serrvice call I would have done that already.

So the question now is why is that HDD not showing an OS, and since I cannot contact the tech who dnldd the My Docs to discs (at least I have that much) I don't know what to do and I have only four days to prove it is a hardware problem.

FTT's idea of just putting in the recovery discs and going for broke is looking real good, unless someone else has another idea. . . .? :(

Edit: Jaber, make mine rootbeer only. :cool:

If your data's backed up go for a restore - it may or may not resolve your problems. The only other things I would suggest would be to try the burner and/or the HDD in another computer and also to try your computer with no burner inside it at all. Sorry if I have added to the glut of responders and I wasn't aware of the related problems in another thread.

Final comments:-
(a) the burners configuration (cables and jumpers) has not to my knowledge been discussed; maybe I'm wrong there again.
(b) if you cannot set the boot order in the bios something very basic would seem to be wrong with your bios.

Donn,
Remember I was having the same symptoms as you? I booted into my other partition last night after plugging my burner in again after weeks of it being unplugged. So far no freeze ups, the light on the burner doesn't sit there blinking, so my thoughts are that it was malware after all. I copied a music cd so far, no prob.

Go ahead, jump in, the water's nice. :p Time to use those recovery cd's. ;)

FTT: the mysterious techie guy finally called tonight. I spoke to the landscape architect we both work for and he called him. the techie was a bit uptight, like 'whaddayas expect me to do," and I'm kind of a 'humble first' type of person, so I just asked him what he did to the HDD, nicely, and could he have given me back the wrong one. He said he only uses Western Digital and he didn't have any Seagates, and that all he did was Dwnld the My Docs to discs like I asked him. He also asked if there was any discs in any trays or slots, and said he had no idea why it was showing the 'oprerating system not found...' notice. I asked him about the slight crimpt in the IDE cable and he said it would have to be more than a dent, it would have to be a pinch where the wires were visible or visibly smahed--which they are not, it's just a little dent in the cable. He also said throw in the recovery discs and let it reset itseslf. I again described the problem with the burner from A to Z and he agreed that it is most likely a software glitch that the recovery discs would reset, or malware which they will erase.

So later tonight I will throw on the recovery discs....

Thanks all-- I let you know what leaps out of this looney box this time :p !!

Edit: Pete, recalling your signature while I was painting a porch this weekend, I also recalled that for some reason people think that if the porch paint is still tacky. . . that it will be ok if they just tiptoe across it. :confused:

So I put the following sign at both ends of the porch on the columns next to the stairs:

"PET WUCKING FAINT!!!
got the idea?
no steps until monday morning."

:eek:

Apparently it worked and the client got a kick out of it.... :)

Hope you get it sorted with a restore.

Found the original thread at http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31792 and the number of references to "The following configuration options have been automatically updated: Disk-1 38166[MB]; Disk 3 CD Rom; Disk 4 CD ROM".

In the absence of real configuration changes (new HDD) or spurious ones (bad connections) just have to wonder if the CMOS battery has been failing and making the mobo keep thinking there is new hardware because it cant remember the old settings.

Yes, I have to wonder if something really strange is going on in the Bios setup too.

Then again, I'm totally confused at this point. Guess I've been loaded up with too many facts, some of which still make no sense to me.

For example:
I agree that trying the restore Disks is certainly worth a shot now. What I don't understand is how you can load them when the Burner isn't working and the Hard Drive isn't recognized properly.

Secondly, I must say it's a little strange to remove a Hard Drive and have someone else install and configure it in their Computer, simply to burn some files to CD.
(Personally, as cheap as Burners are these days, Warranty or no Warranty, I think I would have installed a new Burner before I let someone else install my hard drive in their Computer). Hard to say what may have changed or happened just in the handling of, (and installation of) your hard Drive in his Computer.
But that's just me Donn....Please don't take it personally. After all, I'm the one that's a "Nutcase" around here :cool:

Anyway, good luck Donn. I hope these things that I don't understand make sense to others here, and that everything goes well.
I'm sure between the two or more threads, I've totally missed some obvious points that I'm not taking into account.

And no need to reply personally to this post.....my Wife will tell you that I spend a lot more time being confused than I spend being fully aware of what's going on. :p

Hope you get it sorted with a restore.

Found the original thread at http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31792 and the number of references to "The following configuration options have been automatically updated: Disk-1 38166[MB]; Disk 3 CD Rom; Disk 4 CD ROM".

In the absence of real configuration changes (new HDD) or spurious ones (bad connections) just have to wonder if the CMOS battery has been failing and making the mobo keep thinking there is new hardware because it cant remember the old settings.

Doesn't matter now because:

IT'S A HARDWARE PROBLEM!! I GET IT FIXED FOR FREE!!!


But to answer your question the configuration changes it keeps referring to is the absence or removal of the R/W, remembering of course that it is a separate tray from the DVD/CD-ROM reader, and, if I understand the original situationit is slaved to the CD-ROM/DVD player. But, no sweat. . .it's out of my hands now....yyyyyyyes!!

Ok, so I put the restore disks in and they ran through and then Win Me started to boot up and guess what showed ont he screen? You guessed it!!

"The Following Configuration Options have been automatically updated..."

Then the tray popped open half way and stuck. then it closed, then the screen froze. . . .then it wouldn't complete the registration procedure, so when I got sick of looking at the screen waiting for it to proceed--about 15 minutes--I thought 'Ah whatd'hay, I think I'll manually restart it.' As soon as I hit the off button it jumps to the next step. It did that to me twice.

So I called Best Buy and sung them the entire aria with the four part harmony, and the feelin', and he said, no problem we'll schedule a tech to come to your house and replace the burner, and check it out, and if that isn't the problem he has a support group/plan he can refer to to find out whatever it is. :) :) :) :) :)

Well, that what they SAID. Waht actually happens, now, I am eager to see. So wither I'm getting a new CD-RW or a new harddrive...fer free. :D

.....my Wife will tell you that I spend a lot more time being confused than I spend being fully aware of what's going on. :p


But Jaber, if that's true, how can we trust you to acurately perceive and report what she REALLY said? :p :p :p :p

What who really said??? :confused:
Huh? :confused:




:p

Save your Favorites/Bookmarks in NotePad so no hotlinks can occur and other neccesary saves such as modems, passwords, etc, then use the recovery cd's with the option of saving nothing. That, in itself, is more of a clean instal by definitionl.

Recovery cd's are propietary and choices are sometimes confusing. Choose the complete version rather than any 'Save Me! and me 'Documents' option. Supposedly you already have those backed up.

You do [i]have]/i] the cd's your friend made, 'AND' have made sure they contain what they should correct????????

Have you reloaded those back-ups yet? That in itself could reenter some malwares. I'm sorry but this is w-a-y t-o-o vague:

Ok, so I put the restore disks in and they ran through

There's always choices. Which path did you take?

No, sorry, there were no choices. The only choices it gave me was proceed or not proceed. That's it. There were no options about this clean or that clean, just ...proceed or not proceed.

The idea of the disks holding malware has ocurred to me, but I have to use the Word files, so I loaded them in the Dell (this one)...so far so good.


The partial restore that you are speaking of, with this Compaq, comes with the machine as a part of 'The Compaq Help Center.' I already did that. The recovery disks, from Compaq, wipe everything. It tells you that twice..."Do you wish to proceeed knowing you will lose all your data and files?, click yes to proceed or cancel or cancel the process." Then after you click on "Yes" it turns around and makes you read and choose again.

Well, it's on there docket to send a tech to my house and replace the burner at their expense, hahahaha, so I win either way. When he installs the new CD_R/R, if it still isn't working they still have to fix it because it is now a hardware problem of some sort. In other words, since the restore discs didn't fix it they consider it a hardware problem and poroceed from there. :D

:cool:

What who really said??? :confused:
Huh? :confused:
:p


See? I told ya..... :D

Hope you get it sorted with a restore.

Found the original thread at http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31792 and the number of references to "The following configuration options have been automatically updated: Disk-1 38166[MB]; Disk 3 CD Rom; Disk 4 CD ROM".

In the absence of real configuration changes (new HDD) or spurious ones (bad connections) just have to wonder if the CMOS battery has been failing and making the mobo keep thinking there is new hardware because it cant remember the old settings.

Paul, I forgot to ask, what else could I do to check the CMOS battery? If it was bad what else would it affect besides changing the configuration of those particular drives and not recognizing the presence of the burner?

The clock time might keep resetting. Since its a cheap and easy component to replace that would seem a simple thing to do. I was just trying to eliminate any BIOS-related problems since if the BIOS aint right then nothing else will be - and the BIOS cant be right if you cant identify the installed IDE/ATAPI devices and the boot order in the BIOS setup.

The clock time might keep resetting. Since its a cheap and easy component to replace that would seem a simple thing to do. I was just trying to eliminate any BIOS-related problems since if the BIOS aint right then nothing else will be - and the BIOS cant be right if you cant identify the installed IDE/ATAPI devices and the boot order in the BIOS setup.


Negative, well I should say I never noticed it, and I would have. I guess if I get it (The Compaq with the --reportedly-- bad burner) back on line right now the battery should keep the clock accurate if it is good?

Hah!! I just noticed that the clock on this one (The Dell) is four hours behind, and this is the second time I noticed it being behind. What does this portend? Bad CMOS Battery here? :eek: