Bios boot up fine but won't get into windows:
"searching boot record from floppy.....not found
searching for boot records from cdrom... not found
searching for boot record from scsi... not found

standard cmos set up:
I set primary master: auto, but it goes back to not installed
and primary slave: auto, but it goes back to cdrom

Boot order from bios default (f6):
1st IDE-0
2d floppy
3d ARMD-HDD

I tooked to a shop to check, they say BIOS ok, they could fix it
right away for $100, but won't say wat's wrong.
$100 to much for old PC, and for simple thing to fix(if I knew How)

Anybody could help with this..please?

PC : 1999 custom made
bios: AMI 3.13.1999
CPU: AMD k6 2/400
RAM: 128 mb pc 100
MOBO: PC chips
HD: 4.2 gig samsung fat 32
OS: W98 se

Bios boot up fine
Are you sure - since the pimary master is resetting to NOT INSTALLED I don't see what you mean.

How is your HDD jumpered - what, where and which IDE/ATAPI devices are attached.

This sounds like an IDE/CONNECTION/JUMPERING problem. Was this system working OK and when how did things change.

Sorry about all the questions but a fuller picture woud be helpful.

Hi Paul, and thank you for answering,
You are right, it is only a matter of setting things right, what happened was:
I started to mess with a registry repair utility from some message board, and I ended up trying to reformat... then I thought..let's the little shop around the corner do it, where I was stinged before..since came to my mind, that the colombian guy cought stealing my money, promised redention..After accepting my presence as a condition, and after dismantling I don't know what, because he was hiding, I took my PC back home in non functioning conditions.
Jumpered... you mean connected? the same cable goes from the CDROM to the HD to the IDE1. the jumper on the HD is on slave
the FLOPPY cable goes to FDC1.
thanks again.
And let's hope we get a constitution on sunday!

When I boot with the w98 disc..and it gives 3 options..if I choose "start w/o cdrom support" the A:\> come up..but I don't know dos
if I choose "with cd rom support" I get a message:" set up cannot install W.- comp.does not have HD, HD not functioning, or requires dev.driver"
If somebody on this board could tell me how the cables red side goes and pin 1..etc..
Because now I moved the wires again, and BOOT says :"Primary slave drive ATAPI incompatible"
thanks...

First, make sure your hardware is jumpered and wired correctly.

Red stripe is pin 1 and you'll need to figure out which is pin one on the primary ide socket on the mobo. It is usually on the bottom. On the harddrive it is the closest pin to the power connector. Make sure you put the jumper to master, cable select, or in the case of a Western Digital, don't use one at all when there is only one drive on the ide cable. Assemble that.

Go into BIOS, set the primary device on the primary ide to autodetect and press enter. Does any info now show up like number of cylinders, heads, or name of harddrive manufacturer and size? If so, proceed. If not, there is stiil a hardware problem and we'll dig further.

If you see something as a primary drive, set the BIOS boot order to boot to floppy first, cd-rom second and hdd0 third. Hit F10 and 'Y' for yes, press Enter

Boot to a 98SE boot floppy, at A:/> prompt, type fdisk Enable large disk support, go in to fdisk and delete all the logical dos drives in the extended dos partition, if any. Delete the extended dos partition, if one. Delete the primary dos partition, if one. If there is only one partition and you want to leave it this way, skip all the deletes above and: create dos partition and set it active. Idf there is already one and it is set to active, exit fdisk and reboot.

At A:\> type format C: enter and 'Y' when needed, then let it finish. Reboot with cd-rom support, put cd in drive and at A:\> type setup

This should take you to Windows setup and follow the command prompts to finish installing.

Edit:
If you want to put all the cab files onto the harddrive, there is a few steps prior to 'setup' that you will need to do. Let us know if you want this.

thanks Ted,
the"prim.dr.atapi incomp." message is gone after setting better the cables.
On standard setting when I put prim.master to AUTO and prim.slave to AUTO and press enter, no numbers come up on the settings, and the prim.slave goes back to CDROM, with only PIO mode " 4", and 32bit mode "on". I saved, reboted, but when I go to autodetect hard disc goes back to uninstalled from auto, and also standard settings goes back to uninstalled.

Now find out who makes your harddrive, download their diagnostic software, make a diagnostics floppy, put that in, reboot and see if any drive is detected. But I don't think it will see one if BIOS doesn't.

Verdict IMO is your hdd is dead. Does it still spin up? Does BIOS POST put out one beep with it connected?

it does beep once on post, then :"primary slave V11OE ATAPI CDROM"
on floppy says "invalid system disk"
the HD is a SAMSUNG 4.2 gig. I will try to make a test.

HD was tested positive couple of days ago at store.
SAMSUNG does not find my specs, I am waiting on response though.

RE http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/shdiag.htm

I think you need to add the downloaded file to a previously prepared bootable floppy diskette such as a Win98 startup diskette or one from http://www.bootdisk.com

To boot to it you will also need that floppy to be before the HDD in the BIOS setup. Once successfully booted to the diskette enter SHDIAG at the A:\ prompt.

At the risk of being repetitive, it is usual, though not mandatory, to have the HDD on the end of the cable and the CDROM on the middle connector. In this configuration the jumper for the HDD should be master or master with slave and the CDROM should be set as slave. Some mobos will support cable select on both jumpers especially if it has an 80 and not a 40 wire ribbon cable.

There is little point in doing much until the HDD is properly recognised in the BIOS. You could of course try it with no CDD attached at all as the only device - on the end of the cable - and jumpered as master or lone master. Incorrect jumpering or faulty cable or bad connection would seem to be on the cards. The HDD could of course just be no good.

the cdrom is in the middle of the 40 pin cable, the order is HD(master) CDROM (slave) IDE1.
Boot screen says :"primary slave V11OE ATAPI CDROM"
Then it start search for FLOPPY..not found CDROM..not found SCSI..not f.
if I insert w98 in CDROM setup starts but then stops because "no HD or HD driver". I have driver on floppy..but the floppy won't found it.
I have set bios.. FLOPPY CDROM IDE1.
I also tried to run SHDIAG.."floppy not found"
So the only thing that run is CDROM.

"..You could of course try it with no CDD attached at all as the only device - on the end of the cable - and jumpered as master or lone master.."
This I did not get..could you please expand?
..thanks

I have set bios.. FLOPPY CDROM IDE1
That should read Floppy, CD-rom, hdd-0
I hope ide is a typo. but still, it needs to be set to '0'

Also, since the HDD is still not showing in the BIOS, try entering the BIOS setup and in the Primary Master position ensure that the identification is set to AUTO.

"..You could of course try it with no CDD attached at all as the only device - on the end of the cable - and jumpered as master or lone master.."
This I did not get..could you please expand?
It is just a temporary idea to try out and to only have the HDD attached and no CDROM attached in order to simplify things and see if the HDD would then be recognised in the BIOS.

choices given in BIOS SETUP: IDE0,IDE1,IDE2,IDE3,FLOPPY,ARMD-FDD,ARMD-HDD,CDROM,SCSI,NETWORK,DISABLED.
Since the cable goes to IDE1... I tought it has to be set up in BIOS in this order:FLOPPY,CDROM,IDE1. But I was wrong, which should I pick then, there is not HDD-0 choice in there, I tried also IDE-0, it doesn't work, should I try ARMD-HDD?
- I disconnected the CDROM, but I got an error message and lots of beeps. Should I also change the bootset order when I try that, disabling the 2d boot (wich is the CDROM)?
- Where it goes connected the twisted side of the FLOPPY cable, on the floppy or on the MOBO?
- I always set on "AUTO' both the STANDARD CMOS SETTINGS and the AUTODETECT HARD DISKS. But the latter always goes to "not installed" right away, the former sometimes.
- I also tried to set the ARMD-HDD 1st on the boot order..same thing.
- What is frustrating is that the guy at the store, the other day, as soon got into the bios, exactly into the ADVANCED CMOS SETUP, shut it up and told me could fix it righthere for $100.

the problem is...that even if I had a spare $100 to waste on an old PC, you can't even be sure the fixing is going to last.

I'm sure it is frustrating. You say "Since the cable goes to IDE1". I hope you are not confusing Channel 1 with the first HDD. My only other thought would be to remove any hardware that is not necessary, clear the CMOS (by jumpers or by leaving the battery out overnight), reset the drives to auto and cross fingers that the drive is detected.

it seems to me, by the way the usual guys answer posts questions, that you are not reading posts in the first place, or that you don't have the knowledge,
or that we are not going nowere until you get the donation box filled up, which one it is?.... that is the question....

it seems to me, by the way the usual guys answer posts questions, that you are not reading posts in the first place, or that you don't have the knowledge,

You know, I hope you are losing something in translation or are having difficulties in English because that statement borders very close to insult. I could take tha pc of yours and diagnose it in a matter of minutes if it were in my presence. But considering that it is not here and trying to decipher what has and has not been tried, what problems may have caused the issues in the first place, and the fact, the unseen is being treated by someone whom I don't know the abilities he possesses, well,,,,,,,,,,,, just be a bit more patient. :no smilie:

Take whatever is in the floppy drive and remove it. Do the same for the cd-rom. Set the boot order to use ide-0. I don't care about the others (floppy and cd), any order will do as long as you use ide-0. What happens when you try to boot to that?

we are not going nowere until you get the donation box filled up
None of us get any portion of any volunatry donation. We (quite madly it would appear) just want to help others out.

The truth is we are not going nowere (sic) until your HDD is recognised in your BIOS. Your original statement that "Bios boot up fine" was manifestly incorrect - regardless of what your local shop told you.

We cant help you without accurate information and your last comments have made me lose any goodwill in helping you out.