Boot Problems/Bios/Hard & Floppy Drive Recognition Problems!

[Twillia103]

Good Morning, I've been trying to fix a problem on a computer I'm working on for about three day's without success. This computer has a M571 PCCHIP's Motherboard and AMI Bios. I took the battery off the Motherboard in order to get past a Bios Password that was set on this PC. I've gotten past that, but now I've been trying to reset the Bios so that I can install a new operating system on it. I've also been looking at another PC that appears to have the same Motherboard and Bios Software because that one is running smoothly. So I set the Bios on the Pc that's not working to the same settings as the PC that's functioning. However, when I try to insert a bootable disk I get messages that my Floppy Drive and Hard Drives aren't installed. I noticed that the Standard CMOS Setting I changed to Auto for the Primary and Secondary Fields aren't showing up on that screen. I also changed the settings under the Auto-Detect Section of the Bios to reflect the settings on the pc that's working. However, none of the settings that I entered under the Auto-Detect Section are showing up. I only see a blank screen when I look under Auto-Detect. The other strange thing I noticed is that the settings I entered under Auto-Detect are showing up under the Standard CMOS Section and I hit the Escape Key and F10 to save all the data that I entered. I've checked out the PCChips Website to see if I could find any information to address this problem, but I haven't. I even checked inside the PC to see if there were any loose cables or anything, but everything looks fine to me. I'm sorry for this lenghty message, but this PC isn't recognizing any drives it won't boot and I don't know what to do.

[BigBlue66]

There might be one more step. While you're in the bios, choose HDD auto detection. Accept whatever parameters it gives you. Save and exit. See if that helps. Merely setting the cmos to auto leaves the above step to do yet.

Cheers,

Big Blue 66

[BigBlue66]

Whoops, guess I haven't had enough coffee yet. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

First thing you should do is look on the motherboard for a jumper that will enable you to clear the cmos. Or, remove the cmos battery for a few minutes, reinstall the battery and then go into bios. Set the harddrive to auto. Then, go to auto-detect and run that. Accept the parameters it gives you. Save and exit. See if that helps.

Let us know how you're doing. Additionally, using settings for a different computer will no doubt not work, since there are probably different harddrives installed for each. Let auto-detect do the work.

Cheers,

Big Blue 66

[Twillia103]

Thank you for replying Big Blue 66. I have a couple of other questions so I can make sure that we are on the same page. You told me to set the Hard Drive to Auto Detect. Do you mean go to the Standard CMOS Setting and under the Primary Master Field type in Auto and then go to the Auto-Detect Setting and let that do the work? Also, should I leave the Secondary Master and other Fields within the Standard CMOS Setting Blank at this point? I'm thanking you in advance for your response to these questions.

[This message has been edited by Twillia103 (edited 01-02-2001).]