drives failing everywhere

[Manster]

my PIII500's HD failed a month or so ago with the usual symptoms. tried to replace, but then CD rom failed soon after. no help from company tech support.
anyhow, am trying to Frankenstein both that PIII and an old P90. have obtained some used HD's and CD roms to replace.
both machines run any of a number of boot disks from each of two floppies - when the floppy is the only disk connected. then, when any other drive (ie, HD, CD) is connected, I get the 'invalid system disk' error.
have tried all bios options, and several boot disks.
have tried boot to win98 cd rom with same result.

your help will make it easier on Igor

thanks

[mjc]

Make sure the drives are set to autodetect, and jumpered properly. Also try a brand new 40-wire IDE cable.

[Manster]

entered the new ide cable and hard drive was recognized and installed immediately. tried my old cd-dvd drive to install win98, and received the same results as before: installation would begin, then the drive would labor and quit after a while. other cd drives of questionable operability were tried, but were not recognized beyond bios. questions to your honorable office: a. should i chuck the old cd-dvd drive off a bridge, sell it on ebay, or try a new cable there? b. try new cables for the other drives? c. is there an agreed maintenance period for 'puter innards now?
my thanks . . .

[mjc]

I'd give the new cable a shot...a lot cheaper than a littering fine...:D (but that would be my second idea, maybe follwed by the Compuke...)

[Manster]

alas, launching my 100+ member fantasy football took much free time lately. acquired a pack of 40-pin ide cables. some quite amateur experimentation produced no results.
to recap, am trying to rehabilitate a PIII 500 and P90. have various HD's and CD drives, including the originals. problem was, drives would not install, or be recognized beyond bios.
last effort of early september, had left the 500 with a hard drive connected, which was recognized and installed. first boot showed drive not recognized by bios. checked to see setup was for autodetect, and reboot produced same result. installed new ide cable with similar result.
that motherboard has 2 40-pin slots and a lesser number pin slot for the floppy and it's cable. does it matter which 40-pin slot is used for what? (left or right) similarly, there are two power cables exiting the supply, having two 4-opening connections, and a smaller connection, used for the floppy drive. am also assuming the ends of each ide cable are attached to each drive. at this point, have not attempted the CD installation.
will happily be directed to a general info area where this basic stuff is covered, so not to waste forum time . . .

as always, my thanks,
RJ

[mjc]

If the drives are in place and being recognised by the BIOS, are they both being seen as master? (assuming the hard drive is at he end of one cable and the CD is on the other)

Can you hear the CD try to spinup when you insert a disk?

If so, try setting the boot order, in BIOS to CD first, then stick in the 98 CD and see if it recognises the disk....

If not, get a bootdisk, set the boot order to floppy first and boot to the bootdisk...it should give you an option to select "with CD support" if the CD drive is seen....

[Manster]

at this point I am only at trying to get a HD recognized by bios. seems regardless of connection, no drives but the floppy are recognized. have tried different connections, jumpers, etc. is the boot disk necessary to get this process going? isn't it right not to proceed until bios recognizes a hd? or should I hook up the cd and try to boot to it?
(one hd had a jumper diagram on it. moved the positions anyway, and bios would recognize as slave.)
are my connection assumptions correct?
(have downloaded 2 shareware build-a-pc products - suspect they would help?)

:confused:

[Budfred]

I wonder if your power supply could be the problem rather than the drives. If your power supply was failing it could account for multiple drive failures and could produce the effects you are seeing. Can you try these drives in a machine that you know has a working power supply?

Budfred

[Manster]

I could experiment with my main new machine and the power supply, but will not take that chance.
are there recognizable symptoms to a failing power supply?:mad:

[Budfred]

Well, the problems you are having could be symptoms. Additionally, I would look to see if the fan in the PS are spinning well, are the fans on the board working properly, etc. You can check this link for more ideas on troubleshooting:

http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/comp/power_Flicker.htm

Budfred

[Manster]

both fans seemed to be working well. however, with a little tinkering, the new cables brought success to reviving the PIII500! have installed win98 sucessfully. it has a different HD and CD drive, though. delivered therapeutic damage to the old DVD drive, but would like to pop the old 12gb hd in somewhere to see if it is really dead. also, the P90 is completely apart, ready for reassmebly.

I would consider this problem resolved. MJC and Budfred, your responses have been timely, helpful and comforting. Signing off for now, most appreciatively,

R J Miller
manster400:D

[deddard]

If the hdds have a 'cable detect' or 'set by cable' option on the jumpers, set it this way.
What happens is the system will automatically look to find out what is connected, and configure the drives in the correct manner.
THe easiest way to do this is to use one disc at a time - make sure that your primary boot disc is at the END of the connector ribbon. A new ribbon may be called for - they're not invulnerble to damage, but try letting the machine configure itself.
I know this info is late, but it's worth bearing in mind for the future;)

[Manster]

thanks for the info . . .
besides the two original hd's from the two machines, I had acquired 4 or 5 more cheaply on Ebay, as well as various cd drives. all are different makers and sizes. only one hd has jumper info printed on the label. the others either had no jumper cap, or had to be mastered by trial and error.
in order to try and detect problems, I was first making sure the hd was recognized and useable (checking it via dos). then installing cd drives, I often found the next boot undid the hd installation. regardless of reason, changing the ribbons made all the difference.

--R