Disk I/O error on new build HELP!!!!

[juice4zack]

I'm a first time PC builder and I am having problems booting from drive A - I get "Disk I/O error".

I can power up and get into setup. After setup I save&exit (F10) after inserting boot disk and press any key I get "Disk I/O Error".

After I press any key the FDD light comes on and you can hear FDD working the message appears.

Things I've done are: used 2 different boot disks, replaced FDD ribbon cable, verified #1 pin to #1 pin, no bent pins on FDD or MB, installed FDD on old computer to verify operation, changed boot order on setup :mad:

I'm trying to build a PC using AMD Athlon XP2000, with an ECS K7S5A motherboard, I only have basics installed - HDD, CDrom, FDD, video card.
I have Win98 that I want to run. I created a boot disk from old computer.

Is it possible FDD works on old PC and not new one?

Could there be a motherboard problem?

Could there be boot disk conflicts?

PLEASE HELP :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

THANKS IN ADVANCE JUICE

[Budfred]

Welcome to http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif

What do you have set for the boot order in BIOS? You need to have the floppy first. I assume you have checked all cable connections since you note replacing the cable. BIOS settings are the only glitch I can think of that you haven't already addressed. I have used that same board and had not trouble with the floppy, but it is possible that you floppy connector on the board is flawed.

Budfred

[juice4zack]

I have tried with multiple orders of booting in BIOS. It defaults to IDE-0, Floppy, CDrom.

Also wondering after saving BIOS setup and then turn off computer and then turn back on and go into setup everything is back to default??

The date & time and all settings are back to default??

Is this normal? Shouldn't it remember the setup? Is possibly the battery backup on my MB bad and be causing problems with boot up?

Boot order always needs to have Floppy first though??

[david eaton]

While this is a new MB, it is possible that the battery is flat, but a MUCH more likely scenario is that the jumper on the MB is in the "clear CMOS" position. Several threads on the forums have mentioned that recently. Check the manual for the jumper position. If correct, then a dead battery is the next step.

David

[Budfred]

If the CMOS jumper is in the clear position I would be surprized if the thing even works. However, it is not normal for the BIOS to return to defaults and certainly something is wrong with the board.

You don't have to always have the floppy as the first boot order, but it is a good idea to do so when you are first setting up the computer and need to boot from the floppy. I suspect it wouldn't matter if the BIOS wasn't wonky though.

Budfred

[david eaton]

Budfred, I agree that a boot is unlikely with the jumper wrong, but experience with these d**** machines has only gone to prove Sod's Law :D.

David

[juice4zack]

Well I got the dead battery thing fixed it was a problem with the MB. So the MB has been replaced and I still get:

Searching for Boot Record from Floppy. . . . . . OK

Disk I/O error
Replace the disk, and then press any key

Couple things Im wondering if I am missing something in the setup that would cause this??

Bad Boot disk?? How can I make sure it works?? Does it matter which windows I got boot disk from?? I made it from my existing Win98

Or maybe try replacing FDD?? even though I put it on my old computer and I could read from it.

Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated thanks!!!

[Budfred]

Well, again, what is your boot order set to. I wouldn't bother to replace the floppy drive if it is testing ok in another system. You could have a corrupt boot disk, we had someone else with that problem recently, although it turned out his floppy cable was also bad. You can download a clean bootdisk from www.bootdisk.com and try that.

Also, I would try booting from the floppy with minimum other components connected, check connections again, make sure BIOS settings are friendly.

Budfred

[deddard]

Have you tried a different FDD cable? just swap one out to see if the problem lies there.

[gopi_vs]

Try booting a different system with the boot disk. If its fine there, then i suppose the floppy connector port on the mobo to be bad. Give every possible combination a good try.

[Sylvander]

Have you checked out all the BIOS’s configuration settings relating to the FDD?

EXAMPLES
1. “Standard CMOS Setup”
Drive A : 1.44M, 3.5in [these settings must match your drive]
Drive B : None.

2. “BIOS Features Setup”
Swap Floppy Drive : Disabled [if enabled your BIOS would try to control it as an old-style 5.25in FDD. Disaster!]
Boot Up Floppy Seek : Enabled [If not enabled the BIOS does not seek or enable the FDD]

3. “Integrated Peripherals Setup Menu”
Onboard FDD Controller : Enabled [must be enabled or the controller won’t operate the FDD]

The following is from my Diagnostic Charts.
FLOPPY DISK DRIVE
1. Cannot be accessed.
2. Are power supply voltages ok? I’ll assume they are.
3. Is the signal cable ok? If not then replace it and re-test. If it is ok then:
4. Replace the drive with a known good drive and re-test with diagnostics. Free download of "TuffTest-Lite" here www.tufftest.com/free.htm
5. Does the new drive test ok? If it does then the original drive is faulty. If it doesn’t then the system board or an adaptor is faulty.

See this about getting copies of my diagnostic charts
http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19961

You could also ask for copies of my document [“BIOS Setup.doc”] all about the settings in the “BIOS Setup” [with my settings marked in red].

P.S. When you “Save and Exit Setup” do you remember to change the flashing “N” [for no] to “Y” [for yes] and then press “enter”. If you do not the setting changes will not be saved.

Is there an Operating System on the floppy that is being accessed?

[juice4zack]

Thanks guys I got it to boot - it was a bad boot disk. I downloaded it from www.bootdisk.com and it worked THANKS!!!

But now I continued on I ran fdisk and formatted and partitioned my hard drive and made it active. I'm confused on how to load my OS. I think what I need to do first is get drivers loaded to my HDD for my CDRom?? but how??

When I boot up w/o my boot disk in my FDD and my OS CD in my CDRom it boots fine but then it flashes VERY quickly WIN98 logo then goes to the C: prompt.

When I do a dir of C: it just shows COMMAND COM

Any suggestions, Im new at this and I really appreciate your guys help

PS - Im trying to load Windows 98 SE

[deddard]

Originally posted by juice4zack
Thanks guys I got it to boot - it was a bad boot disk. I downloaded it from www.bootdisk.com and it worked THANKS!!!



That'll teach us all to be smart-a*ses! Forget the simple stuff like duff discs - tell someone to rip their machine apart!!:eek:

[Alejandro]

You can start again with a Win98 bootdisk and choose to enable cdrom support, it will load the drivers in memory, not HD (upon reboot it will not be accesible). So you must make an empty Win98 folder in your formatted HD and copy all Win98 instalation files to HD.
Then reboot without the bootdisk, and install from HD. I always do it that way.

[Budfred]

You can also boot with CD support, determine what your CD is called (usually E:), switch to that drive and run "setup" from there.

Budfred

[mjc]

Copying the install files from the Cd to hard drive does have the advantage of Windows "remembering" where it was installed from, so if you make a configuration change, update or other install that needs the CD it will not ask, but automatically find the files on the hard drive.

[Budfred]

Love that VB. What I meant to say was E: , but it came out as :) instead, sorry.

Budfred

[Alejandro]

Copying the install files from the Cd to hard drive does have the advantage of Windows "remembering" where it was installed from, so if you make a configuration change, update or other install that needs the CD it will not ask, but automatically find the files on the hard drive.

As a side note, you can also change this "Windows CD" path in the registry in the key SourcëPath under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Setup
but as always, you should be careful when editing registry.

[mjc]

Isn't it a little easier to have it done from the start instead of editing later?

[Alejandro]

Sure it is, i just post it because sometimes i've had machines for repair with windows already installed from cd and asked all the time for it, so i did this to make all faster (helpful for example when troubleshooting network cards).
Also helpful if you add partitions and your cdrom changes it's letter.