fdc failure

[srinivas123]

My system configuration
PIII 500MHz/64MB RAM/ZX-98 AT BAby Tomato Motherboard with Flash Bios/ 10.4GB Seagate HDD/Sony FDD/Sis AGP video card/Creative Sound Card and CDROM/Win 98 SE

After changing HDD,FDD,ribbon cable between FDD and Motherboard, 64MB RAM, SMPS and loading Win 98 SE I am still facing

this problem i.e., fdc failure press F1 to resume.

Service person changed the SMPS Power supply.

1. While booting at Windows 98 banner the scrolling bar below moves for about 2 seconds and got stuck up.

2.Resetted the system and system went to safe mode .
Entered into safe Mode.

3. At Start shut down the system and during Power On Self Test after displaying mem check 64MB , Pri Master HDD and Sec Slave Creative CDROM

it displayed

FDC Failure
Press F1 to resume

and sometimes

A http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gifrive error

Press F1 to resume

4.Pressed F1 and it booted normally and loaded Windows 98 and scrolling bar below the banner moved for 10 seconds and loaded all the drivers and system worked fine.

5. Once the system is ON and if everytime we boot or restart the system it will work fine booting without errors and loads Win 98 normally.

6. If after some gap if we switch ON the UPS and CPU ,
system will get frozen at Win 98 banner, scroll bar below gets stuck up after scroll bar below it moves for 2 or 3 secs,reset the system will go to safe mode,works in safe mode and again start -- reset from windows safe mode system works fine loading OS. I am able to use FDD and can see the files in floppy and also I will get 31/2 Floppy A: My Computer.

From the above sequence of steps could you tell where exactly problem lies in my system.It is helpful for me to diagnose it,as already it is idle for 3 months and service person is unable to diagnise the problem.

Also explain me in brief about fdc failure. Which components or hardware is involved in giving this error.You can tell me step by step procedure to solve it.

Already I changed everything in my system HDD/FDD/ribbon cables/SMPS/64MB RAM/Motherboard/Creative CDROM

Only CPU, Sis AGP Video card, Creative sound card is there that I have to change.

What I want to know is

do you think in BIOS Peripheral setup, Onboard FDC should be enabled. In my system it is in AUTO mode.

Is CPU or memory involved in giving this error and how it is related to FD Controller/IO controller residing on motherboard.

Why my system is getting stuck up while loading OS or sometimes going to safe mode or sometimes after mem check displaying FDC Failure.

Kindly help me solve this problem

If you have any internet site address regarding this error I can go through it.

[Paleo Pete]

The fdc error means floppy drive controller error. Don't think it would be the CPU or memory, could be the BIOS setting, I'd try setting Onboard floppy controller to Enabled instead of Auto. Floppy mode 3 should be disabled, swap floppy at boot should be disabled. If after checking all this, and maybe trying still another ribbon cable, you still get the floppy controller error, you might have to replace the motherboard.

PC Guide Troubleshooting (http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/index.htm) and

Troubleshooting Windows Start Up errors (http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q188/8/67.asp) would be good places to start with the other boot problems.

Since it happens while the Windows splash screen is up I'd say it's either a corrupt registry, or something in system.ini or win.ini. You might try booting to a command prompt using the [F8] key and running scanreg. scanreg /fix is the command line you'd want. Won't hurt, even if it doesn't fix the problem.

------------------
If you had everything...Where would you put it?

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)

[srinivas123]

Thanks for your response to my FDC Failure error.
As you said the service person changed the motherboard with Intel 810 mo/bo. Now I am not getting fdc failure during POST.
But I am getting
Check sum error
Press setup and change the clock speed.
My CPU Processor speed is 500MHz.
why it is displaying this error? What might be the problem?

[Paleo Pete]

The clock speed is the main system bus, and in older computers was set using jumpers on the motherboard. If you'll check your motherboard manual, or get one, you're likely to find that motherboard has a setting in BIOS for the clock speed and multiplier, instead of using jumpers.

What the error message is telling you is that the clock speed setting is not correct. It might be seeing a 500MHz CPU, and the BIOS is set for a 400MHz CPU, or something of that nature. Check the manual for the motherboard, or get one from the supplier. It should have the info, and basic instructions for changing it.

------------------
If you had everything...Where would you put it?

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)

[srinivas123]

Every time I boot the system it is showing

CMOS check sum error Defaults loaded.
Please press setup and change clock ratio.

and is BIOS it is showing CPU clock speed as 350Mhz.
Date it is showing July 1st 1999. Time 0:0:0

Entered Setup and changed the CPU clock speed to 500MHz.
Date and time also changed
And restarting the system it will work fine not showing any Check sum error.

But is we switch OFF the system and UPS.

And after sometime switch ON the system it will show CMOS checksum error
and date and time will be modified to July 1st 1999 and time 0:0:0
CPU clock speed changed to 350MHz.

What might be the problem?Why the CPU clock speed is changing and also the time and date?

Please help me solve the problem.

I thought my FDC problem is solved but after changing the motherboard this CMOS check sum error started. Is this error that much serious.

[Paleo Pete]

When you make changes to CMOS you have to save those changes when you exit. Since you said it rebooted and worked fine, I assume you did that.

If it reverts back to default settings later, I would think the CMOS battery is dead or going. Look for a battery on the motherboard that looks like a wafer type watch battery, or a Dallas chip. Replace it with a new one with the exact same numbers.

When the battery goes dead it can no longer save the CMOS settings, which are stored on a ROM chip, the battery supplies power to that chip when the computer is turned off, so it can remember the date & time, CPU speed, hard drive and floppy parameters, etc.

------------------
If you had everything...Where would you put it?

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)

[Jerkymom]

Pete's right...your CMOS battery is probably dying and will need to be replaced. Your computer boots correctly after you set the system time/date and the clock speed to 500 MHz, but when you turn the PC off for a period of time, the CMOS battery doesn't save those settings and loads the default settings, which are incorrect for your processor. That's where your CMOS check sum error is coming from. A new battery should fix your problem. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

Kim