Boot Probs

[Ranman]

Ok..here goes...im building a new system from old parts.When i boot up I get a error in dos saying Invalid system disk......replace disk and press any key.Ok im thinkin its havin probs recognizing floppy.Ive changed the cables eveyway i could think of.Is there away you can just shut off the floppy drive and not use it?Or is this a problem im overlooking and simple to correct?This is far as ive got with system.Original floppy drive thats always been in comp.But diff HD......not much else has changed.Any advice would be appreciated.Thanx Ranman

[cromwell]

Try using a startup disk in the floppy.

If you don't have one you can make one on a simular machine from a friend,

Crom

[Ranman]

Hmm..now it wont accept a floppy disk?Any thoughts?

[Ranman]

Does that mean im not getting any power to floppy disk?

[Ranman]

What should be on in bios?Should Boot up Floppy Seek be enabled or disabled?Should Swap floppy drive be enabled?Also what about boot sequence?

[Paleo Pete]

Boot sequence should be A;C if you want to be able to boot to a floppy.

Floppy Drive Seek at Boot is redundant if you set it to boot to A;C, it just checks it twice. Disable it if you set it for that boot sequence, it's mainly used to check the floppy when you set BIOS to boot to C first.

Swap Floppy Drive should be disabled, that swaps drives, and makes A drive be seen as B, and B drive be seen as A. Disable it.

Floppy 3 Mode Support should be disabled too.

If the floppy drive's LED is always on, the ribbon cable is upside down, flip the end over. The colored stripe is the #1 wire and should be oriented toward the #1 pin on the motherboard, and usually toward the power connector on the drive.

If after checking all this you still can't read a floppy disk, try another drive, that one is most likely bad.

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[Ranman]

Tried another drive........same prob....could it be cable or M-Board?

[Paleo Pete]

If another drive doesn't work, and it's a known good drive, then it has to be either the cable or the controller on the motherboard.

Assuming the cable is installed correctly, power is fully plugged in and working, and BIOS settings are correct, and the floppy disk is good.

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[Ranman]

If i can plug the cable in backwards and get the light to stay on,does that mean the cable is good?O r does it mean nothing?This comp was just up and going day after day.The only thing really diff is the HD.

[Ranman]

Is there anyway to turn off the floppy?Or does your comp have to have it?

[Paleo Pete]

No, plugging it in backward only tells you the cable is backward, not that it's absolutely good. The only way to test the cable is to get a drive to work on it, or test it in another machine with a known good drive and cable. If it quits working when you change the cable, the cable is bad.

The floppy drive is not a necessity, you can disable it in BIOS, by telling BIOS no floppy is installed, but it sure is nice to have occasionally. Like when you need to boot to a start up disk, install small programs from floppy, save documents or other small files for easy transfer to another computer...

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If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you!
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[Ranman]

Thank you very much for your help...would you have the time to tell me how to disable the floppy in bios?All i can get out of it now is the invalid disk disk warning replace and hit any key to continue......Im thinkin i can load WIN 2 K from CD-Rom..this is possible right?Thanks in advance

[Ranman]

Oh, and do disconnect cable and power?

[sea69]

No, u will not be able to load anything once u disable ur A-drive, because u need to boot to a 'boot disk' in order to change/upgrade/re-install anything. (if u r doing it 'clean' install)

You will be stuck w/ what u have (until u make ur {a} drive work)
or buy/install a new one

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"re-inventing the hammer.. why I oughtta..."



[This message has been edited by sea69 (edited 01-24-2001).]

[Reid]

Does your BIOS have the option to boot from a CD? Of course, you'd have to find someone to burn one for you.

What is the error you get when you tried anothe floppy drive? Does it say the disk is not formatted?

Is your floppy type selected correctly in the BIOS? Have you tried a new floppy cable? Make sure you are using the end connector on the ribbon cable (after the twist) for the A: drive.

If you could get another workable floppy drive, with a Startup disk created on that drive, I'd try that. If the old drive was worn, the newer (or different) drive might not be reading your disks because of head alignment differences. Floppy drives just apply x number of pulses to a stepper motor, rather than electronically seek the tracks.

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reido@my-deja.com

Friends don't let friends load Windows ME

[This message has been edited by Reid (edited 01-24-2001).]

[Ranman]

Ok in reply to Sea69..im assuming you can boot from CD-ROm because WIN2k and Win ME have no boot disk.They come as a CD-ROM and that is all.Reid yes my Bios has a boot sequence..these are the questions im asking because its as far as I got......The error message Im getting is after it loads Bios it says verifying DMI pool data..the it drops down and says Invalid Disk in system Remove disk and press any key to continue...there is no disk in the floppy drive.......I have got it to boot to the cd-rom but after it shows Booting to AtaptecCD ROM...it waits for a while and then says failure...and keeps repeating that........

[Paleo Pete]

Go into BIOS and see if you have the Virus Protection enabled. If so, disable it.

PC Guide BIOS Settings

BIOS Survival Guide

Those links might help you make your way through the BIOS setings. You need to have the floppy set for the right type and size, and make sure Swap Floppy Drive is disabled.

The Virus Protection setting might be stopping the boot disk from working for some reason, I'm not sure why, but sometimes it happens.

I would try and get an emercency disk for a good virus scanner and run it too.

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[This message has been edited by Paleo Pete (edited 01-24-2001).]