BIOS problem !

B

Belloni

Joined
Dec 22, 2004
Messages
1,166
Reaction score
1
Hello people ... i have got everything for my m8's pc ... turned it on ... all is well (no beeps or nothing ) lol get into BIOs, change the date etc. save changes and excited ... searches for IDE drives when i have SATA drive in place, managed to eventually find this in the BIOs and changed it to ATA, restarts ... detecting drives .......... No drives found BIOs is not installed ?!?!?!

Now what do i do ?!?! I tried it with his old IDE HDD ... still said the same but went to start up options e.g safe mode, normal etc etc ... click on normal and then jst reboots it's self ?!?!

How do i install the BIOs ?!?! I have put the support cd in the cd-rom ... tried MANY different options in the BIO and no change

Oh yeah and also the first time we booted it up (my dad and i) it said something about boot device not selected please reboot and insert boot device something like that lol we managed to get past that ...

PLEASE HELP ... this is my first pc build !!!
 
Hi Belloni,

The BIOS doens't need to be installed - its build into a chip on your motherboard to control the basic system functions. BIOS = Basic Input/Output System

It just sounds like you need to get it to detect the SATA drive you have installed. You said you changed the options to ATA? This isn't the same as SATA and might be causing some problems.

If its a new hard drive installed, it should detect it in the BIOS but give you an error afterwards like the one you described you got the first time. This is simply because there is no operating system installed on it (I presume?). You need to go into the BIOS and change the "boot order" so the CDROM is before SATA/Hard Drive and turn your computer on with the Windows CD in the drive so it can run the setup from that.
 
Oh right i see ... well the only options i could choose from on the HDD settings was RAID or IDE so i presumed it would be IDE since i wasn't using RAID ... so shall i change it back RAID as before ... ?

Yes it hasn't got WINDOWS installed as of yet due to me not being able to get past the BIOS lol kk

kk My dad thought it was Floppy first as we read in a book but i will change when i get home. Shall i disable the 3rd settings and jst leave the CD and HDD settings as setting 1 and 2 ? ... i'll let you know if it works or not ... thanx for the help so far ... i am sure i will need some more help :)
 
Ah, no - leave it as IDE then :) Let me know what happens when you boot with the Windows CD in.
 
Oh right kk ... leave it as that :) I'll let you know as soon as i get home at about 4 lol Hope it works !!!
 
you need to set it to boot from cd first, put xp installation in, put the motherboards sata floppy disk in the drive and press f6 durig windows setup loading, then load the drivers. it should then be detected...
 
Sounds as if the battery could be flat. Just leave it switched on for half hour or so then the battery should have charged enough to retain BIOS memory.

If settings are already holding, I don't know what motherboard you have but the SATA drives sometimes only work on the RAID controller, that's quite common. In which case, set primary drive system in BIOS to RAID, Primary boot to CD and boot from XP CD.

You'll either have a floppy disk with RAID drivers on or you may have to make one from the motherboard CD.

Put that floppy disk in before XP loads, hit F6 when prompted to load RAID drivers from floppy, the prompt comes up very early on in the installation.

Even though you're not using RAID, you may need to enable the controller for XP to recognise your SATA drive.

All that is assuming you have no seperate SATA ports and the SATA disks are on a RAID controller.

If that don't help - trial and error ;)
 
Do i need a special floppy disk ?! And Chris ... SATA floppy disk ?!?! What's that and i didn't get a floppy with my motherbard ?!
 
Sometimes you need a floppy disk to start, but i never need one.
 
Just tried it again with the CD-ROM first in the list ... CD is in ... Set it to RAID ... still saying no IDE HDD connected (something like that) then stops on reboot and select a divice ?!
 
you need to install some drivers of some sort so that it can recognise the drives
 
Belloni
Start from scratch
Let us know the FULL spec:
If it is all new. When you go into BIOS only enable CD disable all others until you have set up WINDOWS, you may have to put a RAID in when setting up F6 the drivers should be on your MOBO CD? When you have set up go back into BIOS and make your HDD your first boot, CD second, and disable FLOPPY [TIP TO GET INTO BIOS =BOOT SET UP QUICKLY HIT] F8 on start up.Also My understanding is that XP doesn't recognize SATA only IDE. so it should set up as long as all the components are OK.
 
Last edited:
FULL spec - AMD 64 4000, 1GB RAM, X850XT PE AGP, 450W PSU

There is only RAID or IDE i thinks ... so i'll leave it in RAID ...

Btw is this with the XP disc in ?!?! Not the motherboard disc first ?!?!

So once i have set up WINDOWS ... restart the pc and then press F6 with the mobo cd in or the other way round ?!?!
 
Belloni said:
FULL spec - AMD 64 4000, 1GB RAM, X850XT PE AGP, 450W PSU

There is only RAID or IDE i thinks ... so i'll leave it in RAID ...

Btw is this with the XP disc in ?!?! Not the motherboard disc first ?!?!

So once i have set up WINDOWS ... restart the pc and then press F6 with the mobo cd in or the other way round ?!?!
Click to expand...
OK.
Here we go
1. Start the pc and go into the BIOS screen.
2. In the set configuration set your FIRST boot to CD ROM or DVD it will not matter which one.
3. Disable ALL the others.
4. Now if you have set the time date Etc: hit F10 you will then see a box for you to confirm YES enter, this saves the set up of your BIOS
5. The PC will now start to boot INSERT your XP disc and it should start the install
6. More than likely it will not recognise your Hard Drive as ATA but will as IDE.
7. Just carry on hopefully it will set up
8. If it dose ask if you want to set up RAID ignore it this time.
9. If you get to the point of set up A NOTICE will appear asking you to agree to the terms F8
10. Now let it set up.
11. When and if it completes.
12. Shut the PC down.
13. Now when you start up go back into the BIOS screen and set your.
14. HDD FISRT BOOT
15. CD SECOND BOOT
16. If you have a FLOOPY use that as the third BOOT
17. Seek other BOOT devises YES
18. Now HIT F10 to save your settings in the BIOS as before.
19. When it starts let it finish setting up
20. Now insert the MOBO CD and install all the drivers.
21. Then you will have to let me know what develops.
 
This is one of those situations where I would seriously like to be sitting in front of the machine, annoying. Still don't know what motherboard it is, either.

Seems to me it's booting from the XP CD OK, but XP can't find the SATA drive.

This is probably a BIOS setting, but without being familiar with the motherboard or BIOS, I can't comment.

Belloni, read the manual, find out if the SATA drive has an independent port or is on the RAID controller. There will be a setting in the BIOS somewhere where you can choose primary HDD controller as either RAID or IDE or SATA, depending.

To make the RAID drivers floppy disk, if you need it, browse the motherboard CD, read the readme's and find the RAID drivers. The instructions on how to do this are probably in the manual. So slow down and read it.

Then you transfer drivers from Motherboard CD to the floppy disk and leave the disk in, hit F6 when prompted during XP install, like I said before.

Again, like I said before, if the SATA port is not on a RAID controller, you need to change a BIOS setting somewhere.

READ THE MANUAL.

And good luck.
 
Belloni said:
kk Took it's time lol now up and running :)

You lot RULE !!! lol cheers :)
Click to expand...

So what was the prob then? Hey, come on, let us know, don't keep us in suspense, lol

Glad you got it sorted, anyway - well done :thumb:
 
Back
Top