Boot HD on Promise IDE card sometimes not detected

[Dan_Musicant]

On Mon, 6 Mar 2006 22:23:39 -0800, "Timothy Daniels"

:> "Dan_Musicant" wrote:
:>> This is a persistent problem, but it doesn't happen all the time. I have
:>> two PC's and 2 "identical" Promise Ultra100 TX2 IDE controller cards. I
:>> bought a second such card partly to determine if the problem was due to
:>> the card or the machine. I found that the problem happened with either
:>> card on this particular machine. I put the other card in my other
:>> machine.
:>>
:>> The machine on which I have the problem has an Epox 8K7A motherboard.
:>> The problem is that 1/2 the time the machine doesn't detect the boot
:>> drive when it's attached to the Promise card. Sometimes it's detected,
:>> sometimes not. Sometimes it won't detect for 1/2 dozen boots in a row or
:>> more. Of course, I gave up long ago and put the HDD's on the MB IDE
:>> channels, and my IDE peripherals on the Promise card. However, it's not
:>> my main machine and I forgot about the problem and over the weekend
:>> rewired the machine entirely with the HDD's on the Promise card. Whoops!
:>>
:>> Well, is there any explanation for all this or do I have to entirely
:>> rewire the machine in terms of IDE cables?
:>>
:>> I'm running Windows 2000 SP4, the machine specs below.
:>>
:>> Thanks for any help on this - Promise support wasn't able to help me
:>> with it when I called them about 3 years ago.
:>>
:>> Dan
:>> - - - -
:>> Epox 8K7A mainboard
:>> Athlon 1.2 GHz running at 1.4
:>> 2 x 256 MB Crucial DDR ECC PC2100 266
:>> MSI geforce2 Pro 64 MB DDR
:>> Santa Cruz soundcard
:>> Promise Ultra100 TX2 IDE controller
:>>
:>> IBM 60GXP 60 GB HDD ATA-100 IDE (Promise IDE1 Master)
:>> Western Digital 80 GB HDD ATA-3 IDE (Promise IDE1 Slave)
:>> Western Digital 120 GB HDD ATA-3 IDE (Promise IDE2 Master)
:>>
:>> Pioneer 16x 106S Slot loader DVD IDE (Motherboard IDE1 Master)
:>> Iomega Zip 250 IDE (Motherboard IDE1 slave)
:>> Liteon 24102B CD-RW IDE 24x (Motherboard IDE2 Master)
:>>
:>> Mitsumi Floppy
:>> Enlight midtower case with 300 Watt PSU
:>> Windows 2000 Professional Service Pack 4
:
:
: By "boot drive" I assume you mean the drive with the Primary
artition marked "active" that holds the ntldr and boot.ini and
:ntdetect.com files. I also assume that you can get the BIOS to
:list the hard drive boot order for you, and that you can display
:the contents of the boot.ini file. So...
:
: 1) Please list the *hard drive* boot order (including the PCI
: controller card if it's listed there along with the hard drives)
: 2) Please list the contents of the boot.ini file.
: 3) Which partition on which hard drive is "active" and has
: the "boot files"?
:
:*TimDaniels*

The BIOS doesn't show the Promise card in the boot order. I have it set
presently to first look for a CD drive, then the HD. When it fails to
find the HD, it stops and looks for a bootable CD and if it doesn't find
one, the machine sits there waiting for insertion of a bootable CD. When
the machine finds the HD, it boot to Windows 2000. Since I reset the HD
to master (from CS) it's properly booted to Windows 3 times without an
error. We'll see.

The boot.ini file says this:

[boot loader]
timeout=3
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation
Version 4.00"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation
Version 4.00 [VGA mode]" /basevideo /sos
C:\="Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition"

Dan

 

[Timothy Daniels]

:

:> "Dan_Musicant" wrote:
:>> This is a persistent problem, but it doesn't happen all the time. I have
:>> two PC's and 2 "identical" Promise Ultra100 TX2 IDE controller cards.
:>> I bought a second such card partly to determine if the problem was due
:>> to the card or the machine. I found that the problem happened with
:>> either card on this particular machine. I put the other card in my other
:>> machine.
:>>
:>> The machine on which I have the problem has an Epox 8K7A motherboard.
:>> The problem is that 1/2 the time the machine doesn't detect the boot
:>> drive when it's attached to the Promise card. Sometimes it's detected,
:>> sometimes not. Sometimes it won't detect for 1/2 dozen boots in a row or
:>> more. Of course, I gave up long ago and put the HDD's on the MB IDE
:>> channels, and my IDE peripherals on the Promise card. However, it's not
:>> my main machine and I forgot about the problem and over the weekend
:>> rewired the machine entirely with the HDD's on the Promise card. Whoops!
:>>
:>> Well, is there any explanation for all this or do I have to entirely
:>> rewire the machine in terms of IDE cables?
:>>
:>> I'm running Windows 2000 SP4, the machine specs below.
:>>
:>> Thanks for any help on this - Promise support wasn't able to help me
:>> with it when I called them about 3 years ago.
:>>
:>> Dan
:>> - - - -
:>> Epox 8K7A mainboard
:>> Athlon 1.2 GHz running at 1.4
:>> 2 x 256 MB Crucial DDR ECC PC2100 266
:>> MSI geforce2 Pro 64 MB DDR
:>> Santa Cruz soundcard
:>> Promise Ultra100 TX2 IDE controller
:>>
:>> IBM 60GXP 60 GB HDD ATA-100 IDE (Promise IDE1 Master)
:>> Western Digital 80 GB HDD ATA-3 IDE (Promise IDE1 Slave)
:>> Western Digital 120 GB HDD ATA-3 IDE (Promise IDE2 Master)
:>>
:>> Pioneer 16x 106S Slot loader DVD IDE (Motherboard IDE1 Master)
:>> Iomega Zip 250 IDE (Motherboard IDE1 slave)
:>> Liteon 24102B CD-RW IDE 24x (Motherboard IDE2 Master)
:>>
:>> Mitsumi Floppy
:>> Enlight midtower case with 300 Watt PSU
:>> Windows 2000 Professional Service Pack 4
:
:
: By "boot drive" I assume you mean the drive with the Primary
artition marked "active" that holds the ntldr and boot.ini and
:ntdetect.com files. I also assume that you can get the BIOS to
:list the hard drive boot order for you, and that you can display
:the contents of the boot.ini file. So...
:
: 1) Please list the *hard drive* boot order (including the PCI
: controller card if it's listed there along with the hard drives)
: 2) Please list the contents of the boot.ini file.
: 3) Which partition on which hard drive is "active" and has
: the "boot files"?
:
:*TimDaniels*

The BIOS doesn't show the Promise card in the boot order. I have it set
presently to first look for a CD drive, then the HD. When it fails to
find the HD, it stops and looks for a bootable CD and if it doesn't find
one, the machine sits there waiting for insertion of a bootable CD. When
the machine finds the HD, it boot to Windows 2000. Since I reset the HD
to master (from CS) it's properly booted to Windows 3 times without an
error. We'll see.

The boot.ini file says this:

[boot loader]
timeout=3
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation
Version 4.00"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation
Version 4.00 [VGA mode]" /basevideo /sos
C:\="Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition"

Dan

Interesting. You didn't mention that you were multi-booting
operating systems. Are they all really there? Personally, I'd
give more than 3 seconds to choose between them to give
me more time to see what's going on. You also didn't mention
what the *hard drive* boot order is. Perhaps it isn't listed or
controllable in your BIOS. In my machine's BIOS (a Phoenix
Tech BIOS modified by Dell), the *hard drive* boot order is
adjustable - as is the overall boot order - and only the *default*
setting puts the hard drive boot order as
Master, ch. 0,
Slave, ch. 0.
Master, ch. 1,
Slave, Ch. 1.
Amongst these entries appears my SIIG controller card, shown
as a SCSI device, which I usually move to the end of the list.
It so far sounds like your BIOS doesn't provide for adjustment
of the *hard drive* boot order. If it were, the hard drive boot
order might be getting rearranged, or a flaky keyboard might
be choosing an OS during booting that wasn't really there

It sounds more likely, though, that you might have a bad
connection or connector pin in your IDE cable. That may be
why jumpering the Master hard drive on the first IDE channel
seems to work better than Cable Select. You could verify that
by using Cable Select while using a different IDE cable.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Rod Speed]

:
This is a persistent problem, but it doesn't happen all the time.
I have two PC's and 2 "identical" Promise Ultra100 TX2 IDE
controller cards. I bought a second such card partly to determine if
the problem
was due to the card or the machine. I found that the problem
happened with either card on this particular machine. I put the
other card in my other machine.

The machine on which I have the problem has an Epox 8K7A
motherboard. The problem is that 1/2 the time the machine doesn't
detect the boot drive when it's attached to the Promise card.
Sometimes it's detected, sometimes not. Sometimes it won't detect
for 1/2 dozen boots in a row or more. Of course, I gave up long
ago and put the HDD's on the MB IDE channels, and my IDE
peripherals on the Promise card. However, it's not my main
machine and I forgot about the problem and over the weekend
rewired the machine entirely with the HDD's on the Promise card.
Whoops! Well, is there any explanation for all this or do I have to
entirely rewire the machine in terms of IDE cables?

I'm running Windows 2000 SP4, the machine specs below.

Thanks for any help on this - Promise support wasn't able to help
me with it when I called them about 3 years ago.

Dan
- - - -
Epox 8K7A mainboard
Athlon 1.2 GHz running at 1.4
2 x 256 MB Crucial DDR ECC PC2100 266
MSI geforce2 Pro 64 MB DDR
Santa Cruz soundcard
Promise Ultra100 TX2 IDE controller

IBM 60GXP 60 GB HDD ATA-100 IDE (Promise IDE1 Master)
Western Digital 80 GB HDD ATA-3 IDE (Promise IDE1 Slave)
Western Digital 120 GB HDD ATA-3 IDE (Promise IDE2 Master)

Pioneer 16x 106S Slot loader DVD IDE (Motherboard IDE1 Master)
Iomega Zip 250 IDE (Motherboard IDE1 slave)
Liteon 24102B CD-RW IDE 24x (Motherboard IDE2 Master)

Mitsumi Floppy
Enlight midtower case with 300 Watt PSU
Windows 2000 Professional Service Pack 4


By "boot drive" I assume you mean the drive with the Primary
partition marked "active" that holds the ntldr and boot.ini and
ntdetect.com files. I also assume that you can get the BIOS to
list the hard drive boot order for you, and that you can display
the contents of the boot.ini file. So...

1) Please list the *hard drive* boot order (including the PCI
controller card if it's listed there along with the hard
drives) 2) Please list the contents of the boot.ini file.
3) Which partition on which hard drive is "active" and has
the "boot files"?

:*TimDaniels*

The BIOS doesn't show the Promise card in the boot order. I have it
set presently to first look for a CD drive, then the HD. When it
fails to find the HD, it stops and looks for a bootable CD and if it
doesn't find one, the machine sits there waiting for insertion of a
bootable CD. When the machine finds the HD, it boot to Windows 2000.
Since I reset the HD to master (from CS) it's properly booted to
Windows 3 times without an error. We'll see.

The boot.ini file says this:

[boot loader]
timeout=3
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation
Version 4.00"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation
Version 4.00 [VGA mode]" /basevideo /sos
C:\="Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition"

Dan

Interesting. You didn't mention that you were multi-booting
operating systems. Are they all really there? Personally, I'd
give more than 3 seconds to choose between them to give
me more time to see what's going on. You also didn't mention
what the *hard drive* boot order is. Perhaps it isn't listed or
controllable in your BIOS. In my machine's BIOS (a Phoenix
Tech BIOS modified by Dell), the *hard drive* boot order is
adjustable - as is the overall boot order - and only the *default*
setting puts the hard drive boot order as
Master, ch. 0,
Slave, ch. 0.
Master, ch. 1,
Slave, Ch. 1.
Amongst these entries appears my SIIG controller card, shown
as a SCSI device, which I usually move to the end of the list.
It so far sounds like your BIOS doesn't provide for adjustment
of the *hard drive* boot order. If it were, the hard drive boot
order might be getting rearranged, or a flaky keyboard might
be choosing an OS during booting that wasn't really there

Or its MUCH more likely that the Promise card is flakey in that system.

It sounds more likely, though, that you might have a bad
connection or connector pin in your IDE cable. That may be
why jumpering the Master hard drive on the first IDE channel
seems to work better than Cable Select. You could verify that
by using Cable Select while using a different IDE cable.

Or its MUCH more likely that the Promise card is flakey in that system.

 

[Dan_Musicant]

:> "Dan_Musicant" wrote:
:>> "Timothy Daniels" wrote:
:>>
:>>>> "Dan_Musicant" wrote:
:>>>>> This is a persistent problem, but it doesn't happen all the time.
:>>>>> I have two PC's and 2 "identical" Promise Ultra100 TX2 IDE
:>>>>> controller cards. I bought a second such card partly to determine if
:>>>>> the problem
:>>>>> was due to the card or the machine. I found that the problem
:>>>>> happened with either card on this particular machine. I put the
:>>>>> other card in my other machine.
:>>>>>
:>>>>> The machine on which I have the problem has an Epox 8K7A
:>>>>> motherboard. The problem is that 1/2 the time the machine doesn't
:>>>>> detect the boot drive when it's attached to the Promise card.
:>>>>> Sometimes it's detected, sometimes not. Sometimes it won't detect
:>>>>> for 1/2 dozen boots in a row or more. Of course, I gave up long
:>>>>> ago and put the HDD's on the MB IDE channels, and my IDE
:>>>>> peripherals on the Promise card. However, it's not my main
:>>>>> machine and I forgot about the problem and over the weekend
:>>>>> rewired the machine entirely with the HDD's on the Promise card.
:>>>>> Whoops! Well, is there any explanation for all this or do I have to
:>>>>> entirely rewire the machine in terms of IDE cables?
:>>>>>
:>>>>> I'm running Windows 2000 SP4, the machine specs below.
:>>>>>
:>>>>> Thanks for any help on this - Promise support wasn't able to help
:>>>>> me with it when I called them about 3 years ago.
:>>>>>
:>>>>> Dan
:>>>>> - - - -
:>>>>> Epox 8K7A mainboard
:>>>>> Athlon 1.2 GHz running at 1.4
:>>>>> 2 x 256 MB Crucial DDR ECC PC2100 266
:>>>>> MSI geforce2 Pro 64 MB DDR
:>>>>> Santa Cruz soundcard
:>>>>> Promise Ultra100 TX2 IDE controller
:>>>>>
:>>>>> IBM 60GXP 60 GB HDD ATA-100 IDE (Promise IDE1 Master)
:>>>>> Western Digital 80 GB HDD ATA-3 IDE (Promise IDE1 Slave)
:>>>>> Western Digital 120 GB HDD ATA-3 IDE (Promise IDE2 Master)
:>>>>>
:>>>>> Pioneer 16x 106S Slot loader DVD IDE (Motherboard IDE1 Master)
:>>>>> Iomega Zip 250 IDE (Motherboard IDE1 slave)
:>>>>> Liteon 24102B CD-RW IDE 24x (Motherboard IDE2 Master)
:>>>>>
:>>>>> Mitsumi Floppy
:>>>>> Enlight midtower case with 300 Watt PSU
:>>>>> Windows 2000 Professional Service Pack 4
:>>>
:>>>
:>>> By "boot drive" I assume you mean the drive with the Primary
:>>> partition marked "active" that holds the ntldr and boot.ini and
:>>> ntdetect.com files. I also assume that you can get the BIOS to
:>>> list the hard drive boot order for you, and that you can display
:>>> the contents of the boot.ini file. So...
:>>>
:>>> 1) Please list the *hard drive* boot order (including the PCI
:>>> controller card if it's listed there along with the hard
:>>> drives) 2) Please list the contents of the boot.ini file.
:>>> 3) Which partition on which hard drive is "active" and has
:>>> the "boot files"?
:>>>
:>> :*TimDaniels*
:>>
:>> The BIOS doesn't show the Promise card in the boot order. I have it
:>> set presently to first look for a CD drive, then the HD. When it
:>> fails to find the HD, it stops and looks for a bootable CD and if it
:>> doesn't find one, the machine sits there waiting for insertion of a
:>> bootable CD. When the machine finds the HD, it boot to Windows 2000.
:>> Since I reset the HD to master (from CS) it's properly booted to
:>> Windows 3 times without an error. We'll see.
:>>
:>> The boot.ini file says this:
:>>
:>> [boot loader]
:>> timeout=3
:>> default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINNT
:>> [operating systems]
:>> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
:>> Professional" /fastdetect
:>> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation
:>> Version 4.00"
:>> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation
:>> Version 4.00 [VGA mode]" /basevideo /sos
:>> C:\="Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition"
:>>
:>> Dan
:>
:> Interesting. You didn't mention that you were multi-booting
:> operating systems. Are they all really there? Personally, I'd
:> give more than 3 seconds to choose between them to give
:> me more time to see what's going on. You also didn't mention
:> what the *hard drive* boot order is. Perhaps it isn't listed or
:> controllable in your BIOS. In my machine's BIOS (a Phoenix
:> Tech BIOS modified by Dell), the *hard drive* boot order is
:> adjustable - as is the overall boot order - and only the *default*
:> setting puts the hard drive boot order as
:> Master, ch. 0,
:> Slave, ch. 0.
:> Master, ch. 1,
:> Slave, Ch. 1.
:> Amongst these entries appears my SIIG controller card, shown
:> as a SCSI device, which I usually move to the end of the list.
:> It so far sounds like your BIOS doesn't provide for adjustment
:> of the *hard drive* boot order. If it were, the hard drive boot
:> order might be getting rearranged, or a flaky keyboard might
:> be choosing an OS during booting that wasn't really there
:
:Or its MUCH more likely that the Promise card is flakey in that system.
:
:> It sounds more likely, though, that you might have a bad
:> connection or connector pin in your IDE cable. That may be
:> why jumpering the Master hard drive on the first IDE channel
:> seems to work better than Cable Select. You could verify that
:> by using Cable Select while using a different IDE cable.
:
:Or its MUCH more likely that the Promise card is flakey in that system.
:

Thing is I had the same problem using either of my Promise cards, and I
used various slots and I'm sure I used various cables. Yes, I think it's
a bug in the Promise card or its firmware or drivers. Conceivably, I
suppose, using the master jumper setting for the HD instead of CS will
prevent the problem. Otherwise, I guess, I'll move the boot HD to the MB
and be done with it (I hope). I sometimes go for weeks without using
that machine, so it will be a while before I have any real idea
concerning this.

 

[Rod Speed]

Dan_Musicant wrote
Timothy Daniels wrote
Dan_Musicant wrote
This is a persistent problem, but it doesn't happen all the time.
I have two PC's and 2 "identical" Promise Ultra100 TX2 IDE
controller cards. I bought a second such card partly to
determine if the problem
was due to the card or the machine. I found that the problem
happened with either card on this particular machine. I put the
other card in my other machine.

The machine on which I have the problem has an Epox 8K7A
motherboard. The problem is that 1/2 the time the machine
doesn't detect the boot drive when it's attached to the Promise
card. Sometimes it's detected, sometimes not. Sometimes it
won't detect for 1/2 dozen boots in a row or more. Of course, I
gave up long
ago and put the HDD's on the MB IDE channels, and my IDE
peripherals on the Promise card. However, it's not my main
machine and I forgot about the problem and over the weekend
rewired the machine entirely with the HDD's on the Promise card.
Whoops! Well, is there any explanation for all this or do I
have to entirely rewire the machine in terms of IDE cables?

I'm running Windows 2000 SP4, the machine specs below.

Thanks for any help on this - Promise support wasn't able to
help me with it when I called them about 3 years ago.

Dan
- - - -
Epox 8K7A mainboard
Athlon 1.2 GHz running at 1.4
2 x 256 MB Crucial DDR ECC PC2100 266
MSI geforce2 Pro 64 MB DDR
Santa Cruz soundcard
Promise Ultra100 TX2 IDE controller

IBM 60GXP 60 GB HDD ATA-100 IDE (Promise IDE1 Master)
Western Digital 80 GB HDD ATA-3 IDE (Promise IDE1 Slave)
Western Digital 120 GB HDD ATA-3 IDE (Promise IDE2 Master)

Pioneer 16x 106S Slot loader DVD IDE (Motherboard IDE1 Master)
Iomega Zip 250 IDE (Motherboard IDE1 slave)
Liteon 24102B CD-RW IDE 24x (Motherboard IDE2 Master)

Mitsumi Floppy
Enlight midtower case with 300 Watt PSU
Windows 2000 Professional Service Pack 4


By "boot drive" I assume you mean the drive with the Primary
partition marked "active" that holds the ntldr and boot.ini and
ntdetect.com files. I also assume that you can get the BIOS to
list the hard drive boot order for you, and that you can display
the contents of the boot.ini file. So...

1) Please list the *hard drive* boot order (including the PCI
controller card if it's listed there along with the hard
drives) 2) Please list the contents of the boot.ini file.
3) Which partition on which hard drive is "active" and has
the "boot files"?

:*TimDaniels*

The BIOS doesn't show the Promise card in the boot order. I have it
set presently to first look for a CD drive, then the HD. When it
fails to find the HD, it stops and looks for a bootable CD and if
it doesn't find one, the machine sits there waiting for insertion
of a bootable CD. When the machine finds the HD, it boot to
Windows 2000. Since I reset the HD to master (from CS) it's
properly booted to Windows 3 times without an error. We'll see.

The boot.ini file says this:

[boot loader]
timeout=3
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation
Version 4.00"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation
Version 4.00 [VGA mode]" /basevideo /sos
C:\="Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition"

Dan

Interesting. You didn't mention that you were multi-booting
operating systems. Are they all really there? Personally, I'd
give more than 3 seconds to choose between them to give
me more time to see what's going on. You also didn't mention
what the *hard drive* boot order is. Perhaps it isn't listed or
controllable in your BIOS. In my machine's BIOS (a Phoenix
Tech BIOS modified by Dell), the *hard drive* boot order is
adjustable - as is the overall boot order - and only the
*default* setting puts the hard drive boot order as
Master, ch. 0,
Slave, ch. 0.
Master, ch. 1,
Slave, Ch. 1.
Amongst these entries appears my SIIG controller card, shown
as a SCSI device, which I usually move to the end of the list.
It so far sounds like your BIOS doesn't provide for adjustment
of the *hard drive* boot order. If it were, the hard drive boot
order might be getting rearranged, or a flaky keyboard might
be choosing an OS during booting that wasn't really there

Or its MUCH more likely that the Promise card is flakey in that
system.

It sounds more likely, though, that you might have a bad
connection or connector pin in your IDE cable. That may be
why jumpering the Master hard drive on the first IDE channel
seems to work better than Cable Select. You could verify that
by using Cable Select while using a different IDE cable.

Or its MUCH more likely that the Promise card is flakey in that
system.

Thing is I had the same problem using either of my Promise cards,

Yeah, that was clear from the original post.

and I used various slots and I'm sure I used various cables. Yes,
I think it's a bug in the Promise card or its firmware or drivers.

Me too, likely only seen in some motherboards.

Conceivably, I suppose, using the master jumper setting for the HD
instead of CS will prevent the problem. Otherwise, I guess, I'll move
the boot HD to the MB and be done with it (I hope). I sometimes go
for weeks without using that machine, so it will be a while before I
have any real idea concerning this.

Be interesting to see what the washup is.

 

[Dan_Musicant]

On Mon, 13 Mar 2006 11:36:51 +1100, "Rod Speed"

:
:> Thing is I had the same problem using either of my Promise cards,
:
:Yeah, that was clear from the original post.
:
:> and I used various slots and I'm sure I used various cables. Yes,
:> I think it's a bug in the Promise card or its firmware or drivers.
:
:Me too, likely only seen in some motherboards.
:
:> Conceivably, I suppose, using the master jumper setting for the HD
:> instead of CS will prevent the problem. Otherwise, I guess, I'll move
:> the boot HD to the MB and be done with it (I hope). I sometimes go
:> for weeks without using that machine, so it will be a while before I
:> have any real idea concerning this.
:
:Be interesting to see what the washup is.

I just booted the machine, for the 4th or 5th time since resetting the
jumper on the boot HD. It detected again. So, I guess I'll put the
covers back on my machines and proceed like nothing's wrong. If it gets
undetected again, I'll post here (hopefully) and put the boot HD on the
mainboard IDE controller.

 

[Timothy Daniels]

I just booted the machine, for the 4th or 5th time since
resetting the jumper on the boot HD. It detected again.
So, I guess I'll put the covers back on my machines and
proceed like nothing's wrong. If it gets undetected again,
I'll post here (hopefully) and put the boot HD on the
mainboard IDE controller.

Check the jumper positions for Cable Select for your
IBM and Western Digital hard drives. They are quite
different from each other. Since you have them both
on the same IDE cable/channel, that may be the cause
of the controller's confusion in the Cable Select mode.

*TimDaniels*

 

[User]

No, I didn't have to mention the floppy. I just keep all that stuff
handy and posted the lastest. I actually don't think I'm overclocking
the CPU at present, contrary to what it says above. I also am not
running the very latest driver from Promise because I had a problem
after upgrading, so I reverted to a previous version. Don't remember the
details - I wrestled with that one about 3 years ago. Oh, I remember now
(found the clue in a database table I have): The new driver caused my
mouse cursor to jump around!

Dan

Some BIOS's have a setting of a delay (1 or 2 or 3 seconds) before
boot up. This is to allow some disks ample time to spinup. If you
have a hard drive that is slow to reach full speed, some systems think
there is no hard drive.

Not saying that is your problem, but check for delay.

Also, as mentioned before a power supply must draw a lot of current at
initial start up. So several factors with marginal power can affect
all kinds of components especially at start up time. After the system
stabilizes, there is less demand on the power supply, so you may not
notice when it is getting bad.

Kind of like starting your car up at 20 degrees below zero with the
lights on. Big draw on the power supply.