[puzzledb]

Hello rschaffer61
Turned on but am getting message saying "Reboot and Select proper Boot Device or insert Boot Media device and press a key".
What does this mean?
What to do next?
Obviously it is not finding and loading Windows.
Perhaps I have not pressed home the IDE cable or I must connect something else.
I hope that I am not disturbing your Sunday too much.

With best regards,

Dave.

[Advertisements]

Nope not disturbing me at all. If it isn't finding the hd then something is not connected in right. The IDE cable should not be that hard to connect. It is keyed so it only fits one way. Is there power going to the HD? Follow the IDE ribbon up to where it connects to the HD. There should be a 4 wire connector attached right next to the IDE ribbon.

[rshaffer61]

Nope not disturbing me at all. If it isn't finding the hd then something is not connected in right. The IDE cable should not be that hard to connect. It is keyed so it only fits one way. Is there power going to the HD? Follow the IDE ribbon up to where it connects to the HD. There should be a 4 wire connector attached right next to the IDE ribbon.

[puzzledb]

Helo rschafer61
I feel that I have plugged in the IDE cable as far as it can go without using great force.It only fits one way as there is a raised bump on the cable connector and a corrsponding notch on the block attached to the mother board thus making connection only possible one way around. There is a connector next to the Hard Drive and it is pushed right in.I am baffled.

With best regards,

Dave.

[rshaffer61]

hmm strange as there is no reason now that it won't boot unless the ide is connected to the wrong controller on the motherboard. Somewhere around the connector on the motherboard it should say something like IDE0, IDE1 or IDE2. The other one will be marked as IDE1 or IDE2 depending on what first one is.

[puzzledb]

Hello rschaffer61,
I just unplugged the IDE cable and put it back in. I am developing super strong fingers.
There are no markings on the mother board but the IDE cable that I have plugged in goes to the hard drive.
I am also getting "media test failure-check cable" message.This is just the message I got before.
Disconnected the IDE and reconnected it.Monitor and power on but same result.
I have been called to say my evening meal is ready so it may be about 1 hour before I can get back to this.

With best regards,

Dave.

[puzzledb]

Hello rshaffer61,
Further thoughts.Could I have a faulty IDE cable?
Perhaps the IDE cable is not pushed home correctly at the hard drive end.
The message that has constantly appeared throughout has been "Media test failure- check cable".
On those times that this message did not appear the machine ran OK.
There is some intermittent connection fault.
A short between case and mother board does not seem likely.
What do you think?

With best regards,

Dave.

[happyrock]

remove the hard drive from the case and lay it beside the mobo...it will be easier to connect to...
you need to run the computer for awhile to see if the mouse freezing problem is truly gone

[rshaffer61]

Hello rshaffer61,
Further thoughts.Could I have a faulty IDE cable? Yes bery possible
Perhaps the IDE cable is not pushed home correctly at the hard drive end. Also a very good possiblity
The message that has constantly appeared throughout has been "Media test failure- check cable". This is caused by either a faulty ribbon, bad connection, faulty hard drive or fauty controller on the motherboard.
On those times that this message did not appear the machine ran OK. See above
There is some intermittent connection fault. Could be just a loose connection.
A short between case and mother board does not seem likely.
What do you think?
The chance it could be a loose power connector to the motherboard or front panel switch. It could also indicate a failing power supply.

With best regards,

Dave.

Yes very possible

[puzzledb]

Hello rshaffer61,
What would be the next logical step in sorting out this problem? The number of possibilities seems to be increasing.
I see that Happyrock suggests taking out the hard drive.

With best regards,

Dave.

[rshaffer61]

Yep it's just making it easier to access the hd and yes I would completely agree with him to take out the hd.
The system needs to run for awhile in windows to be tested correctly.

[puzzledb]

Hello rshaffer61,
If I can't run windows with the hard drive in place then how will removing the hard drive make it possble to run windows? Yes it will make connecting the hard drive and the mother board easy however I already have managed to connect them.
You may remember that in earlier post I said that by gently drumming on the back of the machine with the fingertips I could on next boot up get it work.Does this not tend to indicate a poor connection?

With best regards,

Dave.

[rshaffer61]

It would tend to indicate a bad PSU but what we are trying to find is to see if the problem is the motherboard also. If it does the same thing outside the case and the tapping on the case fixs the problem then the motherboard is not the issue exactly.
The motherboard would be isolated from the case at this point. If the issue doens't happen but the mouse still freezes then we look at the
Mouse, Motherboard , OS and the Hard drive itself.

[puzzledb]

Hello rshaffer61,
I am getting a bit confused. The motherboard is outside the case but I cannot get it to load Windows at all and so checking for frozen mouse is impossible.
I thought that the BIOS sent a signal to load Windows into the RAM. Windows is on the hard drive.
No progress can be made until I can get Windows to load.

With best regards,

Dave.

[rshaffer61]

Have you got a different IDE ribbon to try?
It may be a bad ribbon because of the media test failure you received.

[puzzledb]

Hello rshaffer61,
I put everything back together and it works.
However I still got message saying "Media Test failure- check cable".
The mouse works but the question is for how long.
Got to go into city now but will give it a long run this afternoon later.

With best regards,

Dave.