[permial]

I have an Intel Mboard /w P-III 733mhz Processor that is refusing to be setup.
Nothing has changed other than the H/D's (1 13gb & 1 20gb). This machine worked
perfectly with a 2.3gb drive, but after replacement it doesn't boot from either drive
(both have working boot sectors on them and I disable one while trying to boot with
the other) or from the DVD-RW (an Emprex 8x). I've put both H/D's in different machines and they boot without a problem, but in the Intel machine I can only get to
the Standard/Safe Mode screen. In Safe mode, it loads upto the AGP driver and reboots, in Standard mode, it just reboots. The BIOS is current and everything is in place. Any ideas?

Give me Unix or at least a standard O/S that's configurable from the command line!

Edited by permial, 30 May 2005 - 09:56 AM.

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neither of these drives has a preinstalled OS, do they?

[gerryf]

neither of these drives has a preinstalled OS, do they?

[permial]

Yes, one did. It has the same build of XP Pro as the origional disk. I am about to run the "Repair" utility from the install disk (I had two more to finish before I got back to this one) and see if that will do any good. I really don't want to use the MS transfer utility to save the settings. What's really strange is that I use Ghost to clone drives all the time (commercial license) and have never had this particular problem before. We've got around 600 machines (mostly home built /w Asus boards) without any real problems. It may be time to "re-initialize" the purchaser's computer with Win95 (grin).

[gerryf]

having a difficult time following you--these are images? You sysprepped?

[permial]

Nope, commercial cloned disks. We have a site license for 1200 copies and we just clone them and change the isd's for each machine so they are unique. Normally I don't do anything but install the drives, boot the machines and hand them over to the jr tech's, but this particular machine goes to one of the sr. vp's and they wanted me to build it. Normally I deal with large Unix boxes and don't even see a MS based machine. I know I'm just missing something simple, but I've been told that if you have a unique isd and a license (yes, it's pretty much automated) it's supposed to be cut and dried. I've burned around 250 disks in the last 4 months and not had a problem.

Any and all imput is appreciated. Perhaps I can help you with a Unix/Linix box sometime (grin).....

[gerryf]

are they both identical harddrives (same manufacturer)

are they on the same controller?

Does it work with one or the other drive, but not both?


Over the years, I have run into some odd things, including motherboards that absolutely hate mismatched harddrives on the same controller. Never could explain it, but this is a fairly old machine so.....

Bios update available for this machine?

[permial]

I've tried them on both IDE Controllers, and no, one is a Seagate and the other is a Fujitzu. I've tried them one at a time and they'll both start to boot but I get the same end result on both. I REALLY prefer Motorola chips at this point. I think I'm going to send someone to Fry's to pickup an Azus and just zap the Intel board. For the other part, we've got the same config running in the CFO's office (which is why this person wanted it I think - if the CFO stopped short, well you get my drift) and it run's without a single problem. It'll even boot off the network or the USB port (it is only running one Seagate - same model as the other machine). If I wasn't already a confirmed technophile I'l learn an honerable profession like digging ditches over this one.

[gerryf]

autodetecting the harddrive in bios or manual settings them? LBA on or off?

Got a model number for that mobo?

[gerryf]

btw...when you say you try them both anf get the same result, you mean crap out?

Reset the motherboard settings, or pull the cmos battery and retry....sounds like a faulty controller/chipset

[permial]

I've done the cmos reset, that was the first thing I thought too. I've tried LBA & CHS for config along with auto and both drives get to the welcome screen, pop the initial cursor and reboot. I've even tried an PCI IDE controller on the board (I think it's a conspiracy to make a senior sysadmin go nuts, and it's working after almost 30 years and 6 degrees (grin)). The moboard model is D815EEA (the last bit stands for the sounds I'm about to make I believe). Also, it's a PBA370 with an Intel P-III, not a celeron and an 82815 chipset. All jumpers are as specified, circular file is now ready (grin).

[permial]

Thanks for all your help. This little project has already cost them as much as a dual P-4 would have. I'll check out my Intel books and check back with you later. Once again, my thanks.....

[gerryf]

oK, here is the interesting thing....this motherboard does not support window xp

What is interesting is that the other motherboard booted up--how stable is it?

Are they both using bios update 11? The last update corrected a number of issues with ide data transfers.

[permial]

Yep, both are on 11 (dated 2001) straight from Intel's site. I've put together quite a few machines that didn't support the latest and greatest from MS over the years, but none have vexed me like this one. I think I'll tell them that it's not a real motherboard, it's just a mockup that's supposed to hang on the wall as a reference (grin).

The other machine hasn't hiccuped in about 12 months. Perhaps I need Henry Winkler to come over here and bang it with his fist. Oh well, he'll just have to settle for a 2.4ghz on a modern board it seems. Too bad huh (BIG grin). I'll keep playing with it and sometime this evening I'll pull the config off the other one using Everest and see if anything is different.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's off to see if I left any head shaped dents in the walls.

With all the help you've given me, I'll check the rest of the forums and perhaps I can offer some insight other than using anything but MS. We do have quite a reference library here. Oops, the transputer is blinking at me, time to pop the xwindows to a stable operating system. Once again thanks.

[gerryf]

great....can always use some more help from some knowledgeable folk!

[permial]

Well, your BIOS suggestion has to have the answer somewhere in it. I've pulled copies of the BIOS on both machines and I'm decompiling them as we speak. Hopefully I'll know something sometime tomorrow morning. I really hope I don't have to write a new control set like I did for my Asus Dual Pentium. I thought system level programming was in my past (sigh), but I have the sinking feeling that I'm going to have to write new drivers for the IDE setup on this board. Wish me luck, I'll post the results when I get them.