Can not boot to CDROm Drive

UrbanDragonUrbanDragon
edited August 2004 in Hardware
I have the ABIT NF7 Motherboard. I have just set everything up and verified that CDROM is first in the boot sequence in bios. After I save settings and exit bios my Cdrom light comes on and goes off. Then the computer starts to boot and completly bypasses the cdrom.

This cdrom is bootable because it came out of another box where it was used many times to boot to the install cd for 2k and xp. Also I have tried another CDROM drive that I verified worked. Still no boot to cdrom. I have even removed all drives except Master HDD and Slave CDROM on same ide cable. still no boot. Then I changed it to CDROM Primary Master, HDD Primary Slave. Tried CDROM Primary Master and HDD Secondary Master. still no boot.

Anyone here know of any issues with the ABIT NF7 with the nforce chipset having problems booting to a CDROM.

Sorry about not giving exact MotherBoard but I am at work and dont have the Exact model but it is the NF7 series.

Thanks for any help.

Comments

  • kanezfankanezfan sunny south florida Icrontian
    edited June 2004
    put the cdrom on its own controller and make it a master. use a 40 pin cable
  • UrbanDragonUrbanDragon
    edited June 2004
    NOTED in first message
    Tried CDROM Primary Master and HDD Secondary Master. still no boot.
    I have tried a 40pin and 80 pin cable for the CDROM in each configuration listed above.

    Have already done that.
  • MediaManMediaMan Powered by loose parts.
    edited June 2004
    UrbanDragon,

    I take it this is a WinXP install disk that you are trying to boot from? To point out the utterly obvious...(Not an insult...just pointing out the utterly obvious) you are pressing any key on the keyboard when the DOS prompt asks you to?

    Also...are you using a USB keyboard? If the BIOS is not set up to recognize the USB devices...the keyboard will most likely be bypassed and any key pressing during the boot sequence will be ignored.

    Solution: Setup BIOS to recognize all USB devices or use a PS/2 based keyboard.

    Hope this helps.
  • UrbanDragonUrbanDragon
    edited June 2004
    Normally when you attempt to boot to a cdrom the little light comes on the drive then the cdrom spins up.. none of this is happening. My keyboard is a PS2 and no I do not get the prompt to press any key to boot to cdrom .............

    Any other suggestions.
  • GobblesGobbles Ventura California
    edited June 2004
    once again...

    put the cdrom on ide2 as a master and the hdd on ide1 as a master. Different cables..

    also go into the bios and make sure it recognizes the cdrom.

    also make sure that your cdrom and hdd are not using the same power lead.

    also what is your power supply rated at wattage wise and what brand is it.

    gobbles
  • UrbanDragonUrbanDragon
    edited June 2004
    once again...( you dont have to be a smart ass )

    put the cdrom on ide2 as a master and the hdd on ide1 as a master. Different cables..
    (I AM NOT AN ID10T) you would have to be an idiot to use 1 cable with 2 different IDE controllers.

    also go into the bios and make sure it recognizes the cdrom.
    (CDROM HAS ALWAYS BEEN RECOGNIZED IN BIOS)
    also make sure that your cdrom and hdd are not using the same power lead.
    (It is not using the same power lead)
    also what is your power supply rated at wattage wise and what brand is it.
    (Power supply is a 550 Watt power supply. Not sure of exact Brand. Like it really matters what brand.)
  • UrbanDragonUrbanDragon
    edited June 2004
    Sorry about getting offensive in the last post... I just feel like i am getting NEWBIE information. I have been working on computers for the past 5+ years and know my way around the hardware.

    Here is the deal. I just replaced my old board a PC CHIPS Model 810LR with this ABIT NF7 board. Everything else is the exact same. It was originally setup with a 160 gig 7200 rpm hdd as Primary Master and a 30 Gig 7200 rpm hdd as Primary Slave.
    On the Secondary IDE controller was another 30 Gig 5400rpm hdd as master with the CDROM as slave.
    I have removed all but the 30 gig 7200 rpm hdd and the cdrom... Here is the current configuration... HDD Primary Master. CDROM Secondary Master. with jumpers set to the appropriate setting on each for Master. Bios is set to first boot device CDROM second boot device Floppy drive third boot device network boot, 4th boot device hd0. When the computer starts booting up all devices are recognized... example Initialiizing IDE...
    Found HDD Primary Master
    Found CDROM Primary Slave.

    When the boot sequence starts it hits floppy drive then network boot then hits hdd. It skips cdrom. I though it had something to do with the onboard SATA controller so i disabled them in bios as well.

    If i boot to a floppy boot disk and run winnt.exe from the /i386/ folder it will then start windows setup. I do not plan on using the floppy drive for future installations. and know this will boot to the cdrom but for some odd reason it doesn't want to.

    I am thinking this is an issue with the motherboard. because it worked with other board with no problems. I was looking for anyone that may have ran across this problem before with this board.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited June 2004
    Do you have a BIOS setting something like "Initial Delay For IDE"? If so, try upping it a few seconds. :)
  • scottscott Medina, Ohio Icrontian
    edited June 2004
    UrbanDragon

    While I have not had that problem on my NF7 I have encountered it before. What ended up working was setting 1st boot device to CDrom and all others to "none" And for some odd reason after getting the os installed it never did that again. It makes no sense but it did.


    Scott
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited June 2004
    I have an NF7-S and I had no particular problems getting the cdrom recognized as 1st boot device, if I remember right. One thing you might try though that I don't think you've tried yet is to set the cdrom on cable select and put it on the master (end) plug of an 80 conductor cable. That's how I run my cdrom and dvd drives, by cable select and not using the master or slave settings.
  • GobblesGobbles Ventura California
    edited June 2004
    UrbanDragon wrote:
    once again...( you dont have to be a smart ass )

    put the cdrom on ide2 as a master and the hdd on ide1 as a master. Different cables..
    (I AM NOT AN ID10T) you would have to be an idiot to use 1 cable with 2 different IDE controllers.

    also go into the bios and make sure it recognizes the cdrom.
    (CDROM HAS ALWAYS BEEN RECOGNIZED IN BIOS)
    also make sure that your cdrom and hdd are not using the same power lead.
    (It is not using the same power lead)
    also what is your power supply rated at wattage wise and what brand is it.
    (Power supply is a 550 Watt power supply. Not sure of exact Brand. Like it really matters what brand.)

    I was not being a smart ass.
    Sorry about getting offensive in the last post... I just feel like i am getting NEWBIE information. I have been working on computers for the past 5+ years and know my way around the hardware.

    apology excepted. Newbie information fixes 95% of most issues. Having been working on computers for the past 5 years you should well know that people want to rule out the easy things first before moving to the harder things. Having been in this business about 10 years, Ive learned that time in the game dont mean you are a great player so sorry for covering the noob items.

    I would replace the cables, flash to the latest bios and clear the CMOS, reconfig the new bios, if you are running the new bios then I would clear the cmos and try again. Do you have force ESCD/ECSD which ever it is enabled or disabled. No matter what however I would clear the cmos....

    Gobbles
  • UrbanDragonUrbanDragon
    edited June 2004
    Do you have a BIOS setting something like "Initial Delay For IDE"? If so, try upping it a few seconds

    ( I forgot to mention that one... I changed it from 0 sec to 10 sec but it still did no good)


    What ended up working was setting 1st boot device to CDrom and all others to "none"
    ( Did not think to try that. I will try it when i get home from work.)


    set the cdrom on cable select
    ( I have tried this one as well.)


    Thx for suggestions. I will try setting all boot devices to NONE except the first which will be CDROM
  • kanezfankanezfan sunny south florida Icrontian
    edited June 2004
    disconnect everything but the cdromdrive see if it boots from it. otherwise, try a different drive
  • UrbanDragonUrbanDragon
    edited June 2004
    Do you have force ESCD/ECSD

    (I just tried setting the boot devices in bios to all disabled except the CDROM and it still doesn't boot to it.

    I also changed the default settings for ESCD or whaterver teh initials are. it was set to auto. changed to manual still no changes.)

    I am going to try doing the bios update on monday. Working all weekend sux..
  • kanezfankanezfan sunny south florida Icrontian
    edited June 2004
    UrbanDragon wrote:
    I just tried setting the boot devices in bios to all disabled except the CDROM and it still doesn't boot to it.

    i mean physically disconnect all drives but the cdrom drive and see if it will boot, that way you can see if it will boot anything. but the bios upgrade is a good idea too.
  • carlvilbrandtcarlvilbrandt
    edited August 2004
    OK I am haveing the same trouble with the CDROM... I want it the system to boot Knoppix with out using a floppy..... I have had this trouble with this on several machines and I want to find out what the problem is. Thanks.... I will try clearing the CMOS
  • carlvilbrandtcarlvilbrandt
    edited August 2004
    Well I fix my problem..... read a post on at
    http://forums.viaarena.com/messageview.cfm?catid=25&threadid=57047

    it was said that CDROM to boot must be master.

    i have allways wondered why are the CDs are put as master on
    secondary IDE... its not logical at all.... but master slave i guess
    has some meaning......

    Well the guy haveing trouble changed his CD to cable select.... on secondary
    IDE and solved his problem....

    I did the same and solved my problem.... CD now boots just fine. Did not
    have to touch the bios/cmos

    I most usually like to hard wire everything.... but is looks like cable select has
    something to do with solving the problem....

    It just looks like bugs to me... reminds me of the HDD park command that was
    for over four years bashing HDD......
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