jgv
asked on
OS Not Found
A friend of mine wanted to add additional RAM and a decent video card to his system which I agreed to do for him. I am not a hardware guru but I have installed RAM on several systems as well as a couple of video cards before; straight forward stuff. After installing the new components, I booted up the system and installed the video card drivers. Computer was rebooted and everything was working fine; extra RAM present & video card working without conflicts. I then decided to plug in a 19" monitor. When I booted up, I recieved an "Operating System Not Found" message. Tried booting a few more times and same message. When I went into the BIOS, the Primary Master & Slave both showed "None" and the Secondary Master & Slave showed the cd-rom and cd-writer (which is correct). All cables were checked and were plugged in properly. Looks like I may be footing a repair bill and was wondering if anyone had an educated guess as to what this problem could be related to.
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I am guessing here that you knocked the cabling loose on the hard drive when you added the memory and video card. It was still tight enough to survive a few reboots, but failed after that. As already stated, check the power and data cable. Also check the data cable on the motherboard end.
ASKER
Upgrades have been removed...
The IDE Primary channel is enabled
The Primary Master/Slave both show "None". The setting for both of these are set to "Auto". There is nothing else in the BIOS that will perform an auto-detect.
I had alread tried using a system disk to boot the system and run what limited diagnostics were available. Same results; both hard drives not found.
As far as the sound of the hard drive starting, it's hard to tell since I don't own the computer but there are no unusual sounds that I can tell.
The cabling is tight. This is the first thing that I checked.
I could be wrong, but I don't think that it is a hard drive issue since there are two drives installed. Both would have had to die at the exact same time.
My fear is that something got fried in the system and that I will probably have to resort to a repair shop. My question though is what are the possible sources of the problem so that I can brace myself for the repair estimate :(
The IDE Primary channel is enabled
The Primary Master/Slave both show "None". The setting for both of these are set to "Auto". There is nothing else in the BIOS that will perform an auto-detect.
I had alread tried using a system disk to boot the system and run what limited diagnostics were available. Same results; both hard drives not found.
As far as the sound of the hard drive starting, it's hard to tell since I don't own the computer but there are no unusual sounds that I can tell.
The cabling is tight. This is the first thing that I checked.
I could be wrong, but I don't think that it is a hard drive issue since there are two drives installed. Both would have had to die at the exact same time.
My fear is that something got fried in the system and that I will probably have to resort to a repair shop. My question though is what are the possible sources of the problem so that I can brace myself for the repair estimate :(
Try plugging the hard disk into the secondary cable after removing both CDROM devices. It it turns up there suspect
1 that either the primary cable is gone,
2 not plugged in correctly to MB or hard disk
3 no power going to hard disk.
This will eliminate the cable as the failure item.
1 that either the primary cable is gone,
2 not plugged in correctly to MB or hard disk
3 no power going to hard disk.
This will eliminate the cable as the failure item.
Stupid Q perhaps, but did you try with only one HD at a time on the primary channel? The idle one preferably disconnected from both power and data cabling. Also, verify that no master/slave jumpers have come loose.
Regards
/RID
Regards
/RID
ASKER
Ok, I disconnected the IDE cables so that I could swap them and check the jumpers. As mentioned, there are two hard drives. On what appears to be the master drive (not sure since the jumpers are not marked) the pins are connected in a mannor I've never seen. Typically it would look like this (periods as pins, o's as the connector:
. . o .
. . o .
but on this hard drive there are two pin connectors set up like this:
. o o o o <-- two pin connectors side by side
. . . . .
I'm going to have to get ahold of my friend and hope that he still has all of the documentation in order to find the proper pin config. My mistake for not asking for this in the first place. Before I test anything else, I want to get this information and verify the setup.
Thanks for the input so far everyone...
. . o .
. . o .
but on this hard drive there are two pin connectors set up like this:
. o o o o <-- two pin connectors side by side
. . . . .
I'm going to have to get ahold of my friend and hope that he still has all of the documentation in order to find the proper pin config. My mistake for not asking for this in the first place. Before I test anything else, I want to get this information and verify the setup.
Thanks for the input so far everyone...
ASKER
One other thing
The system is an HP Pavilion with integrated video. HP's documentation outlines a procedure (for specific chipset's) to disable the on-board video before installing a video card. This was not done prior (the system does not use the chipset listed). In the event that this *was* required, could the chipset or other physical motherboard components have been damaged?
The system is an HP Pavilion with integrated video. HP's documentation outlines a procedure (for specific chipset's) to disable the on-board video before installing a video card. This was not done prior (the system does not use the chipset listed). In the event that this *was* required, could the chipset or other physical motherboard components have been damaged?
Generally pin 1 on a drive goes toward the power. Deciding which is pin1 on the mobo is another issue, though.
As stated, try one drive at a time, making sure both are cabled as master when you do this. You should be able to look up the drive model on the web to get the configs on that.
I don't have time to check if it has alreday been done. Biit in safe mode (F8 while booting) and look at the device manager (in Control Panel) to verify that you don't have any exclamations or other device problems.
As stated, try one drive at a time, making sure both are cabled as master when you do this. You should be able to look up the drive model on the web to get the configs on that.
I don't have time to check if it has alreday been done. Biit in safe mode (F8 while booting) and look at the device manager (in Control Panel) to verify that you don't have any exclamations or other device problems.
ASKER
slink9,
Would like to do exactly that but:
- I don't know which drive is the master/slave (C:, D:)
- Neither drive has the pin configuration listed on the back
- In order to get the model # I would have to:
a) Remove the hard drives (which is not easy considering the #@!&# case construction that HP uses)
b) Wait for my friend to return my call and have him look this info up in the documentation.
I was able to boot up after installing the hardware and no conflicts were reported. After installing the video card drivers, I was able to boot up again and still no conflicts reported. The problem occured after I shut down to plug in a 19" monitor and tried to boot up again.
I'm planning on plugging the Secondary IDE controller cables into the HD's but before I do this I want to confirm that the jumpers on each drive are correct.
Would like to do exactly that but:
- I don't know which drive is the master/slave (C:, D:)
- Neither drive has the pin configuration listed on the back
- In order to get the model # I would have to:
a) Remove the hard drives (which is not easy considering the #@!&# case construction that HP uses)
b) Wait for my friend to return my call and have him look this info up in the documentation.
I was able to boot up after installing the hardware and no conflicts were reported. After installing the video card drivers, I was able to boot up again and still no conflicts reported. The problem occured after I shut down to plug in a 19" monitor and tried to boot up again.
I'm planning on plugging the Secondary IDE controller cables into the HD's but before I do this I want to confirm that the jumpers on each drive are correct.
ASKER
Final follow up,
I spoke with my friend and the documentation for the drives is packed away (moving in 2 wks). I've decided to bring the damn system to a repair shop and have them figure out what the problem is. The lesson in all this? If a friend wants something installed (other than software), bring it to a shop and pay the 50 bucks...this ain't worth the headache ;)
Since rid was the first to respond I'll award this question to him/her. I will also award equal points to dbrunton & slink9.
Thanks for input guys...
I spoke with my friend and the documentation for the drives is packed away (moving in 2 wks). I've decided to bring the damn system to a repair shop and have them figure out what the problem is. The lesson in all this? If a friend wants something installed (other than software), bring it to a shop and pay the 50 bucks...this ain't worth the headache ;)
Since rid was the first to respond I'll award this question to him/her. I will also award equal points to dbrunton & slink9.
Thanks for input guys...
I once found a small utility called idtheide.exe. If you put it on a bootable floppy, you can get mfg info from your HD:s without opening the case, by running this software. Of course, this assumes the HD:s are alive and responding although they need not be partitioned/formatted. I've lost the link, unfortunately.
Cheers
/RID
Cheers
/RID