PC Boot Problem -- Need Help

[flyingmunky25]

I have a dell desktop and recently the computer has stopped booting to the cd rom drives. It will boot to the hard drive just fine. I have tried all possible jumper settings on the cd-drives. (there is a cd-rw and a dvd-rom drive) I have also tried booting with one or the other drive to see if there is a bad drive but that also did nothing. I have also tried a few bios settings as well as resetting the factory default settings and clearing the bios completely. I have also switched out IDE cables to see if that was the problem but again nothing.
I have no more ideas.

I should also mention that granted it boots to the hard drive still, there is a corrupted version of linux which will not boot and i need the cd drive to recover it... so im in a pickle there also.

Thanks!!

[w31n3r]

i wish you could have given the model of your PC at least, if not the specs. it's easier and quicker to troubleshoot an issue if we have an idea with what we're dealing with.

first question: are your CD drives detected in BIOS? if so, you either have a fuxored boot disc, or your boot device priorities are wrong, and you have nothing to worry about.

if they aren't detected, then from your post, it's very likely that your IDE channel may be shot. is there another IDE channel on the mobo? use it, no matter if the HDD is using that channel, disconnect it for the time being just to see if the CD drives shows up in BIOS when connected to that channel. if there's only one IDE channel on board, check the drives on another system to make sure they're ok. it's highly unlikely that both CD drives get shot at the same time.

second question: have you recently added any hardware?
there is also the possibility that not enough power is getting through. in my experience, dell ships out with a PSU that just about enough to handle its default config, and upgrades tend to max out the power supply. you might want to look at that as well. eject the drives when powered on to confirm.

in short:

1. is boot disc working in the first place? (re-check with another known working disc)
2. do drives show up in bios? (check under advanced/southbridge in bios settings and boot device priority)
3. is the IDE channel shot? (swap IDE Channels if possible)
4. is enough power getting to the drives? (remove all PCI cards and use one drive at a time)

we'll be waiting to hear back from you.

[Tic3]

After you determine whether or not the CD drives are working, then you need to go into your system BIOS and change the boot order of your existing drives.

If you are trying to boot from the CD (rather than the hard drive), then you need to make sure the CD drive is listed as the first boot device.

As your computer is powering on watch you monitor and it will tell you what button to press to enter Setup (with a Dell, it's either the DEL key or the F2 key).

Caution - Changing your BIOS settings without knowing what you are doing can be dangerous. Proceed at your own risk.

[lion7718]

Also..this may or may not effect you..but on some Motherboards 'Asus' to Boot from CD you have to have the CD Drive & Hard Drive on the same IDE Ribbon and plugged into the main IDE Plugs (Red Plugs)..once you get your problem fixed you can hook your drives in any order that you want. Don't forget to change you BIOS to reflect your order.

Like I said..this may not help at all..it all depends on your setup.

[w31n3r]

Also..this may or may not effect you..but on some Motherboards 'Asus' to Boot from CD you have to have the CD Drive & Hard Drive on the same IDE Ribbon and plugged into the main IDE Plugs (Red Plugs)..once you get your problem fixed you can hook your drives in any order that you want. Don't forget to change you BIOS to reflect your order.

Like I said..this may not help at all..it all depends on your setup.

i'm not sure i've fully understood...could you elaborate please? just wanted to know in case there is a known issue with asus mobos.

[lion7718]

i'm not sure i've fully understood...could you elaborate please? just wanted to know in case there is a known issue with asus mobos.


It's not an issue..not a problem...since you said that the drives didn't show & thats you turned others off & it didn't help..it was just something to look at.
When I have to re-format or do a Firmware update on my DVD Drive those have to be set up right..together. The Red IDE Plugs on the Motherboard are always live..the other 2 or how many you have wont work until the drivers are installed. So it got my thinking that if you have corrupt drivers that those IDEs might not be working. So hooking up the CD Drive & your C Drive to the Red plugs on the same IDE Ribbon..making the CD Drive the Master & Hard Drive as Slave. Than in the BIOS CD Drive #1 & Hard Drive #2.

If it's not an 'Asus' Motherboard...I would try hooking them up to 1 ribbon & go from plug to plug. But first you have to make sure your Jumpers are set correctly. CD/DVD Master & HD Slave.

[flyingmunky25]

The model is a Dell Dimension 2400.

and YES, the bios detects the cd drives & hard drives.
I have tried switching IDE channels and that still did not work. I took the hard drive completely off and put the cd drives on that ide channel, but again did nothing. i tried putting the working hard drive on the ide channel that the cd drives were on and it still booted so its not a shot ide channel.

The PSU is only 200w, but there is not much in the system. there is only 2 cd drives, 1 hard drive, 1 case fan and a cheap sound card.

The specs for the computer is 512 pc2700 ram, P4 2.8ghz, 40 gig 7200 rpm hard drive, integrated graphics card, and i believe its a sound blaster live sound card.
I got this computer for free so i just wanted it as a file server.

Hope that helps.

[drtoker]

1. when in your OS (booted from HD), can you see the drive, and the disk that your trying to boot from? If it shows the drive, but no disk, theres the issue, can't read the media.
2. When booting, have you tried pressing F12 to get the boot menu, then selecting the CD-Rom? What happens?

[lion7718]

What is the make & model of your Hard Drive (Maxtor, WD) and your 2 CD Drives (Dell, Lite On).

[flyingmunky25]

I cannot boot to an OS, there is a corrupted version of linux that needs to be repaired which i need the cd drives for.

When I went to the boot menu and tried the cd drives, it says "Strike F1 to retry boot or press F2 for setup."

I tried putting in another hard drive that already had a working copy of windows on it, but that failed to boot, the linux OS currently on there is the only one that will start to boot, but fails because its corrupted.

[drtoker]

What kind of cd are you trying to boot (retail OS cd, burned CD, burned DVD, etc...)

[flyingmunky25]

It's a burned cd, but i know it boots, every other computer i've used it with will boot to it.

I've just ran into a new problem. My Windows CD now boots, but gets it goes through the press any key to boot from cd, and then does the checking the system hardware configuration and just goes to a black screen and nothing else after that.

[curlywagner]

The fact that it won't boot to a hard drive you know is working is a pretty bad sign. The only thing I can think of is to boot to USB (if your BIOS supports it).

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/2006/03/25/puppy-linux-on-usb/

[flyingmunky25]

it boots to the hard drive just fine, its just a corrupted version of linux that wont boot.

[curlywagner]

I tried putting in another hard drive that already had a working copy of windows on it, but that failed to boot, the linux OS currently on there is the only one that will start to boot, but fails because its corrupted.

Er, ok. Either way, you need to format that disk and reinstall your OS. My recommendation is to try boot from usb.

[w31n3r]

enough munkying around!!

now that we have the facts, try this.

1. remove your DVD-ROM drive and place it in a clean and dry dustbin (this is optional, but it will give you immense satisfaction to see it there from the frustration all this has caused)
2. connect ONLY the CD-RW. make sure that the IDE cable is well seated at both ends.
3. re-seat your RAM module properly.
4. remove the PCI sound card (this is important!), disconnect floppy/memory card reader/any USB device.
5. while you're in there, you might want to blow the innards of you PC, err, for dust that is.
6. reboot with your windows CD.

let us know how it goes...i'll be here for a few more hours if you need help realtime. good luck.

EDIT:

The fact that it won't boot to a hard drive you know is working is a pretty bad sign.



not necessarily. if you're porting from the same hardware config, or even the same chipset, you should be ok, but more often than not, it's not the case. there're too many factors involved to consider that as an omen.

[flyingmunky25]

Hey guys,
I managed to get linux installed using a dvd.
I believe i've found the problem which now i feel so stupid to not have realized before...

Linux CD's/DVD's boot just fine.
Windows Burned:
2k Pro - Gave me the boot error "Strike F1 to retry etc...."
XP Pro - Booted until the checking hardware config part.

So Linux boots, windows doesn't. Im going to attempt to reburn the windows cd and see if its just a bad cd. which my guess is they are because they've just been tossed around and are getting scratched.

[killahill]

I have a dell desktop and recently the computer has stopped booting to the cd rom drives. It will boot to the hard drive just fine. I have tried all possible jumper settings on the cd-drives. (there is a cd-rw and a dvd-rom drive) I have also tried booting with one or the other drive to see if there is a bad drive but that also did nothing. I have also tried a few bios settings as well as resetting the factory default settings and clearing the bios completely. I have also switched out IDE cables to see if that was the problem but again nothing.
I have no more ideas.

I should also mention that granted it boots to the hard drive still, there is a corrupted version of linux which will not boot and i need the cd drive to recover it... so im in a pickle there also.

Thanks!!

thats your first problem right there. Dell sucks. I just had one that fried and I hear its pretty common. sell the working parts and get another pc.

[curlywagner]

Dell sucks.

Nice generalization:icon_thum By the way, the problem was with his Windows CD.

[killahill]

Nice generalization:icon_thum By the way, the problem was with his Windows CD.

But its true. google complaints on Dell. :icon_thum

[flyingmunky25]

New problem now.
Linux cds/dvds will boot and install just fine.
Windows cds -- regardless of purchased oem or burned, will not boot for some reason.

I have tried setting the cd drive as the first boot device and nothing worked

[gost]

well i had a dell laptop and kept the Harddrive in an external case, and sold all the parts for cheap as dell stoped selling that laptop... its been 2 years and i still can't sell the crappy case... i guess no one wants to upgrade a dell laptop..

[Mels_Smileys45]

I had a keyboard go bad once and on boot a msg came up "Keyboard Error - No keyboard detected" and then it said at the bottom, "Press F1 to continue".

[w31n3r]

New problem now.
Linux cds/dvds will boot and install just fine.
Windows cds -- regardless of purchased oem or burned, will not boot for some reason.

I have tried setting the cd drive as the first boot device and nothing worked

so windows discs do not boot at all? or do they boot and get to a stage where they stop/hang? thats a detail we need to know. judging from your previous posts, i'm guessing it's the latter, in which case have you tried the steps i put up above? REMOVE THE PCI SOUNDCARD!! (in case you missed it the first time around). and are you using a USB keyboard?

again, these same discs boot fine on other PCs? let us know.


I had a keyboard go bad once and on boot a msg came up "Keyboard Error - No keyboard detected" and then it said at the bottom, "Press F1 to continue".

who said computers don't have a sense of humour...

[lion7718]

I had a keyboard go bad once and on boot a msg came up "Keyboard Error - No keyboard detected" and then it said at the bottom, "Press F1 to continue".

:icon_tong

[Mels_Smileys45]

who said computers don't have a sense of humour...


As I recall, I didn't find it too funny at the time. You ever feel like setting your PC on fire? Yes, it was one of those days.

[flyingmunky25]

Yes, The cds will boot fine on other computers.
Yes i am using a USB keyboard.

The windows discs will boot, and go to the "Checking hardware" stage and freeze directly after that at a black screen.

Question though, what does removing the sound card have to do with the computer booting to windows discs?

[Feather]

get a ps2 keyboard first off until install is complete and removing the sound card is just a preventative measure so there is no incompatiblitiy issues on windows install

[w31n3r]

Question though, what does removing the sound card have to do with the computer booting to windows discs?

did you or did you not do it? unfortunately for you, krell does not post these days, he would have got right into the specifics. i'm way too lazy for that :p and no where as proficient as he is. but if you want tolstoy's war and peace, here it is.

you didn't mention your mobo type, but from your processor, i'm guessing it's a 865 chipset at best, or a 845 chipset at worst. windows, especially XP SP2 had issues with the way some of these chipsets resolved and assigned interrupt requests, and that could be your problem. it's common to trouble shoot OS installation by removing all unnecessary components for this reason, and on older mobos, to use a p/s2 keyboard. you see, the keyboard needs to have an IRQ of 1 and older mobos with usb keyboards sometimes botch this. the same logic applies (basically) to PCI add on cards, if windows setup thinks that the irq priorities are wrong, it shits it's pants. irq is basically pride of place in the line of instructions to the processor. but all is not lost, a bios firmware update is usually all it takes to resolve the issue, and even if there isn't an update available, it's better to flash your bios anyway with what is available at the mfrs website. but for the time being, one can try removing all unnecessary components and see if it works. you can always add them on when you're done with the OS installation.

if it works, find out the exact model of your mobo and flash the bios, if it doesn't, i'd seriously take a close look at your CDs based on the info you've given.

btw, how far into the installation do you get? if you get to the screen where it says at the bottom "press F6 to install 3rd party scsi drivers" or something like that, try hitting F7 immediately. it worked for me once.

now it's my turn, why are you so reluctant to remove your sound card?

[flyingmunky25]

Ok makes sense.
I was mostly just curious what removing the sound card did, but that makes sense now.

As far as the point of the installation, it says "press any key to boot from cd" then, Says "Checking Hardware" then black screen, thats as far as it gets, doesnt even get to the setup.

I'll try flashing the bios and removing everything and see what that brings me.

[w31n3r]

keep us posted and good luck.

[flyingmunky25]

Ok so I finally have windows XP Pro running on this computer.

I went old school to get it though. First I installed a floppy drive, took out the sound card like instructed to. Popped in my win 98 boot disk and proceeded to install windows ME (bad choice of OS, but all I had at the time) Inside WIndows I started the XP install from a freshly made cd and now lets hope this all works.

Thanks everyone for their help!