Cant get into BIOS..

[b00da]

OK so i finally got my Ramm sticks intoday and i fired her up.. everything is spinning.. I DONT hear ne beeps ( if you read my old thread...there are no/cant find wires lableled speaker that connects to the f_panel). Now i get to the Gigabyte POST screen... and it says tab= POST screen, Del= BIOS....so forth. But when i HOLD down the Del key it doesnt go into bios.. it actually goes into some PCI device listing screen...lists about 15 things..then on the bottom it says "BOOT from cd/dvd : DISK BOOT FAILURE. INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER". When i put in the gigabyte cd... it does but then states... IDE is not detected.. or there is no partitions.

Ive tried every combination of keys ... holding DEL during startup, holding f1-f12, holding TAB...i cleared the CMOS.. but NOTHING. Ne insight!??!

[Thermopylae_480]

Did you try removing your recently installed memory? Perhaps there is something wrong with the new modules.

[PVTCaboose1337]

Pull out the bios battery for 30 min or reset jumpers

Edit: O one more thing... if you dont put the battery back in... badness

[b00da]

Bios battery same as Clearing CMOS?

[Alec§taar]

Originally Posted by b00da

Bios battery same as Clearing CMOS?

Pretty much the same thing... provided your CMOS battery isn't dead. They DO die, but it takes a long time (relative term though) imo @ least!

Read your mobo manual, & see which jumpers need to be removed or moved to do this... should work!

* GOOD LUCK!

APK

[Namslas90]

IDE not detected means that either your HDD is not properly connected, or your Master Slave selection jumper on back of HDD is wrong.

[b00da]

ok..everything is good to go... i wasnt gettin into BIOS b.c i was pressing BACKSPACE!!! lol.. wow.. I was staring at the keyb and realized it..ahah.

My only problem is My bios detects my new HD.. but i cant find it in windows. I know it has to be partioned and formatted.. but how do i get to that step?

Oyea i thought my Donation-ware Windows xp would work.. but it didnt. So i pulled the HD from my old comp with the OS on it. Now.. is that a good idea? or should i try to start fresh?

[Alec§taar]

Originally Posted by b00da

My only problem is My bios detects my new HD.. but i cant find it in windows. I know it has to be partioned and formatted.. but how do i get to that step?

Start Button -> Run -> DiskMgMt.msc



* "All a Body needs" (well, almost - doesn't do non-destructive partition resizing & such like tools like "Norton/Symantec (formerly PowerQuest tool though) Partition Magic" can)

APK

P.S.=> For this task though? It will work, or should... apk

[xvi]

Originally Posted by Namslas90

IDE not detected means that either your HDD is not properly connected, or your Master Slave selection jumper on back of HDD is wrong.

But the BIOS sees it. If the BIOS sees it, it'll show up in diskmgmt.msc like Alec§taar mentioned. Someone in my CNet course at college had the same problem. He had a 600 or 800MHz Gateway server that wasn't seeing a new hard drive. The server actually DID see the hard drive, it just didn't get around to giving it a drive letter.

If diskmgmt.msc can't see your hard drive, then we have a problem. Otherwise, it should be fine.

[Pinchy]

You cant just take a HDD out of one comp and put it in another with different specs on XP. You gotta give it a fresh clean, or use Sysprep on the WinXP CD. (http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...readid=1688660)

[xvi]

Originally Posted by Pinchy

You cant just take a HDD out of one comp and put it in another with different specs on XP. You gotta give it a fresh clean, or use Sysprep on the WinXP CD. (http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...readid=1688660)

..but he isn't trying to boot Windows on it. He's just trying to add it. He's booting in to WinXP and trying to add a drive. ...or am I wrong?

As for swapping, you can, but Windows is stupid when you swap it from computer to computer. That's why hardware profiles exist. You can have hardware profiles, but Windows will ask you to re-activate every time you switch. I had to set these up at college where we'd take our removable hard drives between different labs. You can swap as much as you like without much problem. You just need to make sure you have your hardware profiles set up.

Of course you should always reformat and do a clean install of Windows if you're moving an XP installation from one computer to another. If you absolutely can not wipe it clean, then just boot in to safe mode on the first boot. Windows should use default drivers and then detect the new hardware.

[Pinchy]

Originally Posted by b00da

So i pulled the HD from my old comp with the OS on it. Now.. is that a good idea? or should i try to start fresh?

I took this as him taking the HDD of an old comp and putting it in his new one...sorry if im wrong

[xvi]

Originally Posted by Pinchy

I took this as him taking the HDD of an old comp and putting it in his new one...sorry if im wrong

Blah. Didn't see that post. You're right.

Unless you have files that you need to back up (and can't access them any other way), always reformat the drive and reinstall windows.

[Nitro-Max]

dont just hold delete down try tapping it a few times depending what stage of the boot its at pressing delete one might not always work

[WarEagleAU]

Make sure you set the little jumper on the back of your HDD. If you have just one, you need to put it as master (I think it the middle pins) otherwise, if you have two, you can set them both to CS (Cable Select and on most its the left side set of pins if you are looking at the back of your disk drive) Or configure them as Master (middle) and Slave (right pins). Also do what APK suggested, he is a smart man and knows his stuff.