Flashed BIOS successfuly, now HDD won't boot Windows..

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Brad
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BIOS flashed successfully and the system can't find the 24x cd-rom drive and won't boot from HDD either.

Here's the specs and what occurred:

P166
128mb PC100
2.1gb Fujitsu mpb3021at (4470 cylinders, 15 heads, 63 sectors)
Video: SiS 6215C 2mb PCI
24x Goldstar cd-rom

Motherboard: Pine PT-7504-AB Rev 5.2 (AKA PC Chips M537DMA33)

I installed a second HDD to back up critical files incase something went wrong. I unplugged the IDE & power from the CD-ROM to do that.
I needed to add RAM to it to get it onto the ADSL internet connection. I added the RAM, but the original BIOS only gave access to 32mb. Original BIOS: 08/14/97-VXPro+USB-ULTR-2A5LDH09C-00. Release 08-14-97 S.

I flashed the BIOS to Rainbow's 04/30/1998 537+UMC8670F-2A5LDH09C-00. ( I think it was Rainbow who modified it to handle larger HDD's) The flash went well. No unwritten blocks, no power disruptions. I reset the system when promtped by Awardflash. I found the BIOS in a couple of sites, but I think I used this one: http://www.zarniwoop.force9.co.uk/page9.htm

The system booted normally into Win95, and I confirmed that windows has access to the 128mb. BIOS also saw the 128mb. I powered down & then removed the 2nd HDD drive and attached the CD-ROM again.
Rebooted and now the problem began.

The BIOS see's the 128mb of ram fine. It auto detects the Fujitsu drive as well, but it does not see the cd-rom even though it's set to auto detect.

The BIOS screen then changes to where it tries to boot Windows (updating ESCD...Success) and then hangs after it does a floppy disk seek.

I can insert a bootable floppy and run it. I can even flash a new BIOS without trouble. Even with the new BIOS', it won't boot from HDD.

My next step is to see if FDISK can get access to the drive, but I want to keep the existing Win95 installation if I can.

Is this a BIOS issue or a hardware issue?

Thanks for your input.
Rainbow
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Do you have the master/slave jumpers set correctly on both the HDD and CD-ROM?
Patched and tested BIOSes are at http://wims.rainbow-software.org
UniFlash - Flash anything anywhere
Brad
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Rainbow:

Yes, the jumpers are correct. I never changed them. When I installed the 2nd HDD to dump the files, it worked fine.

I should mention that yes, I did clear the CMOS after the flash(s).

It just seems odd that the BIOS can see the HDD drive, but not access it. And it doesn't see the cd-rom at all. CD-ROM is on its own IDE cable too.

IDE 1:
Master: Fujitsu 2gb HD
Slave: none

IDE 2:
Master: Goldstar 24x CD-ROM
Slave: None.

I took out the 1gb hard drive I saved the files I needed to, and there was no system files on it at all. Only the Fujitsu had system files on it. So windows 95 was loaded from the Fujitsu HDD.

I even changed the HDD from Auto Detect to manual and input the correct info, and rebooted. I'm still having the same trouble.
Rainbow
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Is the board surely M537DMA?
Image
Patched and tested BIOSes are at http://wims.rainbow-software.org
UniFlash - Flash anything anywhere
Brad
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That's the one.


JP1 (CMOS clearing) is at the top-left of the board between the 2 ISA slots.
I had to remove an ISA card each time I wanted to set the jumper.
I jumped it for a good 10 minutes to see if that helped. It didn't.
Rainbow
The UniFlasher
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Try disconnecting the CD-ROM drive IDE cable - does it work then?
Patched and tested BIOSes are at http://wims.rainbow-software.org
UniFlash - Flash anything anywhere
Brad
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Thanks for the quick replies.

I'm @ work now. I'll have to try it later today.
Are you thinking the IDE cable or jumper to the CD-ROM could be the fault?

There is one thing that I found disturbing with this system: the builder used a hot glue gun to secure ALL connectors! Power, IDE & sound cables are all glued on. Glued to the motherboard & the drives/cards.
KachiWachi
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Is UDMA set in the BIOS?

Perhaps when you cleared the CMOS during the flash it was reset to *on*, and the CDROM/HD is trying to setup to that when it can't.

VXPro does have UDMA issues (doesn't work)...right all??
Brad
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Rainbow wrote:Try disconnecting the CD-ROM drive IDE cable - does it work then?
This tip showed me what was really wrong with the system...keep reading.

KachiWachi: Thanks for the DMA info, it was off, but I did not know of the DMA issue(s) with this chipset. Now I do.

Rainbow had me check the IDE cable on the cd-rom, it was fine. The drive was set as Secondary Master BUT I looked and noticed 2 or 3 IDE pins slightly bent over. I straightened these, and IT'S FIXED! I wonder if I bent them while trying to break the hold the glue had on the connector.


Rainbow: Thanks for both the tip and the Patched BIOS you made for this board. It now has 128mb of pc100 ram with Win95 and hums along just fine. And the nic card is installed. Next step is ADSL internet!

My father in-law will be happy to have his system back and better than before.


Thanks again guys, you're tips are wonderful!
Rainbow
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KachiWachi wrote:VXPro does have UDMA issues (doesn't work)...right all??
No, there are no DMA issues with this chipset. It's VIA Apollo VPX and works perfectly with UDMA/33. I had this board from my friend for a while and modified the BIOS then.
Patched and tested BIOSes are at http://wims.rainbow-software.org
UniFlash - Flash anything anywhere
Brad
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That's good to know. I still have the system. I'll try turning on the DMA in the BIOS and see if it works.

I never thought a bent pin on a device on Secondary IDE chain would bring the WHOLE system to a halt. I'm glad I learned it while I did.
KachiWachi
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OOPS...confused with TXPro...sorry :oops:

Glad you found bent pins...certainly not a good thing to have at anytime. 8)
It depends what pin(s) are bent too...they could certainly affect addressing and communications on the bus...
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