No drives recognized ex. floppy, no access

BIOS update, EIDE card, or overlay software? (FAQ Hard disk recognition)
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upnflyn
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I've been building a NOS NIB retro box (as close as I can get any way) and I'm having drive recognition and access problems. Guess I'll start with a hardware list and BIOS version

Asus CUV4X-C,No revision# anywhere I can find,looks NOS but got it from KP surplus so unknown.
BIOS-Phoenix G4 CV4C7 1006/ 32 pin Dip.
Power supply Antec model: SL350 NIB NOS. All outputs test good (all better than +/- 5%).
Graphics: Asus AGP-V7700/32M(TVR) NIB NOS
Optical drives: Creative Model RW8438E CD-RW ,Creative Model DVD1610E DVD ROM both NIB NOS.
I only have test ram in the rig at the moment, a pair of Nanya 128MB SDR 133MHz CL2,tested working.
CPU Pentium III 733 MHz 100 MHz FSB
Chip set, VIA Apollo Pro 133A with the 686A south bridge.
Thats all I can think of at the moment(never done this before),on with the problems.
O'h yeah Hard drive, Western Digital EIDE Caviar model WD800BB-60CJA0.
At first the rig would only do the,MB led lights, fans spin but nothing else. Powered down pulled the battery and shorted the CLRRTC points and started over. This time I get display,FDD activity Led lights at the same time video card specs show up but drive never shows signs of being active. If I wait till the post screen to hit Del I can never get into setup. but if I begin hitting it starting at the video card screen I can usually but not allways get into setup. Once there, FDD shows as detected. HDDs and CD/DVD all show [AUTO],no parameters displayed.
When [AUTO] for ether Primary Master or Slave is highlighted and hit enter the proper sub menu page is displayed but here setup locks up. Nothing ever displays in the right hand collum and no drive parameters. A reboot/reset is required to exit this page.
Secondary Master/Slave sub menu's can be accessed as normal (though no auto detected parameters are ever displayed) and parameters set manually which will be displayed when return to setup main menu but no drive lights, activity is ever observed.
Entering Boot menu page results in two lines displayed, 1. [Floppy Drive] 2. Primary Master.
No keyboard input is accepted on this page eather. Reboot/Reset is required to exit. Otherwise all setup menu's
sub-menu's are accessable,all parameters/settings are changeable as per normal.
The FDD light never goes out and no drives are ever active/accessable.
Have tried allternet devices for everything listed above(except MB) and cables as well.
One interesting find is a sub-menu I found with AC97 Audio related [ENABLE] [DISABLE] functions which makes no sense as the MB has no on board audio ports, chips or any other related hardware... nevermind, had a "wonder if it's the wrong BIOS" moment but the info in bios matches ths sticker on the chip which matches Asus's
websites info for what this board should have. Dunno, this one's got me stymied. Please,no badcap or "Did you check the connection between your head and your backside while it was stuffed up there" type responses. This has been fun enough as it is. (just hope it's not the IDE controller,chips that old are hard to find). :(
edwin
The Hardware Archivist
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Western Digital drive, no slave, set for master, will try to detect a slave drive forever.
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/o ... 001037.pdf
set it for single drive.

At the risk of rattling your chain and annoying you, you checked your motherboard for bad capacitors, BUT did you check the power supply as well? That is a known brand/model with "Fuhjjyu" capacitors and they are about as bad as you can get them:
http://badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=3714
If your +5V is unstable (lots of ripple not showing on your DC-only multimeter) you WILL have harddisk detection problems.
edwin/evasive

Do not assume anything

System error, strike any user to continue...
upnflyn
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Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2012 5:16 pm

Thanks for the reply Edwin,
Cracked the seals on that supply when first got. Full of fuhjjyu caps. Know their reputation. Supply is from a known source,stored in stable conditions so I wasn't worried about the caps drying out. Ripple though is a diff. matter.
I have been bit in the rump by that before. Little 10v 47uf filter cap that fed signal voltage to a PWM.
Guess I'll do a recap since I have an organizer full of fresh ones and the supply looks reasonable enough otherwise.
As far as the WD drive,I have tried it as single,master(with a 20 Gig maxtor as slave) and cable select,at the very end of the cable of course.
Just for clairification, I've only been working with computer hardware for about 3 years. All self taught, the only previous experience being Navy basic electronics training some thirty years ago. Having said that I have applied
myself ernestly to absorbing everything I can on the subject but the internet is a poor teacher and only shows you what your looking for and not what you need to see,so there are a lot of holes in my knowledge base.
upnflyn
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Recaping power supply ineffective,no change.
Since my programmer only goes up to 28 pins now looking for a local shop with facilitys to flash the chip for me.
Hate sending stuff out.
edwin
The Hardware Archivist
Posts: 6286
Joined: Wed Mar 20, 2002 7:11 pm
Location: Netherlands
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oi, that is a pity indeed. I hope reflashing the chip with a known good bios helps...

As for holes in your knowledge, may I suggest some reading:
http://www.motherboards.org/forums/view ... hp?t=39873

and this (most of which is: been there, done that, got the t-shirt and the burns for proof):
http://www.motherboards.org/forums/view ... hp?t=43336
edwin/evasive

Do not assume anything

System error, strike any user to continue...
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