BIOS Updates forum

Previous probelem of a unresponsive bio solved.Problem solved, my bios now runs:

I changed my keyboard as a last resort and my bios runs. But now my bios refuses to recognize my hardrive or my A drive nor my cd rom drive,even though I have all the settings in the bios at automatic.

So the next step is to make sure I have these devises properly connected.

I am using a different floppy drive..does my computer need a drive for that?

Also I am trying to recollect how to align the ribbon connections. I have the ribbon correctly connected to the primary master ide port(the one closest to the edge of the board), since there is only one way to connect it.I have it connected to my 10 gig hardrive so that the red edge is closest to the other 4 pronge plastic power input port on the hardrive.(I am sure that is correct)
For my CDROM, I have the ribbon connected “away from” the 4 prong plastic input port. I think that is correct .

For the A drive, I think it is supposed to be connected the same as the hardrive(with the smaller ribbon of course), but towards the small inlet connection.

If I am wrong on these assumptions, please let me know.

Also the computer, has a manual PC100 for the motherboard. and a disc of drivers. And instructions on the disc on how to flash so I don’t mess it up.
If I use the jumper connections to clear the bios, will they automatically reset to their original values.?And will this help them to recognize my hardware devises. Unless I get at least the cdrom and hardrive registering a connection, I dont see how I cna reinatall a new OS. If I can also get the A drive, I will go to bootdisc.com and get a univeral bootup disc.

If I flash my bios, will this do anything. It seems that it can t find my hardrive, my cd rom, or my a drive.

Once these are registering, I feel fairly comfortable, because I have installed windows 98 a number of times on my old computer. (Here I would be downgrading from Windows Me to windows 98.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks again

keith

Don't think...look.

Each device will be marked somehow as to where pin 1 is...either by a drawing on the label, a small triangle, a dot, or the number 1.

Connecting the device in reverse could damage the device, or the port itself.

Devices will not be recognized if you connect them backwards.

Some devices and cables are "keyed" so you can't make a mistake...though make sure you don't bend a pin by trying to put a keyed cable on a non-keyed device...

The red line (or blue on some older cables) should always be connected to pin 1 at each connection point.

If you reverse the direction of the cable (ie: red line away from pin 1) you need to reverse the direction at each connection point, but this is non-standard practise.

Pin 1 on the mainboard will vary depending on the mainboard. Usually pin 1 is at the same end of the connectors for all IDE and floppy connections, but some mainboards will have pin 1 at opposite ends for different connectors.

Usually the keying of the cables (the plastic notches) will match the keying of the connectors on the board and the drive, but sometimes this can be incorrectly designed also.

The best way to determine where pin 1 is, and thus where the red line on the cable should go to, is to actually look for a marking on the connector or the drive indicating pin 1. However be aware that I have even seen some floppy drives with pin 1 marked at the wrong end of the connector. I believe floppy drives are very cheaply made.

Excluding floppy drives, every harddrive and optical drive I have seen has pin 1 closest to the power connector.

I would start by following these rules to connect your drives. If you only have the two IDE drives, put the harddrive on the primary cable and the optical drive on the secondary cable. If you have problems disconnect all three drives again and then get them connected and working one at a time until all three are operational. (When you are experienced at connecting drives you will be able to connect them all in the same hit and be confident that, even if the drives are not recognised the first time, you have the cabling done correctly, and if not, you will know how to quickly rectify it when you see how the computer responds). You may have to set the jumpers on the drives also, which is another issue.

Also, for 80 wire cables, the master position is at the end of the cable. For 40 wire cables, the master position is in the middle of the cable. If you are planning to connect only one drive to each cable, connect the drives to the master position on the cable.


To briefly give you some more direct assistance:

* It sounds like your harddrive is *probably* connected correctly. If so, you likely have a jumpering problem.
* Your optical drive is most likely *not* connected correctly. On every optical drive I have seen, pin 1 is closest to the power connector, as with all harddrives I have seen. You describe your cable as connected in reverse to this, which (unless you have an unusual drive) is probably wrong.

* Your floppy drive connection is a 50/50. The connection could either be correct or wrong from what you describe. The pin 1 on a floppy drive is *sometimes* towards the power connection.

* Finally, on most mainboards boards that I see, the two IDE ports have pin 1 at the same end. So the two cables from the harddrive and optical drive should have the red pin 1 line at the same end once connected. It is possible that this is not true of your mainboard though. The floppy port on the mainboard usually also has pin 1 at the same end of the connector as the IDE ports, so you can use this to help align your floppy drive cable connection to the mainboard also, however this also may not be true of your mainboard (and is in fact less likely to be true than with the two IDE ports).

Hope this detailed but rather lengthly post helps. With luck, with your next post your system will be recognising all three drives.