pc boot problem

MikeF

Hey guys, a few weeks ago i had a boot issue that resulted in having to unplug my dvd drive to get past the startup. I just pre-ordered a physical copy of brink so i'm hoping to get it back and working again before release...

If the dvd rom is plugged in and i try to boot i'm met with either a blank screen, or a set of errors saying that there is no bootable device

My setup is one IDE HDD and one dvd rom running off the same ide cable, i've tried swapping power cables and ide cables to no avail. If the dvd is left unplugged then everything is fine.

boot priority is set to hdd --> dvd --> usb

any ideas?

leilei

hope you didn't bend any IDE pins on the DVD drive or ESD the circuit board under it

I used to have the same problem, it'd turn the whole IDE channel off if it happened to do that even when the ide isn't seated in all the way. I gave up and got another drive

MikeF

hmmm, i'l have a look, i couldnt imagine any bent pins though, that cable has been in place for over 3 years, never removed

Mark Dygert

Are you sure your bios boot priority setting is correct? Don't you normally want it to load off the DVD first if there is something there like the OS disc, if not then the HDD?

It sounds like it might be set to cable select and the DVD is first thing plugged into the cable? Have you tried switching their positions on the cable?

If its an older drive it might have a jumper setting that isn't correctly set, or needs replacing? they're normally little pins next to the cable port. Sometimes they get clogged and stop conducting and the drive thinks there isn't a jumper there so it reverts to cable select.

Or it could just be a bad DVD drive, do you have another one sitting around, could you put it in and try? Or maybe put the suspect drive in another machine?

If its a bad drive, you're lucky they're dirt cheap =P

EarthQuake

This may sound dumb, but make sure no disk is in the drive. I've actually had problems booting when I had a disk in the DVD, dunno wtf that was about, it drove me NUTS.

Also a new DVD burner is like $30, you may just want to buy one if you cant figure it out.

MikeF

Thanks guys, looks like i got it working for now.
Vig was the winner, it looks like it was set to cable select, i physically swapped the order of the cable and it seems to be working.

Any ideas how this could have happened without ever touching the hardware in the first place?

the initial problem occured while playing a game and the computer locked up, upon restarting i was met with the could not find bootable device error

Neavah

I had this problem with a jump drive randomly one day.

never found out what caused it. But it hasn't happened again, (I gen really always boot with them in) and there are no problems with my jump drives. ... When life gives you lemonade, I just drink it. :P

Mark Dygert

Cable select is normally a the default for when you don't have any jumpers plugged into the back. Those jumpers determine master, slave, or cable select. So I think it was set to override cable select and force the DVD to be slave. I think you fried the tiny jumper or it was knocked loose, and it reverted to cable select.

If its not the jumper then its probably the connectors behind the jumper that are fried? I'd probably run it as is and order a replacement asap.

notman

Personally, I prefer to keep my optical devices on a separate IDE cable from my HDDs (if possible). HDDs and optical drives tend to have different speeds/standards, which can interfere with your HDD speeds. Just a side note though. If it's working, and you're happy, then ignore me

MikeF

Yeah i'd normally do the same notman, unfortunately i've got a terrible mother board and it only has one IDE connection.
I've got a secondary sata HD in an enclosure that i use for my backup, next time i format i'm just going to switch that to my master and do away with IDE hard drives all together.

but yea, gonna order a drive tonight prolly, dont want it failing on me when i pick up brink

EarthQuake

Having Sata only is super nice. Oh the nightmares I have from the old days, trying to get 4 or so drives working via IDE....

notman

yeah, that's why I put in the 'if possible' stipulation. I know many manufacturers have been reducing it to one IDE, because of the movement to SATA.

And I agree Earthquake. I think of it as big as moving to autodetect for addresses/com ports. I hated jumper configurations for adapter boards back in the day.