Bios not working and Comp not registering hard drive

8709 Views 92 Replies 8 Participants Last post by AnnAnime, Sep 8, 2005

AnnAnime

Discussion Starter · Sep 1, 2005

I have a computer that is working but the computer will not register the hard drive I installed and I can't get BIOS to come up at all. What do I do?

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1 - 20 of 93 Posts

Tumbleweed36

· #2 · Sep 1, 2005 (Edited)

Hi,

Tell us about your computer, what motherboard, what cpu, what video card, what hard drives (brand names and types), what is on each cable and how they are set (master or slave) and where they are located on the ribbon cable. If this new drive is a SATA drive, then let us know that. That type of information should help us to get you going. Oh, one last thing, this is a new drive isn't it, or is it one that was on another computer? That makes a difference.

When you say the BIOS won't come up, do you mean you can't enter it? If we know what motherboard (as asked above) we might be able to help. Normally, holding delete at post will cause the computer to enter the BIOS.

Post back and we will try to help.

AnnAnime

Discussion Starter · #3 · Sep 1, 2005

The computer is:

Hardrive: 1999 Fujitsu limited ( old .. motherboard and Windows Crashed)

CPU: 1999 Gateway pentium lll

Video Card: unsure

If you want me to get more info from booting up computer then I will.

Tumbleweed36 said:
Hi,

Tell us about your computer, what motherboard, what cpu, what video card, what hard drives (brand names and types), what is on each cable and how they are set (master or slave) and where they are located on the ribbon cable. If this new drive is a SATA drive, then let us know that. That type of information should help us to get you going. Oh, one last thing, this is a new drive isn't it, or is it one that was on another computer? That makes a difference.

When you say the BIOS won't come up, do you mean you can't enter it? If we know what motherboard (as asked above) we might be able to help. Normally, holding delete at post will cause the computer to enter the BIOS.

Post back and we will try to help.

Barry_R

· #4 · Sep 1, 2005

You need to tell us more about your situation.

How do you know it is not recognising your drive? What does it say on your screen when the machine starts to boot up?

Is the hard drive you put into the computer a replacement for your original drive or is it a second drive?

If it is a replacement drive have you tried installing windows and what does it say if it fails to install?

If it is a second drive did you put it on another IDE channel (Seperate cable plugged into another Hard Disk socket) or is it a second drive on the same cable?

Did you set the jumpers for the drive Master or Slave according to the Drive manual?

We do not have the machine infront of us so we need you to tell us everything that the PC is doing and not doing in detail so that we can help you.

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AnnAnime

Discussion Starter · #5 · Sep 1, 2005

Your Questions are in red and my Answers are in Blue.

Is the hard drive you put into the computer a replacement for your original drive or is it a second drive?

It is the main Hardrive that I put in from another computer

If it is a replacement drive have you tried installing windows and what does it say if it fails to install?

Well I did Try to put in Linux but it says Hard disk not mounted and it is hooked up as a master drive and the right cord is in it and it is plugged in.

If it is a second drive did you put it on another IDE channel (Seperate cable plugged into another Hard Disk socket) or is it a second drive on the same cable?

There is only one hard drive

Did you set the jumpers for the drive Master or Slave according to the Drive manual?
I set it to Master as it says on the Drive. When the computer boots up first it has all the System info then at the bottm it says press F1 for setup or press enter to continue so I press enter then the error "operating system not found" comes up and Bios will not work.

Barry_R said:
You need to tell us more about your situation.

How do you know it is not recognising your drive? What does it say on your screen when the machine starts to boot up?

Is the hard drive you put into the computer a replacement for your original drive or is it a second drive?

If it is a replacement drive have you tried installing windows and what does it say if it fails to install?

If it is a second drive did you put it on another IDE channel (Seperate cable plugged into another Hard Disk socket) or is it a second drive on the same cable?

Did you set the jumpers for the drive Master or Slave according to the Drive manual?

We do not have the machine infront of us so we need you to tell us everything that the PC is doing and not doing in detail so that we can help you.

See less See more

Tumbleweed36

· #6 · Sep 1, 2005

Hi,

What brand of hard drive are you trying to put in, and where on the ribbon cable is it? (like middle connector, end connector)

Are you trying to reinstall Windows, or are you just trying to use the drive from another computer without a reinstall??? This should help us.

Barry_R

· #7 · Sep 2, 2005

There is no short answer to this so lets start with the Bios. The F1 key is the entry key for your Bios. Sometimes you have to hold it down during boot or press it repeatedly.

Try getting into your Bios and see if the drive is listed in Bios. Also while you are in there make sure you have the floppy, CD Rom and Hard disk in your boot order. I think we will eventually need the PC to look for an operating system on the other drives. Also some machines have a floppy disk seek function, make sure this is enabled.

Let us know of your progress so far.

AnnAnime

Discussion Starter · #8 · Sep 2, 2005

It's a Fujitsu Hardrive I pulled from another computer and the only thing that was ever wrong with it was that the windows ME in it crashed and it needed a new windows.

Tumbleweed36 said:
Hi,

What brand of hard drive are you trying to put in, and where on the ribbon cable is it? (like middle connector, end connector)

Are you trying to reinstall Windows, or are you just trying to use the drive from another computer without a reinstall??? This should help us.

AnnAnime

Discussion Starter · #9 · Sep 2, 2005

When I did try to get bios to work, I did press it repeatedly but nothing happened and it just booted like it always does. When I got the tower With Everything in it eccept the hard drive, there was the message "Operating system not found" even without the hard drive. The drive is hooked to the End cord like you would for the master drive. I'll try just holding the F1 key down as soon as I turn it on and let you know what happens.

Barry_R said:
There is no short answer to this so lets start with the Bios. The F1 key is the entry key for your Bios. Sometimes you have to hold it down during boot or press it repeatedly.

Try getting into your Bios and see if the drive is listed in Bios. Also while you are in there make sure you have the floppy, CD Rom and Hard disk in your boot order. I think we will eventually need the PC to look for an operating system on the other drives. Also some machines have a floppy disk seek function, make sure this is enabled.

Let us know of your progress so far.

Barry_R

· #10 · Sep 2, 2005

If you got to the operating system not found message it is already past the point where you can get into Bios.

Unless the Hard Drive was formatted with a NTFS format (Win XP,2000,NT)you should be able to access the drive if you boot to DOS from a bootable floppy or an old Windows 98 CD.

If the drive is working you will need to do a clean install of your OS. This usually involves running fdisk from a DOS prompt to remount the drive partition and then rebooting the machine. Fdisk Guide

Then depending on which operating system your going to install you may also have to go back into DOS and reformat the drive before the installation. Formatting

AnnAnime

Discussion Starter · #11 · Sep 2, 2005

Thank you soo much. I will give it a try and then I'll let you guys know how it went. Thanks again.

Barry_R said:
If you got to the operating system not found message it is already past the point where you can get into Bios.

Unless the Hard Drive was formatted with a NTFS format (Win XP,2000,NT)you should be able to access the drive if you boot to DOS from a bootable floppy or an old Windows 98 CD.

If the drive is working you will need to do a clean install of your OS. This usually involves running fdisk from a DOS prompt to remount the drive partition and then rebooting the machine. Fdisk Guide

Then depending on which operating system your going to install you may also have to go back into DOS and reformat the drive before the installation. Formatting

AnnAnime

Discussion Starter · #12 · Sep 2, 2005

Well I went ahead and bought a Windows ME boot disk like it said at theFdisk Guide so now all I have to do is wait for that to arrive, then I can try to get my computer to working.

Barry_R said:
If you got to the operating system not found message it is already past the point where you can get into Bios.

Unless the Hard Drive was formatted with a NTFS format (Win XP,2000,NT)you should be able to access the drive if you boot to DOS from a bootable floppy or an old Windows 98 CD.

If the drive is working you will need to do a clean install of your OS. This usually involves running fdisk from a DOS prompt to remount the drive partition and then rebooting the machine. Fdisk Guide

Then depending on which operating system your going to install you may also have to go back into DOS and reformat the drive before the installation. Formatting

Barry_R

· #13 · Sep 2, 2005

I did not see where it said that you have to have a ME boot disk.

I usually use an old Windows 98 CD or I make a boot disk from windows and then put the fdisk program on it. But aslong as this disk you are getting can boot the machine and has fdisk on it all is well.

AnnAnime

Discussion Starter · #14 · Sep 2, 2005

Well the thing is that I have no clue at all how to make a boot disk from windows, You see this computer I am on now is working on Windows NT. The disk I bought said it is a master boot disk. Should I make a boot disk? If so then how? :4-dontkno

Barry_R said:
I did not see where it said that you have to have a ME boot disk.

I usually use an old Windows 98 CD or I make a boot disk from windows and then put the fdisk program on it. But aslong as this disk you are getting can boot the machine and has fdisk on it all is well.

Barry_R

· #15 · Sep 2, 2005

Go ahead and wait for your disk. It should have fdisk on it. If not it can always be copied over to it.

To make a boot disk:
Put a blank floppy in the drive and open windows explorer, right click on the A drive and select format. In the menu it will give you the choice of making a system disk. Then you will need to locate fdisk.exe and copy it to the floppy disk.

My Win2K does not have fdisk on it so the NT machine your on may not have it either.

AnnAnime

Discussion Starter · #16 · Sep 2, 2005

Thanks! I'll try that if the disk doesn't work or I may try the fdisk anyway. I have another computer that needs the same thing too. The only thing wrong with it is Windows ME crashed. Thanks so much!

Barry_R said:
Go ahead and wait for your disk. It should have fdisk on it. If not it can always be copied over to it.

To make a boot disk:
Put a blank floppy in the drive and open windows explorer, right click on the A drive and select format. In the menu it will give you the choice of making a system disk. Then you will need to locate fdisk.exe and copy it to the floppy disk.

My Win2K does not have fdisk on it so the NT machine your on may not have it either.

AnnAnime

Discussion Starter · #17 · Sep 2, 2005

Would an Emergency Repair disk be the same thing? That's all I could find. What Menu did you mean?

Barry_R said:
Go ahead and wait for your disk. It should have fdisk on it. If not it can always be copied over to it.

To make a boot disk:
Put a blank floppy in the drive and open windows explorer, right click on the A drive and select format. In the menu it will give you the choice of making a system disk. Then you will need to locate fdisk.exe and copy it to the floppy disk.

My Win2K does not have fdisk on it so the NT machine your on may not have it either.

Barry_R

· #18 · Sep 3, 2005

The box that comes up when you right click on the A drive and select format. If it does not have one then try the repair disk.

I have never had the misfortune of needing a repair disk so I am not sure what it puts on the disk. Its worth a try.

linderman

· #19 · Sep 3, 2005

Hello Fellas:

You can get your windows bootdisks for free at bootdisk.com

Barry / youre doing good !! bring him in for a landing.

cheers

joe

PS he needs to delete all partitions and logical drives with fdisk and re-partition and reformat the drive then reload windows / you cant use a boot drive from another computer / it wont boot !!!! unless the systems all almost identical twins (mobo especially)

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linderman

· #20 · Sep 3, 2005

this fdisk guide is fairly easy to follow

http://fdisk.radified.com/

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