Ok, I'm currently building a second computer from old parts, and I am having one major issue with booting up at the moment. And it seems that I have exhasted most - if not all - possiblities as to what I think it could be.
Basically the HDD i have doesnt have an operating system on it, and it has been formatted etc. I have a Win98 + Drivers boot floopy that I want to run at start up and I have changed the boot sequence accordingly in BIOS (Floopy->CDDrive->HDD) Insert the floopy (which I have test on this computer and works perfectly) and booted the system up.
This is what happens:
- I start up the computer and it goes through it's regular RAM test and identifies all the components I have attatched like normal (Floopy, HDD, CD-ROM, etc.)
- It then loads the PCI Listing table, as soon as it finishes listing the last element (ACPI Device) it reads the floopy disc for around 10 seconds then just idles. If i press a key on the keyboard, it reads the floopy for another 10 seconds and idles.
- I have tested different floopy drives - same result.
- I've tested a CD boot disc and changed the boot sequence accordingly - same result.
- When i use a HDD that has an OS installed it says "Windows did not successfully start up last time it was started blah blah - load in safe mode, safe mode etc. etc." If I choose any safe mode options it loads some drivers but freezes half way through. If I choose normal mode, it freezes the computer.
- I've tried different RAM, Video cards, HDDs, Floopy drives, CD drives - same result.
- I've bought new IDE cables - same result.
Anyone have the faintest idea what is going on? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
The system is an Athlon TBird 1.4GHz, on a Shuttle Mobo with 256MB DDR RAM, GF2 MX400 -- and with that said i have a P2-400 (separate computer) which also does similar things on start up.
Basically the HDD i have doesnt have an operating system on it, and it has been formatted etc. I have a Win98 + Drivers boot floopy that I want to run at start up and I have changed the boot sequence accordingly in BIOS (Floopy->CDDrive->HDD) Insert the floopy (which I have test on this computer and works perfectly) and booted the system up.
This is what happens:
- I start up the computer and it goes through it's regular RAM test and identifies all the components I have attatched like normal (Floopy, HDD, CD-ROM, etc.)
- It then loads the PCI Listing table, as soon as it finishes listing the last element (ACPI Device) it reads the floopy disc for around 10 seconds then just idles. If i press a key on the keyboard, it reads the floopy for another 10 seconds and idles.
- I have tested different floopy drives - same result.
- I've tested a CD boot disc and changed the boot sequence accordingly - same result.
- When i use a HDD that has an OS installed it says "Windows did not successfully start up last time it was started blah blah - load in safe mode, safe mode etc. etc." If I choose any safe mode options it loads some drivers but freezes half way through. If I choose normal mode, it freezes the computer.
- I've tried different RAM, Video cards, HDDs, Floopy drives, CD drives - same result.
- I've bought new IDE cables - same result.
Anyone have the faintest idea what is going on? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
The system is an Athlon TBird 1.4GHz, on a Shuttle Mobo with 256MB DDR RAM, GF2 MX400 -- and with that said i have a P2-400 (separate computer) which also does similar things on start up.