Major Boot/IDE issues. Help Please!!!!

[Rowlf]

First I'll tell you the problems. Then I'll give you my specs. Get
comfy. I think there is a gremlin in my rig.
<B>THE PROBLEM</B>
A typical boot of my computer goes like this:
Boot to bios. The IDE check shows my STA Hardrive and my DVDRW drive.
Primary Master: STA80216 (or whatever my normal Seagate HD id is)
Primary Slave: DVDR Generic
Secondary Master: None.
Secondary Slave: None.

Everything is peachy until it gets to the Verifing DMI Pool. Where . . .
it . . . . . hangs . . . . . indefinately.
Reset. Reboot.
Press DEL. Auto check IDE devices in BIOS. Where . . . . . it . . . ..
.. hangs . . . .. . . . .
Reboot. BIOS now reads something like this:
Primary Master: CT^&.. o or some gibberish (not the usual Seagate ID).
Primary Slave: none.
Past the IDE detection and DMI pool, I get this message - Disk failure,
unable to boot. Please insert bootable floppy.

As you see, my DVDR is no longer detected, and BIOS seems to have
invented an ID for my HD. Grrreaaat. And it won't boot.
So, to stick a bandaide on it, I do this:
Shut down. Open side up. Put my IDE cable that runs both my HD and
DVDRW into the secondary IDE slot.

Boot.
Primary Master: none.
Primary Slave: none.
Secondary Master: STA80216
Secondary Slave: DVDR Generic

And my computer boots fine. Windows runs fine.
Until I get a BSoD very randomly (sometimes right away, sometimes not for
days) The cause of the BSoD says something different most of the time,
but just recently it was some AVAST! anti-virus file.

Reboot. Repeat everything above.

Except sometimes the only way I can get my HD to boot is by completely
disconnecting my DVDRW.

But eventually I'll get a BSoD anyway.

WTF? Can anyone help? Is it a hardware issue? A software issue?

<B>THE SPECS:</B>
As promised, here are my system specs.
Windows XP Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
Asus motherboard A7N8X2.0
AMD 2600 @ 2079Mhz
BIOS - Phoenix Technologies, LTD ASUS A7N8X2.0 ACPI BIOS Rev 1005,
5/14/2003
768.00 MB RAM
ATI RADEON 9600 SERIES


<B>WHAT I'VE DONE</B>
Have repaired installed numerous times.
Have updated every driver I can think of.
Have run chkdsk /f
Have run boot virus scans.
Have run Ad-aware thoroughly.
Have run Spy-Bot Search and Destroy thoroughly.

<B>Possible Contributing Factors</B>
I used to have an ATI All-In-Wonder 9800 installed. (not overclocked). As
you may know, it requires additional power fueled by a cable from the
PSU. I noticed a few months ago that the white molex plug on my ATI was
dark brown (burnt) at the power lead. At that time I thought it was my
PSU, so I swapped it out. It did it again. So I swapped out my the 9800
for my old 9600 (goodbye Elder Scrolls IV).
However, the problems above continue to happen.

I am seriously considering throwing my computer off of the highest cliff
I can find.

Need any more info?

Please, can someone please help? Or at least point me in the right
direction?

Thanks!

*** ***

 

[Turkylurker]

Thanks Ghostrider! I'll try that out. The dmi pool hang was very recent
effect of all the problems, but I'll give it a shot. Anything to save me
from buying a new Mobo.
Incidentally, is there a way to flash my bios from my dvd drive (I don't
have a floppy)?

*** ***

 

[Rowlf]

Thanks Ghostrider.
I figured out how to make a bootable cd. . .

*** ***

 

[Ghostrider]

First I'll tell you the problems. Then I'll give you my specs. Get
comfy. I think there is a gremlin in my rig.
<B>THE PROBLEM</B>
A typical boot of my computer goes like this:
Boot to bios. The IDE check shows my STA Hardrive and my DVDRW drive.
Primary Master: STA80216 (or whatever my normal Seagate HD id is)
Primary Slave: DVDR Generic
Secondary Master: None.
Secondary Slave: None.

Everything is peachy until it gets to the Verifing DMI Pool. Where . . .
it . . . . . hangs . . . . . indefinately.
Reset. Reboot.
Press DEL. Auto check IDE devices in BIOS. Where . . . . . it . . . ..
. hangs . . . .. . . . .
Reboot. BIOS now reads something like this:
Primary Master: CT^&.. o or some gibberish (not the usual Seagate ID).
Primary Slave: none.
Past the IDE detection and DMI pool, I get this message - Disk failure,
unable to boot. Please insert bootable floppy.

As you see, my DVDR is no longer detected, and BIOS seems to have
invented an ID for my HD. Grrreaaat. And it won't boot.
So, to stick a bandaide on it, I do this:
Shut down. Open side up. Put my IDE cable that runs both my HD and
DVDRW into the secondary IDE slot.

Boot.
Primary Master: none.
Primary Slave: none.
Secondary Master: STA80216
Secondary Slave: DVDR Generic

And my computer boots fine. Windows runs fine.
Until I get a BSoD very randomly (sometimes right away, sometimes not for
days) The cause of the BSoD says something different most of the time,
but just recently it was some AVAST! anti-virus file.

Reboot. Repeat everything above.

Except sometimes the only way I can get my HD to boot is by completely
disconnecting my DVDRW.

But eventually I'll get a BSoD anyway.

WTF? Can anyone help? Is it a hardware issue? A software issue?

<B>THE SPECS:</B>
As promised, here are my system specs.
Windows XP Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
Asus motherboard A7N8X2.0
AMD 2600 @ 2079Mhz
BIOS - Phoenix Technologies, LTD ASUS A7N8X2.0 ACPI BIOS Rev 1005,
5/14/2003
768.00 MB RAM
ATI RADEON 9600 SERIES


<B>WHAT I'VE DONE</B>
Have repaired installed numerous times.
Have updated every driver I can think of.
Have run chkdsk /f
Have run boot virus scans.
Have run Ad-aware thoroughly.
Have run Spy-Bot Search and Destroy thoroughly.

<B>Possible Contributing Factors</B>
I used to have an ATI All-In-Wonder 9800 installed. (not overclocked). As
you may know, it requires additional power fueled by a cable from the
PSU. I noticed a few months ago that the white molex plug on my ATI was
dark brown (burnt) at the power lead. At that time I thought it was my
PSU, so I swapped it out. It did it again. So I swapped out my the 9800
for my old 9600 (goodbye Elder Scrolls IV).
However, the problems above continue to happen.

I am seriously considering throwing my computer off of the highest cliff
I can find.

Need any more info?

Please, can someone please help? Or at least point me in the right
direction?

Thanks!

Very briefly, this problem involves both the hardware, viz.,
the bios table for the IDE drives, plug-n-play and Windows
operating system, communicating through the Desktop Management
Interface (or DMI). And all it takes is a 1-bit frameshift in
the bios tables to lead to an unbootable or improperly detected
drive (or drives).

The following URL provides possible solutions:

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000474.htm

 

[Rowlf]

Thanks, I just reset the ol' bios. We'll see. . .

*** ***

 

[JS]

It would also help to see if the wattage of your power supply can handle you
setup.
Also for DMI issues see: http://www.duxcw.com/faq/computer/dmi.html
In my case just recently it was a corrupted BIOS that caused a DMI issue. I
reset the bios and re-flashed with the latest version.

JS

 

[LVTravel]

Something else you may want to do. Set the hard drive as the Primary Master
and the DVD as the Secondary Master (both on their own cable.)

 

[Rowlf]

Well, after clearing the CMOS, everything was working beautifully. I
even connected the second HD that's been sitting lonely and worthless in
my case because the BIOS wouldn't dectect it either.

I had 1 HD as Primary Master and my DVDRW as Primary Slave (both on same
cable, jumpers set, blah blah).
The other HD is connected as a secondary master.

Used my comp all last night, with some restarts even. Shut it off and
went to bed.

This morning, I boot it up, and the BIOS says, again:
Primary Master: CT#10.34 (or something close to that, but NOT what it
supposed to say).
Primary Slave: DVDRW Generic
Secondary Master: RT$90.23 (or something close to that, but NOT what it
supposed to say).

Again, hang on DMI Pool.

So, I restarted, but this time I put in the Boot CD I made last night
when trying to repair the mbr (which, by the way, did not work last
night. The command "sys c:" returned a "Unknown command" at the A:
command prompt. Thats why I chose to clear the CMOS). So, I put the
boot CD in, rebooted and suddenly my BIOS is correct! My computer BOOTS!
WTH did I do? Put the boot CD in? But it didn't go to the command
prompt!

Anyway, I get to WindowsXP, and try to access my second HD (labled F,
but while Windows detects it, it won't let me access it. Furthermore, in
the HD properties, when I have windowns "populate" it, it tells me that
its the MBR!

What. The. Hell. Is. Going. On. With. My. Computer.




*** ***

 

[David Vair]

Have you tried a new CMOS battery ?

 

[Ghostrider]

Well, after clearing the CMOS, everything was working beautifully. I
even connected the second HD that's been sitting lonely and worthless in
my case because the BIOS wouldn't dectect it either.

I had 1 HD as Primary Master and my DVDRW as Primary Slave (both on same
cable, jumpers set, blah blah).
The other HD is connected as a secondary master.

Used my comp all last night, with some restarts even. Shut it off and
went to bed.

This morning, I boot it up, and the BIOS says, again:
Primary Master: CT#10.34 (or something close to that, but NOT what it
supposed to say).
Primary Slave: DVDRW Generic
Secondary Master: RT$90.23 (or something close to that, but NOT what it
supposed to say).

Again, hang on DMI Pool.

So, I restarted, but this time I put in the Boot CD I made last night
when trying to repair the mbr (which, by the way, did not work last
night. The command "sys c:" returned a "Unknown command" at the A:
command prompt. Thats why I chose to clear the CMOS). So, I put the
boot CD in, rebooted and suddenly my BIOS is correct! My computer BOOTS!
WTH did I do? Put the boot CD in? But it didn't go to the command
prompt!

Anyway, I get to WindowsXP, and try to access my second HD (labled F,
but while Windows detects it, it won't let me access it. Furthermore, in
the HD properties, when I have windowns "populate" it, it tells me that
its the MBR!

What. The. Hell. Is. Going. On. With. My. Computer.

If plug-and-play OS setting is enabled in BIOS setup, disable
it. Remember, the Windows OS is one source of corruption to
the bios in that it writes to it through the Desktop Management
Interface (DMI) but the Desktop Management Task Force (DMTF)
never derived a "standard" on how to write or what to write to
the bios tables. Equally strange is that Phoenix did not fix
what was originally an Award Bios "bug".

 

[Rowlf]

Ok, more weirdness. At this point, I'm thinking of putting a hatchet
through my computer.

After everything I tried, disabling PnP, clearing CMOS, it seems that I
was getting errors again. So, I cleared CMOS again, and unplugged my
second HD, so that I only had 1 HD and my DVD opical. Booted. BIOS
looked fine. Got to WinXP . . . and XP doesn't recoginize a disk is in
the DVDR. It lists it in "My Computer," and there are no errors in
Hardware Properties, but when I click on the drive, with any disk in, I
get "please insert disk."

I rebooted, yet again. And WinXP hanged on Shutdown.
FANTASTICO!
I powered off, rebooted, and got to XP.
I got a message from my start window saying "New program installed . . ."
I pressed start, and 75% of all the apps in my Start menu showed that
they were "newly installed!" Even though they'd been on my machine for
nearly a year!

WTH is going on?

I don't have bunk HD (I tested with other HD's, some older ones, and I
get the same errors). And how can my CMOS battery be dead if I don't get
any BIOS erorrs. Furthermore, the CMOS battery is only 2 years old!
Would a battery be causing all these freaky errors?
Or is it my ASUS mobo making I/O errors?

I'm thinking about either:
Flashing my Bios (never done it before, and it will be tricky, as I
don't have a floppy drive)
Or going out and putting $100 for a new mobo (even though I can't efford
it right now, and it pisses me off to buy a new mobo and not being able
to buy a new chipset for a 64 bit chip . . . grrrr).

Recommendations?
Could it be a software conflict?
Thanks again for all of your help.

*** ***

 

[Quaoar]

Ok, more weirdness. At this point, I'm thinking of putting a hatchet
through my computer.

After everything I tried, disabling PnP, clearing CMOS, it seems that I
was getting errors again. So, I cleared CMOS again, and unplugged my
second HD, so that I only had 1 HD and my DVD opical. Booted. BIOS
looked fine. Got to WinXP . . . and XP doesn't recoginize a disk is in
the DVDR. It lists it in "My Computer," and there are no errors in
Hardware Properties, but when I click on the drive, with any disk in, I
get "please insert disk."

I rebooted, yet again. And WinXP hanged on Shutdown.
FANTASTICO!
I powered off, rebooted, and got to XP.
I got a message from my start window saying "New program installed . . ."
I pressed start, and 75% of all the apps in my Start menu showed that
they were "newly installed!" Even though they'd been on my machine for
nearly a year!

WTH is going on?

I don't have bunk HD (I tested with other HD's, some older ones, and I
get the same errors). And how can my CMOS battery be dead if I don't get
any BIOS erorrs. Furthermore, the CMOS battery is only 2 years old!
Would a battery be causing all these freaky errors?
Or is it my ASUS mobo making I/O errors?

I'm thinking about either:
Flashing my Bios (never done it before, and it will be tricky, as I
don't have a floppy drive)
Or going out and putting $100 for a new mobo (even though I can't efford
it right now, and it pisses me off to buy a new mobo and not being able
to buy a new chipset for a 64 bit chip . . . grrrr).

Recommendations?
Could it be a software conflict?
Thanks again for all of your help.

*** ***

Sounds like disk corruption or a failing mainboard to me.