In article <>,
wrote:
> Brand new board K8N (not Deluxe)
> Athlon 64 3000+
> 2 x 512Mb DDR400
> new 450W PSU
> Maxtor Diamond Plus 9 80Gb IDE
>
>
> Trying to load XP Pro and failing. The CD starts fine. I partition and
> format the new hard drive. XP setup program continues and all is fine
> until the reboot.
>
> The machine then reboots and I see "Press any key to boot from CD.."
>
> I do NOT press any key, and expect the installation to continue to
> run.
> However, I get "A disk read error occurred" and I have to reboot.
>
> It seems as if the mb does not see drive C.
>
> I have reduced the installed hardware to a minimum using only one HDD
> one optical drive, a graphics card, no wireless card.
>
> I have swopped the memory and used a different HDD but still no
> progress.
>
> I have downloaded the latest bios.
> I have booted from a floppy using a memory utility test.
> I have checked the Maxtor drive using PowerMax and the drive is fine.
> The drive works on another PC anyway.
>
> Bios settings are fine. I have used the default settings.
>
> Do I have a faulty motherboard or can someone point me in the right
> direction to make this thing work?
>
> Many thanks folks.
Have you:
1) Tried both Pri and Sec IDE ports ?
2) Tried a different cable ?
3) Put both drives on the same cable and used cable select ?
(You need an 80 wire cable for cable select, AFAIK)
4) At the point you get "A disk read error occurred", leave
just the Maxtor connected, select the Maxtor in the BIOS
as the boot device, and try booting without a CD drive ?
Maybe the "disk read error" isn't even coming from the IDE
interface ? Could it be accessing the floppy drive at the
time ? Perhaps it thinks there is something in the floppy ?
Disconnect the floppy cable and try booting from the Maxtor
again. Remove the floppy from the boot order as well.
Do you have one of those 8-in-1 USB card readers connected
to the computer ? Sometimes that will foul up a boot.
You will find dead IDE interfaces on motherboards, but there
are a number of other possibilities, as you note.
Using the hardware monitor in the BIOS, how do the power
supply voltages look ? Are the voltages within 5% of nominal ?
Does this still happen if the motherboard is sitting on a
piece of cardboard ? Sometimes an extra standoff installed
underneath the motherboard, will short out something.
Unlikely, as you've managed to get the install process to
begin.
If you run out of things to try, there is always the
all purpose "clear the CMOS" option. Unplug the computer,
then carry out the procedure, as listed in the manual.
Clearing the CMOS seems to fix the most unrelated issues.
HTH,
Paul
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