New mobo - Disk Boot Failure/stop 0x7B

I was trying to upgrade my bf's computer for xmess ... & now all I have is a headache!!

New parts:
mobo - ECS 848P-A (yeah, I know ... not fancy!)
proc - p4 2.4 Ghz, 5ss fsb
mem - 512 pc3200
psu - 400W
video - ati 9200 SE

Corresponding old info:
mobo - asus p2b-f
proc - pIII 450
mem - ? (over 512 ...)
psu 250 W
video - ATI Rage 128 (16mb card ... apparently a dif AGP standard, as it physically will not fit in the new system)

Old parts transferred:
sound - sb live!
2 hdds - 13 G & 100 G, both WD
dvd rom - antec 16x
cdrw - generic, relatively new

on original system, I had a Promise ATA 100 card ... I'd prefer to NOT transfer it ... but it DOES affect symptoms.

Trying to boot to HDD, w/o card -- STOP 0x&B INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE. This happens in Safe Mode & Enable VGA Mode as well. It suggests CHKDSK ... but see later notes.

I transferred the card -- now it just hangs (in Safe Mode, hangs after \WINNT\System32\DRIVERS\agp440.sys

This by itself, I could possibly troubleshoot ... HOWEVER ...

I cannot boot to CDROM at ALL. Everytime I try, I get "DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK".

I have tried 4 dif optical drives. I have tried 2 different bootable cd's. I have tried mulitple cables (for hdds, as well), & each controller. I have disabled floppy seek. I have stripped system down to one drive, double checked cabling & jumpering. I have reset BIOS defaults to "fail safe" & also to "optimal". I have ensured that SATA is off, & the onboard IDE's are both on. I cannot find an OBVIOUS BIOS setting that I haven't double checked.

The only other oddity ... this BIOS (& board) are supposed to handle hyperthreading (I believe the proc does -- but this is my first venture in awhile with new enough hw to support it, so I haven't verified that) ... I don't believe that 2KP supports hyperthreading. However, when I went to turn it OFF, just in case -- & I can't find it in the BIOS.

I'm down to it being a BIOS setting, or a bad mobo ... I really don't want to return the motherboard & have this happen all over.

PLEASE -- am I missing anything here?

 

Hi,

In bios do you have boot order set first to cdrom?

When installing a new mobo you need to reinstall the os

Rick

 

just a few thoughts, is your HDD & CD in PIO mode? make sure you set the jumpers correctly ... also, what file system are you using, FAT or NTSC? and are you doing a fresh install or just swapping the HDDs?

here's a BIOS guide to help a lil:
http://www.rojakpot.com/default.aspx?location=1

 

I'll check out that BIOS guide.


I'm more disturbed by my inability to boot to CD ... if I can't do that, I can't do ANYTHING with ANY harddrives ...


(& I am aware that the mobo would likely need OS repair/reinstall ... but I can't even do any of that if I can't boot to CD)


Yes -- I checked the Boot Order. In fact, I took OUT everything BUT a single CDROM jumpered to master, & left only CDROM as first boot device in BIOS & everything else to none.


From my research, that particular error (the disk boot failure) tends to happen trying to read a floppy or a hdd ... I'm not finding much luck with information regarding getting that with an optical drive.

 

Update --

I have tried the new cable on both the hdds & the optical drives, in case the mobo got picky about the cable (the others would have definitely been 40 pin).

I cannot boot to floppy -- it doesn't even make that little >shick!< noise trying to read the drive.

I've tried 4 optical drives ... 1 of which is completely known good ... the other 3 may or may not have issues (2 I haven't tried in awhile, 1 is having some complications -- but only with the dvd functionality of it).

I've even replaced the cmos battery, JUST IN CASE.

Its the darndest thing -- it RECOGNIZES each individual drive & any changes I make. It even attempted to boot to the hdd -- released to the OS (& I'm not worried about why the OS didn't boot) ... that would indicate to me that the controllers WORK.

WHY WON'T THEY RECOGNIZE A CDROM OR FLOPPY IN THE DRIVE?!?!?! *shrieks & pulls out hair*

 

Can you boot from a floppy and use d:/setup ? Sounds like neither ide channel is working and the sys can't find anything to boot. My guess bad mobo

Rick

 

nope -- I just tried to boot to floppy ... doesn't even try the drive ...

*guess I'm standing in line with all the rest of the schmucks at Fry's on Mon or Tues ... I am NOT going tomorrow!!! hehe*