Bios Blues

now that i have the new EIDE 80GIG drive installed...and all is running "normal" when i shut down the system and come back next day and power back up...my mouse is not at home and all the BIOS settings are not working...BUT...if i turn the system "off" by putting it in standby,it goes off and i can come back next day hit enter and it comes on with no problemo!
ideas about how to keep everything installed?
and yes , this is the same system i/we/geeks got up and running last year.
tanx people...i await within.

 

When BIOS settings randomly go screwy, its usually an indication that your CMOS battery (the little round, shiny one that powers the BIOS chip) is dying, and if I recall correctly, your computer is relatively old, which reinforces this suspicion. For the cost of one ($5 at Radio Shack, Future Shop, or some other rip-off electronics store), and the simplicity of installation, it is worth eliminating it as a suspect.

 

thank you MM...i gonna dodat 2morrow and get back 2 ya....oh,and i agree with your diagnosis...

 

ok...new battery for mobo installed and still not saving BIOS and not detecting IDE primary. I reset BIOS per mobo book ,save and restart...when i let it run i get the "....disk boot failure, insert system disk.." message...
all very perplexing.

need serious help or eye gonna take it to a 'puter fixer-upper place!!!

 

Okay, let's start with the simple things. You have only one hard drive, correct? If not, then we should make sure that all drives are jumpered properly. The one with the operating system should be set as master, and put on the connector furthest from the motherboard. The other should be jumpered as slave and set on the closer connector. If that is done correctly, and it is still not being detected in BIOS, then replace the cable.

If these things don't work you could be in serious trouble

 

yup...one hard drive one floppy and one cd thingie...using new cable that came with the new drive. what has me confused is that "somehow" i got the system working yesterday...i am guessing that i "somehow" stumbled on to
the correct configuration of BIOS...oh well...i hope all is not lost..

 

Oh, no. I don't like the sound of this! If you are using a new hard drive on a new cable, and still can't get BIOS to recognize the hard drive, then your IDE controller (part of the motherboard) may be going. I would try another hard drive to verify, but that's how it looks to me.

 

Replacing a motherboard on an older computer isn't that simple. You usually have to update alot of hardware. Oftentimes, its more economical to simply buy a new computer.

 

well...i just tried to get it to boot from the cd...i have the mobo support disc.
if i kin re-install the drive do you think i gots a chance?

 

Its worth trying if you don't have anything that needs saving on the hard drive. I sincerely hope I have to eat my words here, but you'll need to be able to detect the hard drive to copy the installation files to it. Or format it in the first place.

 

just to check the HDD you could use another PC to test it if you have one available, if it works you can eliminate the disk being faulty and would point to a config/MOBO issue.

 

YUP....eye'm beginning to think it might be mobo. i guess i got lucky yesterday when i was able to get it to go....if i can't get 'er done, i'll take back where i bought it about 10 yrs ago and have them "update" the mobo or put a new one in or buy a new one altogather...and bronze my new hard drive (LOL)...i'll keep you guys posted...thanks for all the insights...
i must be off, ciao.

 

ok...this is to be the last entry on this subject!
problemo solved baby...put new battery on mobo;re-configured BIOS/CMOS and the most important...switched out little(el cheapo) jumper thingie that came with the new HD for one (off my old HD) that was tighter on the pins so that there werer 2 jumpers as shown with documentatuion that came with new HD...and voila...all is operating as advertised.
just that simple. thanks to all who offered insights...helped me to dig and once again the geeks rule and WE got a problem solved..
i must be off..