superbiskit
August 28th, 2008, 06:10 PM
[I see other "HDD not recognized" posts, but this part of my problem involves the BIOS -- and that I don't see]
Mainboard: MSI K7N2-Delta, nVidia chipset, AthlonXP1800
BIOS: Phoenix AwardBIOS W6750MS V5.1 041803 18:12:13
IDE0 Master
If I boot cold, after the machine sat overnight, I boot to a blank screen. If I go back and get into BIOS-SETUP, the disk is described as
"WDC WD1600". It just will not boot that way!
By the way, there is a scary sequence of click-pause-click-pause noises during the POST early-boot time period.
After needlessly re-installing Ubuntu a few times, I stumbled upon a trick.
If I momentarily power-down/power-up, there are fewer click-pause events and the BIOS-SETUP now shows
"MDT MD11600JB-006VA0". And now, when I exit Setup, it boots into GRUB and everything is cool for the day.
It is possible to re-boot. I don't need to do all the power-button tricks. And there isn't any click-pause.
Two obvious possibilities: the disk -- which is new to me, but not brand spanking new from the factory -- is on its way out. That won't make me very happy, but the solution is only money.
Or, the BIOS is too old (2003?) to know what to do with the disk. I could probably get a BIOS update from Phoenix, but all of their tools are Windoze-only and I don't play that game.
OpenBIOS looks interesting, but it isn't obvious that it's a complete solution or that it works for the ia32 architecture. That's apart from the question of turning my 'puter into a doorstop.
Mainboard: MSI K7N2-Delta, nVidia chipset, AthlonXP1800
BIOS: Phoenix AwardBIOS W6750MS V5.1 041803 18:12:13
IDE0 Master
If I boot cold, after the machine sat overnight, I boot to a blank screen. If I go back and get into BIOS-SETUP, the disk is described as
"WDC WD1600". It just will not boot that way!
By the way, there is a scary sequence of click-pause-click-pause noises during the POST early-boot time period.
After needlessly re-installing Ubuntu a few times, I stumbled upon a trick.
If I momentarily power-down/power-up, there are fewer click-pause events and the BIOS-SETUP now shows
"MDT MD11600JB-006VA0". And now, when I exit Setup, it boots into GRUB and everything is cool for the day.
It is possible to re-boot. I don't need to do all the power-button tricks. And there isn't any click-pause.
Two obvious possibilities: the disk -- which is new to me, but not brand spanking new from the factory -- is on its way out. That won't make me very happy, but the solution is only money.
Or, the BIOS is too old (2003?) to know what to do with the disk. I could probably get a BIOS update from Phoenix, but all of their tools are Windoze-only and I don't play that game.
OpenBIOS looks interesting, but it isn't obvious that it's a complete solution or that it works for the ia32 architecture. That's apart from the question of turning my 'puter into a doorstop.