Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Gadgets & Tech Unable to boot....

Hello all,

Recently been given a computer. After POST I get this msg:

'boot failure reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device'

or sometimes

'boot failure insert boot diskette in a'

Now, I'm new to all this and learning so I understand this could be a loose hard drive connection (Power and SATA leads are seated correctly), harddrive failure (I have 3 harddrives, get the msg on them all even though they work in my other computer) or something else - I'm hoping someone can suggest this.

Could it be a possible fault with the MOBO?

Thankyou in advance

check your bios settings set to first boot hard drive second boot disc check hard drive is set to master make sure your not using a floppy cable (the one with the split)if it has a floppy make sure no disc is in it. other set up might be set to cable select

Thats the thing, the BIOS wont detect any of the HDDs that I put in. (No CDs or floopys in it)

make sure your first disk is set to master and others to slave this may help or take out 2 and see what happens with one

I only try with one HDD at a time, only really to double check the HDD isnt corrupt.

The primary master is the CDROM - I cant select HDD as the BIOS wont display it as an option to select.

Also, I did a CMOS reset, I dont know if this is related but now everytime I go into BIOS the date/time are wrong.

3 hard drives, might require some adjustment to jumper switches on the back of the drives (mind you that may be old technology now and they don't work that way but I know you used to have to do that.) Just an idea.

If you've done a CMOS (BIOS) reset and the time/date are always wrong in BIOS (even if you've corrected them) then either you've left the CLEAR CMOS jumper in the wrong position, or the CMOS battery is flat and not keeping your settings, which may also be why it is trying to boot from floppy as default.

Try changing the battery (£1.50), set everything up in the BIOS and then try again.

Three hard drives - Only ever one fitted, the others are just spares.

There are no jumpers on the back of the HDDs.

I have another MOBO here that I'm about to fit, just to check if its the current one at fault.

Swapped battery for another one (Second hand but should work) and no difference.

Going to whizz the MOBO out and try another one, if it works then I can go from there.

No jumpers on the hard drives.. (I actually meant the jumpers to clear CMOS on the board, but this does help).

It sounds as if you have SATA drives (IDE / PATA all have jumpers to set them as Master, Slave, or Cable Select). Some boards don't have a SATA controller in the BIOS (or the CMOS clear may have switched it off by default, so check this), if you don't have one you normally have to load it from either floppy drive (with older systems this was the default) or a CD.

If you can let me know the make/model of the motherboard I'll see if I have the manual for it to check.

TheDr - I think its a long shot due to their age.

Abit IC7 MAX3
MSI 865PE Neo2