Have Radeon 64MB DDR, CDROM, Floppy, 256 MB PC100, 2 WesternDigital Ultra ATA 100 30GB hard drives configured as RAID 0 striping on an ABIT KT7A RAID mobo. Tried using W.D.'s EZ bios program to partition and format the disks. This program doesn't work with RAID. Now I can't boot from the
floppy, but was able to boot from a Winblows98 CD. No problem running FDISK from the CD and partioning went smoothly. When I restarted the computer to make the partions active I still
couldn't boot from the floppy, and when the Winblows98 CD booted I get to the part where you need to choose from: 1) boot from Hard Drive or 2) boot from CDROM. When I choose CDROM the
process stops and I get a black screen with a flashing cursor in the top left corner every time. So I can't FORMAT the drives. Please HELP! Thanks in advance.

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In order to boot from a floppy, you'll need to go into the BIOS (usually under "boot options") and set the floppy drive to be BEFORE the CD-rom, or IDE (or scsi) drives.

The only annoying thing is it yells at you when you have a non-system disk at startup if you leave a disk in there (and it isn't a boot disk).

Paul, thanks for the reply! I already tried that though, and even with both hard drives disconnected I still can't boot from the floppy. I've checked and rechecked the ribbon cables and the power. I even put in a different make floppy. Could this be an instability caused by the Highpoint HPT370 controller. I used to be able to boot off the floppy when the hard drives were off the Highpoint controller. ?????

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Well, there is only one way to find out. Take out the controller and see if you can boot from the floppy then. Could it be that you have a bad disk.

Place the Hd's back on the standard IDE controller and
disable Raid.
Then make sure the CMOS shows the floppy as a bootable option.

This should get you back into booting from the floppy.

If succesful, reformat then setup your raid again.

Let us know.

I can't believe this posting problem!

That was me above!

This problem sounds eerily like the one I'm having, except I'm not using a Raid array.

Specs: PIII/733, Via Apollo mobo, Award v6.0 BIOS (also has an EZ-BIOS on top of that), 46GB Maxtor HDD (new), 3Dfx Voodoo 3 graphics card, 384MB RAM, 52x Creative CD-ROM (new), Lite-On CD-RW 8x4x32, Win98SE. Recently installed Win2000 Server and had to abort the install. Can't remember at this point whether I was having boot-up problems prior to that. Now my computer is seriously messed up! Can't re-format, can't boot from floppy, can't boot up, period, at this point. Not sure if I'm having BIOS problem (and yes, I changed boot sequences all different ways), Windows problem, or what else I can try.

The EZ-BIOS program isn't showing up anymore, seems to be stuck at verifying DMI pool data, and if it gets to that point on dual boot, it asks if I want to boot from hard drive or CD-ROM. Neither option works, though.

Desperately seeking help before I take my 9mm to this machine!

Knack

Knack4Knowing,
This link will tell you how to remove Win 2000.
The only problem is it says to boot to the MS-DOS prompt and seeing as you can't access your floppy try pressing (continusly) F8 or F2 after you get the 1st screen that allows you to enter your bios.You should have an option listed that will let you access the DOS prompt.

http://support.microsoft.com/suppor...RCH&SPR=WIN2000

If your successfull in getting 2000 off your drive and are back to normal with 98SE then read these links before you try to re-install 2000.They basically tell you to update your bios because Windows 2000 has advanced power management and Plug and Play features.ACPI stands for Advanced Configuration and Power Management Interface. ACPI defines new working interfaces between Windows 2000, the BIOS, and your system's hardware. These new interfaces include mechanisms that allow Windows 2000 to control power management and device configuration.


http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tr...oy/impupg2k.asp

How to setup a multiboot for Win98 and 2000:

http://support.microsoft.com/suppor...RCH&SPR=WIN2000

FAQ's for 2000:

http://support.microsoft.com/direct...ntent.asp?ID=FH;EN-US;win2000&FR=0&SD=GN&LN=EN-US&CT=SD&SE=NONA

Results of search in Microsofts Data Base for "can't boot from floppy"

http://search.support.microsoft.com...t&VRL=ENG&SA=GN

Good Luck, hope this helps!

gsjogy,

In reality I would have to think your problem stems from the WD's EZ Bios disk you used to try and format with at 1st.
If you flush the MBR (Master Boot Record) effectively getting rid of the WD's MBR you might be able to make your partitions active with Fdisk.
To clear your MBR you'll have to get to the MS-DOS prompt, which is a little harder sense your floppy doesn't work, but if you start up your machine and hit F8 or F2 (continuously) after the 1st screen comes up you may have a shot at the DOS prompt option.
If that doesn't let you access the DOS prompt then try using your Win 98 c/d again to get to FDISK.
Either way once there your want to plug in this command.
fdisk /mbr
Then hit enter.
After that try to make your partitions active or FDISK them again and then try to make them active.

If that whole mess turns out to be a wash try calling WD's tech support and explain what happened.

EIDE Hard Drive Support
(800) 275-4932
Monday-Thursday 9 am - 6 pm CST*
Friday 9 am - 4 pm CST*
Saturday 8 am - 11:45 am, 1 pm - 5 pm CST*

Just in case you might of missed a step while using FDISK here's the straight poop from Microsoft.

http://support.microsoft.com/suppor..._SRCH&SPR=W98SE

gsjogy,

My cookies must be broken.The post below this that has the member status as unregistered was from me.
If what I wrote works I want to take the credit, if not then we'll hang it on someone named Unregistered, hehe.

ITwanabe

Yeah, we're trying to fix that, guys. We're going to vBulletin about it to see if they can figure out what's wrong. Sorry about the hassles for everyone...

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"And knowing is half the battle!"

ITwanabe,

Thanks, I'll check the links. Finally unplugged the damn machine after hours of frustrating boots (I'm using my backup, which goes to show my own home-built never lets me down!) I was reading another tech forum with numerous posts on problems with ATA100 HDD's and W2K. MS is certainly no help. If I can remove W2K completely, I will never load it again. I'm sticking with Linux/W98SE dual-boot from here on!

I'll keep posting on my progress. Maybe it will help others.

Knack

It isn't really a problem with Windows 2000, as much as it is Microsoft's insistence on using ACPI. If you disable ACPI in your BIOS or force Windows to use APM using a registry hack, a lot of those ATA/100 problems should go away.

And I'm with ITWanabe. I think your MBR got toasted thanks to EZ-BIOS not playing well with NT/2K's bootloader. I typically don't like EZ-BIOS anyway - It's better to load it from a disk than to use it on a drive structure that might change someday.

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"And knowing is half the battle!"

Cutriss,

I appreciate your candor about the log in problem I thought I was missing a switch when replying to a post.
I'm glad to see you were on the same train as I with the MBR tip for gsjogy.It helps the diagnostic process when someone can look at a situation from a different perspective and as in this case and see a possible if not simular solution.
Thats why were all here I suppose.
Anyway I feel its one of the better forums around and Kudos to yourself and the rest of the staff.

Thanks for the tips all. Provided I can boot into BIOS and disable the ACPI switch, how can I get rid of EZ-BIOS permanently and why would I even need it since I already have Award BIOS? I shouldn't have to boot from a floppy if I can fix the main problem though, right? I did already try fixing my MBR but I may have to do it again after uninstalling W2K. Will post later tonight.

Knack