Help! Just get everything together...

[mgsvr]

SOLTEK "SL-K8AN2E-GR" NVIDIA nForce3 250Gb

That is my mother board. It detect Ram, CPU, both DVD drive, VGA card, and floppy. However, when I turn it on...it check a list of device and it went to the next screen. On the next screen, the thing say BIOS Not Installed. <---------what the!? I reset it, and press Del, it went straight into the BIOS. There I see the Award Phoenix Bios. But when it exit and try to make the thing go...it just say Bios Not Installed...then it try to Boot the CD, but failed.

What should I do!? Should I go to the Soltek website and grab a Bios there? Or something? I even put a Driver CD for the mobo, and even Window Xp CD , but the thing just won't boot them! Help!

 

[mechBgon]

The "BIOS not installed" message is undoubtedly a storage controller. If I plop a Promise ATA card into my system and the Promise ATA card doesn't find any drives, it'll say that. It's a feature, not a bug

Could you start by posting full specs of all the parts in the system, and be specific about what type of hard-drive interface you have (ATA/100 or SATA).

 

[mgsvr]

Hi, I use your Guide to build this computer btw =)

My Hdd is a SATA, I just read the Soltek FAQ about Bios Not Installed, they tell me to set the J3 (2-3 close). I just set it. Also they tell me to disable the thing on Promise (the one in the Bios set up). Anyway, should I pop in my Window XP after this? Please give me some advice

 

[mechBgon]

I was checking out your motherboard and I see it has the Promise controller onboard, and it provides one auxiliary ATA channel, which I put a red X through in this picture This is a sort of "bonus" feature. This channel cannot run a CD or DVD drive because the Promise controller only handles hard drives. So you would want to run your optical drive (CD or DVD) off of the other ATA channels that are up higher, next to the RAM slots.

If the CD drive was down on that plug I X'ed out, then move it to the others. Next, plug your SATA drive into the SATA fittings that the nForce southbridge operates (I think they're above the AGP slot... they're the ones that do not sit just above/below the Promise SATA chiplet). See if it will boot from your WinXP CD now.

In your scenario, you may not need any drivers on floppy, so try without a SATA driver floppy first and see if Windows Setup can see your hard drive. Otherwise post back with the situation.

 

[mgsvr]

Hi, before I seee your reply, I went and do what Soltek tell me to do. I put the J3 jumper as 2-3 close since I'm not running Raid. Then I went to the BIOS and go to Intergrated -> Promie Controller -> Disable. When I boot up, I don't see the "BIOS NOT INSTALLED" anymore. Then it run like this:

Verifying DMI Pool Date
Boot from CD:
Boot from CD:

Nvidia Boot Agent 197.0402
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable.
PXE-Mof: Exiting Nvidia Boot cable agent

Yes, I'm running a Samsung SATA 160gb, the SATA cable plug is above the AGP slot, which called SATA 1. Also, I connect the DVDRW (master), and DVD ROm (slave) using IDE 1 which is also above the AGP slot.

My computer:

Soltek SL-K8AN2E-GR" NVIDIA nForce3 250Gb
AMD 64 3400+ Claw
Samsung SATA 160GB
Nec DVDRW
Toshiba DVDRom
BFG 6600 OC

Please help me!

 

[mechBgon]

If things are working properly, you would see Press any key to boot from CD... or else it would simply boot from CD without even asking. Your WinXP CD is the real thing for sure, right, fancy holograms and all that? It isn't dirty or scratched-up on the underside?

If the CD is good, and it still isn't booting from it, try just one of the two optical drives hooked up, instead of both at once, to see if that changes the situation. BTW, don't mind those PXE error messages. That's just the mobo trying to boot from the network controllers as a last resort after trying the other options.

 

[mgsvr]

Hmmmm I don't know, I plug the IDE 1 cable to both DVDRW and DVDROM. But to tell you the truth, I was using the little Floppy drive cable that Soltek gave me, I plug in my Floppy Drive, and the light just always UP. Can't do anything, so I switch the cable with my old computer cable, and the Floppy disk work like normal.

Maybe because I get a bad cable? By the way, I believe Soltek gave me a Promise Driver floppy disk..it's for Raid I think. Anymore suggestion before I swap everything again?

 

[mgsvr]

Oh btw...I let my friend borrow my Win Xp disc sometime ago. However, before I gave it to him, I copy the whole disc to my HDD. Then use Nero to burn it out. So it work just like normal if I put it in my current computer. I don't think it's the disc.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: mgsvr
Oh btw...I let my friend borrow my Win Xp disc sometime ago. However, before I gave it to him, I copy the whole disc to my HDD. Then use Nero to burn it out. So it work just like normal if I put it in my current computer. I don't think it's the disc.

I bet your copy of the WinXP CD is not bootable. All the WinXP installation files might be there, but bootability is another matter. If you can get your present computer to actually boot from this CD and begin the Windows Setup process, then it's bootable. But if you can't get it to do so, then there's the hangup.

(by the way, I hope you did not tell your friend your CD key)

 

[mgsvr]

Hmmmm....maybe I'll switch the cable, and look at the Win Xp CD too to see what happen there. No, not telling my real CD Key. He got the Pirate CD Key himself. I'll post back if the thing works or not.

 

[mgsvr]

Indeed, it's the CD. I just put into my running computer, reset it, and the thing just bring me straight into Window Desktop without even boot from the CD set up. Strange is that when I open My Computer, the CD show the icon of Win Xp.

Maybe I'll copy the CD into a folder right now. Do you know anyway I can make a bootable CD using Nero? My friend is just too far away so I can get my Win Xp back. Please help. Thanks

 

[mechBgon]

Try this thread for some leads on that question. You'll have to dig a little bit. Worst-case scenario, it's nothing you can't fix with about US$90 at ZipZoomFly.com (assuming you're in the US or Canada) for another WinXP Home Edition CD and license.

Or... since you have a suitable computer for it, download and burn a trial of WinXP Pro 64-Bit Edition from Microsoft, it's a free 360-day trial to get you by until you can get your CD back. This download should be a .ISO that will be bootable when burned to CD-R.

 

[jterrell]

Download a free version of linux and use that for now til you can get ur cd back from ur friend.

Friends dont let Friends buy Windows