PC not booting.

[Al Neri]

I am putting together a file server from an old PC which was:


motherboard with a VIA chipset
Tualatin Celeron 1.2GHz (100 mhz fsb)
Generic 250W Power Supply
2 sticks of 128 PC100 & 1 stick of 256 PC100 RAM
Generic DVD-Rom
80 Gig IDE HDD
Floppy Drive

to upgrade it to a file server i swapped out the PSU and added a:

* Antec 350Watt(SL350)Smart Power Power Supply
* A Maxtor SATA/150 PCI Card
* SYBA SY-VIA-150 PCI SATA / IDE Combo Controller Card, Non Raid - Retail [http://www.newegg.com/product/...p?item=N82E16815124022]
* 4 SATA hard drives


So...

I hooked in two SATA controller cards and connected them to their respective hard drives - which cause the PC to not boot past "Boot from CD: Failed" it goes blank -

I hook up one controller with both hard drive ports used - same result:

I hook up one controller and one hard drive it boots up fine.


Now I was thinking it may be the power supply (please ignore my ignorance on terms): the motherboard has a female ~16 pin connector - which the power supply has its male counterpart; the psu has a 4 pin plug that does not exist on the mobo - would this be the problem?

Any help

 

[daniel49]

the 4 pin is merely an extra supply of voltage for the graphics if the board has no slot for it then the board does not require it.
my guess is you are running integrated graphics or an older agp card.

 

[Al Neri]

i have an older AGP card. any ideas on how to alleviate this?

 

[daniel49]

I'm holding on to ide for the time so not used to working with sata. Heres some help via a quick google.
http://www.tech-forums.net/computer/topic/30081.html
goodluck

 

[OdiN]

Having two identical SATA controllers could cause them to conflict with each other. I've seen it happen before, and it seems this is the issue here as it boots fine with a single controller, but with two it doesn't. Have you tried each controller as a single one to rule out a bum card?

That 4 pin plug is probably for newer CPU's - newer boards have 4 or 8 pin connectors for additional CPU power, but your CPU doesn't need this so that's why it doesn't exist on the board. No need for it and not having it plugged in won't cause any issue.

 

[Al Neri]

Odin: yes did you read the OP?

I hooked in two SATA controller cards and connected them to their respective hard drives - which cause the PC to not boot past "Boot from CD: Failed" it goes blank -

I hook up one controller with both hard drive ports used - same result:

I hook up one controller and one hard drive it boots up fine.

this is very frustrating.....

 

[OdiN]

Your OP is rather vague concerning what exactly you have installed.

The card you linked has 3 ports. What hard drives are hooked where?

You also list two different SATA PCI cards. What card are you using? Have you tried each one by itself and what is the result?

Please try to explain in more detail what exact steps and parts were used, etc.

 

[Al Neri]

Sure thing... I have 2 controller cards with 2 ports each (4 ports) for the 4 sata cards.

instance 1
motherboard with a VIA chipset
Tualatin Celeron 1.2GHz (100 mhz fsb)
2 sticks of 128 PC100 & 1 stick of 256 PC100 RAM
Generic DVD-Rom
80 Gig IDE HDD
Floppy Drive
Antec 350Watt(SL350)Smart Power Power Supply
Maxtor SATA/150 PCI Card
SYBA SY-VIA-150 PCI SATA / IDE Combo Controller Card, Non Raid - Retail [http://www.newegg.com/product/...p?item=N82E16815124022]
4 SATA hard drives (hooked into the 2 controller cards in every which way)
RESULT causes the PC to not boot past "Boot from CD: Failed" -- after that it goes blank.

instance 2
motherboard with a VIA chipset
Tualatin Celeron 1.2GHz (100 mhz fsb)
2 sticks of 128 PC100 & 1 stick of 256 PC100 RAM
Generic DVD-Rom
80 Gig IDE HDD
Floppy Drive
Antec 350Watt(SL350)Smart Power Power Supply
Maxtor SATA/150 PCI Card
2 SATA hard drives (hooked into the maxtor controller)

RESULT causes the PC to not boot past "Boot from CD: Failed" -- after that it goes blank.

instance 3
motherboard with a VIA chipset
Tualatin Celeron 1.2GHz (100 mhz fsb)
2 sticks of 128 PC100 & 1 stick of 256 PC100 RAM
Generic DVD-Rom
80 Gig IDE HDD
Floppy Drive
Antec 350Watt(SL350)Smart Power Power Supply
SYBA SY-VIA-150 PCI SATA / IDE Combo Controller Card, Non Raid - Retail [http://www.newegg.com/product/...p?item=N82E16815124022]
2 SATA hard drives (hooked into the SYBA controller)
RESULT causes the PC to not boot past "Boot from CD: Failed" -- after that it goes blank.


instance 4
motherboard with a VIA chipset
Tualatin Celeron 1.2GHz (100 mhz fsb)
2 sticks of 128 PC100 & 1 stick of 256 PC100 RAM
Generic DVD-Rom
80 Gig IDE HDD
Floppy Drive
Antec 350Watt(SL350)Smart Power Power Supply
Maxtor SATA/150 PCI Card
1 SATA hard drive (hooked into the Maxtor controller)
RESULT boots up fine.

I haven't tried the SYBA controller alone - i was just going to see if anyone had any ideas.

Please note!

The maxtor SATA controller shows up in the BIOS when the maxtor card is plugged in.

I have tried these cards in each and every PCI slot



Thanks!

 

[Al Neri]

could there be some sort of jumper issue?>