PCChips - DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER

[asubeera]

Hi all,

Here are the specs of my system(everything is brand new):

PC Chips A13G+ Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ 2.0GhZ
4 GB DDR2 RAM
200 GB SATA Hard drive
80 GB SATA Hard drive
16x DVD ROM drive (IDE)
52x CDRW (IDE)

When I boot my PC, I get the following error message:

DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER

I have seen different posts about this error but none of them seem to have worked for me. Here is what I have checked/done/tried so far which hasn't worked for me:

- replaced the CMOS lithium battery
- Unplugged Video card, HDD cables
- Switched RAM around
- Checked the IDE cables for the CD rom drives - - they work on another PC
- Checked the CD ROM drives - - - they work on another PC
- Changed the Boot sequence to boot CD first - - - it won't boot my XP install CD
- try to boot only one hard drive and one CD drive at a time
- checked the Win XP boot CD - - - it works on another PC
- disable the OnBoard LAN boot ROM - - - as recommended by PCChips support

Everything is visible in the BIOS (memory, both hard drives, both CD drives...).

I really don't know what else to do. I would appreciate any help on this issue.

Thank you.

 

[Shadow703793]

edit. delete. I mis read the problem. lol

 

[cah027]

He said that it wouldn't boot to his install disc so he is unable to install his OS...


I have an older system with a el cheapo PC chips MB myself... I have gotten this message several time but it was always on 5 yr old hard drives getting ready to go out. I also found that I didn't get this as much when I cut back on the number of hard drives and other things (add in card) loaded on my 430watt 5 yr old PSU.

So....

What PSU do you have? Is it a really cheap one?

I know you said you replaced your cmos battery but have you reset your bios to the fail safe settings? I know my MB is really picky on ram timings and such....

Also try looking for a bios update.

Hope this helps...

 

[cah027]

Dang double post !

 

[asubeera]

What PSU do you have? Is it a really cheap one?

It's just a regular PSU 450W (Brand new). It came with the case. I don't think it is a cheap one- - - it has a fan speed adjustment on it.

I know you said you replaced your cmos battery but have you reset your bios to the fail safe settings? I know my MB is really picky on ram timings and such....

Also try looking for a bios update.

I just flashed the latest BIOS update and it is still giving me the same error. And yes I have tried the fail safe settings as well as the optimal settings.

Thanks.

 

[Mondoman]

What PSU do you have? Is it a really cheap one?

It's just a regular PSU 450W (Brand new). It came with the case. I don't think it is a cheap one- - - it has a fan speed adjustment on it....

If it came with the case, it is 99% sure to be a cheapo. Time to buy a decent PS. Here's a decent quality one for $30 after rebate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371006

 

[Dan515]

I would have said to try the hard drive in another computer but you say you can't boot the XP disc? I would try the PSU first as Mondo suggested.

Also I'm curious, is this a new build that you're installing XP on? (You say everything is brand new)

One thing you could try is head into RAID manager on boot and see what's going on, maybe try a format from in there. I've had a few cryptic experiences with this message on various computers myself.

 

[asubeera]

Well, I guess I could try a new PSU, but I really don't think that it is bad. It recognizes everything. Maybe I could disconnect one of the case fans so that I can have more power?? The PSU also has a cooling fan on it too, which is kinda cool.

I can't try the hard disks in another computer because they are SATA drives and my old PC doesn't have SATA ports/connectors on it. The drives are also brand new.

Yes, it is a completely new build - - - case, MB, drives, CPU, cooling fan, PSU, EEEvvverything is new

One thing you could try is head into RAID manager on boot and see what's going on, maybe try a format from in there.

If you could give me a step by step process then I could try it. I am not too knowledgeable the advanced BIOS settings.

I'm disappointed with PCChips. You know, my old PC has a PCchips MB and I have had it since 2002 and I had no problems with it, except the On board LAN port and USB ports dying. So that's why I thought I would by it again. Plus it was only $50 - - - I wasn't looking for a high-end MB. I'm thinking that I should have just spent another $20 and got and ASUS.

Thanks for all of your help.

 

[Shadow703793]

Imo, you should have gone with a good quality motherboard from ASUS or Gigabyte.

 

[Dan515]

Well, I guess I could try a new PSU, but I really don't think that it is bad. It recognizes everything. Maybe I could disconnect one of the case fans so that I can have more power?? The PSU also has a cooling fan on it too, which is kinda cool.

Chances are it is the motherboard or the hard drive, but it might be worth a try changing the PSU if you don't get much further.

If you could give me a step by step process then I could try it. I am not too knowledgeable the advanced BIOS settings.

To enter your RAID manager you will need to wait until after the initial BIOS screen has gone, you should see a screen which displays details of the RAID controller e.g. SIS XXXXX and then some more writing. It should show 'Press Ctrl+S or F6/F10/whatever to enter RAID setup utility.' Press what you need to and then wait until you're taken into the setup. From here it should have some notes on how to format each drive, don't alter any settings in here as they should all be ok at default.

I'm disappointed with PCChips. You know, my old PC has a PCchips MB and I have had it since 2002 and I had no problems with it, except the On board LAN port and USB ports dying. So that's why I thought I would by it again. Plus it was only $50 - - - I wasn't looking for a high-end MB. I'm thinking that I should have just spent another $20 and got and ASUS.

The last PCchips board I used was for an AMD K6-2, it was useless. I've stuck with Asus since but my most recent is an EVGA, I think that the motherboard is the most important choice for a build, in fact I think my EVGA board was the 2nd most expensive part in this build after the graphics card, at the time it was £200. Expensive but I knew from research that it would be solid.

One thing you could double check is that in the BIOS none of your SATA ports are configured for RAID, have a root around and you should find the options for enable/disable.

 

[Mondoman]

Yes, asu, it's too bad you have to find out the hard way about PCChips being poor quality.

 

[asubeera]

Well guys, here is what happened.

I was actually able to get in touch with the PCChips support guy and we tried to figure out what was going on for a couple of hours. In the end, he said that since the motherboard does recognize the DVD drives that there is nothing wrong with the MOBO. Hmmm, well we verified that the DVD drives worked on another computer (which is also ironically a PC Chips) and the Windows XP CD was also verified to be good. Well, my last chance was to try a SATA DVD drive and guess what?? It worked. I was able to install XP on one drive successfully and now I want to install Linux on the other. So in the end my question is that who is at fault? I have recieved confirmation from you guys and others that SATA hard drives work fine and should work fine with IDE DVD/CD rom drives, so isn't this a MOBO issue? Even PCChips says that it should work fine with IDE DVD/CD rom drives. AHHHHH! Well, I guess I am just gonna have to buy a SATA DVD drive and use it.

What did I learn:

1. Don't buy a PC Chips MOBO again
2. Do a lot of research before buying a MOBO and drives and make sure they are compatible for what you will be using them for (I don't even think that they have drivers for Linux )
3. Don't buy a PC Chips MOBO again

Thanks for all of your help guys. If you would like to share anymore info with please do so as it will increase my knowledge.

asubeera

 

[asubeera]

Just another quick question. I found out that my MOBO's SATA controllers don't support Linux. So if I were to buy a PCI SATA controller that supports LInux would it work with this MOBO? Could I then install Linux on the SATA HDD?

Thanks.

 

[mact]

FWIW, saving money on a PSU is like saving money on gasoline mixed with water.

All my problems on my system vanished when IO spent the $$ for a PC Power and Cooling 750. From Amazon. even a Corsair 480 nwould not run my non-gaming system!

 

[kduke]

I received this message on one of the systems I built using this system board and it turned out to be because I had a USB memory stick plugged in and it was trying to boot off of the memory stick instead of the hard drive.

Keith

 

[Mondoman]

Just another quick question. I found out that my MOBO's SATA controllers don't support Linux.....

I think there is a good chance you are wrong on this. Linux supports just about everything in standard systems. Download the Ubuntu 8.04 desktop edition image, burn a CD from it, and use it to boot your system (it won't install anything on the hard drive). If that "live" test works, then just select the "install" option and you're good to go.

 

[_JJ_]

I know this is an old thread but so is this type of problem which doesn't seem to be well understood judging by the variety of answers I have seen here and elsewhere. Maybe we have learned something new in the last 10 years...lets try.

I have a well trod ASUS M2N SLI MOBO with an AMD Athlon 64-bit CPU. A 500W PSU, 3 IDE HDDs and 2 GB RAM. I am now trying to re-purpose this machine for a relative by trying to install Linux Mint 17.03 on it. I really need the 64-bit version because of Skype (the only hard requirement I have for the new install). So far, I have failed due to (you knew this was coming) "DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER"

This is what I have tried so far:

• Disconnected all HDD and left only DVD/CD reader as master (remember, this is IDE)
• Reset all BIOS settings (but changed boot devices so that only DVD is enabled and first on the list)
• Successfully installed Linux Mint 16 32-bit (to HDD) and upgraded it to Mint 17 32-bit
• From Linux Mint 16 32-bit, I confirmed that the CPU installed is 64-bit

This dreadful generic message appears when I try to boot from either CDs or DVDs containing:

• Linux Mint 64-bit versions 15, 16 or 17
• Debian 9 64-bit
• Windows 7

All disks were tried on another machine and they work so "bad media" is out of question.

What is most disconcerting here is that I also tried Linux Format (who remembers that?) disk 181 and, after starting up, the menu offers only Linux Mint 16 32-bit but also Fedora 20 64-bit. This disk supposedly checks your hardware and offers only those OSs that could be installed. So, the big question is, what exactly is this software checking for to decide that Fedora 64-bit is OK but Mint 16 64-bit is not?

 

[USAFRet]

This is a decade old thread. No one except thee and me are going to read it.

Please start a new thread on this particular issue.
Thanks.