bios not installed / no drives detected!!!

[danshepstone]

i have an error message that my bios not installed because there are no drives attached. I disconnected and reconnected the IDE or SATA cables as well as the bios battery.
it has been a compounding problem that started when i upgraded to SP2. after that i couldn't boot up. different image error message or something like that. then i used windows xp home instead of pro to try and resolve it and then received "missing <windows root> \system32\hal.dll." :-/ THEN i was fooling around with some wires on the motherboard and i heard a little buzz and a little red led light up, which now remains. it reads as a "ram led." Ever since, the hard drives won't detect.
all of your help is sooooo appreciated! i bought this system from someone for video editing. i know some, but not too much about hardware.
i have four WD 250GB HD's, A GA -8INXP titan 667, 1200a RAID controller, gigabyte DPS, PNY nVida Quardo 4.
thanks a bunch!!!

[NooNoo]

Welcome to Windrivers danshepstone

Bios not installed is not an error message I have ever seen, nor expect to see.

If you have a raid controller as well, it is likely that your system was set up in a raid configuration and disconnecting and reconnecting the drives may have damaged the setup.

The missing hal.dll is a major problem...you may need to do a repair install of windows.

As for fooling around with the wires... from your description you were fooling around with the machine still powered and your have shorted something. Frankly, you need to take this to a technician since trying to help you without the ability to look at the system is going to be a very very very long process and may not get us any further forward if you have fried your motherboard.

[danshepstone]

thanks, i will most likely call someone if no one can help me out. but, i'm going to wait a bit.
i'm not getting the missing BIOS anymore. i still have the message "<windows root> \system32\hal.dll." I can’t re-install win xp because no drives are detected. The bios shows dvd and cd drives and they do work, but the hard drives don’t show. does that mean my motherboard is ok?

I don’t know much about Linux but I have Kubuntu and I can run it from the cd. When I go to Media Storage it shows a hard drive icon named “1.0T Media.” Is the “T” for terabyte? I have a terabyte of storage but I can’t mount the drive.
Also the drives seem to show up in the BIOS ARRAY CONFIGURATION UTILITY as follows:

Primary Master: WDC WD2500JB-34EVA0 RAID_0_0 ATA/100 232.88 BOOT
Primary Save: “ditto” Hidden
Secondary Master: “ditto” Hidden
Secondary Slave: “ditto” Hidden

Is this just a settting from before?

best,
danny

[NooNoo]

I believe you had a raid array, without knowing what the set up was, the array will be broken and the data will be lost.

If you don't mind losing the data, we can continue. If you do mind losing the data, then you need to get it to someone who can look at the configuration.

[format c:]

The "bios is not installed" error happens when no drives are connected to your promise raid controller card , this card has a separate bios from the system bios
Some motherboards have this card built right into them, Right now it seams like one of the drives is detecting but no the others, I think your raid array is broken
This machine needs to go to a good tech who can inspect the configuration, Just like Noo said

[danshepstone]

I don't mind loosing the data! I just want it to be working again.
thanks!!

extra info:
-do i have to delete the current array before creating a new? it won't let me create a new "not enough disks to create an array."
-2 of the 4 drives have jumper settings as master. 2 set as slaves.
-all 4 are connected to my RAID controller.

best,
danny

[NooNoo]

Do you know what raid type you had before?

[danshepstone]

0 i believe? under array name it say's RAID _0_0 for all of them...

[NooNoo]

here is the manual for the controller (http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/Manual_DownloadFile.aspx?FileType=Manual&FileID=15687)
assuming you have indeed got the onboard promise controller...

[danshepstone]

thanks, but it's not a promise controller. it's a Adaptec 1200A RAID Controller Bios Ver 1.3 that goes into one of the slots on the GA-8INXP motherboard.

i have four WD 250GB HD's, A GA -8INXP titan 667 (motherboard,) 1200a RAID controller, gigabyte DPS, PNY nVida Quardo 4 (video card.)

[NooNoo]

Right ok.... that board has onboard raid as well, just to confuse the issue. here is the adaptec 1200a page (http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/support/ide/raid/AAR-1200A/)

Click the documentation tab and download the user's guide. You will also need the xp drivers. Read through that, and ask about what you don't understand.

[danshepstone]

i deleted old array and set up new one as 0. same as before. it let me select all the drives. tried to setup xp and it asked for drivers. i provided the ones i downloaded and came up with this error message: "File: \win_xp\HPT3xx.sys caused an unexpected error (18) at lines 2108 in d:\xpsp1\base\setup\oemdisk.c."
everything is hooked up properly and the jumpers are set as the manual says (which is how it was set up before.)
going to bed now...\
best,
danny

[NooNoo]

That would suggest you fed it the wrong drivers from the floppy disk. When you downloaded the driver and extracted them to a folder, did you copy all the files to the floppy?

Copy the files in the xp directory to a: (do not copy the folder structure), so you end up with 4 files in the xp directory and the disk1 and textsetup files all in the "root" directory of the floppy disk. You don't need the other windows operating system files at all.

Now run setup again and try with the newly arranged floppy when you press f6

[danshepstone]

ok, i downloaded the drivers from another site and put them on a different disk and it worked. i was trying it like you said. on this new disc i copied both the xp folder over and copies of the individual files. not sure if it was the files from the other site the worked or the fact that i copied the xp folder over... anyway,
i got to the point of formating the drive and i first tried a quick format and received disk errors after the files were all copied and the system restarted. it said it detected problems with the drive and told me to run chkdsk. i then ran a full system format and it has now been stuck at 55% for nearly 2 hours. it was running slow but steady until that point...
best,
danny

[danshepstone]

i let it go for about 6 hours and it just hung at 55%, and the screen displayed some funny characters randomly on the screen.
ran it again and it hung a 54%...

[NooNoo]

There is something wrong with one of the drives. Unhook the raid array and put them one at a time on an ordinary ide port... then run the drive manufacturer's full drive diagnostics available here (http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp?cxml=n&pid=999&swid=2)

[danshepstone]

ok, running them now. thanks for the links!
btw, if one of the disks is bad, do you see any problem with replacing it with a 400-500gb disk? currently i have 4 disks at 250gb each.
best,
danny

[danshepstone]

yup you were right.
second disk says "test interrupted by drive reset error/status code: 0002"
will pick up one tonight or tomorrow morning.
best,
danny

[danshepstone]

also, should i buy another WD, since that's what i have now?

[NooNoo]

Yes, Raid works best if you can use the same make and size... but the same size is more important than make. You should make sure that the cache on the drive (2, 8, 16 mb) is the same as the existing wds as well.

[danshepstone]

arrgg!!! this f*@*(_(&#%!$^ thing!!!
i loaded windows xp and when it rebooted i got the blue screen agian. "check for viruses, remove newly installed hard drives/controllers, check drives, bla bla bla...
i partitioned 50gb, which is where i was going to place the os, so i could reinstall xp if i had to without loosing data. is my thinking right on this?
best,
danny

[danshepstone]

i'm formating the whole thing now...

[NooNoo]

The partition should have been fine... I think the problem is related to this

Q: How do I assign a booting device?
A: Press Ctrl+H to assign a booting device in the Adaptec RAID
Array Configuration BIOS Utility.

Did you assign a booting device?

[danshepstone]

yes, i did set it to boot Raid. full format is still hanging at 54%....

[NooNoo]

Are all 4 disks good? Are they the same size and type? Have you checked/replaced the cabling?

[danshepstone]

they are all the same. going to replace the cables today. i think it is either that or something power related. the drive i thought was bad tested out ok with another power source.

[NooNoo]

Aha! Yes power supplies can be funky, especially if they are not good quality. What make/model and wattage is in this raid machine?

[Ruslan]

Just a quick thought - try to check memory with good memory checker.
Blue screens (as well as hal.dll messages can be also caused by defective memory stick).

[danshepstone]

thanks, i ran memtest86 yesterday with no errors.
i have a NSP-450P4DL 450W Power Supply, and i don't think it it that now. i replaced that 'faulty' hard drive i just bought to find the same error on this one. i then switched the jumper to the 1 and 2 position (cable select setting) and the it tested out fine after that. i set the rest to do the same but no change. it still hangs at 55%. all drives are showing and they all test out fine.

i thought i'd try a new Raid controller (promise ultra133) and i'm trying to config that right now... probably not the problem...

i read somewhere about formating each drive separately and then configure the raid array. how do i formate them separately?

finally, might it be better to just hook up a drive to the IDE1 and install xp on there, and then set up the Raid up later? it might be easier to diagnose with xp running. also, how much performance would i be sacrificing by installing the OS separate from the Raid? keeping in mind this system will be used for editing video with Avid software.
best,
danny

[danshepstone]

.

[NooNoo]

As an experment you could install xp on ide1 ... I don't know enough about avid to know whether you need the os on the raid array or not.

[danshepstone]

i installed xp on ide1 last night with no trouble. i might just keep it here and make an image. i'll have to set up the Raid when i get another drive. i'm just happy to be working in xp again. will explore my Raid troubles later today. thanks.

[danshepstone]

now i'm getting strange lines on my display and i'm wondering if it is because of my video driver. the lines dispay full-time while running xp, and show several funny characters when booting up. i have a PNY Nvidia Quado4 750 XGL. i donwloaded the lastes drivers, however, under device manager it is disabled. when i enable the card the system reboots. when i try to update the driver from device manager it askes for file nv4_mini.sys. when i point to this file on my hard disk (with the new files i download for the card) it load some files and then askes for the Nvida Windows 2000/XP Driver Library Installation Disk 1 into CD rom. I then point it to the same folder i pointed the other and it loads more files and then asks for Disk 4 of the Library. i look in the same folder and i can't find the file. it is looking for filename "dmcpl."
i should also not that when looking on the xp os disk i can find a nv4_mini.sys file there but i can't find it when i try to point the program to it. the folder that it is in is not displayed. which file is it looking for? Nvida file or ox file?
also, the driver i'm using is win2kxp 56.56.
this system used to work fine. i bought it from someone. and then i tried to update to sp2 and it was all downhill from there...
i also just flashed the bios with a new version and that didn't help.
i have a ACPI Muliprocessor PC (not quite sure if this is important.)
i'm using a gigabyte ga-8inxp titan 667 mobo. Intel E7205 based. Dual Intel P4 3.06.
thanks!
best,
danny

[NooNoo]

Sounds like the driver has snarled up. Uninstall the driver package from add/remove programs in safe mode. Then uninstall the video card from device manager. Reboot to normal mode and try to reinstall it.

[danshepstone]

I tried with no success. i also updated the video cards bios too. actually, it's not booting up with any drivers now unless i'm in safe mode, only after i delete the drivers will it boot up xp again. when i returned to safe mode this last time it gave the message: the driver for the display device was unable to complete a drawing operation. the display driver fo nvidia quadro 750 xgl seems to be responsible.
best,

[danshepstone]

do you think that the card could be bad now? what the hell happened to this computer??

[NooNoo]

Do you have a surge protector? Have you had any thunderstorms recently?
Where you poking around without first making sure you had discharged yourself?

[danshepstone]

i have one now, but i didn't when this problem started (almost a couple weeks ago now.) and yes, it's possible that i poked around without first discharging myself.

[danshepstone]

i'm starting to think the card is bad. i think your right about the static electricity. out of these two cards, which do you think would be best for editing video? (i'm using Avid.)
1. nVidia Quadro4 980 XGL 128MB 256-Bit 8X AGP
2. NVIDIA Geforce 6800 Ultra AGP 256MB

best,
danny

[NooNoo]

That depends on the software you are using, best to experiment with a short piece and render it... whichever is faster!

[danshepstone]

well, it seams that my video card problem was due to my agp slot. if i put pressure on it in one direction (with a piece of cardboard) it works. however, the DVI-I port doesn't work. I bought that GeForce 6800 and it didn't work. that only has dvi-i ports. so, after all those long hours, it seems i need to replace my mobo. i really don't want to upgrade everything. so are there any suggestions about which board i could get. it will need to be socket 478. Intel(r) E7205 MCH supports Intel(r) Pentium(r) 4 Processor at 3.06GHz or above with Hyper Threading technology
- Supports FSB 533/400MHz
- Supports AGP 8X
- Dual Channel DDR 266 memory support
- Dual Power System (DPS) support
- Dual RAID (IDE RAID 0, 1, ATA-133)
- Dual Cooling System
- DualBIOS(tm)

BEST,
danny

[NooNoo]

Socket 478's are getting hard to come by, you will have to trawl the shops and ebay.