HELP, HELP, HELP HARDWARE EXPERTS....

[Guest abent]

I can't use my FS2K2 because I just did a hardware upgrade on my computer and Windows ME won't boot! I installed a new MSI 648 Max motherboard/w P4 2.40, new power supply, GeForce 4 TI 4200, 512 DDR Ram. It starts up but will not boot to windows. It says cannot find boot record. It searches the HD, floppy, cd...but cannot find. I find this strange as it always booted from the hd. I used my boot disk...still no go. I downloaded a new boot record for ME - no go.Under the help menu on the boot disk it says that the HD does not have a FAT or FAT32 partition (or something similar). How can this be? It was working fine just moments before in the other computer. Also, a scandisk says there are no errors on the disk.I'm dying here...must have my 2K2. Can anyone offer me some suggestions?Is it possible that I have to change jumper settings on the HD since I have a new board etc.Thanks in advance,Adam

[Guest abent]

HELP!!!... :-zhelp

[Guest]

Well I'm no expert but here are a couple things to try. First of all did you do start with a formatted HD or did you just pop it over from your other mobo? You can run into trouble if you just pop it over as the new mobo reads the old mobo settings from the HD.If you did just pop it over your best bet is to format the HD and do a fresh windoze install with the new mobo in place.Secondly, does the HD show in your bios at all (is the bios detecting it).

[rhumbaflappy 113]

Are you saying you used a floppy disk, as a boot disk, and it will not boot?

[Guest]

First off - you are probably best off reformatting the hard drive.Ok - now that *that* is out of the way, did you check the following:1. Did you tell the BIOS the HD is installed?2. Are you sure the HD is installed? Double-check the cable to make sure it is fully inserted into both the HD *and* IDE0 on the board. Check to make sure the HD jumper is set to Master - if it is set to Cable Select, then you must make sure that it is connected to plug 0 instead of plug 1 (2nd IDE device) or plug 3 (board end) of the cable (hence the term Cable Select).3. Is the HD set to be a boot device in the BIOS? After doing all that, you may have to try the following: **DISCLAIMER** I've only done this for my own computer when I installed a new MOBO - RUNNING WIN98 - NOT WINME - ATTEMPT AT YOUR OWN RISK AFTER DOING EVERYTHING ELSE EXCEPT REFORMATTING!!!If you *can* get into Windows, it will probably only boot into safe mode - you must edit the registry to remove the "ENUM" section that describes all of the hardware. On the next reboot, Windows will have to "find" all the hardware again - make sure you have drivers ready to be installed for things like sound and video cards!

[Guest outtatimeiii]

Hmmmmmm, I think a format would do the trick, but that no FAT/FAT32 thing is weird. Did you just swap out the HD from the working machine into that upgraded machine without reinstalling WinMe? If so, thats a big no no.Only other things I could think are perhaps you have 2 IDE devices that are using Master (Although i dont think is the case since the HD worked previously), or you might have a NTFS partition (Since you ran on WinMe previously, this isnt the case either).My suggestion is to (If you feel like trying it):1. Put that HD on a working computer2. Pull the important stuff off and back it up3. Get drivers for the video, sound, etc.3. Make a boot disk and boot into DOS4. Format the HD (format c:)5. Go into fdisk and make a FAT32 partition, reboot if necessary with the boot disk still in, OR boot off the WinMe CD if you can.6. If you cant boot from the CD, not to worry, you can run WinMe setup from DOS.7. After setup does its thing, install the drivers if needed. Then install/move other progs back on the HD and you should be running smoothly, I hope.Hope that helps.

[Guest abent]

Ok latest update...I can get ME to boot. I see the ME screen and I see my desktop, but it will only boot when I have my CDROM disconnected. If I hook it up again, it will not boot, just asks for the boot disk for drive A again. I think I'm in Safe mode. Since my new drivers are on CDROM, I can't get at them. This appears to be a step forward. But, I guess I still need advice.Thanks a lot you guys. Adam

[Guest abent]

Will boot: HDD only (So I guess ME is OK. Device manager says HDD is operating properly. Scan disk says no errors)Won't boot when HDD and CDROM are both hooked up on IDE cable - asks for boot disk and still won't boot.I get the WINME screen and then my desktop, but the icons are all large (16 BIT color and 800X600 res). I can't change the 16 bit or resolution. It immediately says new hardware and goes through a series of driver installations and asks me to restart. It can't find some drivers. I go into device manager/system/other devices and it has 3 warnings (big yellow question marks with the little warning exclamation marks on them) for the following devices:PCI EThernet controllerPCI Multimedia Audio devicePCI Universal Serial busand under SCSI:Iomega Parallel port zip interface.I really would prefer not to reformat as I live in an isolated area with a poor dial up connection, have no access to a backup device. I have Gigs of files and I'd basically be done for if I had to reformat.Any other advice appreciated. I just can't understand what's stopping the boot when both CDROM and HDD are both connected.Thanks again everone, Adam

[Sarge27 0]

Sounds like a conflict....check the jumpers on your HD and CD-ROM. Make sure the hard drive is set as master and the CD-ROM is slave.OR, out them on seperate IDE cables.http://cs-people.bu.edu/pgeddes/flightsim/signature2.jpg

[barryward12345 0]

> Check to make sure the HD jumper is set >to Master - if it is set to Cable Select, then you must make >sure that it is connected to plug 0 instead of plug 1 (2nd >IDE device) or plug 3 (board end) of the cable (hence the >term Cable Select). Could you explain this again in just a bit more detail. I "kind-of" know what you are saying but not exactly sure. Which is Plug 0 , 1 ,etc? I never did understand what the "cable select" setting on the back of Hdds is for. I have only ever used Master and Slave. What is "cable select" meant to be used for?Thanks Barry

[Guest abent]

Well everyone, assuming you're interested, it was partially a conflict (Thankyou Mark). And thankyou all for the valuable assistance. Once I hooked up the the CDROM to the other IDE, I was able to get the HDD and CDROM working. My problems didn't end there however. Windows seemed to keep freezing on the WinME screen and I couldn't get back to the desktop. On a whim, I installed my old video card (GeForce 2 Ultra) and I was up and running. I tried the new GeForce 4 TI4200 and it would lock up at the ME screen again. I think I have to remove the old VIA drivers and put in the new SIS drivers. I think I will take it to the computer store in Winnipeg next time I'm down because right now it's working fine and I really don't want to screw it up and be without a machine for over a week. Right now, as is, it's blisteringly fast with FS2K2 even with the ultra. I was getting about 14-18 FPS at places like JFK (jerky), now 30-34 fps (silky smooth)...what a difference! I can't wait to see what will happen with 128 Megs of video ram as opposed to 64 MB, and the fast GPU. If I can keep those FPS and get a little better visuals, I'll be more than thrilled.Anyway, again, thankyou all for the help. You've saved me from utter frustration.Adam