ABIT AN-M2HD HELP

badbear44

badbear44

badbear44

Associate
Joined
23 Nov 2007
Posts
15
:confused:I recently purchased this mobo/cpu combo to upgrade a friend's rig. I have little experiance overclocking and all of it is on a DFI LanParty nf4 Expert. On that board I did learn that you can't rely on the info provided in the mobo book. For instance you have to run the RAM in different slots than the ones DFI recommends. My hope in starting this thread is to get help with the initial setup for this board. I followed the mobo book to the letter and I am having booting problems. I have 1 stick of RAM in DIMM 1 with defaults loaded. When I try to boot I get no post beep and the boot hangs at the "boot from cd" screen.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.
 
NEW PROBS

It was hanging at the, "boot from cd" screen so I did a 15 min. CMOS clear. It booted to the, "DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER" screen. I put the WIN XP MCE disk 1 in the cd and started the install. It formatted and installed files. At the 1st re-boot during the OS install it said, "Windows could not start because of a disk hardware configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware".:confused: What has me confused is that it read from the selected disk fine during format and file installation! So waht happened?

Any and all ideas are appreciated.

Thanks... Bear
 
MORE INFO PLEASE

BUFF said:
you might want to list all your hardware.
also, which BIOS are you on?
Click to expand...

On the other forums I have belonged to your system info always went in your sig so it was easy to refer to on each post. Is there any way to do that here? In the mean time here aretherig specs:

ASPIRE B8KLW X-PLORER
OCZ 700W GX
ABIT AN-M2HD
AMD 5600+ 200X14@ 1.35v
PATRIOT PDC22G6400LLK 800MHz 4-4-4-12 2T @ 2.25v
(1 stick on DIMM 1 for now)
On board audio and video for now
SEAGATE 320 GB SATA II 7200.10 On SATA 1
LITE-ON LIGHTSCRIBE DVD-RW On IDE 1
MITSUMI FA404M FDD/CARD READER COMBO Unplugged from USB header

The BIOSv is v6.00PG 8.7.07-NF-MCP68-6A61MA1AC-14
Not sure what that all means but there it is.

I hope this helps.

Thanks for your help

Bear :)
 
BIOS FLASHING

BUFF said:
You can put your info in your sig here too - just don't go neyond the forum limits.

You actually have your RAM set at 2.25V (you might be amazed at the no, of people that don't set their RAM voltage properly)?

Latest BIOS is 16
ftp://ftp.abit.com.tw/pub/download/bios/anm2hd/m628a16.zip
Click to expand...

I have never flashed the BIOS but I have read that it is risky. What do I have to be careful of? :confused:

On the RAMv. I actually had 1 guy say I should lower it to 2.1v to try to solve my probs. That didn't make any sense to me at all. Am I missing something?
 
You have to be careful of getting a bad flash where it doesn't do it properly.
You should flash without an overclock & I prefer doing it in DOS rather than using the Windows utility.

well, some RAM doesn't like being overvolted so it's worth a try.
also, try disconnecting the card reader whilst installing.
 
BUFF said:
You have to be careful of getting a bad flash where it doesn't do it properly.
You should flash without an overclock & I prefer doing it in DOS rather than using the Windows utility.

well, some RAM doesn't like being overvolted so it's worth a try.
also, try disconnecting the card reader whilst installing.
Click to expand...

Thanks Buff.

Bear
 
NEW PROBS ON THIS AN-M2HD

Every time I cold boot I get the "DISK BOOT FAILURE" message. Manual settings, fail safe, optimal... It doesn't matter. As soon as I get the msg. I hit the reset button and it boots fine.

Any ideas?

Thanks... Bear
 
sounds like the HDD may be slow spinning up?
iirc there is an adjustment for IDE delay in the BIOS but not afaik SATA.

Do you have another HDD that you can try?
 
BUFF said:
sounds like the HDD may be slow spinning up?
iirc there is an adjustment for IDE delay in the BIOS but not afaik SATA.

Do you have another HDD that you can try?
Click to expand...

I had the same thought so I went ahead and installed Norton. Slowed the boot way down before the "DISK BOOT FAILURE" msg. but I still get it. Hit the reset at this screen and it boots fine. Warm boots fine. Shutdown and rebbot in 5 secs. boots fine. Shutdown and wait 10 sec. and I get the "DBF" msg.

Any other thoughts? :confused:

Thanks... Bear
 
It's an odd 1.
When I had an AN-M2HD I had a WD SATA HDD & a Mitsumi FA404 too & I didn't get that.
I was using plain WinXP though & not MCE.
 
AN-M2HD

BUFF said:
It's an odd 1.
When I had an AN-M2HD I had a WD SATA HDD & a Mitsumi FA404 too & I didn't get that.
I was using plain WinXP though & not MCE.
Click to expand...

I'm back to XP PRO & for the install the FA404 is unplugged following a "minimal hardware during initial setup" gameplan.

And I'm still scratching my head... :confused:
 
Here's the latest info on this frustrating rig. I have wiped the disk twice and started from scratch. I have tried two other HDDs. I tried them with both CDs, 1 CD and no CDs. The floppy and card reader are unplugged. I have 1 stick of RAM on DIMM 1 and have tried optimal defaults, fail safe defaults and manual settings.

No matter what I do I get the "DISK BOOT FAILURE PLEASE INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER" screen, on every "COLD BOOT"! When I get this if I hit the reset it boots fine. If I do a warm boot it boots fine. :confused:

I'm just about convinced that it's something on the mobo.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks... Bear
 
Hi Bear,
Had my HTPC kit for 2 days.

Antec Fusion Case black 430v
Abit AN M2HD MB
AMD Athlon 64 X2 460
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2 twin x
SATA Maxtor 9 200GB
Onboard Geforce 7 graphics
Onboard 7.1 HD audio
DVD R/RW IDE drive.

I have built many systems over the years, never had the issues that we share with this MB.

With this MB, I have not had any issues setting/checking the bios, unit stays on all the time.

Had problems trying to install Media 2005, the unit kept powering down part way into the install.
Re formated HD tried to install XP Pro (only as a check) same problems as Media 2005.
Re formated HD finally installed Vista Ultimate, only after several power downs.

Now like you I cannot cold boot, I get the same message but it will boot after pressing the reset button.

I note in the manual that Abit must have some issues with this MB as the "Troubleshooting" has several comments on booting and power off.

My next task is to update the bios to v17 (m628a17) and see what this does.
Also critically examine the bios settings as they are all on default/auto.

My thoughts are that as the unit stays on when in the bios and only powers down/will not boot, while working the CPU, memory etc. I will then try my memory that in my Asus P5N-E-SLI system.

I will update as necessary.

Not a happy bunny at present:mad:

Have you had any success yet?
Any one else had had issues with this MB?
Any one else had no issues with this MB?

Thanks for any comments

Cheers TeeJay
 
Update.

Very strange. Unit booted OK from cold (1st time it has) so I took a chance and updated the bios via the windows Abit FlashMenu to v17, I normally update via DOS. This went OK.
Powered off, powered on OK, then connected the USB for the Antec Fusion LCD, this went OK and the LCD displayed the units info. etc.

Powered down and reboot OK, then connected my USB card reader!!!!!
Instant power down:eek:
Re booted OK, reconnected USB card reader, now OK and transfered some photo's.

Perhaps the MB was a bit flaky? anyway I am now running a DVD and letting the unit burn in.
Shall then do some checking, CPUZ and then run memtest.

The bios setting are still at default with the memory at,
800, 5-5-5-18-2T
It should be OK for 4-4-4-12, but lots more to build up prior to any improvements/over clocking.

Feeling a little happier now:)
 
ABIT AN-M2HD

TeeJay said:
Hi Bear,
Had my HTPC kit for 2 days.

Antec Fusion Case black 430v
Abit AN M2HD MB
AMD Athlon 64 X2 460
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2 twin x
SATA Maxtor 9 200GB
Onboard Geforce 7 graphics
Onboard 7.1 HD audio
DVD R/RW IDE drive.

I have built many systems over the years, never had the issues that we share with this MB.

With this MB, I have not had any issues setting/checking the bios, unit stays on all the time.

Had problems trying to install Media 2005, the unit kept powering down part way into the install.
Re formated HD tried to install XP Pro (only as a check) same problems as Media 2005.
Re formated HD finally installed Vista Ultimate, only after several power downs.

Now like you I cannot cold boot, I get the same message but it will boot after pressing the reset button.

I note in the manual that Abit must have some issues with this MB as the "Troubleshooting" has several comments on booting and power off.

My next task is to update the bios to v17 (m628a17) and see what this does.
Also critically examine the bios settings as they are all on default/auto.

My thoughts are that as the unit stays on when in the bios and only powers down/will not boot, while working the CPU, memory etc. I will then try my memory that in my Asus P5N-E-SLI system.

I will update as necessary.

Not a happy bunny at present:mad:

Have you had any success yet?
Any one else had had issues with this MB?
Any one else had no issues with this MB?

Thanks for any comments

Cheers TeeJay
Click to expand...

TeeJay

The FAILSAFE defaults were the problem with this board. In the advanced bios there is a setting for delay in secs. for the HDD. During initial setup I set this to 5 secs. thinking any HDD could spool up in that time. I had a config prob during which I loaded FAILSAFE defaults thinking this would give me my best chance at a successful boot... WRONG! "FAILSAFE" RESETS THIS SETTING TO 0! How in the hell could anyone believe 0 secs spool up time for the HDD is a FAILSAFE condition? :confused: Anyway, as soon as I found what it had done to me and reset 5 secs I've had no further cold boot issues.

Hope this helps you out.

Bear
 
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