Noob after fix advice please

TurtleTime · 13 Feb 2010 at 12:30

Hi there,

Im new to the forum, have been browsing for a few weeks now (not to mention the shop plenty!) and hope to build my own pc in the next few months - my Dell C521 just ain't cutting it no more!

In the meantime i have a bit of a task which ive come to a halt with.

My relative has a pc (that was given to him) - no drivers, installation discs etc... Just a BaseUnit with MotherBoard, HDD, CD-ROM.

First time start presented a 'CMOS Checksum Error'. I went into the BIOs changed the Boot Disk Drives around.

2nd time around it hung at 'Verifying DMI Pool Data.........' - so after some browsing threads on here and other sites I decided to buy a new battery - to rule out the MB being the problem.

Now on startup it reaches 'Verifying DMI Pool Data.........' and then in capslock i get the message 'DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER'.

If anyone could offer any advice or suggestions id be very grateful?

Cheers!

stulid · 13 Feb 2010 at 12:51

Is the harddisk recognised by the bios, and when it boots up? Sounds like there's nothing installed for it to load.

TurtleTime · 13 Feb 2010 at 13:33

stulid said:
Is the harddisk recognised by the bios, and when it boots up? Sounds like there's nothing installed for it to load.

Cheers for the reply. Ive just checked and it wasn't detecting the HDD.

There were two cables leading the from HDD that had both been plugged into IDE1 and IDE2 ports.

Ive unplugged one and plugged one in from the CD-ROM drive now.

Its recognising the HDD now but still hanging at 'Verifying DMI Pool Data..........' screen without the Disk Error Reading prompt below it.

stulid · 13 Feb 2010 at 13:43

If I'm reading above correct,

You had the master and slave plugged into the motherboard, and the motherboard end plugged into the HDD?

Pull this cable out, put the right end into the board, make sure the jumpers on the back of the cd drive and hdd are set for cable select or the correct master and slave.

TurtleTime · 13 Feb 2010 at 14:21

This is how it was plugged in before i changed them around.

stulid · 13 Feb 2010 at 15:13

How long have you left it at the verify dmi pool data, try making a cup of tea, have you checked the jumpers are correct now that you have moved the ribbon cables around.