First thanks to all who took the time to respond. Second I have the box working but I still have no idea what the real problem is. To get the box working I reinstalled the 3rd hard drive; putting the two normally in the box on a shelf. Then I installed Linux on the third HD from the CD-Reader and created a floppie boot disk. Then I utilized the floppie boot disk to book up Linux which then I shut down normally. Then I reinstalled the 2 HD that are normally in the system and booted them in a normal fashion.
Bottom line The only thing I can figure is that if BIOS must complete a boot in a proper sequence and then shut down in the correct sequence or else. And, that "or else" is a problem; not just a problem but a major problem. Thanks Frank On Friday 26 July 2002 12:57, Ray Olszewski wrote: > In your followup, you haven't really told us much more about the problem. > > Based on your clarifications, I'd surmise a problem of some sort with the > hard disk connection -- either the controller itself, which in modern > systems is usually part of the motherboard electronics (this is why I > characterized your problem as a mobo problem before), with the BIOS > settings for the hard disk(s), or possibly with the cable (is the CD drive > that you say works for booting on the same IDE channel as the hard disks? > I'd *guess* not from the BIOS report you provide below). > > The alternative is that you have two separate problems, one with the old > (Windows) hda, the other with the replacement hard disk you attempted to > install to. Since you only examined the replacement drive under Windows, I > can't venture any real guess about what its problem might be (although it > *might* be as simple as a BIOS mismatch, if you didn't either set the BIOS > to autoprobe for IDE primary master or actually specify the new drive > geometry). > > A couple of specific comments are below. > > At 08:44 AM 7/26/02 -0400, Frank Roberts - SOTL wrote: > [...] > > > > At this point, a description of the failure mode would belp more than > > > "refused to boot". Did LILO even begin to run? > > > >No > > > > > Did it display any messages on teh screen? > > > >This is going to take several boot and I dought that I get all the info > >completely correct. It simply goes by on the screen too fast. > > > >1. CPU=Celeron 300 MHz > >2. RAM is checked Passed > >3. Extended RAM is checked Passed > >4. System BIOS Shadowed > >5. Vidio BIOS Shadowed > >6. Upper limit segmant address = F299 > >7. Fixed Disk 0: TD@ @06400L > >8. Fixed Disk 1: WDC AC310200R > >9. ATAPI CD-ROM: CDR-8240B > >10. ATAPI CD-ROM: SONY CD-RW CRX175E2 > >11. System Configuration Data Updated > >12. Blinking Currersor > > This is all information from the system's BIOS. You are right in inferring > that LILO does not appear ever to run. > > > > >I stuck Tomsrtd in and boot the box into Toms followed by a normal > > > > shut down. > > > > > > > >I then stuck RH 7.3 install in and started an upgrade to see what > > > > would happen. The box finally booted into RH after 5 or 6 tries. > > > > > > This sounds more and more like a hardware failure, perhaps a mobo > > > problem. The system as you described it has now had problems with a > > > Windows boot floppy, some hard disk bootloader (I surmise lilo), and > > > syslinux (I believe RH boot floppies use syslinux). > > > >Don't see that personally. The two normal systems HD were out of the > > system with the third HD in the system and the system will boot and load > > from the floppie and CD-Read after system restoration. > > What does this mean (specifically the phrase "system restoration")? > > You say the RH installer took 6 tries before it worked. I realize now that > you did not say if you were doing this from a floppy or a CD ... RH can > install either way ... but that is part of the reason I interpret your > report as a hardware failure -- even with the 2 original hard disks > removed, you have problems. > > In re-reading what you wrote, I also realize that I don't know for sure > what you mean by "The box finally booted into RH after 5 or 6 tries". I had > read it to mean that the RH installer itself took 6 tries to boot (get to > the install process), but perhaps you mean you had to try installing 6 > times before the new hard disk would boot. In any case, you can see the > need to clarify your report. > [...] - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-newbie" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.linux-learn.org/faqs
