[Skivvywaver]

I'd say you have checked it out thoroughly with 16 hours of running.

[almightybob7]

ok, so there were no errors found during my test, and i still can't detect the IDE devices. anything else i should do?

[Skivvywaver]

Try new ribbon cables, check your bios to make sure everything is enabled, make sure you have power to all the drives, finally, get a new mobo.

[almightybob7]

I tried different ribbon cables already, but ill try them again, also, i never thought about checking the power for them, so im gunna try that also.

What hsould be enabled in my BIOS? (I have AMIBIOS) from like 2001

I hope i don't need to buy a new motherboard, because I'm really short on money and don't have a very stable income (I'm only 14, of course)

[Skivvywaver]

Power to the drives comes from molex connectors most likely on a 2001 bios.

It is really sounding like a bad drive or a bad motherboard if the machine isn't detecting drives. Try unhooking one drive at a time.

[almightybob7]

yeah i tried that, and i hang at the "Checking NVRAM" thing.

and if i don't use specific IDE cables, I hang at the NVRAM thing. (which i think is really weird)

[~Candy~]

Is there more than one drive? If so, connect only the master boot drive, then restart and go into the bios setup again to check.

[MysticEyes]

Originally Posted by almightybob7

on average, how long does a meory test take, and will it stop on its own? ive been running one on my computer for over 16 hours now and i havent got any errors

That's fine, you can rule out memory as a cause.

Some similiar posts from here.

http://forums.techguy.org/windows-nt...Checking+NVRAM

http://forums.techguy.org/hardware/1...Checking+NVRAM

http://forums.techguy.org/hardware/4...Checking+NVRAM

Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be any easy fix, here's some Google results:

http://www.google.com/search?q=check...en-US:official

[~Candy~]

Actually, I've had memory run through the test many times, and upon replacing it, the machine ran fine

I'm not too sure I'd rely solely on that testing

[kilowatt1]

You need to replace the CMOS battery. While it is true that most newer boards will still boot up with a dead battery, some older boards will not. I have a couple of old DELL machines here that absolutely will hang up with the battery dead or removed. I suggest you invest the $3.00 or so in a new battery a give it a shot. I have also seen strange things like this happen with the keyboard or mouse being loose or not fully inserted.

Good luck.

Kilowatt


I'll sit back now and wait on Candy to give me a tongue lashing about the CMOS battery issue.

[Rumpo-Stiltskin]

Originally Posted by kilowatt1

I'll sit back now and wait on Candy to give me a tongue lashing about the CMOS battery issue.

Ooooh!!
Me next!

[almightybob7]

I think i've made a step in the right direction...

I disconnected my slave HD, and my master and slave disc drives, leaving my master HD the only one connected. I booted, got into bios and it detected my master hard drive. finally!

but how do i get the other ones to be detected?

[almightybob7]

oh, just hooked up my slave HD, and that works!

that leaves only the 2 disc drives.

I noticed that when i turn on my computer with the disc drives unplugged, the master disc drive powers on and opens and stuff, but when i try to power on with them plugged in, the disc drive doesn't work.

[kilowatt1]

If you are sure that the IDE cables are good then recheck the BIOS settings to be sure that the Primary Master/Slave and the Secondary Master/Slave are all set to "Auto". Also there is probably a second setting somewhere in the BIOS that allows you to enable or disable one or both of the IDE channels. This would explain why the Primary IDE channel is working but not the Secondary IDE channel. My guess is that the default BIOS settings enables only the Primary channel and when the battery died or got too weak, the BIOS reverted back to the default values.

[~Candy~]

Originally Posted by kilowatt1

I'll sit back now and wait on Candy to give me a tongue lashing about the CMOS battery issue.

Good to know Thanks I guess I've never tested an older one for that theory Or the 'right' older one