11 Jan 2003, 08:40, JEAN PARROT (1:123/140), wrote to MATT MC_CARTHY:

Hi JEAN.

 JP> It does not even get this far. The BIOS sees nothing. I have the
 JP> HDD set on Primary IDE as Master and the CD as slave. In the
 JP> BIOS, I have selected Auto for the two dedvices and Auto also
 JP> where LBA or Normal is selected. When the BIOS runs on startup,
 JP> it says Primary Master = none and the same for the Slave. I do
 JP> not think that it is a Windows fault.

Have you EVER booted that machine with a CD?  I _think_ an
"ATAPI" compliant CD is required for the boot to work, but could
be wrong.  Most modern machines have that type.  Earlier ones required the
DOS driver command lines in CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT, so naturally they
cannot boot.

_My_ motherboard will boot from the CD whether it is Master or Slave, on
either the Primary IDE channel or the Secondary IDE channel, providing the
HD does not get in the way.  The easiest way for ME to do this is to tell
CMOS that there is NO HD, set to "None".  As far as the CD, it
can also be set to "None", and will still boot if "Boot from
CD" is selected in CMOS.

 JP> My question was about using the CD when the HDD is not there at
 JP> all ? Do you think that the CD could be placed on IDE # 1
 JP> without the any HDD at all ?

Yes, the CD _should_ boot from either channel when there is no HD.  Try
setting CMOS to "None" for HDs, see what happens.  If still
nothing, unplug the data cable from your HD to eliminate the posibility  of
a bad circuit board on the HD throwing the CD a curve ball.


     Good luck...  M.

--- Msged/386 TE 06 (pre)