BIOS does not recognise the DVD/CD drive

Appoloies for the length of this post.

Having researched all day, I've been unable to find an answer that works,
so I'd like to ask why would my BIOS suddenly stopped recognising my
DVD/CD drive.

My new system build, uses new components except for the 40 gig hard drive
which was previously installed and working with an operating system in
another PC. In my new system, I've used a 350 watt power supply in an Asus
tower, an Asus K8V-MX motherboard a Sempron 2600 processor with 512 meg of
DDR RAM. Setting the BIOS boot sequence so that the DVD/CD drive was
first, I've partitioned and formatted using an XP pro disc, which went to
within 20 minutes of completing the operating system installation. At
this point it stopped and displayed a blue screen specifying that several
files were missing and windows had shut down to protect my system.
Several attempts at reinstalling, brought up a similar message.

Suspecting a possible conflict, I tried installing Windows 98 and used a
Windows 98 startup floppy disc to FDISK and format the hard drive. After
the partition and format, Windows 98 installed and worked normally on the
40 gig old drive. I then tried upgrading from Windows 98 to XP using the
XP disc and once again it stopped at around 30 minutes from completion,
having found more missing files. I then attempted to install this XP disc
on another machine and it installed normally.

Since my failed attempt at upgrading from 98 to XP, I have re-tried
several times using the XP disc and also trying with the 98 CD, using
FDISK and format. When using the 98 disc, I can see that DOS drivers are
being loaded successfully for the CD drive in the DOS sequence and I
manage to successfully partition and format the hard drive. I can also
select the DVD/CD drive as my first boot in the BIOS, but when I reboot
with an operating system disc in the drive, I get a message saying that
the wrong boot disc is installed and to reinstall the boot disc and press
enter. No matter what I select in the BIOS as first boot device it
reverts to the floppy.

I've updated the BIOS with the latest file using EZ flash from Asus and
now, when I re-boot, with the DVD/CD set as first boot device, I get a C:
prompt but cannot access the D drive from it and when I try, I get an
"invalid drive" message and again told to reinstall the boot disc and
press enter. The floppy can be accessed from the C: prompt but this only
allows me to access the FDisk/format cycle again. I'm now at a loss as to
how to access the DVD/CD drive to install the operating system, can you
help please.

 

You might have more luck doing a clean install of the XP as opposed to an
upgrade from the 98.

 

Bad cable, bad drive, bad power connector, bad bios due to a bad bios
flash, bad cdrom drive firmware due to a bad firmware flash, incorrectly
set jumpers, or it just cant get along with the other drive on the
cable, if any.

 

This brings up a good point. The DVD/CD drive and HD should be on separate
IDE cables to be on the safe side.
Then the BIOS might recognize the DVD/CD drive.

 

**********************
AS a follow-up, I've tried several of your suggestion and also clearing
the BIOS by repositioning the jumper and reset the BIOS afterwards, then
with the windows 98 startup disk in, managed to get DOS to load the
Windows 98 CD from the DVD drive, the 98 operating system installed
perfectly. I then tried a clean install of XP using the XP disc and after
the partition and format process, it began to go through the
checking/install process, but shortly stopped when the blue screen warned
that windows had found a problem and had shut down.

Since then I've re-flashed the BIOS again, by the book.
Repartitioned and formatted the HD using a 98 floppy.
Confirmed the hard drive and DVD drive were on separate IDE cables.
Confirmed the hard drive were set as primary master and the DVD drive as
secondary master.
Replaced the hard drive and its cable with a new known working drive and
cable.
Replaced the DVD drive with a new CD ROM drive and cable.
Confirmed that the new CD drive and hard drive are recognised in the BIOS
and could be set and saved in their correct boot order.

In spite of this, when I try installing either XP or the Windows 98 CD, I
get the following message as before. "Invalid system disk, replace the
disk and then press any key" the only disc that will work from this point
is the 98 startup floppy disc. It seems that the BIOS will allow me to
alter the boot sequence, but physically does not do it in practice.

I'm now clutching at straws, and wondering if someone could help by
confirming what the latest BIOS update is for my (ASUS K8V-MX motherboard
with a Sempron 2600 chip) there are several to choose from on the Asus
website http://uk.asus.com/ and being new to BIOS updating, I'd
appreciate confirmation that I'm using the latest one. Can I also ask
does it do any harm to try several different BIOS updates to see the
results? Once again apologies for my scriblings.

 

I think you should contact the ASUS people about this since you've so far
done everything by the book. It's possible for instance you have a
defective CMOS chip or some other sort of mobo problem.

 

Have you tried swapping the cd/dvd and hdd on the motherboard connectors to
see if the dvd/cd drive will work on the primary connector? (just to rule
out the connector) You could also try the DVD drive in a different computer,
again just to rule out the drive as the culprit (as well as other problems
since the replacement CD drive had the same effect)
It seems from your post that the HDD is working flawlessly so that is the
reason for the swapping of primary and secondary recommendation

AS far as flashing the BIOS check your version (on the initial cold boot
screen) and match that with what is listed at the Asus website to determine
which flash is the correct one. Upgrading with an incorrect BIOS is not a
good idea.(usually does not upgrade and will fail the flash). If you are
"lucky" enough to get one that is incorrect and does flash you can get into
some serious problems with the motherboard. If you saved the old BIOS it
might be best to reflash back to the original version and make sure you are
upgrading with the correct version. If you didn't save the old version then
you may be looking at getting a new CMOS chip aka replace the motherboard,
It's faster and cheaper then going through the trouble of replacing the
chip.

 

Thanks Brian and all, this is as far as I've got to-date. The BIOS was
succesfully updated and I have been able to install Windows 98 using the
98 floppy by typing ( D:setup) from the A: prompt. Windows 98 works fine
on this installation and the DVD drive reads CD from it.

With the Windows 98 operating system installed, I have changed the 1st
boot sequence to DVD and on a reboot, XP will pick up the DVD and start
the installation before crashing part way through it. On the other hand.

If I remove the Windows 98 operating system by Fdisk and formating the
hard drive and then try to install XP having set the 1st boot order to
DVD, it does not start the XP installation disc and instead gives a
message that the wrong disk is installed and to remove the disk and press
enter.

I'm assuming that as I've been able to install Windows 98 the system is in
a reasonably workable condition. What I don't understand, is why BIOS will
recognise the DVD drive and allow it to be set and saved, but will not
pick it up when I reboot with a formatted hard drive. It does if Windows
98 is installed?

 

Thought you might like to know, that finally I've found the reason for my
troubles. It turns out that the memory stick was suspect in my system,
not faulty just didn't like it there. I realised this when I returning
the system to the retailer, who replaced the memory stick when an XP
installation kept crashing. It was a pleasure when XP went straight in.
It also seems it has fixed the DVD drive issue too. This was a relief,
but tinged slightly with a little frustration, as I had previously tried
three new memory sticks myself and none of them made a difference. The
tech guy said it happens sometimes, memory can be a little fussy.