I have this problem with my system, well, it isn't really a problem as it is a nuisance, for whatever reason, my BIOS can't detect my Hard-Drive, but if I boot from a floppy disk Linux sees it and reads and etc. just fine (I'm fully aware that this is because Linux is a protected-mode OS that doesn't need the BIOS to read the HD) this a bit of a pain in the ass, because I can't boot from my HD and the kernel I want to use 2.6.8.1, doesn't support booting from a floppy, (as far as I know, prove me wrong, plz!) I'm pretty sure all my hardware is configured correctly, the HD is the primary master on IDE0 and my Cd-Writer is secondary master on IDE1, nothing is set for cable select. Now to further complicate this matter, when I install a slave to the HD, the BIOS reads both just fine, and no matter what, it reads the CD-Writer just fine, but I only have the 2 drives (for now, I plan on moving to SCSI when I can afford it) and since one is my CD-Writer, putting them both on the same channel is out of the question, I was thinking a BIOS update might help, but I want to look at the other possibilities before I try doing that. My system is an HP Pavilion XE744, that has had some serious modding done to it over the last couple years, in fact the only original parts left are the mobo and cpu, (I've even changed the case and power supply) if anyone has any ideas I would appreciate their help, here's my system info

Celeron (Coppermine128) 733Mhz
Intel 810 chipset
256MB PC133 SDRAM
40GB Western Digital HD (set as primary master)
4x4x24 Phillips CD-R/W (set as secondary master)
RedHat Linux 9 Kernel 2.4.20-8 (I want 2.6.8.1)

I've tried going into BIOS setup and manually configuring the HD, but their is the CHS limit and LBA doesn't want to act right, which is what made believe a BIOS update may be in order, just out of curiosity, can I do a BIOS update with DOSemu? Or does that sound stupid? I've never done a BIOS update before and I'm really weary about doing one, so if that's what it comes down to, I'll be looking for help doing that. Don't get the idea that I'm a newbie, I've been using Linux for 5 years, and I've read O'Reilly's PC Hardware in a Nutshell 2nd edition cover to cover about 10 times. Don't be afraid to get advanced and technical with me, I can handle it.

Just a thought, is the cable good? I mean, is there some break in it or something? Try out a different one.

Yup - that problem screams BIOS flash all the way - got for it.

Actually, most BIOS flashing utilities run off of a boot floppy so it really doesn't matter what host OS you are using. Just go to your computer manufacturer's website and hunt for the BIOS update - there should be full instructions on how to use it (it's different for each BIOS, but never very hard).

Note: when the directions say to use RAWRITE.EXE, you can substitute dd if you're doing ithe prepwork in Linux.

Okay, here's what has happened, I went ahead and did a BIOS update, it seemed to go smoothly enough, but it still couldn't see the hard-drive, so I opened up my computer to switch the cables, afterward, still nothing, so I opened it up again, and inspected my HD to doublecheck my jumper settings, it was set to master, then I noticed another jumper setting labeled PM2, (just F.Y.I. my HD is a Western Digital WD400EB-11CPF0 as reported by /var/log/dmesg) anyway, PC Hardware in a Nutshell didn't have any info, so just for the hell of it I went ahead and set it, to see what would happen, and low and behold, the BIOS actually saw it, so I assumed victory, but then, other problems creeped up out of nowhere, for starters, I couldn't connect to the 'net with my DSL modem, which is hooked into my only NIC, so I tried a couple of different kernels trying to figure it out, nothing worked. Finally I uninstalled the NIC and tried to re-install it, when the BIOS kept complaining about a PCI resource conflict, so I uninstalled the only other PCI device, my old trustworthy 3com 5610 56k modem, and it still complained, so I juggled the slots around, and finally got it up and running (without my 56k modem installed, but since I'm on DSL I doubt I'll get much use out of it, for now) and now, I'm able to connect to the 'net with my DSL, and the HD is detected by my BIOS, so I guess everything is fine now, but naturally I'm still weary about any problems that may come up later, so I'm calling this a half-victory for now until I've run it for a few days and verified that everything is nice and kosher, thanks to everyone who offered their help, and if anyone has an idea as to why my BIOS was bitching about resources, I'd love your opinion, I'll post here again once I'm sure everything is fine, and thanks again to all, both of you who helped