Bios does not detect hard drive.

akihandyman · 02-12-2005, 06:26 PM

This may not be Linux question but if anybody knows about.
I just installed Mandrake 9.2 using old Compaq mother board and CPU(my motherboard just died).
But this Award bios system does not recognize my 80gb hard drive .
Even though somehow Mdk9.2 was installed no problem.
Because bios does not recognize hard drive(Mdk9.2 installed?)Mandrake does not boot.
Why I could install Mdk and is there any solution like update bios?

__J · 02-12-2005, 06:31 PM

how old is the mobo? if it's pretty old ( > 5 yrs or so) that bios wouldn't recognize an 80 gb. you will have to search around the net for an newer bios that can reconize the drive.

akihandyman · 02-12-2005, 07:05 PM

Mine is 7-8 years old so I will look around the net for update.

J.W. · 02-12-2005, 07:07 PM

Also check to make certain that the power cable and ribbon cable are securely seated, and that the drive is jumpered correctly. Those may not be related to the problem but if nothing else you could eliminate them from consideration.

How far along does the boot process get before it dies? -- J.W.

teckk · 02-12-2005, 08:34 PM

Older Compaq's also put part of the BIOS on the Hard drive. So if you wiped the hard drive you wiped the BIOS. That would explain why you can't boot a drive. You'll have to re-install the BIOS on the hard drive if that is the problem. Go to Compaq's web site and look around for your model and see what you can find.

johntramp · 02-13-2005, 06:47 AM

teckk, thats a realy stupid idea of them. Just more evidence that compaq is not a good pc company