On Saturday 18 August 2007 10:59:17 William L. Maltby wrote: > On Fri, 2007-08-17 at 16:03 -0400, Phil Schaffner wrote: > > On Fri, 2007-08-17 at 18:45 +0100, Mário Gamito wrote: > > > Hi, > > > > > > ><snip> > > > > > > > > I just read in your previous email that your pc goes berzerk when > > > > trying to change things on the BIOS, in such case, most probably > > > > you'll run into issues afterwards even if you manage to start the > > > > installations :( > > > > > > It's now booting, but strange things happen. > > > > > > It say my hard drive is hda and my CD-ROM is hdb. > > > > > > But then, it states that: > > > ide0 is hda and hdb > > > ide1 is hdc and hdd > > > > > > therefore, as there is no hdc and hdd, it just hangs :( > > > > > > Any idea ? > > > > <snip> > > > > Anyway, the above messages don't seem to be problematic - the controller > > ports will be seen even if nothing is attached to them, and may/may not > > be relevant to the problems are seeing. Have to agree with Jordi Molina > > - looks like you may have BIOS/hardware issues. > > *If* you can get into BIOS, disable IDE 2 and see if that doesn't stop > the "hang" (I suspect it is not hung, but just timing out waiting for > some device to respond - can take a *long* time). > > > Might try checking > > cables and re-seating things - chips/boards. Could try clearing CMOS - > > there's often a jumper you can short on the motherboard to do that. > > Might try a different CD drive. > > Also, *if* you have a choice, put the CD on the 2nd IDE port (after re- > enabling it if you disabled it) to reduce contention when using both the > CD and HD at the same time. Since you have a P III and I have a P II > board (and older) in some of my machines that will boot from CD on > secondary IDE ports, maybe yours would allow this too? Might take care > of some issues. > > The suggestion to try resetting the BIOS is a good one. Also, maybe time > to replace the CMOS battery on a mainboard that old? Might get rid of > the flakiness in your BIOS? > > > <snip sig stuff> > > HTH > -- > Bill > > _______________________________________________ > CentOS mailing list > CentOS at centos.org > http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos Is the BIOS chip sat in a socket? If so check that the BIOS chip is fully seated. These older socket BIOS chips have a tendency to walk out of their socket over time due to expansion and contraction from the machine heating up and cooling down when started up and shut down. I have also come across the BIOS code getting corrupt, so you might try to find the board manufacturer's web site and down load the latest / last bios code and re-install it. If you have trouble finding the manufacturer's BIOS web page let me know and I will have a go for you. You can check out the BIOS manufacturer's web site for a program that will identify the board for you, I think AMI's one is called MBID.exe and runs from a D.O.S bootable floppy. I have been playing around with old second hand boards for years. Oh it would be well worth installing a new BIOS battery on an older board such as this, an average life for a battery is about 2/3 years unless the machine is run continuously. -- Guy Fawkes, the only man to enter the house's of Parliament with honest intentions, (he was going to blow them up!) Registered Linux user number 414240