GA-8PE800 rev 1.1

[Nipper]

I have attempeted to replace my HDD. With new HDD, floppy & CD drive attached I get message 'INSERT SYSTEM DISC AND REBOOT' I have tried booting with no drives attached. I get message VERIFING DMI POOL DATA...... I leave this for some ten minutes, nothing else happens. I have tried many many settings in the BIOS including load fail safe defaults & Load optimized defaults, all to no avail! I have tried removing CMOS battery switching on and waiting for memory test to complete and switching off... also to no avail. I have tested two HDD two CD drives & two floppy drives to no avail. I am at a loss as to what to try next. Please advise.

[jannie]

Hi Nipper, could it be that your system boot is on the hdd that you removed, I have had this before, becuase I installed win7 when all the hdd.s were installed. better you install with main hdd for operating system first then add the rest

[Dark Mantis]

It is probably that you need to insert your Windows disk into the optical drive and then make sure that your BIOS is set to boot from the optical drive first. You can change this setting once you have installed the OS.

[jannie]

Thanx DM I thought I was so clever and solved it, maybe I am too old to learn..hahah

[Dark Mantis]

No not at all Jannie, your explanation is quite viable but it is best to have more than one idea regarding the possible cause.

[jannie]

you say all the right things DM....hahahha

[Nipper]

I have tried installing the original HDD. The issue is that the system will not get that far... it will not boot to either of the two floppy drives tested, either of the two CD drives, so I can not write a new BIOS to the system. Since my original posting I have tried writting the new BIOS to a flash drive. The system will not see the flash drive either.... I have of course made the changes to the boot order inorder to make these tests. all to no avail. I'm not even sure if trying to write a new BIOS is appropriate.... but I am at a loss as to know what else to try!

[Dark Mantis]

How big is your new disk ?

Is it supported by the motherboard's BIOS ?

Have you made sure that you have attached the cable the correct way round ?

Try another cable.

[Nipper]

A 13.66gb Fujitsu (works fine on another machine) and an 80gb Segate (works fine on another machine). This motherboard is not getting to a boot event! It's no getting past verifing the DMI pool data!

[Dark Mantis]

Remove the power cable from the mains supply and then press the power switch on the case for a few seconds just to drain any residual energy in the PSU capacitors.

Once done remove the motherboard battery for at least thirty minutes before replacing it.
 
Next plug back into the mains supply and boot.
 
You will now need to enter the BIOS by pressing DEL and load Opimised BIOS Defaults.

Make any other changes to the BIOS settings to suit your self and then press F10 to save and exit.

[Nipper]

To Dark Mantis:    Many thanks for your reply. I have tried your suggestion, with just a floppy drive attached. Set floppy drive as first bootable device and disabled all others. The system hangs at INSERT SYSTEM DISC. I have shut down unplugged held power button for 20seconds attached HDD and switched on. The systems hangs at Verifing DMI pool data.............. I have left it like this for some minutes, but it gets no further. I have put this situation to Gigabyte them selves, but no reply!

[Dark Mantis]

With just a floppy drive installed it will hang at Insert System Disk as it is looking for the boot files. I would have suggested putting in your hard drive and making that Primary Boot Device as long as it has your operating system on it if not try installing the optical drive with Windows DVD inserted and set that to Primary Boot Device.

[Nipper]

To Dark Mantis: I have had some success with the suggestions. I have got all the drives to work! I have run Killdisk twice on the HDD. I then inserted my Windows 7 disc. And rebooted the light on the CD drive light for just a split second (as breif as the 'blink of an eye) and the tower powered down on it's own. I put my Killdisk back in and did a 'cold boot' towere still shut down. I re did your suggestion removing power cable and CMOS battery for over half an hour. pressing and holding the power button for 30 sec at the start of the half hour... and  again for 30sec at the end of the half hour. tower still poweres down on it's own. I have gone back to the BIOS and set for optimized settings... I despair at this thing I really do!
Many thanks so far..... Correction very many thanks so far.

[Dark Mantis]

I think it is time to pull it all to pieces and try it as a basic build on the worktop.

Make sure that you observe anti-static precautions.

Lay some cardboard or use the motherboard box that is non-conductive on the worktop and remove the motherboard/CPU/heatsink/fan/buzzer/one stick of memory and PSU from the case and put it on the cardboard.

Add the keyboard and now I know you haven't got any graphics but try and boot.

The system should try and then fail emitting a series of beeps.

Please post what sounds it makes.

[Nipper]

To Dark Mantis: I have removed Motherboard. carefully cleaned all contact with White spirit. Plugged the two power connectors from the power supply as appropriate and the speaker. With CMOS battery in place. The unit gives a long beep, with a very short gap then a series of beeps (perhaps four)!