I/O Disk Error...Please help

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[Redwolf]

Aye, sorry. Yet agian my memory fails me. On longer threads like this, I try to remember the older parts of the thread rather than skimming thorugh it again. Naturally, this doesn't always work, especially when your allergic to everything and feeling miserable

I think the HD *may* be defective. I'm having a hard time figuring out where the fault lies. It's something with the hard drive if it doesn't work in two machines, but what is a mystery. It's probably something in the circuts, something that obviously is bypassing the SMART circuts. I'd RMA it if another drive works properly in that system (which you said it did.

[meese]

Is it possible that since this is an 80Gig drive that the BIOS on both the old and new mb does not support a drive that large. I've had BIOS's autodetect drives but with the wrong parameters. This can cause a lot wacky problems.

[Redwolf]

Actually, he may be right. It could be the BIOS, but it's more likely that the settings on the hard drive are wrong. On my seagate, the LBA can be changed, and you might want to look through data-lifegaurd (if it will still run) for an option to change the LBA or the drive size.

[DoctorReno]

We all appreciate your frustration because we have been there before.
I'm not familiar with the WD utilities... By any chance does it try to put a disk overlay on your HD?

What confuses me the most is that according to you sometimes you can boot with floppy and sometimes you can't. It seems like the basis of you trouble is here. If you could tell me that with a bootable floppy you could reliably boot I would take the time to share with you the best way to install 98.
If you put in one of your many 98 start up disks and start the machine, select, No CD support, at the prompt will you eventually get to the A: prompt?

About 2 yrs ago I spent over a month F'n with a system and just couldn't get 98 to install. I finally called a ladyfriend of mine who is a OS development team leader for MS. She always bails me out when I'm totally stumped. She confided in me how in house MS installs the 9x OS's. It's different than MS tells "us" how to do it although if you dig deep enough MS does document this method.

Anyhow... I'm still most concerned that you can't boot from floppy. This needs to be resolved before you can continue. Let me know if you can get to the A: prompt with a 98 startup disk and if you can I think I can get you thru this rather easily.

[Monstermile]

I can't get an a: prompt with the floppy. Only when I boot from the CD and use CD support. I thought originally it might be a floppy drive or controller issue, but it lets me boot with another drive installed.

Earlier I booted from the CD to get an a: prompt. Then I ran the wd diags directly from the prompt. Now I get an error code. It was 0104, which according to the WD site means the drive is not ready. That would mean something with the connection in a normal situation which this is not. I called WD and they said the same thing until I told them I get the same I/O disk error when I put the drive into another machine. The tech immediately said it needs replacing.

I think at this point it is best to start off with a new drive. Having a brand new built system for 2 months that I can't even enjoy yet is getting tiring and frustrating. If I still have probs with the new drive than there is a good possibility that it is a second bad mobo. While I am waiting I am going to update the bios on the mobo as well.

I would like to thank each and every one who contributed advice in this thread. You all have been very helpful even though the prob was not resolved. If when I get the new drive I still have problems, I know where to go. In the meantime I think I have a look around the rest of the forums.

Thanks again everyone.

[DoctorReno]

You still need to get the floppy working correctly before you can really continue with loading win98. At this point you can't say for certain that the HD is bad. It's possible it could be the MoBo. I think you need to do a couple things with the floppy first.

My next step would this: Unplug the HD.. either power or data cable is fine, just disable the HD for this step.
Don't put a floppy in the floppy drive and start the machine. After it POSTS and trys to boot you will get a boot error. What I want to know is... does the light on the front of the floppy drive come on for just a couple seconds during this process or does it come on and stay on? If it comes on and stays on your problem is that you have the data cable plugged in wrong... flip the connector. Most cables (ribbons) have a reddish stripe on one side. That red strip must be on the side of the drive that has the #1 pin. You may have to use a flashlight and magnifying glass to see the pin numbering on the back of the drive. Usually the #1 pin is on the left as you look at the back of the drive. Occasionally an odd ball drive may be different.
You also need to have the red line side of the cable plugged into your MoBo with the red line on the #1 pin.

While we are on floppy cables, there may be multiple connectors on the floppy ribbon. Normally there should be a 'twist' in the cable next to one of the connectors. The connector with the twist is the connector that is for the A: drive. I have seen a couple of old odd ball MoBos in which you had to connect the B: connector on the ribbon for the A: drive but again this is rare.

Try this and get back to us.

[Monstermile]

DoctorReno: Just tried that and the floppy light comes on for just a few seconds and then goes off. The way my drive and floppy controller is you can only plug it in one way. There is a notch on the connector at the board and on the drive, and a tab on the cable that matches up to those notches.

[DoctorReno]

Ok good. Sorry to be be remedial but sometimes it's the simplest thing.

And also you have the drive connected to the connector on the ribbon that has the twisted strip in the center of the ribbon correct?
I don't recall... have gone into the BIOS and confirmed that you have set the A drive for 1.44Mb?

With the HD drive still disconnected try putting the 98 disk in and see if it will boot. You probably know that it takes a good couple min to finally get to the a: prompt after it asks you if you want to start the machine with CD support.

Can you pull your floppy drive out and hook it up to another machine to see if it works?

Get back with these answers when you can.

[Monstermile]

DoctorReno: To be a little quicker in this process I can tell you this. When I put another hd in the new system the floppy drive operated just fine.