First boot works! But I have an issue.

[ecarmody]

Hi all,

I posted a list of my componets in the Build section. Here's a link: http://forums.mysuperpc.com/showthread.php?t=1337

Everything went together well and the computer starts, single beeps, bios setting changes, etc. I can boot from a bootable floppy disk. I can also boot from a bootable CD disk, sort of.

I haven't formatted the harddrive yet. The CD drive is new, its Samsung SH-S202J : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151161&Tpk=samsung%2bSH-S202J

To install the OS I usually use my bootable Win98 cd to boot up, format the hard drive, install win98. Then I use my Win XP Upgrade disk to upgrade the OS.

Problem is, when I boot a CD, its stops out with driver not found error "OEMCD001".

I have basic WinXP bootable CD. Both it and the Win98 bootable cd crap out with the OEMCD001 driver error. Funny thing is, they both leave me at the DOS prompt and I can do a "dir" command and see the files on the cd. On the WinXP boot cd I can even run the fdisk.exe and format.exe. But the Win98 install won't start because of the OEMCD001 driver error.

How can the CD boot (either cd disk) give the driver not found error but still let me leave me at a usable DOS prompt on the CD drive???

Thinking it was an issue with the new CD drive, I swapped out to an older plain jane drive I have. It gives the same error! So I conclude its a mobo/bios setting issue and not specific to the CD drive.

In bios, hard drive is in Master 0 (or 1?) position. The CD is down at Master 4 position. The hard drive is connected via sata cable. The CD is connected via IDE ribbion and onto the IDE plug on the mobo. Its the only device on that IDE ribbon.

Given above info ... any ideas?
Thanks,
Eric

[shyster]

This may seem stupid, but from the way you wrote it sounds like you are trying to boot to hard drive first and then cd?

"In bios, hard drive is in Master 0 (or 1?) position. The CD is down at Master 4 position. The hard drive is connected via sata cable. The CD is connected via IDE ribbion and onto the IDE plug on the mobo. Its the only device on that IDE ribbon."

Again unlikely, but if that is how you have it, set the cd to be the boot drive and try again.

So you were able to format the hard drive with the dos commands and executables?

Unfortuantely that is all I can come up with given my limited knowledge and what you described.

[ecarmody]

Nope, not trying to boot from hard drive. I want to do a clean boot from the CD disk.

In the bios, I have the CD set as the first boot device, yes. It does boot from it, just not cleanly.

In the bios, I forget the menu name, but the one that shows the list of devices. They are titled Master 1..2..3, etc. That's where HD is in the first position and the CD is in 4th Master position.

Is a CD a master itself if its the only one in the computer, aside from the HD?

Yes, I was able to fdisk and format HD using the dos commands from my WinXP boot cd. There no boot sector on the HD though, so it cannot boot itself.

[shyster]

My suggestion is google is your friend.

I just looked and there are a few suggestions, I did not fully read them all, but one suggested copying your windows files to your hard drive and booting from there. One suggested messing with the dos commands autoExec.bat and the config.sys.

I am not personally suggesting these since I did not fully read them and do not know if they are totally the same as your problem.

Here is a link to just one, that seems most relevant off hand:

http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/t254765.html

Hope you find the answer.