PC Will Not Boot Up

[WebDezinerz]

Hello Everyone,
My mother bought a used pc the other day and asked me to look at it and possably
advise her what she needed to update it and get her ready to go online hassel free. I looked her pc over and had her buy a hard drive as for it only had a 4 gig, other then that everything else looked ok. She bought an 80gig Seagate HD, without using my head and reading the instructions, I unplugged her pc, opend it up and installed the new HD leaving the old 4gig as it was. ( working and with windows ME as the OS.) thinking that I would install XP on the new HD and she could use the 4gig for storage. Without running the disk wizard that came with the new HD, I even screwed up more, I forgot to set the jumpers to make the 4gig the slave and the new 80 the master. After putting the pc back together I booted it up, the normal black screen appeared displaying the system info, but it did not detect either HD or proceed past this black screen, then I realized I had screwed up.
I took the 80 out and put the pc as it was before I started, booted it up and the black screen appeared and this time detected the 4gig HD but would not boot up the OS, I rebooted several more times, still the same. I took the 80gig home to my pc and insatlled Windows XP Home on it, took the 4gig totally out and installed the 80 in place of it hoping this would be the fix, still the same black screen and it did detect the 80gig, still nothing further. I then learned that her pc being a 200MHz could not run XP, I put 98 second editon on the 80gig, still no luck.I am not really sure how bad I have screwed this pc up but I am lost to what to do.
This is exactly what the black screen says:

PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.0
Copyright 1985-1997 Phoenix Technologies LTD.
All Rights Reserved
4A3NT0X0.86A0047.P03.9705151716

Intel Corporation AN430TX Motherboard
Serial Number: IVAN89199185
Pentium Processor with MMX technology 200 MHz
0000640K System RAM Passed
0512K Cache SRAM Passed
System BIOS shadowed
Video BIOS shadowed
UMB upper limit segment address: F081
Keyboard Detcted
Fixed Disk:0: ST380011A
ATAPI CD-ROM: CD-956B

Press <F2> to enter SETUP

I press <F2> and it will then say Entering SETUP but it never does anything else. The 80 and the 4 gig work perfect in my machine so I know they are good. I took and formated the 80gig back to it origanal blank state and tried running the disk wizard that came with it, still nothing. I cannot get past this black screen. I have also reset the BIOS by taking the battery out and waiting 15 min. and putting it back in. Any and all help with this is greatly appreciated. My mom only wants to check e-mail and surf a little so she don't need anything real fast or special and an 80gig was on a great sale so she got it. I would just like to get her up and going again.
The computer is a CompUSA.
THANK YOU.

[Catweazle]

While you were fiddling about connecting and disconnecting things inside that PC, did you have the power disconnected from themains supply? Even with it turned off, there is still power in the motherboard. You may have damaged components if the power cord was still connected or the wall outlet not turned off.

I'm sorry, but you've already eliminated pretty well all of the usual tricks, and they haven't worked.

I am surprised, however, that an 80Gb drive detected correctly in such an old system. Are you sure that the full 80Gb capacity was recognised by BIOS?

[caperjack]

I think because you are dealing with an older machine ,you may need to go into the bios and do a hard drive auto detect .and i also doubt that the bios will recognize the it as and 80gig with out flashing the bios .
4 gig is enought for internet and XP is a bit much for just interneting so just reinstall 98/ME back on the 4gig .

[WebDezinerz]

Thank You Catweazle and caperjack for your replies. Yes Cat, I had the power supply totally disconnected from the machine, anytime I go inside one I pull the plug from the pc. However I am not sure if BOIS detected the full 80 gigs or not, the only message I got letting me know it was detecting the HD was: Fixed Disk:0: ST380011A.
Caperjack I am with you on reinstalling the 4 gig back in and running 98 on it, I can get the machine to reconize the 4 gig but still cannot get past this black screen:
PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.0
Copyright 1985-1997 Phoenix Technologies LTD.
All Rights Reserved
4A3NT0X0.86A0047.P03.9705151716

Intel Corporation AN430TX Motherboard
Serial Number: IVAN89199185
Pentium Processor with MMX technology 200 MHz
0000640K System RAM Passed
0512K Cache SRAM Passed
System BIOS shadowed
Video BIOS shadowed
UMB upper limit segment address: F081
Keyboard Detcted
Fixed Disk:0: ST380011A
ATAPI CD-ROM: CD-956B

Press <F2> to enter SETUP

Also how do I flash the BIOS? I have never done this. Thanks.

[caperjack]

Im not sure but by the look of the specs ,you should have but the money for the hd into a good used motherboard and processor ,to speed it up a bit ,Flashing is a last resort as it is dangerous!
I still think you need to hit f2 and enter the bios and auto detect hard drive ,and ,save changes and exit then using a windows boot disk ,boot to the a:\ prompt and format C: and then put in the win98 disk and run setup.
I wouldn't reccomending installing XP on a 200mmx with 64 megs of ram .

[JANINE]

it looks to me like the first thing you are going to need in order to run such a big hard drive on such an old machine is a BIOS extender program. Older BIOS prgrams only have a limited capacity which can be extended and from what i have learnt these older BIOS Programs need to be told what do detect as they quite often dont have the autorun facility. Then install your O/S but only as far as going up to windows ME

good luck

[wboyden]

HI

i think his question is more towards that he cannot get it to go passed the detection part of the boot.

I am currently having the same problem with an HP if I get a resolove ill post again.

did you try to install just the 4 gig drive.

Bill

[Catweazle]

Take out the CMOS battery and leave it out overnight. Then refit it and see if it can access Setup via the <F2> key. If so, autodetect the hard drive. Use only the 4Gb drive in that system. Do not use an 80Gb drive in such an old system.

I would agree that a more recent secondhand PC, together with the 80Gb drive is the best course of action. That PC is too old to be useful even for web surfing, really, and is now getting old enough that internal components could be breaking down.

[wboyden]

Take out the CMOS battery and leave it out overnight. Then refit it and see if it can access Setup via the <F2> key. If so, autodetect the hard drive. Use only the 4Gb drive in that system. Do not use an 80Gb drive in such an old system.

I would agree that a more recent secondhand PC, together with the 80Gb drive is the best course of action. That PC is too old to be useful even for web surfing, really, and is now getting old enough that internal components could be breaking down.

I Orginally thought of suggesting the same although as i mentioned I have an HP that does the same and had ready tried it might work.

As for an older machine not being useful, that would all depend on what was being done on it. I use a P75 everyday for websurfing minor I grant you but its mainly my email machine but it still works.

[JANINE]

HI

i think his question is more towards that he cannot get it to go passed the detection part of the boot.

I am currently having the same problem with an HP if I get a resolove ill post again.

did you try to install just the 4 gig drive.

Bill

it could even be that there is a serious corruption of the boot software or sector on the hard drive. may be worth reformatting and reinstalling but ask oneself is it really worth it. you'd be best to save the bigger drive and lob it into a much newer machne.:cool:

[gozdzj]

I am having the exact same problem with an HP Pavillion. Was a solution ever found?