motherboards

[SPKmes]

is there a way to check this as I still am having no joy with finding my rom drive. It has power to it but it has disappeared into oblivion. Can just one area of the mother board burn out? was fine one night, 4 1/2 hrs later gone.

[Mad0Max]

Rom drive???

You mean Bios?

What are you talking about?

[SPKmes]

cd/dvd rom
this is a continuation from this
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,246199.msg3014297.html#msg3014297

[wabbit]

The odds are your system drivers are somehow corrupted. I would be very surprised if your dvd drive suddenly died, but it's always possible. Judging from your original description, I'd lean toward driver corruption. If you have a way to plug your Dvd drive into another system, that would be a quick way to confirm if the Dvd drive is good or bad.

When I run into this kind of problem, I disconnect the 'C' Drive, install an older spare drive, and re-install windows. If windows see's the Dvd drive after re-installation, then it's driver or windows corruption and you'll have to re-install windows to fix the problem, (at least that's the easiest way to do it).

If you have an old hard drive lying around and are comfortable trying this, then this will probably be the quickest way to confirm whether the problem is Driver/windows related or hardware related.

If you don't have an old hard drive lying around that you can use, or aren't comfortable doing this test, then judging on what you've stated in your original post, I would say, your quickest solution would be to backup any data you have, format the 'C' Drive and re-install Windows.

This is based solely on what you've stated in your original post. I can expand on this is you'll post details on your system, such as brand-name, (if not a clone), whether you have a windows install disk, or system recovery disk.

Re-installing windows will require you to have your Windows installation key. If you don't have it, there are programs that can retrieve it from your system for you, as long as you can still boot to windows.

If you have a brand-name system, then a recovery disk will make this go a lot easier, but you still may need a windows install key. Usually, when using recovery disks, this is not needed.

No matter which way you have to go. Make sure you have your Windows key safely written down before you do anything - JUST IN CASE !

You may or may not also need drivers disks for your MTB, and other hardware.

This is all a guess based on what you've already posted, which isn't much. I can give you more detailed help if you post as much detailed info on your system as you can.

If you want to give this a try, Tell me about your system - Whether you have a windows install disk and key, or a recovery disk (s). What brand system do you have, or if it's a clone, what brand motherboard, video card, etc, etc. The more you tell me the better I can help.


Wabb

[SPKmes]

Ok. Yes the disc drive is still ok, I put it to another PC and it was found, I also used the drive from the other PC on mine and still no dice so from there and what you have stated it will probably be a driver issue. Due to the fact that I can not use any form of disk to re boot and repair I downloaded the drivers for my board and installed, however I may not have perfomed this correctly and still on start up I get sisdll module not found.

Is there any way a Graphics card can become corrupted and then in some way cause issue elsewhere?

My system is totally legit and I have all keys and discs required, I my need to access an exteranl disc drive to repair windows and sis is the board which I have the disc for also.

[wabbit]

Although, it might be possible, I would doubt a corrupted Graphics card would be the source of your troubles. The only way to find out for sure would be to uninstall the video drivers, and replace that vid card with another card to see what happens.

If your hardware is fine, you should be able to fix the problem if you have a Windows installation disk.

Since you haven't posted any real specs for your system, I'd only be guessing as to what you should do next.

I need to know the following:

1.) Motherboard brand and model

2.) How many hard drives. What brand and model and if more then one, which one is the 'C' Drive. Also I need to know if they are IDE or Sata.

3.) Is the Dvd Drive IDE or SATA.

4.) Do you have a primary and secondary IDE controller. If so, what do you have plugged into each controller.

5.) Do you have a Windows installation disk. Is it a full install or an upgrade, and what Windows version is it.

Helpful info:

1.) How much memory do you have.

2.) What size Power Supply do you have

3.) What brand, model and type of video card do you have.

Actually, if you have a Windows installation cd, you should be able to test your system using that CD.

Go into your BIOS and make sure your BIOS is set to have the system first try and boot from the CD/DVD drive, then the Floppy, (if you have one), and then the Hard drive.

Put your Windows Installation CD into the Cd/Dvd and boot the system.

Note:
         Watch the messages during the boot process. It may ask you to 'hit any key' to boot to the cd, or it may just boot directly.  I can't remember for sure if the Windows Cd prompts for a cd/DVd boot or not.

If the system boots up to the installation process, then it's almost certain that you have a Driver problem. If you've set the BIOS to boot to a Cd/DVd FIRST, and have checked that, and the BIOS sees the CD/Dvd drive in the post screen, (pre windows boot messages), and the system goes straight to Windows, then you may have a hardware problem with the motherboard.


Try the Windows installation cd, if you have one, and post the results, and/or post the info I've requested and I'll see what I can do to help.


Wabb

[SPKmes]

mother board is Foxconn 661FX7MI

---------
Time of this report: 9/8/2008, 20:52:16
       Machine name: --
   Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.070227-2254)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: AWARD_
       System Model: AWRDACPI
               BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
          Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz (2 CPUs)
             Memory: 1024MB RAM
          Page File: 488MB used, 1156MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
    DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
     DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode


Hope this above helps for windows build type

My dvd drive is IDE and no secondary hardware
I have SATA available but not used

available memory as above

Power supply Model no.DR8360BTX
115/230V .8/4Amp 50/60 hrtz
output 350W

full windows disc sp1 & 2 keys for both

 I am about to try to boot from bios

Nope went straight to windows desktop.

I did download drivers for this mother board and had executed the EXE files. Do I need to place the dll modules into a specific folder manually. These came in as a rar file.

[wabbit]

I couldn't find a 661FX7MI model on Foxconn's site. I did find a 661FX7MI-RS and 661FX7MI-S. I suspect your MTB is one of those. More then likely the BIOS settings are the same, so I downloaded the '-S' model and looked up the BIOS settings.

Since I'm not sure what you mean by booting from the BIOS, I'd like to have you verify that the CDROM is set as the first boot device. I'll go step-by-step, as I don't know how technical you are, so bear with me. According to the '-S' manual, here's how to do that:

1.Boot the system and when you see the first screen, hit "DEL" to enter the "SETUP"

2. Once in the BIOS, go to the 'ADVANCED BIOS FEATURES'

3. The eighth item down that list, should be "FIRST BOOT DEVICE" The Next item should be "SECOND BOOT DEVICE" AND THEN "THIRD BOOT DEVICE"

4. Make sure the First Boot Device is set to the CDROM. The Second Boot Device can be your Floppy drive, if you have one and want to be able to boot from it on occasion.  If you do have a Floppy drive, then make the Third Boot Device your Hard Drive. If you don't have a floppy drive, then make the Second Boot Device your Hard Drive.

5. Once you've verified those settings, or changed them to what I said above, put your Windows Installation CD into your CDROM. Exit the BIOS, making sure you do a save, if you changed any settings, and reboot your system. Exiting the BIOS should start the boot process, but if it doesn't, then reboot manually.

6. Remember, that during the boot process, (and before you see the windows welcome message), you might see a message asking you to 'hit any key to boot from the Cdrom'. If you see this, then hit any key, so it will boot from the CD. Watch carefully as sometimes, the message won't appear on the screen for very long at all. During the boot, (POST process), you should also see your hard drive and your CDROM Drive listed. If you see both listed, that means your motherboard sees those devices. If you only see your hard drive, (you should see that at least since you can boot to windows), and not the CDROM, then you probably have a motherboard hardware failure.

7. Whether you have to hit any key to boot from the CDROM or not, the system should then boot to the Windows Installation Process, (the blue screen DOS-TYPE window). If the system boots to the Windows Installation process, then your hardware is probably OK, and the problem is most likely a windows corruption, possibly a driver corruption.  If your system doesn't boot to the Windows Installation Process, and instead goes directly to the Windows you already had installed on your hard drive, then you probably have a motherboard problem.

8. So what you have to do is verify, (or change), the Boot device order settings to reflect what I said above. Then you have to try and boot your Windows Installation CD to the Windows Installation Process. 

9. System does not boot to the Windows installation process = You probably have a motherboard
                                                                                            hardware problem and if under
                                                                                            warranty, you'll have to contact
                                                                                             Foxconn to get it RMA'd.

10.  System does boot to the Windows installation process      = You most likely have bad or
                                                                                             corrupted drivers in Windows.

    I'm downloading the IDE drivers now so I can see how we have to install them. If you have bad or corrupted drivers, in Windows, we can try to reload the IDE Drivers to attempt to fix the problem.
But first I need to see if your system can or can not boot to the Windows Installation Process from your Windows Installation CD. Once we've confirmed that the motherboard is good, then I'll walk you through installing the drivers again to see if that fixes the problem.
    From you post, it sounds, like you might have already tried re-installing the drivers, but I'd like to be sure you did the install correctly by doing it again, step-by-step.


I'll keep an eye on the thread, so post as soon as you can.



Wabb

[SPKmes]

When I say booted from bios, I am actually trying to say that I have made the changes as you have typed above.
 
I used the windows installation disc for this.
This went straight to windows desktop.

[wabbit]

Ok,  I just wanted to be sure you did things correctly, since I don't know how technical you are. Better safe then sorry...

In that case, if you didn't miss a 'hit any key to boot from CDROM', then you probably have a problem with your motherboard.

The drivers, from the motherboard company are windows drivers. They won't have any effect on whether or not you can boot to your CDROM Drive, because those drivers don't come into play until Windows is started. If your Windows Installation CD is a full-install disk, and it refuses to boot to the install, then the problem looks to be in the motherboard.

There is only one other thing that might be causing your problem, that I can think of, and that's a corrupt BIOS. I downloaded the latest BIOS to check it. It says it's for the following motherboards:

661GX7MI-RS
661FX7MI-RS
661FX7MI-S
661GX7MI-S

Since I couldn't find, the exact model number you posted, 661FX7MI, I would guess, that the Bios listed for the above models, should work on your motherboard, but I would call the company and verify this before trying to update the BIOS. Their number is: 714-871-9968.  They can verify it's the correct BIOS, and then you can download it. They should also be able to point you to the correct download page for the BIOS download.

Here's the link for the page I found:

http://www.foxconnchannel.com/product/Motherboards/detail_overview.aspx?ID=en-us0000152

Now, since you can't boot to a CDROM, you'll need to have a Floppy drive installed and set your
First Boot Device to 'Floppy'. Hopefully, you have a floppy drive installed. If not, maybe you can get one out of an old system you, or a friend might have, or purchase one from a used computer hardware shop locally, (They're pretty cheap these days). You might look into the BIOS and see if you can set the First Boot Device to a USB Drive, and boot from that if you have one pf those also. I couldn't see if that was an option from the manual, so you can check the BIOS or ask Foxconn to be sure.

If you can get a floppy drive installed, or already have one installed, then you'll need to create a bootable Floppy disk and place the two files in the BIOS download on that disk.  If after creating a bootable floppy, there isn't enough room on the boot floppy disk, then you can place the files on another clean floppy disk, and once booted, remove the boot disk and put in the one with the BIOS files. Once in you run the AWFlash.exe to load the BIOS from the 'A:' prompt, (or whatever prompt the floppy drive shows after boot).
I couldn't find any exact instructions for running the AWFLASH.exe, so instead of my trying to give you the command, I would suggest you call Foxconn and have them give you the exact instructions to avoid any mistakes. 

It's been a long time since I had to create a bootable floppy and I don't have any floppies installed on my systems to check things. If memory serves me correctly, you can right-click on the Floppy drive icon in 'My Computers' and the Left-click on Format. In the next window you'll see, you should have an option to create a startup disk. Then all you have to do is copy the two files over like I talked about above.

If you've never done this before, make certain you have the correct command line command for running the flash program and the correct BIOS file for your motherboard. Call Foxconn to verify all that.
Be Very careful, because if anything interrupts the BIOS update, anything, you could end up with a motherboard that has to be sent back to the company to have the BIOS flashed.

The problem, as I see it, is if you can't boot to a CDROM, a floppy drive, or a USB drive, then your only recourse is to send the motherboard back to the company to have them flash the BIOS. If you're not under warranty any more, you'll have to find out what they would charge for that service.

Keep me posted on what's going on, and I'll help where I can.


Good Luck!

Wabb

[SPKmes]

Cheers wabb,
I thought about copying my windows and or motherboard discs to a flash drive and try it that way. I do believe the usb 1st boot is an option. either way I can atleast try.

the model number does seem to covered under the number I gave to you as the disc lists all of these.

I must thank you for your time and effort and had I been a little...lot more articulate and computer literate I could have save you most of this but still.

Thank you <----- supposed to be bigger font but really can't work this sizing thing.

Cheers
   

[wabbit]

Glad to be able to help.

Keep us posted on what happens.


Wabb