Trouble with error 43, cannot access bios

[proteusmedia]

Peter i think i got the D8b the devil used to record his projects on....LOL is giving me hell. I'm still getting the system 43 error host did not boot check cpu rack or call tech support. I have replaced the Hd With a 40 gig maxor set the jumper settings so it's reads as 32gig or lower replaced the battery. Brought a new stick of ram 256 meg. set the bios according to the Intel celeron 466MHz mfg settings that were listed on your website for that MB.. removed all of the expansion cards checked the BFC and the data cable on both ends made sure the ribbon cables were snug formatted the Hd installed the v3 software via floppy and mixer accepted the install Still i get 43 error message check cpu rack now Db8 Family i did this
after i did what the guys on the fourm advised me to do like check cables, replace, the battery reformat the original drive and load the v3 os. HELP LOL I do not want to call mackie support.....long wait times

[Crash]

Sorry, I missed the call for help. Keeping this in front of many of us is better anyway. I am not really sure what else to tell you at the moment. Has this console ever worked for you? If it did, can you put the RAM back in from when it worked? Is the new RAM compatible? You can't just stick any RAM in there, it has to be pc100 backward compatible as I recall. I will ponder on this and see if I can think of anything else as I am sure will the others.

[proteusmedia]

Alright....at least i'm getting progress ... I changed the Ribbon cable and now i'm getting the error message below ... i get this message on bot the 30gb hd and the 40 gb hd with the jumpers set ( note New OS installed on both drives with the correct bios settings...now what

[synthjoe]

I wouldn't exactly call this a progress...

Your previous screenshot (sent to and posted by Peter) shows a typical failure of the OS (if seen for more than a couple of seconds) switching to graphical mode when the wrong type of VGA card is used. What you see now is a failure before even reading the OS from the HDD.

You can have only one HDD in the d8b CPU at a time and that has to be the primary master (first HDD in the BIOS setup - pause the boot screen to see if you're unsure). If you use two HDD's or the system disk is not primary master, you get the error message that you see.
Another possibility is that the OS is not installed on the first partition (if the disk has several). Best would be to use FDISK (after backing up all important data) to delete all partitions and create anew to start with a single <2GB primary DOS partition before installing the OS - use the document Peter pointed you to.

What you see on screen means that the BIOS is able to load files from the HDD, but the Mackie software fails to access the disk in "protected" mode (the enhanced mode of post 8086 processors) - amongst others this can be due to an inappropriate IDE cable (make sure you use UDMA capable IDE cables - rated to at least 66 MHz data transfer rate), bad termination of the cable (both end plugs of the IDE cable should be used, not the intermediate connectors on it), or unconventional attachment/partitioning/formatting of the HDD. Maybe you'll need to disable disk partitioning/formatting for the Mackie OS installer (as Peter has suggested in the linked document) to get over this problem.

[proteusmedia]

ok jo i think we are getting some where. Let me first say i'm only using one drive at a time when this whole issue started i got a fresh 40 gb hard drive that i never opened. So correct me if i'm wrong when i run Fdisk delete all partitions and create anew to start with a single <2GB primary DOS partition before installing the OS. then restart the unit and pop in disk 2 right ? now on disk 2 is asks u do u want to format via the mixer should i or not. Wont it delete the newly created dos. if i proceed then i would confirm the format and install of the os on the disc next insert disk 2 which will load the complete os and the plugins (according to the VDU on the mixer)remove the 2nd disk (or disk 3 if u include the MS-DOS disk as disk 1) and restart the system via the power button on the cpu correct ...i will once i get over to the studio apout 9:30 tonight...tks bro for the reply hope this works

[proteusmedia]

How do u disable disk partitioning/formatting for the Mackie OS installer?

[proteusmedia]

got it but OS still wont load..Im bidding on a power supply and cpu on ebay now hopefully i will win it so i can trash this current one cause it is killing my production time

[synthjoe]

Disabling format and creating a partition is described in detail in the document Peter has linked, as far as I can tell. Did you have a look at it?

Is your disk detected by the computer as primary master?

[proteusmedia]

yes Sir its just not booting the os. Called Mackie Support earler but i was not at the studio. the tech i talked to asked that call him on monday morning @ 8am PST so he could walk me through the set up. Bad thing is if it is the MB they dont have any in stock 166 or 300's it a legacy product. But if all else fails i got 22 hrs left on my auction for a another PS/CPU

[synthjoe]

Rather than waiting 'till Monday, you can connect a CD-ROM to the IDE cable (together with the HDD) and install Win9x or a small graphical Linux distribution to see what it does. If those work, then there should be no reason for the Mackie OS not to work. I'm sure it is something minor, but it is difficult to troubleshoot offline, remotely. You can alternatively download some DOS based diagnostics tool and run that against the HW.

Remember, the CPU is basically a garden grade x86 computer, just make sure you don't touch the BIOS and yes, Mackie OS is somewhat picky as to the board type (and more importantly the BIOS). But still, the hardware itself is capable of running any x86 based OS just like any other board would and if one demanding OS is running on it, apart from configuration there's no other reason why the other wouldn't. Maybe those OSes will be more verbose about any problem they detect. Maybe you should start with DOS based diagnostics, that would be the least intrusive step towards troubleshooting.

Just one thoguht: did you manage to put back the original IDE ribbon cable and revert to the earlier state (last message screen)? Because as you've wrote, the new situation (which is worse than the previous) occured when you've replaced the IDE ribbon cable - and this message clearly indicates that you have a problem with disk access that you did not have before. Do you skype?