How do i make bootable system disk for pc without OS so i can change BIOS

[acrylic man]

I have a motherboard with a nVidia chipset which doesn't want to be compatible with my sata hard drive: http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=149811

Although getting a new hard drive is one option, another may be to update my bios and see if my hard drive will work then as the bios update talks of 'Improve SATA HDD function'. I don't have an operating system on the pc yet, and to update my bios i create a bootable floppy disk and add the new bios file to that and then replace the old file. I want to put windows xp home on my system, but how do i go about making a bootable disk for a pc without an operating system yet?

ECS KN1 Extreme motherboard http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWeb/Product...uID=16&LanID=9
Geil Dual Channel 2x512mb ram
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939)
Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GV-NX66256DP2
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 300GB 6V300F0 SATA-II 16MB Cache
LG DVD Writer (I can't remember exact specs)
£5 floppy disk drive reader

[doctorgonzo]

Go to www.bootdisk.com, and they have driver-free bootdisks for BIOS flashing.

[bailey]

or make a xp boot disk from another pc, its just a matter of formating the floppy and adding the system files, plus the bios flashing software and the bios file its self, it will all fit on a floppy and takes a couple minuts to make.

[acrylic man]

ok i downloaded the 'Driver Free Disk For BIOS Flashing' file from bootdisk.com and then i formatted a floppy and ran the program which makes the disk driver free. I had a look in the disk and there was no files for the Driver Free Disk For BIOS Flashing file there afterwords but i assumed the program had worked and put the bios flashing software and the bios update on the disk. I changed the original bios first to boot from floppy first and tryed the disk and its not coming up A:\ . what could have i done wrong?

[acrylic man]

I changed all 3 boot options to floppy on the bios and still it comes up boot from cd and there is not a cd rom in the drive just the floppy why is it not working?

[doctorgonzo]

Are you sure you formatted the disk correctly? Just download the file, run it, and insert the floppy when it tells you to. Then put the BIOS flash utility and the data file on the floppy.

[acrylic man]

it just comes up boot from cd then this screen:

http://s61.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3...404MIEADID6U9V

counts up to 50, says disk boot error, insert system boot disk and press enter, i press enter and i get this screen

http://s61.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1...W2BKFZF57151SB

and then it loops back to the first screen. Shouldn't it load from the floppy and then have a:\ come up and then i type the file name of the bios program and file to replace the bios with? what is going wrong!

[tempus]

Originally Posted by acrylic man it just comes up boot from cd then this screen: http://s61.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3...404MIEADID6U9V counts up to 50, says disk boot error, insert system boot disk and press enter, i press enter and i get this screen http://s61.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1...W2BKFZF57151SB and then it loops back to the first screen. Shouldn't it load from the floppy and then have a:\ come up and then i type the file name of the bios program and file to replace the bios with? what is going wrong!

yes it should load from the floppy. Try to get a windows 98 bootdisk. It should work if it is set correctly in the bios.

[acrylic man]

well i finally found out my floppy cable wasn't working and managed to update my bios but its done ditto in the end to solve my problem of my hard not being recognised in sata port 1. It is recognised in sata port 2 and 3 but windows xp install shall only format my hard drive to 4% and then crashes. I suppose its time to plump for a new hard drive .....