ACPI issue with GA-MA78GM-S2H

[Overdraught]

Just installed a new GA-MA78GM-S2H to replace dead mobo (blown capacitor) on an older system with W2k. Upgrade includes new CPU, PSU and RAM, plus the old drives. The new BIOS sees the HDD and begins Windows startup, but I get a blue screen with a message that says that the bios is not ACPI compliant. Flashed bios to F4... no joy. Tried Windows safe mode... no joy. I have some bootable rescue discs plus a Linux distro (Ubuntu), but dont know what to do to get past the ACPI issue. Any ideas???

TIA

Overdraught

[Lsdmeasap]

IS this the same board the old drives used only a new one?

If it isnt then you will likely need to format the drives and reinstall windows. Sometimes a Inplace Repair can be done and this would fix that, but maybe not. TO do that just put in the XP install disk and act as if you were going to reinstall. it will find your old install and tell you it is there and then ask to format, install twice or REPAIR. Choose Repair.

If that fails you will likely just need to format and reinstall it all. When switching motherboards you can usually only not have to do a reinstall when it is the same model/chipset otherwise a repair is needed, and usually a clean install is best

[Overdraught]

Thanks for the quick reply. The old board was a 6+ year old Soltek Socket A, and the hard drive is the same age. It sounds as if the worst case is reinstalling W2k, but I'll give the repair option a try first. I'll let you know how it turns out.

BTW, both the HDD and the CD-RW are IDE (PATA) and the board doesn't see the HDD unless I remove the CD drive. So it looks like I have an excuse to buy a new SATA optical drive. At this rate all I'll have left of the original build will be the case, floppy drive, and the modem...

Overdraught

[Lsdmeasap]

Good luck. Yeah sometimes a Repair install fixes it all right up, other times not. Either way it is a simple thing to do so you should be ok

Yeah, most IDE controllers often have issues with Hard Drives and Optical Drives on the same cable. Are you sure the jumpers are set in the proper place? If not set them both on CS (Cable Select)

But yeah if you can get a SATA and hook up then you would be better off. Plus it is a actual Upgrade... So no Excuse needed

If I was you though I would look at buying a new SATA hard drive, you will get more for your money out of a SATA hard drive then a Optical one you dont use as much and that does not affect system performance as much

Good luck again, and post back anytime if you need some help with this or anything else

*EDIT*

Ohh yeah sorry about the XP install disk comments, just a habit! Ya know I mean W2K though.

[Overdraught]

Well, the advice was good up to a point. Thanks. I'll save you the full Greek Tragedy and just advise anyone in the same situation to use this board with SATA drives and nothing older than XP. In other words, this is a great board for a completely new build, but you may be in for some real pain if you want to use legacy IDE drives or an older OS.

It's working beautifully now, but with one wierd quirk. The boot order is set to CD -> FDD -> HDD, and the hard drive order is set so that the drive with the system partition is first in line. And so...
- If there is no disk in either of the first two drives, the bios responds correctly.
- If there is a bootable disk one of the first two drives, the bios responds correctly.
- If there is a non-bootable disk in either of the first two drives, the bios gets loopy and tries to boot from the HDD that does not have an OS. Finding no OS, it hangs and has to be restarted after removing the non-bootable removable disk.

Otherwise, life is good.

OD

[Lsdmeasap]

Well at least you are getting somewhere!!