Intel D850MV Motherboard PXE-E61 Media Test Failure Check Cable

[Snappy69]

This seems to be an area of difficulty for everyone that I've spoken with. Here's the story:

I've ordered two identical sets of hardware and BOTH have precisely the same error, so this leads me to believe it's a configuration issue.

Intel D850MV motherboards with P4 1.8Ghz 478 PIN PROCESSORS and Rambus PC800 RIMM's. All connections are good. RAM has been removed and reseated in the appropriate order and the simulators have been reseated as well.

The hard drives are brand new and unformatted.

After assembly of components on initial startup I entered the BIOS setup and observed that the BIOS has correctly identified all of the peripherals. I reset the settings to factory defaults and all of the peripherals are still identified correctly. Exited and saved settings.

On the reboot, both machines come back with this:

Intel Boot Agent 4.0.19
Intel Base Code PXE-2.1 (build 083)
PXE-E61 Media Test Failure, Check Cable
PXE-MOF Exiting Intel PXE ROM
Boot Failue, System Halted

The motherboard had a built in LAN connection, and the best information that I can get is that the PXE-E61 error message means this:

The adapter does not detect link. Please make sure that the cable is good and is attached to a working hub or switch. The link light visible from the back of the adapter should be lit.

The PXE-MOF message means this:

Ending execution of the ROM image.

Neither of these machines are connected to a network yet. Right now I'm just trying to partition the hard drives and install OS's. Surely I don't have to be connected to a network to initially set up the machine, what if it was a standalone?

Apparently the PXE is Intel's Pre-Boot Execution Agent and ostensibly can be turned off by pressing Ctrl-S on the initialization screen. I cannot get that part to work.

The best answer that the Reseller can give me is "I don't know." Imagine that! It's UnitedMicro if anyone is interested.

http://www.unitedmicro.com/index.shtml

I could really use some help here if anyone is familiar with this problem.

Kind Regards,
Scott

 

[Jakespeare]

I use those mainboards, and install them, boot up and go.

I don't think it is a LAN problem either.

> Troubleshooting, I am always reminded, is about checking the basics.

CABLES.......... Floppy. Hard drives. POWER SUPPLY ...... as you probably know by now, the Pentium 4's have one or 2 extra power cables running to the mainboards.
> Do you have a PENTIUM 4 - APPROVED P/S ?

I would re-check everything, and only work on one at a time.

No offense, but it really sounds like user error...... something that you have neglected to do, or have done that isn't correct.
> Dbl & triple check.
Get someone else, a Pro, to check it over.
CALL INTEL........

 

[Snappy69]

I have double checked all the connections, and I do have a P4 approved power supply. There is only one additional power connection for the P4 (in addition to the ATX connector) it's a 4 pin square connector and it is also attached properly.

No offense at all taken to the user error implication, you are definately right, I just don't know what it is yet. The system must work, I just cannot identify what is incorrect at the moment. I'll triple check the connections to EVERY device.

Thank you for the speedy reply and I would still appreciate any additional comments if you or anyone else has some idea what I'm doing wrong.

Kind Regards,
Scott

 

[Snappy69]

PROBLEM FIXED!

Initially I did try to boot from the OS (W2K) disk and received a Disk I/O error that stopped the install. Ultimately, I discovered this: On both of these machines, there were two unformatted hard drives. When I disconnected the drive on the secondary IDE and left the first drive connected as the master on the primary IDE, the OS disk would successfully boot, partition and format the new drive. Once the OS was finished installing of course I used the Computer Management/Disk Management MMC to partition and format the second drive. After properly reconnecting it as the master on the secondary IDE.

Moral of the story is this: Although I don't know precisely WHY the system got so confused with both drives connected, it's understandable that it did. Install them one at a time and the "User Error" is rectified.

Thanks for everyone's help and I hope this might help someone else.

Kind Regards,
Scott