Al,

If we go with the assumption that the motherboard is alright, then
you need to look to the HD ribbon cable and the hard drive.

Is the cable good?

Is the HD configured properly?   Can you go to the CMOS and
does it AUTO recognize the drive?   I have seen this when the
HD is gone bad or it is not configured properly.   The reason
you are getting the controller failure is due to a backfeed from
something connected to the HD pins on the motherboad.

However, you also could be looking at a bad motherboard...  that is
why I would try a known good HD.  Connect it and see if the Bios
will AUTO regocnize it in your CMOS settings.  If this works then
you know that the problem exists from the HD pins connector on
the MB out...  ribbon cable or HD.

   Bob



At 12:59 AM 2/14/98 -0800, you wrote:
>Computer:
>EFA Corporation (whomever that is) 486 motherboard with onboard hard
>drive controllers.
>
>Problem:
>Hard Drive Controller Error during the BIOS initialization.
>
>Puzzle:
>If I boot with a floppy, I can switch to the C: drive and read and
>right to it just fine. BIOS Auto Drive Detect finds the drive, no
>problem.
>
>Comments:
>Can't be a virus; error is generated during the BIOS initialization;
>right??
>
>Current Condition:
>Motherboard with memory, video card,single HD & single floppy drive only.
>Boots with floppy after controller error message, else DRIVE NOT READY.
>Reads/writes from/to C: drive fine.
>
>Ideas???
>
>All comments welcome, thanks for your time.
>
>Al Anger


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