CANNOT find any drive but A: in DOS "invalid drive specification"

[Clawhammer223]

I'm trying to update my BIOS... When I boot into DOS with the MS-DOS startup disk I cannot get to any other drive besides the floppy drive "A:". When I try to copy files over to, or just get to the C: drive I get the message "invalid drive specification". It also doesn't see my other partition or any of the CD-ROM drives. For some reason it see's a B:, which I don't have, but when I switch over to it I just hear it reading the floppy again??? I also typed in each letter in the alphabet to see if any of the drives were under different letters but couldn't access anything.. Using Win XP Home SP2. Appreciate any help!

 

[Didou]

If it does not load ASPI drivers, you won't be able to use the cdrom. You cannot get onto the other partitions as they are probably in NTFS & dos does not support that.

 

[gary_hendricks]

Hi Clawhammer223

First, be very careful what you do when update your BIOS.

You're most probably not seeing anything in C: because you've not formatted your hard disk. Is there data on your hard disk already? Or is it brand new? If its brand new you probably have to fdisk it first before MS-DOS will see it.

And you also need to load up those CD ROM drivers to see the CD drives. I can email you a generic CD-ROM boot disk if you want. Just message me.

 

[Didou]

You're most probably not seeing anything in C: because you've not formatted your hard disk. Is there data on your hard disk already? Or is it brand new? If its brand new you probably have to fdisk it first before MS-DOS will see it.

He says he's using Windows xp home so I believe there's already an OS installed & probably some other data on the drive. Using fdisk & format will only make sure everything is deleted.

If you're sure you want to update your BIOS you will have to find a way for the BIOS & the update program to reside on the floppy. The only other alternative would be to have a FAT16/32 partition available on which to copy the files.

 

[fatboy1109]

Why are you trying to copy the files over to the hard drive. If you are upgrading your bios you want a minimal startup, hence no support to anything else and you want to run the bios upgrade from your statup disc. Jusy make sure that you have the bios file (unzipped) on you startup disc, which will be installed as the new version.

Alternatively, most mobo manu's now have a way of updating automatically or through windows. When ever i have updated i try the auto route first and if this is busy download the bios and run the widows version of the uprade software.

Hope this is helpful