# Instantcake help - cdrom "unknown device"



## miketx (Sep 22, 2005)

Ok, this seems like a really basic question, and I'm a technical guy, but for some reason when I configure my CDROM for "primary slave" on the Primary IDE in my PC, in the bios it shows up as "unknown device" in the bios and I can't boot the Instantcake CD. What's up? I've tried both my CDROM drives, both have the same result. I know I've booted from CDROM before, so I'm not sure what the issue is. I've got the harddrive setup as Master on the Secondary IDE, with no other devices connected. This PC was running fine before I pulled the drives to create my replacement Tivo drive.

Thanks, Mike


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## SeanC (Dec 30, 2003)

Have you ever seen a CDROM show up as recognized on this PC? 

Have you tried setting the BIOS to None instead of autodetect?


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## miketx (Sep 22, 2005)

Yeah, I've turned the Autodetect off. I even moved the DVDROM (meant to mention that.....these are DVD drives) to the Secondary IDE, just to check, and it shows up there also as "unknown device". Both of these DVD drives were working in the PC before, on the Secondary IDE, with the main hard drive as primary. I used cable-select before, but have set them for "slave" per Instantcake instructions. This PC came with a DVD-ROM drive as standard, from the factory.

Mike


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## miketx (Sep 22, 2005)

In addition to what I previously mentioned, I tried the same procedure on my "other" PC (same model). Prior to disconnecting the drives, when I reboot to the BIOS settings, all of the drives show up (both DVD drives show up as "CD ROM reader"). However, when I disconnect the drives, set one up as slave on the Primary IDE, it shows up as "Unknown device" when I boot to BIOS again. Huh?

Mike


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## miketx (Sep 22, 2005)

Ok, it gets more interesting. If I hook everything back up (both of my Windows HDs), the DVD ROMs show back up when I boot straight to the BIOS setup. Does my BIOS need the hard drives to function? I'm confused and would appreciate any help from PC gurus on the board (thought I was one, but obviously not).

Mike


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## miketx (Sep 22, 2005)

Ok, more info. I put all of my drives back in the PC. Now when I boot to BIOS, of course I have a list of drives to boot from. I select "Boot from CD rom" and put the Instantcake CD in. Nothing. The drive spins up, but the BIOs keeps telling me "Press F1 to retry boot". Is my Image bad? I used Nero to burn the ISO (just selected the ISO file in the burn menu and let it burn). What's up? Anybody have any ideas? What should have been a 10 minute job is turning into a nightmare.

Mike


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## miketx (Sep 22, 2005)

Ok, update: Instantcake/PTV instructions say to hook up your CD drive as "Primary SLAVE". That won't work in my computers. The only bootable drives are the Masters, not Slaves. I confirmed this with Dell (I went on a Dell support forum and asked). So, I hooked up DVD/CD drive as "Primary MASTER" and my new HD as "Secondary MASTER", and PRESTO! Everything works just fine now. 

Mike


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