I acquired an IBM PC 350 about two months ago, and I've been gradually upgrading the system. When I got it, it didn't have a hard drive, so I put in an SSD using a sata-to-ide converter. Since then, I've wanted to run multiple operatig systems, so I decided to use a cf-to-ide converter. No problems, I got an 8gb CF, installed it as my boot device, and BIOS sees it just fine. I installed Win98 and everything works just fine; it boots and runs perfectly.

So I then swapped out to another CF card to install DOS (yes, I know, DOS will only see 2 gb of the 8 gb CF, but that's fine). The CF card is the exact same model as the one that works for Win98. But when I format it with the system, it won't boot. It just sits there with a blinking cursor, no "Starting MS-DOS..." message or anything. I tried installing Win98's version of DOS on it and that doesn't boot either. I have now tried two other models of CF cards, and these haven't worked either. I've even replaced the CF-to-ide converter with two others and the behavior is very consistent; the original Win98 CF boots just fine, no others do.

Looking at the BIOS, it appears correct every time. It is limited to 8gb drives, but I'm only using 8gb or smaller CF cards.

Honestly, I'm out of ideas, so if anyone has any thoughts or insights, I would be very appreciative.