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DIM 4300 can't get past BIOS. Help!
My Dell Dimension 4300 (XP PRO) hangs in the boot process. It displays the usual start-up stuff about the Phoenix Bios, RAID controller, and so on--that is, the stuff it has always displayed--and then says "Strike F1 key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility."
But when I hit F1, I get a message "strike F1 tro retry boot, F2 for setup utility."
If I press F2, I get the SETUP page, and when I press F1 on that page, I get a box with some info. That tells me that F1 is working. I've tried this with several keyboards, and I always get the same results.
I wonder if this might be related to something I did recently. I had to transport the machine in my car for a long distance, and for safety's sake I removed the HD and wrapped it in bubble wrap.
But I replaced the HD carefully and I'm pretty sure I've got it connected properly (red stripe on the ribbon cable next to the red wire on the power connector, and seated properly). And IAC I think this problem is occurring in the BIOS, before the machine ever tries to read the HD.
All suggestions or comments appreciated!!! Thanks.
cant_keep_hands
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April 7th, 2011 07:00
ADDENDUM: As an experiment I disconnected the ribbon cable on the HD and tried re-booting. The results are exactly the same. This suggests even more strongly that there is a problem somewhere in the BIOS. But this machine booted properly before I transported it in the car, and i have not changed any BIOS settings.
shesagordie
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April 7th, 2011 08:00
cant_keep_hands_off
Is the power button LED, solid green, blinking green, solid amber, blinking amber?
Are there any *Beeps*?
Check the sequence of the diagnostic lights on the back panel of the case?
See HERE
Bev.
RoHe
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April 7th, 2011 10:00
It sounds like the motherboard battery may be weak or dead. It didn't hold BIOS settings correctly during transport and they got scrambled.
Power off and unplug
Press/hold power button for ~15 sec
Open the case and remove the motherboard battery
Press/hold power button again for ~30 sec
Reintsall the battery -probably a fresh one- (right-side-up!) and see if it boots now. It's a 3-volt CR2032 lithium coin cell battery, ~$2-$3 at discount stores.
Ron
cant_keep_hands
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April 11th, 2011 17:00
Rohe:
Thanks for the suggestion.
True to my user name, I kept fiddling with the machine, connecting, un-connecting, and re-connecting the HD, and eventually it booted up properly. I don't know what I did, but it works. I wish I knew what it was, bec. this is a mystery!
RoHe
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April 15th, 2011 20:00
Life is a mystery!
Glad it's working again.
Ron