Dimension 3000 fails to seek diskette drive

I'm totally confused!

Your  title says "...fails to seek diskette drive" but your post says "No existing diskette drive". So exactly what do you mean?

If it's not reading from the CD drive, can we assume you haven't installed Windows and hardware drivers (in their correct order) on the new hard drive?  And you've actually put a bootable CD in the drive?

If you reboot and press F12, do you see an option to boot from CD? Have you tried that, with a bootable CD in the drive?

If that doesn't work, reboot and press F2 to open BIOS setup, look for the Boot Sequence and put CD drive first on the list. Save the change and exit setup with a bootable CD in the drive.

Is the new hard drive jumpered for Cable Select? And is it connected to the end connector on the flat IDE ribbon cable? Does BIOS setup recognize the new hard drive correctly?

Ron

The CD I have is one I just received from Dell, to set the computer to it's original configuration. However I can't install anything if it won;t read the CD drive

It means exactly that. The computer has never had the diskette drive, ever. But when it tries to boot up it will come to this answer: "diskette drive 0 seek failure"

It will not boot to the CD at all. It apparently doesn't see it. But there IS power to the drive, as it will start spinning with a disk in it.

It also does NOT recognize the keyboard, as when I press any of the keys, no matter which one, nothing happens.

The old hard drive, I suspect is fried. When I got this new one, I asked the computer tech about the jumpers on it and he said it is in the correct position at the end of the slot.

Yes, the ribbon cable is correctly connected, I wrote it down how it was connected before removing the old one.

I have a set of 5 CDs that Dell sent to me and I know how to install those, once I can find the CD drive. I have also already downloaded the BIOS.

Thank you

That would be the little flat, round battery?

If the PC is complaining about a floppy diskette drive seek error, then BIOS got reset to factory default settings (default = floppy ON).

If you didn't intentionally reset BIOS settings, it's possible the motherboard battery is dead. If the battery is dead, you'll need to replace it before going any further. It's a 3-volt CR2032 lithium ion battery, ~$2-$3 at discount stores.

Either way, you have to go into BIOS setup (reboot and press F2) and turn the floppy (Diskette) drive controller OFF. Be sure to save the change before exiting BIOS setup

The tech may have said the jumper is "correct" but does he know Dell PCs require the jumper to be set to Cable Select, and NOT to Master, as many other PCs require??

Here's Dell's tutoral for installing XP  but only after you get the BIOS floppy setting corrected, and confirm the jumper setting on the new hard drive. Hardware drivers must be installed in the correct order. XP followed in order by:

1. Desktop System Software (System Utilties)

2. Chipset driver

3. Video driver

4. Audio driver

5. Network driver

6. Modem driver

7. Other drivers

You can download the latest versions of the drivers for your system using your Service Tag number at support.dell.com. (Don't post Service Tag here!). This assumes you haven't replaced any hardware (eg, video card etc) since you purchased the system.

You can download them on any PC and burn them on a CD or copy to USB memory stick. You probably will want to rename them to something more useful when you download them, because names like R123456.exe are not helpful. That way you'll know which one is which and be able to install in the correct order.

And remember, after installing XP and drivers, get firewall and antiviral suite running and go directly to the Microsoft Update site to download and install XP SP3, plus all other Microsoft updates and hotfixes for everything. Then install IE8.

Ron

EDITED

As for the jumper, it is in the end position on the outside edge of the pins. I didn't see anything as to where it's supposed to be. Is there a diagram somewhere?

Typically hard drives have a label on them showing which way the jumper is set for the 3 different options (Master, Slave, or Cable Select).

The jumper varies from hard drive to hard drive, so if there's no label or other markings, the only way you may be able to  tell is look on the manufacturer's web site for that specific drive, or ask the guy in the PC shop who said it's "right".

Ron

The battery is silver, about the size of a US quarter.

Drivers on the CDs from Dell are probably way outdated. You'd be better off downloading the latest ones from their support site.

Oh wait...Are you saying you updated BIOS and then the problems started?? :emotion-3:

That would explain why the floppy controller got set to ON, since that's the default setting. And if you had a failed BIOS flash update, that might explain some of the other symptoms (eg, keyboard issue). If the BIOS update failed, you'll need a new motherboard...

Install a fresh battery and see if that solves the problems...It's cheap/easy and hopefully you won't need a new motherboard...

Ron

You're welcome...

Does the label actually say "Windows XP Service Pack 3"? If the CD is XP SP3 that's great news! It'll save you a lot of time during the reinstallation. And make sure the firewall is running too before going on line to update everything else.

I'm glad to hear you didn't update BIOS so what I said about a failed flash update is irrelevant. Remember to change the floppy setting to OFF after you replace the battery.

The D3000 has 4 diagnostic LEDs on the rear of the tower. So after you replace the battery and reboot, if they don't all turn green, the error code may point you at the problem.

Let us know how it goes...

Nighty-night!

Ron

The tech support I emailed with, said the Windows XP cd has the service pack 3 in it. I know to go get the anti-virus first then the correct updates.

As for the BIOS, I didn't touch those, but I think possibly the owner's kids tried messing with it. I don't have a clue as to who did what.

I sure do appreciate your help with this. I will get a new battery tomorrow, then let you know what happens.

Many thanks!

I'm BACK!

I changed the motherboard battery, then finally figured out I needed to change my keyboard batteries, then I finally was able to get into the BIOS.

I turned OFF the diskette drive as you instructed.

In the boot sequence section it says the CD drive is NOT installed. I have completely unplugged it from both ends, nothing else is connected to that cable, and it is still the same.

Also in looking at the error codes, the 1st 3 lights are green but the 4th is not. I also discovered in the error codes, that if it beeps twice when trying to boot up, I need to contact you.

Last but not least, I enabled the OS Install option, but now when I get out of system set-up, I get the error message "OS Install Mode Enabled. Memory limited to 256 MB" (I know that's not enough memory and I know there is a lot more memory than that in there.

New batteries are always good!

I assume you mean Green-Green-Green Amber. That could mean there's a hardware failure somewhere OR the system is trying to boot from the new hard drive which is blank  (unformatted and no OS).

If tthe CD drive is disconnected BIOS won't see it. So reconnect it to the same cable and to the exact same connector where it was originally connected. And then go into BIOS setup to change the boot sequence to put the CD drive first on the list. Save the change and exit setup with the XP CD in the drive.

You should use that OS install mode when booting from the XP CD to install XP on the hard drive. During the first reboot AFTER installing XP, you will need to go back into BIOS setup to turn OS install mode OFF.

Don't connect the flash drive with all the drivers on it until AFTER you installed XP and are ready to install the drivers.

And just to be clear, I don't work for Dell. I own a Dell PC and I'm just a volunteer on these forums.

Ron

When I try to boot up I tells me that the OS Install mode IS enabled, but the memory is limited to 256 MB. So I went back into the BIOS and made sure that the LIMIT thing is DISABLED. I am still getting the same message.

When I check the MEMORY information, it shows 1,536 MB of memory.