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Need just a little more help-----e310----I'm almost there and many thanks for all your help
Brief history: Received e310 from sister------no power---dead. After replacing MOBO with a used one and the front I/O panel (power switch--used one) and new CMOS battery-----power restored. Next----corrupted OS (all sorts of blue screens, etc.) Could, on occasion, get WinXP to boot up. Finally this morning, I was able to access the Dell Recovery partition of the hard drive and fully restored the OS. Thank the good Lord!
Now: In the boot sequence, I previously set the CD drive as #1 with the SATA hard drive as #2. In the System Set-up screen, it shows: 1. Onboard or USB CD ROM drive (not present) 2. Onboard SATA hard-drive (blank) 3. Onboard IDE hard drive (not present) 4. USB device (not present) 5. Onboard or USB floppy drive (not present).
Problems: This e310 came with a DVD/CD combo drive. Showing not present in the boot sequence and it does not show up in Device Manager or under My Computer. Has power (tray works) plus the green tray light flickers and sounds as tho it's working but, obviously, not reading a CD. Double checked and reseated data cable. Next, a floppy drive appears in Device Manager and in My Computer-----no such animal. Plus after the power button is pressed (turn on)----it shows the WinXP screen, then 2 beeps and a DOS screen stating: Floppy diskette seek failure------Strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the set-up utility. Hit the F1 key and it goes into the WinXP screen and then right to the desktop. Why a floppy disk when there isn't one and why not the DVD/CD when there is one.
If you guys can help me resolve these last remaining issues-----I'll Dance at your next Wedding!
fireberd
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9 Legend
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August 31st, 2010 14:00
The floppy drive needs to be disabled in the Setup (F2 BIOS). It's common for this to show up if the BIOS was reset or never setup previously.
Check CD/DVD drive, which I assume from the Dell manual is a PATA (IDE) interface, and if it's not set for Cable Select, it should be. If data and power cables are connected correctly, the next would be to check the drive and/or data cable in another PC if available. If not there are three possibilities - the data cable is defective, the drive is bad or the data port on the motherbord is bad.
RoHe
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10 Elder
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August 31st, 2010 18:00
And read this.
Ron
beneteau
463 Posts
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September 1st, 2010 12:00
Thanks, again, Firebird. Unfortunately in Bios (F2), the only option I have is to "Remove a drive from the Boot Sequence" which I did to the floppy drive. I cannot delete the floppy drive only remove the boot sequence number in front of it. I'm still getting the DOS screen indicating it didn't find the floppy diskette and to press F1 to continue.
The DVD/CD drive is SATA not IDE, it uses a MOBO plug next to the hard drive data plug. I think I'm going to install the DVD/CD in my wife's e510 (her drives are currently IDE)-----disconnect her drives, install the DVD and use the SATA cable to her MOBO.
Update: I just installed a known good CD drive in the e310. It's IDE. Windows is not recognizing it either. Looks like I'll try the other suggestion on the Windows registry change and see what that gets me.
2nd Update: Ron's suggestion (MS change in registry) didn't work either.
Could both of these lingering 2 problems be related to the MOBO change? My BIOS version is A04 which is the latest version from Dell.
I don't know what to do next..................................
beneteau
463 Posts
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September 1st, 2010 15:00
I'M AN IDIOT! IT'S FIXED! WORKING LIKE A CHARM!
Went into BIOS setup. Never checked SATA 0 or SATA 1 (DVD/CD drive) drives-------SATA 1 was turned OFF----default is ON. DVD/CD is now working properly.
Went into Diskette Drive----changed setting to "Off"-------no more checking Floppy Diskette when booting up----no more DOS screen. Booting up properly.
Now, I think I deserve a glass of wine.
Sorry guys that you were dealing with a birdbrain; but, many thanks for all of your suggestions.