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38113
August 24th, 2008 13:00
Performing automamtic IDE configuration...
Hi,
After much searching I still havn't found an answer to my problem.
I am trying to fix a friends computer. Dell dimension E520
During bios update his power strip got turned off, now it won't boot. It just stops on this screen. No beeps.
Dell System Dell DM061 Series
BIOS version 2.4.0
www.dell.com
Performing automatic IDE configuration
_
This is the latest bios for this comp.
I have reset Cmos using the jumper. When that didn't change anything I pulled the battery for a few minutes.
The front panel stops with lights 1 and 2 lit. I removed the modem. Other than the graphics card this is the only thing in a pci slot. There is no floppy disk on this computer.
It came with Vista but I upgraded it to XP Pro some time back. (yes it is a legal copy pretty COA and all)
Best I can tell is that the bios is corrupted and it needs a new motherboard.
Thanks for any responses
fireberd
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33.4K Posts
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August 24th, 2008 21:00
According to the Dell manual Lights 1 and 2 could be an expansion board (PCI or PCIe) failure.
There are no IDE devices in that PC, both the CD/DVD drives and the hard drives are SATA.
But, it does sound like a possible motherboard failure.
There should be Dell diagnostics on the hard drive (unless the drive has been formatted and the diagnostic and the recovery partitions have been deleted). If you press F12 at boot up (and before the BIOS loads) if the Diagnostic partition is there and run the Diagnostics, if you can.
fireberd
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33.4K Posts
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August 25th, 2008 11:00
I think you can, even if the Dell download is only says to run under Windows.
But, the problem comes in, will it recognize the floppy drive?
In almost all all cases (actually all that I know of) if the BIOS is corrupted the only recourse is a new Dell motherboard.
RedNeckNerd
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August 25th, 2008 11:00
Thanks for the reply.
The person that tried to install XP before me formatted it. Not that it matters because I would have formatted it too.
I'm aware of the no IDE. Thats why I found it odd and suspect the BIOS didn't finish loading before the power was shut off.
If I was too add a floppy could I load BIOS on this machine from a disk?
BIOS is all thats wrong with the motherboard (even though that still makes it a shotgun target!).