Look in the BIOS and see if legacy USB support is enabled or if there are other options you can set under the legacy options to get the USB drive to become bootable.
Thanks very much Steve. I just shutdown and looked in the BIOS. Under LegacySelect Options, Integrate Devices, there are only two listings for USB. They are: USB Emulations and it has 3 settings, (ON, OFF, No Boot). I have it ON. The second item is USB Controller. This one is either (ON or OFF). I have that set to ON. And of course, in Device Mgr having USB1.1 and USB2.0, there are numerous listings and all are OK. I appreciate your response. Thanks again!
Hi. Let me add one more item to this and then I will leave it. Is it possible that no drivers are available for USB until Windows begin running? I hadn't thought about that possibility but if that is true, is there a way or method to get around this issue? Are there any viewers to this post, that have USB floppy drives able to use them prior to windows booting up and if so, where in the BIOS could that be setup? This is possibly a dead issue but my thanks for reviewing it. Regards
Look in your legacy Select options. Make sure the floppy controller is set to OFF. I think the default is AUTO, which means the BIOS will look for an internal floppy only. When you set it to OFF, BIOS won't look for an internal floppy, and if you still have your A: drive set for 1.44MB, BIOS will look for a USB floppy to satisfy that request. You should be able to set the floppy in the boot order after that (as long as the floppy is plugged in - if not, it will still show as "not installed").
uhhh, duhhh... OK, I was able to set it up following your input and that went very good. Here's the way I had it until I had to change it back some, especially the boot sequence.
A. In the Drive configuration for Diskette Drive A .... I set it to 3.5 inch, 1.44MB.
B. In the Hard-Disk Drive Sequence... it still shows (1) System BIOS Boot Devices and (2) USB Devices (not installed).
C. In the last item, Boot Sequence, I had the sequence with checkmarks making them active as: (1) Diskette Drive (2) Hard-Disk Drive C: (3) IDE CD-ROM Device.
So far so good...except in the HDD Sequence in B above about the USB Device.
After changing these items, I shutdown and with floppy in the USB drive, I rebooted. It paused for awhile and a light would flicker on the USB Drive...but then I would get a black monitor image with ... Hit F1 to try again and/or F2 to re-enter Setup. Hitting F1 several times did nothing. I unplugged and replugged the USB device and still nothing. So I had to hit F2 and reenter BIOS and move Diskette drive back to #3. So in B above, even though it is plugged in and all other items properly selected, it still shows no USB Device installed. Maybe I could try replugging it in another USB port and see if that makes a difference? Thanks kindly for assisting. Regards
Don't worry about the Hard-Disk sequence. The "USB device" listed there is for USB hard drives and memory keys, not floppies.
The fact that it wouldn't boot could be any of the following:
1) Your diskette isn't bootable (have you checked?)
2) Your USB floppy isn't supported (what brand USB drive is it?)
3) Your BIOS needs an update (are you using BIOS A07? If not, you might want to update)
Thanks Duhhh. I know that I updated the BIOS once since getting this machine and I believe it is A06...so will check that out. I will also check out the other items you list and also check out the Memory Diagnostics floppy I made and ran on another machine. Somewhere amidst all this, the solution should be there. It will probably be tomorrow evening before I get back to this...but I will return. Thanks again!
Good Evening Duhhh, if you are still around. I was able to make it back tonight. Anyway, in a capsule,
(1). The diskette is bootable...I have another machine here running WinME and after changing bootup sequence to Floppy first, this MS Memory Diagnostic floppy booted up and I checked out the installed memory. It passed all tests.
2). The USB Floppy Drive is supported...best I can tell. Will add some info below.
(3). I've downloaded and updated the BIOS to A07.
OK...the Drive is a Mitsumi FDD USB Device. When rightclicking on it in My Computer, clicking on properties, then on Hardware, and highlighting the drive, clicking on Properties (again), in the Device Status window it says.... "This device is working properly".
Next when clicking on the Driver tab, I did note that the driver listed is a Microsoft driver, dated 7/1/2001 (that came with the OEM XP) system. There is a SmartDisk CD with the Floppy Drive but the instructions stated "If you computer is running windows XP, your SmartDisk Floppy Drive does not require the use of this CD...just plug it into a free port and you are ready to go". Well it works like that in Windows...no problems.
I just tried it again moments ago, and no-go. I did note the LED light blinking softly as the machine was booting up, but it came on through to the desktop. I still have the BIOS set for Floppy boot as first option. When I set the floppy drive as first option in the Dell 4100 WinME machine, it booted to this floppy.
Do you think running the CD that came with the Floppy would be a better choice than the 2001 driver that XP is using? I also might need to go to Mitsumi and try for a better driver. Thanks a lot for your nudging me into trying things I hadn't thought of but alas, still at square one. Regards
It's not the windows driver. When you boot from a USB floppy, the BIOS is doing all the work. BIOS doesn't support as many devices as Windows does (the BIOS code is tiny compared to the Windows driver), so it may be that BIOS can't work with that drive. I don't have a Mitsumi drive, mine are Teac, and they boot fine (I have a GX270, but it should be similar to the 4600). Did you buy the drive from Dell? If so, you should call tech support and report this. If you have access to another brand of floppy drive, you could also try that to be sure.
Nope, it's a wal-mart item. I suspect that your thoughts as to why it isn't working then with this computer are correct. I had ran that memory diagnostics floppy on a Dell 8200 where it has that extremely expensive RDRAM on board and the computer was on it's last legs... Of the 6 parts of the memory sticks being checked, four of them failed. So that's why I was trying to get this USB Floppy drive working here on this machine. You have a good day. Should I eventually get this thing working, I will relocate this thread and post it. Regards
Duhhh, I can put a "wrap" on this one. There was no pamphlet etc with this SmartDisk floppy drive and the instructions on a small card was, if you are running windows XP, just plug the drive into a USB port and away you go. No need to use the accompanying CD. That's what I did. Today, I placed the CD in, looked for a User Manual (Guide) and found one. On the Floppy Disk Compatibility page, it reads: "Your SmartDisk Floppy Drive works the same as any other floppy disk drive. The only exception is that you cannot start your computer from a bootable disk using the SmarkDisk floppy Drive". So there it is in a nutshell... I just didn't do my homework. Thanks a bunch for your time and trouble. Regards
Thanks for the info. Worked fine for my 4600 with an Imation USB floppy. Had me stumped for awile and Dell support had no idea. Should have come to the forum first. So far two strikes (out of two) for Dell tech support.
volcano11
2 Intern
•
28K Posts
0
January 8th, 2004 00:00
Look in the BIOS and see if legacy USB support is enabled or if there are other options you can set under the legacy options to get the USB drive to become bootable.
Steve
JayaRe
98 Posts
0
January 8th, 2004 01:00
Thanks very much Steve. I just shutdown and looked in the BIOS. Under LegacySelect Options, Integrate Devices, there are only two listings for USB. They are: USB Emulations and it has 3 settings, (ON, OFF, No Boot). I have it ON. The second item is USB Controller. This one is either (ON or OFF). I have that set to ON. And of course, in Device Mgr having USB1.1 and USB2.0, there are numerous listings and all are OK. I appreciate your response. Thanks again!
JayaRe
98 Posts
0
January 8th, 2004 11:00
Hi. Let me add one more item to this and then I will leave it. Is it possible that no drivers are available for USB until Windows begin running? I hadn't thought about that possibility but if that is true, is there a way or method to get around this issue? Are there any viewers to this post, that have USB floppy drives able to use them prior to windows booting up and if so, where in the BIOS could that be setup? This is possibly a dead issue but my thanks for reviewing it. Regards
Duhhh
251 Posts
0
January 8th, 2004 13:00
JayaRe
98 Posts
0
January 8th, 2004 18:00
Hi Duhhh,
uhhh, duhhh... OK, I was able to set it up following your input and that went very good. Here's the way I had it until I had to change it back some, especially the boot sequence.
A. In the Drive configuration for Diskette Drive A .... I set it to 3.5 inch, 1.44MB.
B. In the Hard-Disk Drive Sequence... it still shows (1) System BIOS Boot Devices and (2) USB Devices (not installed).
C. In the last item, Boot Sequence, I had the sequence with checkmarks making them active as: (1) Diskette Drive (2) Hard-Disk Drive C: (3) IDE CD-ROM Device.
So far so good...except in the HDD Sequence in B above about the USB Device.
After changing these items, I shutdown and with floppy in the USB drive, I rebooted. It paused for awhile and a light would flicker on the USB Drive...but then I would get a black monitor image with ... Hit F1 to try again and/or F2 to re-enter Setup. Hitting F1 several times did nothing. I unplugged and replugged the USB device and still nothing. So I had to hit F2 and reenter BIOS and move Diskette drive back to #3. So in B above, even though it is plugged in and all other items properly selected, it still shows no USB Device installed. Maybe I could try replugging it in another USB port and see if that makes a difference? Thanks kindly for assisting. Regards
Duhhh
251 Posts
0
January 8th, 2004 20:00
The fact that it wouldn't boot could be any of the following:
1) Your diskette isn't bootable (have you checked?)
2) Your USB floppy isn't supported (what brand USB drive is it?)
3) Your BIOS needs an update (are you using BIOS A07? If not, you might want to update)
JayaRe
98 Posts
0
January 8th, 2004 20:00
Thanks Duhhh. I know that I updated the BIOS once since getting this machine and I believe it is A06...so will check that out. I will also check out the other items you list and also check out the Memory Diagnostics floppy I made and ran on another machine. Somewhere amidst all this, the solution should be there. It will probably be tomorrow evening before I get back to this...but I will return. Thanks again!
JayaRe
98 Posts
0
January 9th, 2004 02:00
Good Evening Duhhh, if you are still around. I was able to make it back tonight. Anyway, in a capsule,
(1). The diskette is bootable...I have another machine here running WinME and after changing bootup sequence to Floppy first, this MS Memory Diagnostic floppy booted up and I checked out the installed memory. It passed all tests.
2). The USB Floppy Drive is supported...best I can tell. Will add some info below.
(3). I've downloaded and updated the BIOS to A07.
OK...the Drive is a Mitsumi FDD USB Device. When rightclicking on it in My Computer, clicking on properties, then on Hardware, and highlighting the drive, clicking on Properties (again), in the Device Status window it says.... "This device is working properly".
Next when clicking on the Driver tab, I did note that the driver listed is a Microsoft driver, dated 7/1/2001 (that came with the OEM XP) system. There is a SmartDisk CD with the Floppy Drive but the instructions stated "If you computer is running windows XP, your SmartDisk Floppy Drive does not require the use of this CD...just plug it into a free port and you are ready to go". Well it works like that in Windows...no problems.
I just tried it again moments ago, and no-go. I did note the LED light blinking softly as the machine was booting up, but it came on through to the desktop. I still have the BIOS set for Floppy boot as first option. When I set the floppy drive as first option in the Dell 4100 WinME machine, it booted to this floppy.
Do you think running the CD that came with the Floppy would be a better choice than the 2001 driver that XP is using? I also might need to go to Mitsumi and try for a better driver. Thanks a lot for your nudging me into trying things I hadn't thought of but alas, still at square one. Regards
Duhhh
251 Posts
0
January 9th, 2004 13:00
JayaRe
98 Posts
0
January 9th, 2004 14:00
Hi Duhh,
Nope, it's a wal-mart item. I suspect that your thoughts as to why it isn't working then with this computer are correct. I had ran that memory diagnostics floppy on a Dell 8200 where it has that extremely expensive RDRAM on board and the computer was on it's last legs... Of the 6 parts of the memory sticks being checked, four of them failed. So that's why I was trying to get this USB Floppy drive working here on this machine. You have a good day. Should I eventually get this thing working, I will relocate this thread and post it. Regards
JayaRe
98 Posts
0
January 24th, 2004 22:00
Duhhh, I can put a "wrap" on this one. There was no pamphlet etc with this SmartDisk floppy drive and the instructions on a small card was, if you are running windows XP, just plug the drive into a USB port and away you go. No need to use the accompanying CD. That's what I did. Today, I placed the CD in, looked for a User Manual (Guide) and found one. On the Floppy Disk Compatibility page, it reads: "Your SmartDisk Floppy Drive works the same as any other floppy disk drive. The only exception is that you cannot start your computer from a bootable disk using the SmarkDisk floppy Drive". So there it is in a nutshell... I just didn't do my homework. Thanks a bunch for your time and trouble. Regards
BobM7
6 Posts
0
March 31st, 2004 18:00