"unknown device" after bios flash

mpassman

Try clearing the NVRAM.

Bev.

I followed the directions for resetting the NVRAM and to reset the BIOS Setup Defaults.  I started the computer and It started by "Performing automatic IDE configuration".  It found my CD drive as a secondary drive, but when I go into setup it said: Primary Drive 0 was off.  I set it to auto and restarted the machine and it still showed as an "Unknown Device".

At that time, I decided to reverse my IDE cables since I was positive that the one cable was good since it found my CD Drive correctly.  I took the battery back out to reset the NVRAM and BIOS again.  In setup, it showed both Primary 0 and Secondary 0 as Unknown Devices.  I then tried to save and exit and they both came up as unknown devices again.

In one last try before replying to the message, I put another hard drive in and set the jumper to master and set the IDE cables back to the way they were, went thru the resets again and it found my CD drive correctly again, but my Primary 0 still says Unknown Device.  I'm sure the second hard drive is fine since it came out of another machine.  It was a second drive in that machine.

Thanks in advance for any thougths you may have. 

I was having problems with the original HD.  Read on a repair site about the error I was getting said to try flashing the bios.  Did that and it won't recognize any HD since.

I moved the jumper to cable select, on the drive I know works and had the same result.  Thanks for your help so far.

mpassman

Why did you flash the BIOS?

Dell use 'Cable Select' jumper settings for their IDE drives and the 'Master' is connected to the end connector of the 80 wire, IDE data cable.

Bev.

Does anyone have any other thoughts?  Thanks for any help you may provide.

Did you find a resolution to the problem? Please share the fix if there was one. Thanks! :emotion-1:

Did you find a resolution to the problem? Please share the fix if there was one. Thanks! :emotion-1: