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Please help me correct settings in BIOS
I'm not getting much useful information on my first post, so I'll try a new post. Here is the essence of my problem:
While in BIOS(for the first time ever), after replacing my old hard drive with a new drive, I seem to have accidentally activated the floppy drive controller. I do not have a floppy drive. Each time I start the computer, I get a white-on-black screen that says, in part: "Floppy diskette seek failure. Strike F1 key to continue, F2 to run setup utility." Aside from this annoying screen, the computer seems to be working OK.
I am nervous about returning to BIOS now. How do I return BIOS to the setting of 1 hard drive and 1 optical drive?
01 Jan 2009
The problem continues. I have tried some forum suggestions. I have tried the procedure in the Dell Service manual. I have tried something suggested by someone at Microsoft. None of them works.
In BIOS my drives are listed as follows: DISKETTE DRIVE, DRIVE 0: SATA-0, DRIVE 1: SATA-2, DRIVE 3: PATA-0, DRIVE 4: PATA-1. The optical drive is not listed.
I think this is probably not correct. All I can do in BIOS is turn them ON or OFF. I have the DISKETTE DRIVE turned off but the computer still looks for it each time it starts up.
What are the correct settings and how can I change my BIOS settings to what they should be?
John
Thereal-dbk4297
3.4K Posts
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January 4th, 2009 17:00
Hello,
Go into the BIOS settings.
Go to "Drives", and then highlight "Diskette Drive", Use the right of left arrow keys until it says "Off". Press enter.
Exit and save your settings. Now the floppy drive is turned off.
You can do the same steps to check the other drives.
Your CD will be one of the PATA drives, most likely PATA-0
If you are sure that the Diskette drive is really off, you should not get that error message.
John in Houston
113 Posts
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January 5th, 2009 16:00
The non-existent diskette is OFF in BIOS- has been for more than a week. But the computer continues to look for it each time it starts.
The CD drive is PATA 0 as you suggested.
John
Thereal-dbk4297
3.4K Posts
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January 5th, 2009 17:00
Hello again,
What is the Boot order set as?
John in Houston
113 Posts
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January 5th, 2009 18:00
Good question. I dont remember where to set it. Its been a long time.
John
Thereal-dbk4297
3.4K Posts
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January 6th, 2009 03:00
Hello again,
Look here again. It's about 2/3 of the page down.
This will be where your error message is comming from if the floppy is set before the hard drive.
Boot Sequence
This feature allows you to change the boot sequence for devices.
Option Settings
John in Houston
113 Posts
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January 6th, 2009 18:00
Didn't work. I removed the floppy drive from the boot sequence. The hard drive is now number one in the boot sequence. There is no number in front of the floppy drive. The floppy remains OFF in the drive list. I restarted the computer and, as usual, got : Floppy diskette seek failure.... etc.
John
John in Houston
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January 8th, 2009 05:00
Well, good news. When I used the computer yesterday I still got the initial Floppy diskette search failure. But when I started it up today, it started normally. I have restarted it twice and it continues to start correctly. Go figure.
Thanks,
John