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July 19th, 2012 13:00
multiple problems, probably related? no boot w/usb keyboard, and low voltage battery error after swapping in new cmos batt
First off, this is my buddy's XPS 600 system that has sat dormant in the closet a couple years since this problem first showed up. afaik stock configuration, other than a second hard drive added for data. It's also running Win7 Ultimate (evaluation build 7100), which will be upgraded to fully licensed version as soon as i fix the problems (or before if that's the problem).
Now on to the symptoms: Trying to boot this system with the USB keyboard plugged in leaves the loading bar about 1/3 filled on the bios screen (previously v. a02) and it just stays there. by a fluke, i forgot to plug the keyboard in once and it just zoomed right past that screen to the next one: System battery voltage is low, press f1 to continue or f2 for system setup. so now basically, using a PS/2 keyboard and pressing f1 will allow me to load windows 7 normally. if i plug in the usb keyboard once windows is loaded, it works just fine. Now i replaced the cmos battery and i'm still getting the low voltage error.
So based on the research i've already done, it seemed like updating the bios might fix both problems. Supposedly a checksum error is causing the battery issue, but it hasn't fixed it yet.
I've experimented with Fastboot and with the USB boot options in the bios and haven't seen any difference as far as the keyboard problem is concerned. I've also gone in and erased the event log based on someone's suggestion that that would clear the checksum error on the battery. I downloaded the A11 bios, wasn't able to flash it in Windows because of a "Windows Configuration error" of some sort. I put it on a bootable DOS usb stick and successfully flashed to the new bios. Nothing seems to have changed.
Can anyone shed some light on this and help a brother out? Thanks in advance
Dell-Zohaib R
4 Apprentice
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953 Posts
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July 20th, 2012 09:00
Hi weecho77,
Welcome to the Community.
Thank you for the detailed description of your problem as well as your troubleshooting.
Firstly, in order to fix the problem with the USB keyboard. All you need to do is to set the Boot Sequence in BIOS to first boot device as Hard Drive. Following link might help:
<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>
Secondly, for the Battery Voltage warning, we recommend Clearing CMOS Settings. You can find the help regarding this also in the above link. If this doesn’t fix the issue. Disconnect any internal/external peripherals such as an add on graphics card or an external USB device. If the problem continues the problem might be due to power supply or the motherboard.
Please feel free to get back to me on this if the problem continues. Also you can send me the service tag of the machine in a direct message. Please do not post the service tag on any open forums.
rdunnill
8 Professor
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8.8K Posts
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July 20th, 2012 15:00
If there is a BIOS checksum issue, I'd suggest using the BIOS setup to restore the settings to their defaults and then making any needed customizations.
I don't know if evaluation copies of Windows can be upgraded or made permanent. It may be easier to reinstall a regular version of Windows; the old copy will be archived and data like emails can be retrieved from the archived folders.
weecho77
4 Posts
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July 20th, 2012 15:00
thanks a lot for the response. I would hate if this turns out to be one of those times when you just overlook something silly... so i'll check these solutions out once i get home from work in a couple hours. I'll post back and let you know what happens.
weecho77
4 Posts
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July 21st, 2012 08:00
i restored the defaults in the bios, i set the hard drive to boot first, i set the usb controller to either "no boot" or "on" and nothing changed. turning usb "off" is no good because then it doesn't work in windows either, and i get the notification right away to activate windows.
I suppose one thing i can try is just install win xp mce to the second hard drive off the reinstallation dvd that came with this system. i don't know if it will help but it can't hurt i guess, as long as i don't lose data (which is not much, mainly just music). that hard drive currently has a broken installation of windows server 2003 on it, so i'm gonna give it a shot.
weecho77
4 Posts
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August 2nd, 2012 19:00
Sorry for the long delay, i meant to get back on and report but i've been really busy. One main thing i found out is that out of all the usb ports on the system (6 in the back and 2 in the front), one port up front works completely normally. so if i plug in either the keyboard or mouse into that port, the system boots up without any problems. the other port up front is completely dead, doesn't work at all. i'm starting to give up on this system, and just tell my buddy to use a ps/2 keyboard and plug the wireless mouse in up front and go about his business. or i suppose a PCI usb card might be an answer.
Thanks for the help, if anyone has any other thoughts or suggestions i'm still open to try, at least through the weekend.