dell optiplex gx260 BIos USB controller Not available, and CD-ROM IDE slot not responding

Hi kbboy,

The USB controller is listed under integrated devices. Check there.

For the CD drive, the jumper setting must be cable select (for all IDE drives), and you should be using an 80-wire cable. I have no idea what you mean by "the system does not recognized the data cable for the PC Dual memory device." The IDE controller and CD drive are not memory devices.

Hello osprey4,

I appreciate your almost instant response to my query. Thanks.

I will check for the USB controller once I get to that system, Because I am at work at the moment and will get it checked as soon as I get back to the system location.

Thanks for the response as again, regarding the CD ROM, What I meant to say is that the CD ROM connected to one of the two IDE controllers on the motherboard of the GX260 is not working and when I alternated the IDE 1 and IDE 2 on the board,  one of the IDE controller seems not to work.

Therefore, I used another data cable that has dualised IDE connecting slot(unit) in trying to slave the CD Drive and making the IDE HDD the master it fails to respond, even after I have slaved, using the cable and removing the jumper altogether, but still it fails to work.  From experience what do you think I can do from here and what do you think can be the problem with the failed IDE Slot on the motherboard?..

Thanks a million

These motherboards cannot do mixed mode.   If you use Master/Slave jumpering then ALL DRIVES on ALL CONTROLLERS must be set to master/slave accordingly.   Also the cable polarity counts.

If you use 80 wire cables the BLUE  goes to the Motherboard the BLACK goes to MASTER and the GREY goes to SLAVE.

Reversed Cables whether 40 or 80 will not work.  Pin 1 is usually a dark red or blue stripe on the grey cable.

This is why they started making the connectors in different colors.

GX260 BIOS A09  has USB Flash drive and CDROM Booting.

GX260A09.EXE

You will need at least A04to support a drive larger than 120 Gigs

DELL COMPUTER CORPORATION
BIOS RELEASE NOTES
Copyright 2003 Dell Computer Corporation.  All rights reserved.

*****************************************************************************
System:        Optiplex GX260
Version:       A09
Release Date:  11/01/2004

The following changes have been made to BIOS rev A08 to create A09:

1. Update Hotkey processing.

2. Fix ACPI tables for PCMCIA type devices.


*****************************************************************************
System:        Optiplex GX260
Version:       A08
Release Date:  09/24/2003

The following changes have been made to BIOS rev A07 to create A08:

1. Updated processor microcodes.

2. Prevent waking on wrong days when set to wake on weekdays only.

3. Added to support in PXE boot environments with Spanning Tree support
  enabled.

4. Fixed PCMCIA adapter support degraded in earlier revision.

5. Restored remote functionality of the SMBIOS PXE boot token.


*****************************************************************************
System:        Optiplex GX260
Version:       A07
Release Date:  05/13/2003

The following changes have been made to BIOS rev A06 to create A07:

1. Added display of error message if an FMB 1.5 processor is inserted.

2. Fixed error in 8 MB integrated video frame buffer memory allocation.

3. Added display of the Intel processor badge on the Dell splash screen.

4. Permit utility partition to be on any DOS accessible drive.

5. Updated processor microcodes.

6. Minor change to the RBU header to set PRGBOOT.

7. Correct amount of memory displayed on setup screen when 8 MB integrated
  video frame buffer is allocated.

8. Improved SMART error message reporting.

9. Insure diag LEDs show GGGG after a sucessful PXE boot.

10.Fixed possible issue with the auto-power-on WEEKDAYS function of SETUP.

11.Fix issue with some multichannel PCI graphics adapters and other PCI
  cards with multiple processors on the card.

12.Fixed POST hot-key reboot persistence problem.

13.Fixed problem resuming from S3 Stand by.

14.Updated USB code to fix system hangs with some USB multi-function
  printers, USB disk keys and USB CD-ROM drives. Improved USB boot
  operations for USB devices. Fixed USB bulk transfer end point checking.
  Enhanced USB support in Manufacturing. Fix issues with USB hard drive,
  key, CD and floppy booting when large numbers of bootable USB devices
  are present.

15.Improved USB keyboard and mouse emulation and clear USB Keyboard SHIFT
  status on disconnect. Ignore error packets from a USB mouse to prevent
  erratic mouse movement after a USB mouse is unplugged.

16.Eliminate several limited CDROM boot and install issues with some Linux
  configurations.

17.Flush F3/F10/F12 state information after handling each option ROM setup.
  Failing to do so could cause an unexpected boot menu appearance, etc.

18.Eliminate a case where an option ROM BIOS might fail to be cached.

19.Fix hang when the F12 boot menu is brought up with no bootable devices
  attached.

20.Add support for some 1920x1200 and 1024x768 modes in the integrated
  video.


*****************************************************************************
System:        Optiplex GX260
Version:       A06
Release Date:  04/28/2003

The following changes have been made to BIOS rev A05 to create A06:

1. Updated microcode for Northwood B0, C1, D0 and D1 processors.
2. Added support for RPL network boot if enabled in the BIOS setup screen
  and updated network PXE code to handle spanning tree issues completely
  and correctly.
3. Improved detection of hyperthreaded processors on resume from suspend and
  hibernate states.
4. Eliminated rare, nonrepeatable RTC and memory boot failures.
5. Updated intgrated video BIOS to correct an issue with full screen
  text mode switching and an issue with some LCD monitors and the DVI
  interface card.
6. Minor improvements in USB mouse polling speed, in USB floppy configuration
  control and in Bonzai USB minidisk support.


*****************************************************************************
System:        Optiplex GX260
Version:       A05
Release Date:  02/26/2003

The following changes have been made to BIOS rev A04 to create A05:

1. Remove Intel NIC PXE code added in A04 to prevent possible NIC errors.


*****************************************************************************
System:        Optiplex GX260
Version:       A04
Release Date:  01/28/2003

The following changes have been made to BIOS rev A03 to create A04:

1. Prevent sending PET alert when there is no boot device.
2. Allow booting from USB floppy and flash devices.
3. Added support for 48-bit LBA hard drives (> 137 GB).
4. Report memory size correctly in the SMBIOS structure type 11 entry.
5. Update SMBIOS token handling for HD Acoustic token.
6. Save and restore (across S3) AGP calibration.
7. Add support for hyperthreading.
8. Add Intel NIC PXE code fix for spanning trees.
9. Passes Microsoft HCT 11.


*****************************************************************************
System:        Optiplex GX260
Version:       A03
Release Date:  09/24/2002

The following changes have been made to BIOS rev A02 to create A03:

1. Properly set system power state when AC Power is lost in S3.
2. Support for multiple PCI adapters with PCI-to-PCI bridges and memory
  devices behind the bridges added.
3. Fix to improve handling of stalled USB keyboards and mice (Cherry
  smartcard keyboard, specifically).
4. Update SMBIOS tokens for UDMA/HD, HD Acoustic, S1/S3, JT_enable.
5. Added support for newer core chipsets.
6. Update PXE code to reduce timeouts when used with Gigabit switches
  with spanning tree protocol enabled.

*****************************************************************************
System:        Optiplex GX260
Version:       A02
Release Date:  07/25/2002

The following changes have been made to BIOS rev A01 to create A02:

1.  Added support for new cache ID on Celeron 2.0 processors.


*****************************************************************************
System:        Optiplex GX260
Version:       A01
Release Date:  07/19/2002

The following changes have been made to BIOS rev A00 to create A01:

1.  Added faster hard drive access support for shorter Hibernate resumes.
2.  Added chipset revision compatibility mechanism.
3.  Added System Setup performance settings for hard drives.
4.  Added "Series" to system name.
5.  Added support for Northwood 0F27h processors.
6.  Updated memory code to version 1.2.
7.  Fixed handling of USB 2.0 PCI cards.
8.  Fixed a race condition involving the power button override feature on
   a Standby resume.
9.  Reduced POST processing time when USB keyboard or mice are connected.
10. Fixed several ASF issues (yellow bang, double alerts, intermittent
   failure).
11. Fixed possible CMOS corruption due to BIOS/OMCI interface.
12. Removed display of F1/F2 prompt when keyboard error is displayed.
13. Fixed support for Cherry USB keyboard.
14. Updated SMBIOS table's processor structure maximum cpu speed value.
15. Updated BIOS and DOS support of USB 106 keyboard special characters.


*****************************************************************************
System:        Optiplex GX260
Version:       A00
Release Date:  5/10/2002

1. Initial BIOS Release.

DELL COMPUTER CORPORATION
BIOS RELEASE NOTES
Copyright 2003 Dell Computer Corporation.  All rights reserved.

*****************************************************************************

Again, my suggestion is to try cable select. It will work 99% of the time.

However, it is possible that your CD drive has failed. If that's the case, connecting it to the same IDE cable as the hard drive may disable both the hard drive and CD drive. It might take some trial and error to determine where the exact problem lies.

GX60 and GX260 are Not the same System.  HP printers are not Dell issues.

Hi kbboy,

Since your problem is not related to the original issue, I suggest you start a new thread. Based on your description, this is not likely to be a hardware issue with your Optiplex GX60, so you might want to try the printers forum for help.