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SATA Drives Not Detected
Hi Everyone,
I really can't say I know a lot about computers, and everything I do know has been self-taught through experience and trial and error. Right now, I have a problem that I can't fix, hence why I am posting. Keep in mind that my computer is a Dell Dimension 8400.
My problem is that when I go to boot up the computer, I get the Dell screen (also the BIOS screen I think???), and my computer won't boot up. I get two options in the top-right corner of the screen that say: "F2- Setup" and "F12- Boot Menu". When I enter setup, I get a bunch of options, and I go to Drives, where I see a bunch of options for 6 different drives.
I have SATA-0 through SATA-3, and PATA-0 and PATA-1. I have the SATA Operation setting to "RAID Autodetect / AHCI". When I go to the Boot Menu, I have several different options. These are:
"Boot to Utility Partition", "System Setup", "Hardrive Diagnostic", "Onboard or USB Floppy Drive", "Onboard or USB CD-ROM Drive", and "USB Device". I have a USB plugged into a port on the computer because I installed Dell's attempted solution (Setup Utility Partition or something like that???) onto a flashdrive at my friend's house. I tried taking the steps to run that program according to Dell's Troubleshooting Guides, and nothing happens. I also have tried running the computer to diagnostics (once again, according to Dell's Guides), and it takes two seconds to come up with several conclusions.
It says that my Drives 0 through 4 are "No Device", Drive 5 is LITE-ON CD-ROM with a few numbers/letters and says in parenthesis "Diagnostics not Supported), and Drive 6 says "SONY CD-RW/DVD (Diagnostics not Supported)". It then tells me to press enter to restart the computer.
As you can see, I'm quite clueless... Thank you in advance for your help!!
RoHe
10 Elder
10 Elder
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43.7K Posts
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August 4th, 2009 13:00
If you have an internal floppy drive, power off and unplug the PC from the wall. Press/hold the power button on the tower for ~15 sec. Open the case and disconnect the floppy drive power cable. You don't have to remove the floppy drive from the case.
Then remove and reseat the SATA cable for the hard drive at both ends (eg, at drive and motherboard), and remove/reseat the power cable to the hard drive too. Close the case and try to reboot.
If you don't have an internal floppy drive in this system, run BIOS setup and make sure Diskette Drive is set to OFF. Save the change and reboot.
You may be looking at a hard drive failure. If you can't find your Dell XP Reinstallation CD, go here and request another one, free from Dell. You'll need it to reinstall XP on a new hard drive. :emotion-6:
Ron
EDIT: I can't spell today!
comp_dummy
4 Posts
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August 4th, 2009 13:00
Okay, so I got the code and it's Yelloy-Green-Green-Yellow (A-B-C-D) and the result of that code is a Hard/Floppy Drive Failure according to the chart.
Hard drive failure doesn't sound too good.... Now what???
In the mean time, I will be searching hard for that Reinstallation CD....
danamichele5
1 Message
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November 24th, 2009 16:00
Did you ever figure this out??? Please let me know if you did because I have having the same problem!!! GRRRR!!!
RoHe
10 Elder
10 Elder
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43.7K Posts
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November 24th, 2009 17:00
danamichele5 - Always include PC model and version of Windows in your posts. :emotion-5:
And it's always better to start your own, new thread. That way more people will see your post and have a chance to respond.
Ron
ckare
2 Posts
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June 7th, 2012 00:00
after I crashed my optiplex gx 280 the bios loads normally then the screen
fetches up on a black screen saying that bios can't find sata. it offers two options,
[press F1 to continue setup] or [F2 to go to system utility] . After many fruitless
attempts to correct the problem in system utility I pressed F1 and windows loaded
and worked normally. [or almost normally, I can hear the hard drive ratteling until
windows is loaded , then it works silently as it loads my settings] At first I wondered
if it was still missing sata, but realized I could access all my data stored on the hard
drive so windows must recognize sata. In fact the crash and its aftermath have left
my computer much improved, except for this annoying black screen. I went to dell
thinking that the bios was corrupted, but several "flash the bios" hasn't changed
anything. I'm reluctant to experiment until the external hard drive I just ordered
has arrived and I figured out how to load it. I was very grateful not to have lost more
when I stupidly attempted to use the " repair windows utility "