BIOS problem - computer does not boot.

Question

Hi all, I have a desktop Dell XPS 400 DXP051 with the following features: 1) Phoenix ROM Bios Plus Version 1.10 A07. 2) Windows XP PRO SP2. 3) Processor Intel Pentium D 830 (3GHZ) Dual Core, 1 GB RAM, 250 GB HD. It does not have floppy diskette. Two months ago it started to give us problems to boot, we had to push the power on switch many times to get the power on. We thought that the cause of this was due to lack of memory and we upgraded to 3GB but the issue still remains. This morning I run a diagnostic from Dell Resource CD that took 7 hours to finish and the result was good, all the tests were passed. I want to give you guys the messages I got every time I reboot: Alert! Error Initializing PCI Express NIC Bridge NIC failure Floppy diskette seek failure Strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility I had used the option to LOAD DEFAULTS, and even though we do not have floppy diskette we got the above mentioned message. I tried to update/repair  the operating system with the CD provided by DELL and I got the mesage: Windows XP Professional Setup Setup cannot find a CD-ROM Drive. Make sure your CD-ROM drive is on and properly connected to your computer. If it is a SCSI CD-ROM drive, make sure your SCSI  devices are properly terminated. See your computer or SCSI adapter documentation for more information. Setup cannot continue. To quit  Setup, press F3. Trying to get a solution, I download the XP051A07.EXE, that is an update for BIOS. I copied in my flash drive from my laptop and I took to the desktop Dell to update the BIOS, but the computer shutdown itself and now the computer is not able to boot. It seems like the BIOS did not finished to get updated and got corrupted. Is there a way to restore to the default firmware settings without a floppy diskette and no booting at all? According to the log I have repored what I can do to fix this computer and I need desperately help. Thanks in advance.

kirkd · Answer

First, try to reset the NVRAM by removing and reinstalling the button battery on the system board. See your manuals or dearch these forums for the detailed procedure. If you can now boot, go to the BIOS and remove the floppy drive from the boot order menu. You could also change the boot order so the CD/DVD drive is first in line. If resetting the NVRAM doesn't help, you may have a dead system board, and it would need to be replaced.

Dimension 9100, Dual-Boot Win XP / Vista Home Premium, 3.0 GHz P4, 3 GB DDR2 533 MHz RAM, 160 GB SATA II Samsung (XP), 300 GB SATA II Seagate (Vista), 250 GB SimpleTech USB (WD Drive), Nvidia Go 6800 (425/825 MHz - XP, 400/800 MHz - Vista, Vista Driver - 169.25), Dell 1901 UltraSharp FP

Inspiron E1705, Win Vista Premium, T7200 Core 2 Duo (4MB, 2.0 GHz 667MHz), 2 GB DDR2 677 MHz RAM, 120 GB Samsung HD, Nvidia Go 7900 GS - 156.69 Driver, 17” Sharp UltraSharp TrueLife Wide-Screen WUXGA

nightwarrior · Answer

check the support.dell.com for your computer breakup.   Open the tower and take the button battery out. start the computer and count till 20 then remove the power cord. Put the battery back.   start the computer and press F2 go to diskette drive and disable it. Press Esc and save changes and exit.   advise if this has helped.

Severus S · Answer

nightwarrior,   KirkD already suggested clearing the NVRAM with the battery removal on the 28th. You barging in on the thread on the 29th and repeating the same thing is very bad etiquette and frowned upon in the forum. KirkD is very capable of working the thread, if you wish to help, address un-answered threads. You can serve more people this way and that is the intent of the forum. If must barge in, add info, don`t repeat the same, looks almost like you never read KirkD`s and that is just as bad.   Good day, Severus

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