Dell Dimension E521 AMD Design Flaw??? Help!!

Hi there Philip42h,

the pc has bios 1.1.4 and I have tried all usb port on the back, I have been trying for 3 days, I connected a usb hug with it's own power and didn't work, I connected a pci usb adapter and doesn't work either.

I tried a regular dell usb kb and doesn't work, I have 3 other dell pc which I go to bios normally so I know about the timing, the problem I see is that the usb ports doesn't get the power at boot up when dell logo appears and f2 and f12 message right to corner, after that computer try to boot from card reader, seems to be the default bios setting as it doesn't see nothing there it says:

diskette drive 0 seek failure

Keyboard failure

invalid bios configuration please go to setup

press f1 or f2

just 2 seconds before those error I see the usb ports getting the power when by then is too late! pc already pc is there stuck as I can't press any key because pc doesn't see the keyboard on time and I after the kb failure post KB doesn't work.  it's insane, the computer is ok but stuck at boot up just because I can go into bios.

A USB keyboard is recognised by the BIOS (i.e. it works on my E521) though you may well need to use the correct USB port (one of the top pair at the rear, left or right, I'm not sure which), and timing is everything as you probably know already ... though now you have introduced the second problem, timing should be less of an issue.:smileywink:

Accessing set-up may be easier if a USB hub is introduced ... because this slows down the boot sequence. You need to strike the requisite key after the POST screen is displayed and before the bar is full ...

Out of curiosity, which version of the BIOS does you friend have installed?

In that case I doubt that I can be of much help. I believe that I could access Setup when I had BIOS version 1.1.4 but can't prove it now (after 2 replacement motherboards as results of BIOS flash failures my E521 is now at BIOS version 1.1.11 which appears to work quite well). Using my daughter's C521, BIOS version 1.1.6, I can get into Setup without problem, though one does have to be patient and then 'quick'.

Apart from not understanding why it doesn't work for you, I can't understand why you still can't get into the BIOS following the error:

diskette drive 0 seek failure

Keyboard failure

invalid bios configuration please go to setup

press f1 or f2

Does pressing F2 there not work either (there must be power to the keyboard by then)? Does unplugging and replugging the keyboard not help?

The BIOS 'expects' to find a floppy disk drive in place of the card reader. As a last resort, you could install a floppy drive to see where you can go from there ... ?

Yeah, keyboard doesn't work after messages either, I am guessing because the pc already think that there is not keyboard " keyboard failure" I tried to unplug and plug back but doesn't work.

I can install a floopy, but not matter what I can manage I think the problem will be there at boot all the time, so I would still need to go to bios. to disable boot from card reader. Pc will always ask for it. It should continue when doesn't find anything to boot from in card reader but because it's a "Dell" (not offense) it doesn't.  I have seen a lot different problems with computer but this has to be the most ridiculous one ever.

Thanks for responding to me, I really need help here. :(

Anyone out there that can help please?   I am about to loose it. :(

Recent Dell desktop low BIOS revs have been troublesome, and inconsistent.  In other words, a handful of people will experience a problem like this, but not everybody, so there is not a defined fix for it.

Alas, I have no exposure to the AMD chipset or how it handles USB.  The Intel boards supplied USB power immediately, so this problem never arose.  Hard to believe the BIOS would look for a keyboard before switching USB power on, but stranger things have happened.

The error you get is standard after BIOS reset.  The only problem is that you have to press F1 or 2 to get past it.  Even if you installed a floppy, and put a boot disk in it, you'd still get the error minus the part about seek failure, and you'd still be stuck.

I can't give you a fix, and the ideas I have you may have already tried.  First, no USB devices besides kybd and mouse.  For that matter, unplug the mouse too, you can always plug it back in later, and it won't work until you get Windows installed.  Second, try all the keyboards you have.  In 2004, a vendor supplied Dell with an entire series of defective keyboards which had to be modified to work reliably.  They worked sometimes, on some systems, but not all. 

Hello guys,

nugundam93, I have tried that several times and still nothing.

x_lab rat, WOW that is exactly the problem 100%. To make things worst pc doesn't even boot from floopy drive. But like you said what good can it be anyways as I would still need to get to bios.

I will try 2 more different kbs and that will be my last hope (even though I know it will not work as usb = not power at boot).

"and put a boot disk in it, you'd still get the error minus the part about seek failure, and you'd still be stuck."

Yeah, that is what is happening now, I don't get that error while floppy has a bootdisk, I just get kb failure and invalid configuration,  you seem to know this problem really good, for a second when I started reading your post I thought finally a fix.  :(       thanks a lot guys I will pray a bit more for a miracle and see what happens.

I was wondering, does any Dell tech guy read this forum sometimes?

should I just throw the pc to garbage?   this has to be a new thing "full funcional computer yet dead"

sounds funny but it's the most annoying problem I have seen.  

Nobody else has this problem and found a working around.?

I have booted ~2000 Dell desktops from 1999-2005, so yeah I do kinda know their procedures and hangups.  Unfortunately for this case, they were all Intel chipsets, and I have only the foggiest notion of what makes ports work or not work on an AMD.

Note that I did not say to upflash BIOS.  While that might fix it, it can't be done in the absence of keyboard response.

There might be one last hope.  It is dependent upon the specific motherboard.  While PS2 ports have been eliminated from the external chassis in favor of USB, some motherboards still have a PS2 header, which can connect to an adapter containing PS2-standard jacks for mouse and keyboard.  The nice thing about PS2 was that it always worked.  Even if you have to buy the adapter and the PS2 kybd, that's cheaper than a motherboard, which otherwise you might be looking at.

I don't have a photo or a link, but I know they exist because I used them. Only in certain models though. It's optional with the designer. All chipsets support PS2, but most MB manufacturers no longer port them, and only some make it available at all via the header.

It's going to look very much like the header for the front panel connector. Two short rows of pins sticking out of black plastic.  If you have no such header, the PS2 option is out the window.  If you do, it's a standard, and any adapter will work.

Not header connector :( 

Bumster in the dumpster.  Hypothetically, you could wire across the USB power switch transistor, but I can't begin to tell you where it is or what it looks like.

Begins to sound like design flaw--BIOS actually--like you said to start with.  One wonders how it ever worked. 

I just bought another usb keyboard regular one not multimedia keys or anything and still pc didn't work. I guess that was the last hope.  We think we got a nice story here for the media.

"Alive Yet Dead Dell Computer"