No Bios

Question

OK I tried everything. I cant get into the bios at all. I do an F12 and a sys diag, and the hard drive passes. I can boot to a floppy and I only get the a:\ drive and the 2 cd roms. No hard drive. I know my bios must be messed up. I did the whole battery thing, and still couldnt get into the bios. I bought a new hard drive, still no bios. So the hard drive is ok. Then I tried to get a new motherboard, and that was a brease to install, but guess what, no bios. I want to rip out my hair!!   The new board came with bios A2 on it, so when I booted to a floppy I can go in and run the A8 bios, but when I get to the point where it asks you to confirm the upgrade fro A2 to A6 I type 'Y' and then it asks you to confirm, guess what I freeze. It doesnt go any further.   Please help. What else can I do, both motherboards cant have the same thing wrong with them. What am I missing?

Melanie617 · Answer

forgot to tell you it is a dimension 8400 pent 4

Majestic · Answer

Sounds like you are using a USB - Wireless keyboard.  If so,just plug the keyboard / receiver into another USB port.  On the 8400 model there is one USB port that is active all the time.  That port can be found on the rear of the system and is usually the one on the upper right.   Otherwise the rest of the USB ports are inactive until Windows load the necessary drivers.   If the type of keyboard or the port isn't the problem then try tapping the F2 key as soon as the system is powered up.  This may allow you to access the BIOS Setup program. Message Edited by Majestic on 08-10-200606:09 AM

Melanie617 · Answer

I put a regular keyboard & mouse in and still the same problem. When I press F2 nothing happens, blank screen.   Got anything else?

Kanuk001 · Answer

Am I correct in understanding that you tried to upgrade the BIOS twice ( 2 different MBs) and they both froze during the flashing?

If so, maybe the floppy drive or file is bad.

It is unlikely (though not impossible) to have 2 mother boards with a bad CMOS chip.

Majestic · Answer

I'm assuming that tapping the F2 key while the system powers up had no result as well? If so, then I would try holding down a key while the system boots up. Possibly this will force a keyboard error in which the system will request you enter the BIOS to resolve.

If that doesn't do the trick, are you using a flat panel monitor that is connected digitially? If so, try changing over to an analog display.

Melanie617 · Answer

The motherboard came with A2 bios, from the minute I put it in, no bios upgrade, it did nothing. I was thinking it could be the processer?

I am going to try a single monitor video card tonight, and see if that works.

I'll keep you updated.

Melanie617 · Answer

ok, i put in a different video card, I got the keyboard error, it says that 'Drive Number: 0 failed to detect vertual devices.' same for drive number 1.   So I rebooted and did the cntl atl 'd' and the hard drive passed. Totally confused.   What do I try next?

xpsm140 · Answer

Melanie, did you figure out the problem?

I think I have the same problem. The DELL logo or "Press F2 to setup..." doesn't appear on my Dimension 8400. The first thing displayed is the blue WinXP desktop right after which the Login Window appears. I only noticed this today when after I added a second SATA drive, I realized I need to update the BIOS. Since no prompt is appearing on when I should press F2, I tried pressing the key at differnt times during the boot up process. The only effect is that it never boot -- just an empty black screen. I'm using the VGA port on DELL UltraSharp 19". I unplugged the keyboard and mouse and it doesn't even complain. It just continue booting to WinXP.

If anyone know how to make the "Press F2 to setup..." appear, please let me know.

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No Bios

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