Secondary IDE Controller problem

Nekrall,

Thank you for using the Dell Community Forum.
What operating system are you using?

The system still has the original copy of Windows ME which came installed by Dell.  I do not have the CD's which came with the system although the original owner who lives away will be sending them to me.

Sorry I omitted this from original post.

nekrall

Nekrall,

No problem.
-You can try removing the IDE controller from the device manager, then reboot the system.
This should force Windows to reload the native drivers for it.
-You may also want to try swapping out the IDE cables between the primary and secondary
IDE controllers. If the second IDE cable is bad, the problem will then move to the primary
IDE controller, and you will know you need to get that cable replaced.
-Viruses can cause IDE controllers not to work properly, so perform a full virus scan of
your system.
-Try resetting the bios defaults as well.
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1.Entering System Setup Program

Turn on (or restart) your system.
When the blue Dell logo appears, press (Delete Key).
If you wait too long and the operating system begins to load into memory, let the system complete the load operation. Then shut down the system and try again
When you enter Bios, you will get a window that reads:
Dell Dimension Lxxxx Setup:

**Clearing NVRAM:

To clear NVRAM for all devices and restart the system, perform the following steps:
Enter the system setup program.
Press the right-arrow key to move to the Advanced menu.
Press the down-arrow key to highlight the Boot Configuration submenu, and press (Enter).
Press the down-arrow key to highlight Reset Config Data. Then press the (Enter) key, and change the setting to Yes.
When that is done, press (F10) to exit the program and restart the system.
You will want to choose (YES) to "Save Changes and Exit."

**Resetting the Defaults in BIOS.
Enter the System Setup Program.
Press (F9), highlight (Yes) to (Reset Default Configuration)
Press (F10) to (Save Changes and Exit)
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I have tried all the suggestions but nothing changed.

Removed the IDE master controller and rebooted to load native drivers.

Used new IDE cable.

Loaded new virus database and scanned the system.

Reset the bios defaults.

Computer still shows exclamation point on secondary IDE controller (Code 10) and does not recognize the CD Drive.

 

Nekrall,

At this point the IDE condoler may be bad on the motherboard, or Windows has serious problems.
Move the CDROM drive to the primary IDE cable with the hard drive.
Does the CDROM drive work?
If so, then place your hard drive on the secondary IDE controller.
Does the hard drive still work?
If the hard drive stops working, then run the Dell diagnostics to test the system hardware.
If no failures are found, it may be a Windows problem.
You should also clear the ESD motherboard settings by using the CMOS jumper on the motherboard.

If it is a Windows problem.
Attach your hard drive back to the primary IDE controller.
Also make sure your CDROM is jumpered to CABLE SELECT and attach it to the secondary IDE controller.
Then use System Restore to go back to a working date.
If that still does not work, you may want to consider reinstalling Windows.
If Windows has a registry problem, you would need to reinstall it to fix the problem.
You can try using Scanreg /Restore before trying to reinstall Windows.

When you should contact Tech Support for a motherboard replacement.
-Have reinstalled Windows and verified that it does work on the primary IDE controller.
-No IDE device will work on the secondary IDE controller
-Dell diagnostics finds errors, or does not find any problems.
-Clear NVRAM and have reset the motherboard settings.
-Used the CMOS jumper to clear the ESD settings.
-Tried another IDE cable or other IDE devices.
-Verified that all IDE drives are jumpered to Cable Select.
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Using System Restore.
1.Click on (Start,Programs, Accessories,System Tools, System Restore.)
2.Check the box for (Restore my computer to an earlier time)
3.Click Next.
4.Choose a (Restore Date.) before the problem started.
5.Click Next.
6.Click Next again.
7.The system should restore and reboot.
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Using the CMOS jumper to clear ESD motherboard settings.
(Jumper also refered to RTCRST or Configuration Jumper)
Diagrams of the jumper located here.

How do I use the RTCRST Jumper for troubleshooting a "no post" situation?

Answer:
Remove all external devices and cables from the back of the system.
Remove the system cover and locate the RTCRST jumper.
(Location differs by platform refer to the service label or user documentation or Dell technical specifications).
Remove the jumper shunt from the (PSWD) Password jumper block.
Place the jumper shunt from the (PSWD) jumpers, onto the RTCRST jumper.
Remove the coin cell battery.
(Location differs by platform refer to the service label or user documentation or Dell technical specifications).
Reinstall the coin cell battery up side down, and wait 15 seconds.
Again remove the coin cell battery.
Reinstall the coin battery back to the original orientation.
Remove the jumper shunt on RTCRST jumper block.
Replace the jumper shunt back onto the (PSWD) jumper block.
(You must place the jumper shunt back onto the correct pins on the PSWD block.)
Install the system power cord, video cord, mouse, keyboard.
Power up the system to see if the problem has changed.
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How to Restore the Registry Using the Command "scanreg /restore" in Microsoft® Windows® Millennium Edition (Me)

Discussion
If restoring the system with the System Restore utility is unsuccessful or you cannot use the utility, it may be possible to restore a backup copy of the registry using the command scanreg /restore.

For more information regarding System Restore in Windows Me, please refer to Dell Knowledge Base article: TT1037690 "How do I restore a previous system configuration using the System Restore utility in Microsoft® Windows® Millennium Edition (Me)?"

Solution
To restore a backup copy of the registry from with in the operating system, perform the following steps:
Click the Start button, click Run, and then type scanreg /restore in the Open box. Click OK.
The Registry Checker window appears.
Click Yes.
The Restore Registry window appears.
Click to highlight the most recent date your system was working properly.
Click OK.

To restore a backup copy of the registry from MS-DOS, perform the following steps:
Boot to the Dell Product Recovery CD for Windows Millennium Edition and select Start computer without CD-ROM support using the Up Arrow or Down Arrow keys and then press the Enter key.
The a: prompt appears.

NOTE: For more information on how to change the boot sequence in the BIOS to the CD-ROM as first boot device, refer to the following Dell Knowledge Base articles:
Dimension™ systems: TT1032262
OptiPlex™ systems: TT1035127
Latitude™ systems: TT1035156
Inspiron™ systems: TT1035144
Inspiron 3700 or 3800 systems: TT1035169

Boot the system to a Windows startup disk.
Type c:\windows\command\scanreg /restore and press Enter.
The Microsoft Registry Checker screen appears.
Select a date before the problem started, using the Up or Down arrow keys and press Enter.
" The You have Restored a Good Registry window appears ".
Remove the floppy disk and restart the system.
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Run the Dell Diagnostics:

You can download the latest diags file here.

This file contains a compressed (or zipped) set of files. Download the file to a folder on your hard dive, and then run (double-click) it to unzip the set of 1-5 files. Follow the instructions to create a set of floppy diskettes, and then use the diskettes to complete the installation.

To start the diagnostic tests boot the computer with the diagnostic disk in the appropriate drive.
The files will automatically load into the system.
The system will prompt for one several choices, depending on the extent and specificity of the tests to be run. For example, the choices will include:
(Fully test all devices, Quickly test all devices, Select Device to test, Exit to MSDOS.) Depending on the Diagnostic version,
some of these choices may not be available.
You should try running the (Fully test all devices), if any errors are encountered
when try to use this choice then use the (Quickly test all devices.)
If any errors are encountered when the Diagnostics program is running,
then it is an actual hardware failure.
Fully test all devices, will run an entire, comprehensive test on the computer system.
Quickly test all devices, will run all tests on the entire system, without running as an exhaustive test on the hard drive as the Run All Tests selection will.
Select a device to test, allows for the testing of specific components in the system; this choice is used if there is good reason to suspect a specific component may be the cause of the failure.
Within select a device to test, are several specific tests which individually test RAM, System Set (the chipset on the motherboard), Video, Keyboard, Mouse, Drives, Ports (serial and parallel), SCSI Devices, and Network Interfaces.
Exit to MS-DOS will exit the diagnostics to a command prompt.

NOTE: For most situations, you should Run Quick Tests.
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You must have the Dell Resource CD or Windows CD, in the CDROM or DVD drive.
If you have a CDRW-Drive you must also have a blank formatted CDRW disk in that drive.
Disconnect all devices from the back of the system other then the, mouse,
keyboard, and monitor.
If you have a USB keyboard or mouse, you must switch to a PS2 keyboard or mouse. USB devices are not recognized by diagnostics.
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