Trying to load floppy with floppy disabled

Question

When I start my computer I get an error message that says: Invalid Boot Diskette, Insert BOOT diskette in A. It tells me this if I have a disk in A or not, and if I have my floppy enabled or disabled. Is there anything that I can do? I changed the boot sequence to the CD first and the floppy not at all.   It is a Dimension 4100 with Win ME.

Majestic · Answer

Sounds like the floppy drive maybe be failing.  Have you tried disconnecting the ribbon cable from the floppy drive and then disable the Diskette Controller?

ikeandjake · Answer

Yes, I did both of those. No matter what I try it comes up with the same message.

denyboy · Answer

Have you tried booting to a known good bootdisk in A such as a windows startup disk? Sometimes you can receive that message when there is nothing to boot to found (a hard drive failure etc..)

JimmyXJ · Answer

Hello,

I am having the same problem (have a Dimension 4100). I have replaced the floppy drive and the IDE cable and still have the same problem. I have also changed the boot order to boot from a CD and from the harddrive. Still get this error even when I have disabled the floppy drive.

One thing to note is that the lights on the back on the PC are all green except the last one, which is yellow. Per the documentation, this indicates an "other" problem.

If I a request for support with the Dell technicians. If I get an answer, I will post it here.

Thanks,

Jimmy

JimmyXJ · Answer

I am having the same problem. It appears that it was caused by a hard drive failure.

However, I have purchased a new harddrive and can't get around the "Invalid Boot Diskette" error. I have changed updated to boot order and have disabled the floppy drive but still can't boot w/o getting this error message (I'm trying to boot from the CD).

Any ideas how to get around this?

Thanks

Majestic · Answer

Jimmy, if the error is hard drive related you may have to disconnect the old hard drive in order for the system to boot up normally.  Try disconnecting the old drive at the motherboard and see if the system will successfully boot up to a bootable CD or floppy disk.  If you still get the error then try going into the BIOS Setup and clearing the Event Log.  The error maybe just a reminder of the past problem and clearing the log will eliminate that.  If it does boot up successfully then install the new hard drive and do a clean install of the OS.  Once the OS is installed you maybe able to hook the old hard drive up as a Slave to copy any important data from it.  The alternative would be to try putting the old hard drive in another system to do the copy process.  The other system might be less picky about the boot errors the hard drive is generating.

JimmyXJ · Answer

Thanks for the response.

I now have a new harddrive but can't get the OS to install from this machine (Dimension 4100) - keep getting error "No OS Found Insert OS setup disk, then press any key". I don't have this issue when attempting to install the OS from another PC.

I am guessing that the system isn't reading any of the drives (I've tried a boot disk and booting from CD). I have cleared out the error logs as you recommend and have also reset Config Data.

After both these resets, the Event log shows the error "Pre-Boot Error: Floppy Drive 0 Error". If I disable the floppy drive, I still get these errors when attempting to load the OS from CD but don't get any errors in the event log.

The lights on the back of the computer show A,B,& C as green but D is orange. This combination indicates an "Other" problem (I was receiving this error prior to the harddrive replacement).

I'm stumped as to what to try now.

Thanks

Majestic · Answer

Jimmy, if you're still getting the same error then the hard drive may have not been the problem.  I am assuming that you tried my earlier suggestion of disconnecting the hard drive ribbon cable at the motherboard to rule out a bad cable and the problem continued so my best guess is you have another piece of hardware at fault.   All I can suggest is try these trouble-shooting tips....   Try clearing the NVRAM (CMOS) to see if it resolves the boot problem.  Possibly the information stored in the NVRAM (CMOS) became corrupted which is not uncommon.  With the machine unplugged from the wall remove the battery from the motherboard.  Then with the machine still unplugged press the On button for several seconds to dissipate any remaining electrical charge on the motherboard.  Then re-install the battery, plug the machine back into the wall and see if it will boot normally. Considering the age of the system you would try installing a new battery when clearing the NVRAM.  A failed battery can cause a variety of boot up problems. A new 3-Volt, CR2032, coin cell battery can be purchased for around $3 (US) and is available at any Radio Shack, computer stores and most discount stores.If the machine still fails to boot then strip the motherboard down to the bare minimum.  By bare minimum I mean remove all expansion cards, disconnect all drives and leave just the processor, memory and graphics card in the machine after reseating them.  If the computer boots this way then start connecting each device one at a time until the no boot scenario returns.  This would then indicate which device has failed and is causing the problem.  Also try booting the system without the keyboard, mouse or any other device plugged into the rear of the system.  If you have more than one memory module installed then try booting with only one and then swap them around and try again. If you only have one memory module then try booting without any memory modules installed.  If this procedure doesn't resolve the problem then you maybe looking at a situation where the motherboard has failed.

JimmyXJ · Answer

Looks like the motherboard finally wore out. Thank you very much for the help you provided - very much appreciated. Thanks, Jimmy

denyboy · Answer

You are getting a checksum error because you cleared cmos by removing the battery. Load the setup defaults and that should go away

ikeandjake · Answer

Okay, I removed everything except graphics, 1 stick of RAM, and CPU from the motherboard. I reseated those three things. I replaced the battery. With no devices set to be booted, I get CMOS Checksum Error in the event log. I also get CMOS/GPNV Checksum Bad on the Dell start screen.

I swapped the RAM and get the same thing with each. If I enable any device to load from I get the same old error message about non system disk in A.

ikeandjake · Answer

I reset the defaults. The checksum did go away but I still have the invalid A message. Since I don't have A hooked up in any way does that mean my motherboard is shot?   I don't know what else to try.   Thanks

denyboy · Answer

The set up default may show A drive installed. Go back into the bios and make sure A drive is turned off

ikeandjake · Answer

It is.

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Trying to load floppy with floppy disabled

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