Error attempting to boot from Onboard NIC.

Question

Hopefully this is in the right forum, but from what I could figure from Google responses, the 'onboard NIC' has to do with wireless. Maybe I'm wrong. If I am, direct me to the right board and I'll post this there. Thanks. Anyway, I almost always get this error message upon starting my computer. ERROR attempting to boot from Onboard NIC. Software error: device not in BEV locator. Press any key to continue. This message always comes up directly after the DELL startup screen (the one where DELL is in huge white letters and the progress bar goes by on the bottom). After that it will proceed with a normal boot and usually everything is fine. Occasionally, however, the computer will randomly hang/freeze/stop responding. This will, if it happens, tend to occur about five to ten minutes after everything has finished booting up. I will have to restart. Also, and less frequently, I will get a BSOD. After restarting here I will have to adjust the clock in the setup before the computer actually boots. Then, once on, the error report will come back mentioning a driver error. Finally, I recently downloaded the DELL Crash Analysis Tool. After running it and fixing most of the problems (only two are left: cdudf_xp.sys and NavEx15.sys) I'm still getting the above-mentioned error message after each restart (I've had to restart many times after installing and such to fix some of the things the Crash Analysis Tool returned). The strange thing is that most of this time this message will come up but will do nothing to hamper my computing once everything is booted up and working. Still, the hanging and BSOD is frequent enough that this has frustrated me to no end. I would appreciate ANY help ANYBODY can provide me. Thanks a bunch.

volcano11 · Answer

It is really difficult to help without knowing the exact model of the computer that you are having problems with.  The onboard NIC refers to the ethernet network adapter integrated on the motherboard of whichever computer model you have.  It sounds like the BIOS is set to boot from the network as the first device in the boot sequence.   You might try going into the BIOS setup program (eitther press the F2 key or the Delete key immediately after restarting the computer - which key depends on which model computer you have).   Find the BIOS setting that controls the boot sequence and make sure that the hard drive is listed as the first boot device.   Again, I can't provide exact details without know which model computer you have.   Steve

PepeCamello · Answer

Define: irony
Error message appears about fifty times in a row. I go to try what you suggested and the error message doesn't show up! HAHA!

I did get a different error message a few tries ago, though, but I think it's unrelated:

The AC Power Adapter type cannot be determined. This will prevent optimal system performance.
__Strike the F3 key (before the F1 or F2 key) if you do not want to see power warning messages again.
__Strike the F1 key to continue.

However, after I typed that, something did occur to me: it seems the two most recent BSOD have occured not long after plugging the computer in to outlet power. Do you think there could be a correlation here?
Thanks.

PepeCamello · Answer

ARGH! I forgot to say I have a Dell Latitude D600 with Windows XP Professional.

PepeCamello · Answer

Okay, here's what I get when I look at boot order:

Boot Order

*Diskette Drive
*Internal HDD
*Onboard NIC
*USB Storage Device
*CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive
Modular Bay HDD
Cardbus NIC
D/Dock PCI slot NIC

* = enabled device

Any ideas on which order I should put them or what I should enable/disable? Thanks again.

volcano11 · Answer

All I can suggest is to try moving the Onboard NIC farther down in the list.  If that doesn't work, I suggest that you post in the Portable - BIOS forum - http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board?board.id=insp_bios   Steve

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

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