HDD Failure(?), Dimension 9100 Desktop

rirondo   

The instructions for replacing the hard drive, are HERE<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

HOW to use the Dell OEM XP reinstallation disc, to reinstall XP.

Note: Remember to install the drivers and applications in the correct order, see HERE

If you are not using RAID, or do not have an internal floppy drive, enter the system setup, scroll down to drives, press Enter or + to expand the drive menu then down to "SATA Operation", press Enter.

Change the SATA operation mode to "RAID Autodetect/ATA" press ESC to save and exit the BIOS.

Bev.

Shesagordie, thanks for the instructions.  I installed the hard drive as instructed but have run into a roadblock.  I went into system setup and chaned the SATA operation as instructed and verified that the new HD is recognized.   When the computer is booted, I get

"floppy diskette seek failure  strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility"

after striking the F1 key you see

"NTLDR is missing  press ctrl+alt+del to restart"

I checked the boot sequence, it looks good with

1. onboard or USB CD-ROM drive

The Windows XP DVD is in the DVD disc drive (the CD-ROM is PATA-0, the DVD drive is PATA-1).

Russell

rirondo

If you are using the DVD drive, then you need to make it the PATA-0 [master] and CD/ROM the PATA-1, if the drive's jumpers are set to 'Cable Select' then connect the DVD drive to the end connector of the IDE ribbon cable and the CD/ROM to middle connector.

 Check the BIOS Setup, that DVD-ROM  is set to boot prior to the hard drive.

If you don't have floppy drive installed, check the BIOS, to see that the Floppy [Diskette] drive is disabled.

1.Have you removed all external devices from the computer, such as external serial or parallel port devices and external USB peripherals [not including your mouse, keyboard and monitor].

Bev.

Wahoo!!  Thank you Bev!  Once I disabled the floppy drive and made the DVD drive PATA-0 everything went smooth.  Windows is installed with latest updates and security programs are loaded.  Now all I have to do is update the drivers and devices but in the meantime the kids are on school vacation and have a computer that work.  Again thank you for your help.

Russell

Russell.

That's great and I'm happy to hear that the reinstallation went well.   :emotion-11:

Ah, the joys of school vacations, how happy I am to be of an age, that I don't have to worry about them any more.    :emotion-2:

Bev.

I have a similar problem.  The original hard drive crashed on my 9100, and Dell sent me a new drive w/software to install XP and drivers and such.  When trying to boot from the CD-Drive (XP is on CD), I see the CD-Drive light come on, but I get "Selected boot device not available-  strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility. " I have the CD-Drive selected as #1 in the boot sequence.  Dell online customer support/chat thinks the CD-drive may be defective, but it was working fine before the hard drive failure.  Any suggestions?

riburr

Is the CD/Rom recognized in the system setup?

Open the case check the power and cables are properly connected to the drives. 

If there are two optical drives install, try swapping the cables.

Yes, it is possible the CD/ROM is defective.

Bev.

Yes, the CD-ROM is fully recognized by name and model number in system setup.  The CD drive indicator lamp lights when attempting to boot, and I can hear the drive spinning.  However, the computer then beeps twice and I get a "No boot device available..." or something very similar, if I remember correctly.  Boot sequence has the CD-ROM drive listed 1st.  CD-ROM drive is connected to the middle connector, DVD drive is connected to cable end.  Both drive indicator lamps light at start up.  I will try unplugging and reseating cable, and maybe try cleaning the CD drive.  If I can't make progress, I guess I'll ask Dell for a replacement.

As an aside, I had to reseat my memory cards after installing the new hard drive.  The computer made scary buzzing noises on start up, and lights #3 and #4 were lit on the front panel.  Nothing displayed on the monitor screen.  Tech support said to reseat the memory cards and I was then able to get into BIOS and system setup.

I feel the need to apologize to the forum for a superfluous post I made. When trying to post the above reply, I was informed by the forum there was an error in making the post. So, I redid the reply only to find I made two very similar posts. The 2nd post eventually got TOSsed, because the filters determined a word I used was in violation of the Terms of Service. I certainly did not mean to post anything offensive, I was simply using a flowery description for the coincidental failure of a couple pieces of hardware on my computer. 

riburr Open the case check the power and cables are properly connected to the drives.  If there are two optical drives install, try swapping the cables. Bev.

Ok, I got it working!  Couldn't swap cable connectors 'cause the orientation didn't allow it without switching drives in their cages.  I tried unplugging the cable end from the dvd and using it for the cd-drive. The computer said the slave drive was missing, and gave me the option to reboot.  So, I unpluuged the end connector and plugged the middle connector into the cd-drive, leaving the end connector unplugged from the dvd-drive.  I got a message the master drive was missing, with the option to reboot.

With the XP reinstallation disk in the cd-drive, and the dvd-drive unplugged from the end connector, I pressed F1 to reboot.  This time the computer booted to XP in the cd-drive!  My guess is since I'm installing a new hard drive, the dvd drivers are missing, and coincidentally caused the computer to be incapable of booting from the cd-drive.  Unplugging the dvd-drive solved the problem.

riburr

Happy to hear the problem is resolved and thank's for the heads up.

Bev.