If one of the slots has gone bad, then the entire motherboard will have to be exchanged. You can test this by using the Dell diagnostic test.
Reset the machine and when the Dell logo appears on the screen, press and release [F2] several times until you are in the BIOS. Press the right arrow key to go to the BOOT menu or hold [Alt] and [P] simultaneously to progress to the second page. Change the boot sequence to CD/DVD drive, Floppy drive, Internal HDD. Now press [Esc] or [F10] to save and exit the BIOS.
The following knowledge base article can help you with this:
what version of the BIOS are you running? I had a similar problem with only the bottom slot working while the top slot was "dead". The solution for me was to downgrade to version A08 and the problem was fixed.
Yes it can. I downgraded from A11 to A08. Those who know will tell you it is dangerous to fool around with flashing your BIOS if you don't know what you are doing, so research the topic and be CAREFULL.
Download I8200a08.exe from Dell's download page. Boot from a bootable floppy disk into DOS. At the command prompt type i8200a08.exe /nvram. If it doesn't fix the problem just upgrade to A11 again. Both my PCMCIA slots worked fine for a couple of days after the downgrade, then all of a sudden the top PCMCIA slot reverted back to not initializing software when a card is inserted. The computer "sees" there is something in the slot, but don't know what to do with it. I'm so tired of wasting time with this problem that I'm just leaving it as is. This is my last Dell.
I have tried to do so but I couldn't install my wireless card in the lower slot. The device manager says there is new device but can't find the correct driver!
Maybe, these slots have specific embeded bios functionalities. Anyhow, there is one PCMCIA slot in DELL Inspiron 8200 not two!
DELL-BobT
3.1K Posts
0
March 8th, 2004 14:00
alexvampiro,
Thank you for using the Dell Community Forum.
If one of the slots has gone bad, then the entire motherboard will have to be exchanged. You can test this by using the Dell diagnostic test.
Reset the machine and when the Dell logo appears on the screen, press and release [F2] several times until you are in the BIOS. Press the right arrow key to go to the BOOT menu or hold [Alt] and [P] simultaneously to progress to the second page. Change the boot sequence to CD/DVD drive, Floppy drive, Internal HDD. Now press [Esc] or [F10] to save and exit the BIOS.
The following knowledge base article can help you with this:
How to run the Dell diagnostic test knowledge base article.
The program should automatically load. Choose to run the test on the questionable component(s).
alexvampiro
10 Posts
0
March 8th, 2004 15:00
I have performed the requested test and at the end "your hardware performed optimally"
Goobiek
5 Posts
0
March 8th, 2004 17:00
Hi,
what version of the BIOS are you running? I had a similar problem with only the bottom slot working while the top slot was "dead". The solution for me was to downgrade to version A08 and the problem was fixed.
Good luck
alexvampiro
10 Posts
0
March 10th, 2004 18:00
Hi,
I am running the A11 version and bios downgrade cannot be performed.
Thanks.
Goobiek
5 Posts
0
March 10th, 2004 19:00
Yes it can. I downgraded from A11 to A08. Those who know will tell you it is dangerous to fool around with flashing your BIOS if you don't know what you are doing, so research the topic and be CAREFULL.
Download I8200a08.exe from Dell's download page. Boot from a bootable floppy disk into DOS. At the command prompt type i8200a08.exe /nvram. If it doesn't fix the problem just upgrade to A11 again. Both my PCMCIA slots worked fine for a couple of days after the downgrade, then all of a sudden the top PCMCIA slot reverted back to not initializing software when a card is inserted. The computer "sees" there is something in the slot, but don't know what to do with it. I'm so tired of wasting time with this problem that I'm just leaving it as is. This is my last Dell.
Good luck
alexvampiro
10 Posts
0
March 11th, 2004 10:00
Hi,
I have tried to do so but I couldn't install my wireless card in the lower slot. The device manager says there is new device but can't find the correct driver!
Maybe, these slots have specific embeded bios functionalities. Anyhow, there is one PCMCIA slot in DELL Inspiron 8200 not two!
Thanks very much.