PC Problem

[Landseka]

I am trying to do an overdue reformat of my Dell Pent 4 3.2 ghz, don't know if these details help.

The instructions I downloaded say to insert the XP cd and reboot.....it should boot from the cd and the option is then there to reformat etc.
This thing wont boot from the cd, just starts up as normal.:doh:

Instructions said that if this happens, hit esc during the boot up to divert to bios setup to change setting so it boots first from cd.

Esc does nothing:((...still boots up as normal.

Are there any PC gurus here that have an idea on how to get my reformat happening?

Thanks

Neil.

[Gumby]

You have to hit ESC at the right time. The message (to hit esc) will pop up on the bottom of the screen before windows begins to load. Hit it when it does.

[Groggy]

I have a Dell too and IIRC you need to press F2 or F1 to get into the BIOS.

On mine, I think if you hold down F5 or F8 it lists options which include resetting the system (it keeps a hidden image on another partition just for this purpose).

Suggest you go to Dell's website to get the info as their reset is much faster than the normal route.

good luck with it

(backup, backup, backup, ....)

[Landseka]

That was it!! Thanks Groggy :2tsup:

F2 was the correct key.

Thank you for your quick replies.

I'm now in the BIOS to change the bootup sequence (and I'm terrified :o ).

Cheers

Neil

[Groggy]

Just don't lose the avatar!

[Landseka]

Problems again!

I've just got into the BIOS and changed the bootup sequence to enable booting from the XP Pro cd, however, small problem .. when I press <enter> from the 'Windows Setup Welcome" screen, I get a message saying that I have no hard drive installed. :no:

I've changed the bootable sequence (boot to cd rom always first) and still get the same message.

I'm at a loss .. any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

Neil

[Groggy]

you need to make sure that you put the hard drive as one of the other, secondary options perhaps. Also a redetect within the hard drive screen may help.

I'd be more specific but I am using my laptop at the moment and don't want to reboot.

[Landseka]

Hi Groggy, I have set the hard drive (sata) as the secondary boot drive to no avail.

Not sure what you mean by "Also a redetect within the hard drive screen may help."

A more specific 'how to' would be good if not too much trouble.

I will not get time to do the reformat now for a couple weeks as we are leaving for a 2 week fishing trip tomorrow morning. Two boats, 5 guys & swmbo's & heaps of tinnys. May even do some fishing...heh heh.

I will have another go at the reformat when we get back as it has become a 'must do' so I'll bump this thread to the top again then.

Thanks again for the help so far.

Oh yes....the avatar will stay trust me. :2tsup:

Regards

Neil.

[Groggy]

Most BIOS's nowadays have an auto detect feature for hard drives. It saves typing in sectors and zones etc.

[bsrlee]

It seems all PC BIOS chps have different menus. Unfortunately you will have to fumble about until you find the sub-menu that has the hard drives on it, then go thru' the options until you can set the hard drive to 'Auto' if is not already at that state - the Dell techies could have set it to anything.

The hard drive should appear as drive C: - the first hard drive, and not the CD rom drive - changing the boot order should not change the drive letter of the hard drive, it should just read something like 'Boot from CD-rom, C:, A:'. If you have somehow made the CD-rom into 'C;" - change it back. If it all seems too much, there is usually a 'reset to factory defaults' option in the BIOS menus, so you can start all over if you get really confused.

[old_picker]

if yu cant boot from the cd your disk or the cd reader is faulty
give it a spray ]the cd] with conact cleaner [not wd 40 oily stuff] and rub the crap off it

reset the bios to factory defaults and reboot with cd in the drive
those machines are set to boot off cd i think unless you have option to start recovery from windows [unlikely] or f10 on bootup to system recovery [more unlikely]

sometimes you hit f12 or f8 on bootup and that will give boot device option [likely] choose cd > enter

the dell bios is as basic as it gets you prolly wont have an option to disble the hard disk

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

I think you said your HDD is SATA?

It's possible your BIOS is "broken"... some of the earlier ones when SATA was first released are very... "sloppy" in their coding. I've seen all sorts of problems, from refusing to boot from a SATA HDD at all to only recognising a SATA HDD when it's the first in the boot device listing; which sounds like the problem you're having.

[Landseka]

only recognising a SATA HDD when it's the first in the boot device listing; which sounds like the problem you're having.

Indeed Skew, this sounds like the problem I'm having.

Now the fishing trip is over I need to get on with the re-format, any ideas how to get around this problem?

Regards

Neil

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

I don't s'pose you have a bootable floppy with basic DOS & CD-ROM drivers on it? (A la the old W98 emergency boot disk?)

If so, you may be able to reset your boot order to where it works (ie. boots as per normal from the HDD) then reboot into a console from the floppy. cd to C: to ensure it's available, then cd to the CD-ROM and into the i386 dir. Run the setup program from there... from memory it's called Winnt.exe

Try typing winnt /? to get the cmd line parameters.

If you run the setup.exe program from the root dir, I'm pretty sure it'll complain about "incorrect version of DOS/Win" unless your XP is an upgrade copy and not an OEM.

I could be completely off the track here: there's so many different versions of Windows (and other OS's) and each has their own li'l quirks... so it's hard to be sure I'm thinking of the right one. As with any 'puta work, it's always easier being there in person. :rolleyes:

[Cliff Rogers]

Dotter off over to www.dell.com (http://www.dell.com) & have a bump around there.
I think they have a forum or a knowledge base of sorts.

In your case now that you have it booting from the CD & not detecting the HDD, I think it may be a BIOS set up problem.

Some systems come with a recovery CD that has a problem dealing with HDDs that have been 'used' before & they need a utility to be run to reset the HDD to factory before the recovery will run.

If all else fails.... :google2: :2tsup:

[Harry72]

I've had a few boot up problems too with my Dell(510e 3.4) not recognising my SATA drive

[jow104]

Most probably too late to be of use this time but I have got a google list of info on this reformatting.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=how+to+reformat+windows+xp%2F2&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

I am going to have to do my own one day so I have created a title that might work in search one day

[snowyskiesau]

If you're still having problems, try telling the BIOS to load it's defaults.
Not sure what this option would be but for my BIOS (Phoenix) it's labelled as 'Load Default Settings'

[Landseka]

Whoopee...finally, yesterday I got this thing reformatted.

It took a call to Dell helpline, bless their hearts, got it sorted in no time.

SWMBO made the call but I think it was something like the hard drive setting had to be changed from SATA to ATA

It has taken the last 24 hours to reload stuff I had saved, and re source the stuff I forgot to save :doh:

The process has changed the drive letters of my dvd drive & the secondary hard drive, I searched the bios but cant find any option to change them. They are only listed as drives 1,2,3 etc.

Any ideas?

Regards

Neil.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

It has taken the last 24 hours to reload stuff I had saved, and re source the stuff I forgot to save :doh:

Welcome to the world of reformatting. :D


The process has changed the drive letters of my dvd drive & the secondary hard drive, I searched the bios but cant find any option to change them. They are only listed as drives 1,2,3 etc.

That's a SW thing, rather than HW. Still Win XP Pro?

Ever heard of the MS Management Console? ie. mmc? What I'd do is go to Start/Run and type in diskmgmt.msc or compmgmt.msc. The latter is a higher level utility, so slightly more useful in general... and clicking on Storage/Disk Management takes you to diskmgmt.msc anywas, so... :rolleyes:

This'll give you a list of your drives, also with a bar-graph type GUI showing relative sizes, etc. Right click on any partition in the GUI and you'll see an option to "change drive letter and path." Personally, I have my optical drives set as X:, Y: & Z: so that adding/removing removable drives (USB cards, etc.) doesn't change their letters. :thyel:

(BTW, there's probably easier ways of doing this, but I know that this works for XP and Win2K, whereas other ways tend to depend on how people have set their system up. :shrug:)

Geeks Unite! :p

[Landseka]

Job done, so easy when you know how.

Thanks Skew, and thanks to all who took time to help.

Regards

Neil.