[wannabe1]

Have you installed the SATA/RAID drivers? That's done right at the beginning...even before you get to the Welcome to Setup screen.

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Sure sounds like the HD is dieing. Go to the manufacturers web site and download the diagnostic utility program (diskette or CD iso version) and run the quick test. If it's clean, run the long test. If that passes then the drive should be okay.

Does the drive still show up in BIOS?

[Ztruker]

Sure sounds like the HD is dieing. Go to the manufacturers web site and download the diagnostic utility program (diskette or CD iso version) and run the quick test. If it's clean, run the long test. If that passes then the drive should be okay.

Does the drive still show up in BIOS?

[Gushwa]

Sorry guys,
I kept refreshing to see if I got an answer,
but I didn't notice there was a 4th page,
and I just kept seeing my last post as the last one,
I found these replies when I clicked on the 4th page.

I ran the diagnostics that come up when you press f12,
on the hard drive.
I started it last night, and it finished this morning (5 iterations),
it runs several different tests, they all passed,
I don't know if that is the same diags you refer to on the dell site.

Wannabe1, this computer has always been sata,
yes the sata drivers are installed automatically,
along with all the other preliminary drivers before the welcome screen.

Thank You, Gushwa

[Ztruker]

Gushwa, I'm sure that is the same diags you would get from the Dell web site so no point in doing it again.

Does the drive show up in BIOS? If so, all I can suggest is to mount it in another computer and see if you can access it there. If yes, save your data, then put it back in your computer and do a Repair Install, since you can't get the RC to load.

An alternative to mounting the drive in another computer is to buy a new device called a NewerTech USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter. It allows you to connect a ATA (laptop or desktop), SATA or ATAPI drive to a USB 2.0 port. Very neat, I just ordered one for myself.

[Gushwa]

Hi Ztruker,
Yes it does show up in the bios,
I just tried connecting a regular ide hd,
disconected the sata,
and the second ide dvd-rw,
that's where i connected the ide hd,

i tried to boot with the os cd in the connected drive,
and it says there is no boot device.

The sata is also recognised in the system setup,
in there everything seems ok.
I am going to turn off fast boot,
which bypasses some compatibilities,

sata operation is set to raid autodetect/ahci,
other settings are,
raid autodetect/ata,
raid on,
combination which is sata/pata combination mode,

i suppose i should set to comb.
if i wanted to try with the ide drive i just connected.

[Gushwa]

Hi Guys,
with what I was attempting,
I got it to recognise the ide hard drive,
but it would not recognise the dvd drive from which I was trying to boot.

It would say "no boot device",
even when I went into bios,
and set the drive settings,
it still would not recognise the dvd drive.

I then replaced everything the way it was before,
and ran diagnostics under the symptom tree,
under "cannot boot the OS"
which it ran about 30 different tests,
over a two hour period,
and all tests passed.

I will now run "windows blue screen",
see if that finds anything.

Wannabe1,
I know what you are talking about,
when it asks you to press F6
if you are loading third party raid drivers,
I have never pressed F6,
since I don't have any separate raid drivers to install,
I don't know if i'm supposed to.

I will now start the test,
but i'm going to bed,
it's about 3am,
mabey see you all tomorrow.

Thank You, Gushwa

[Gushwa]

Hi Guys,

I have a resorce cd that came with this system,
it is called ,
Drivers And Utilities, Dell Dimension Resource CD,
2004 Dell Inc.

It loaded device drivers,
then went to a list to select from,
I chose exit to dos,
at the comand promp I typed fdisk,
then enter,
it asked if I wanted large disk support,
I answered yes,
it then asked if I should treat ntfs as large disk,
I answered yes,
I am at FDISK OPTIONS,
the options are,
1-create DOS partition or logical DOS DRIVE,
2-Set active partition,
3-Delete partition or Logical DOS Drive,
4-Display Partition information,

But I just noticed at the top of the page it says,
Microsoft windows 98,
Fixed Disk Setup Program,
should I continue,
and if so which option should I choose?
Remember, this computer has an SATA HD.

Thanks, Gushwa

Edited by Gushwa, 22 January 2008 - 10:57 PM.

[Gushwa]

Well,
I chose Display Partition Information,
Part-1- Non-DOS 63/Mbytes,
Part-2- A-NTFS 72630/Mbytes 95%,
Part-3- CP/M 3585/Mbytes 5%

[anzenketh]

Is your system still not able to boot to the cd if you attach a IDE hdd?

Turn off your computer turn it back on start tapping F2. Under drives select SATA operation. Tell me what is highlighted?

[Gushwa]

!!!!GREAT NEWS!!!!

!!!!I fixed it!!!!

Useing the resource cd,
to get into dos,
at the command prompt I typed fdisk,
at fdisk options selected delete partition,

first tried to delete part 2,
it said it did not exist,
then tried to delete part 3,
it said it did not exist,

then I hit delete part -1-,
was succesful deleteing this so called non-dos partition 63Mbytes,

removed resource cd,
inserted OS cd,

tried to get into the recovery console,
it blue screened again,
restarted,

tried a regular XP install,
got to the agreement screen,
hit f8,

this time got through to the format screen,
reformated partition -3- 3585Mbytes,

installed to that partition,

Thank God! success!,
the best part is I was able to save all data on partition -2- 95% of the hard drive.

I was wondering,
is there a virus that makes its own partition,
that could have been responsible for all this?

I just ordered 2 more 1/2 gigbyte sticks for this machine.

Thank You All, for all your help,

Thank God, it's working fine now!

YAAAAHHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
Gushwa

Edited by Gushwa, 25 January 2008 - 12:07 AM.

[wannabe1]

That's GREAT news!!!! Well done...

*wannabe1 wonders why he didn't receive email notification of the 8 replies before this one.