Fookking thing

Ok this is the issue my system has slowed down and i want to wipe the lot and reload XP etc

Ok i have taken all i want of the machine and have all i need to rebuild it

i have set the boot sequence to be

IDE CDROM drive then Hard Drive

I put the XP disc in to reboot and format the jobby and it cant see it

WHen i try to explore the Disc not it just stops responding

any thoughts u PC kings

Nige

 

the discs start spinning but then stop

Im baffled

Please help

Nige

 

i have the disc in the drive now and try and explore it and it shows as empty nothing at all not the please enter disc just NOthINg

Any help

 

go into bios, and disable the hardrive from the start list then re-boot

 

tried that it sits on a black screen and wont do it

It will then go back into BIOS settings screen

 

weird one then, i just selected cdrom drive first then diabled HD

are u sure u dont have the xp upgrade disc

 

nahh its deffo the one that says this is your operating system that is loaded etc if you need to reinstall use this blah blah

N

 

formatted your HD yet?

 

nope cos then im fooked if i cant get the drives to work etc cos that has the stuff on it

I have tried a restore
I have tried to put music and stuff into the drive to see if it will start but wont

what should the settings be in the BIOS for 2 drives one a CD RW and one a DVD RW

Nige

 

what do u mean by settings? boot order?

 

maybee you should reformat your hyper x drive ROM system x overload RAM DOS bollocks!



fuck knows, sorry mate!

 

also do i have to have anything done in the iDE settings in Bios

 

Dave NICE reply

COCK

But thanks for the BTT

Im gonna have a look at the bIos settings for the drives and only plug ONE of them in

Nige

 

yes, exactly what i was going to suggest..

you fucking NEVILLE!

 

yeah in your startup list you should have something like this:

1.CDROM (Enabled)
2.Floppy (Enabled)
3.Harddrive (Disabled)
4.DVD (Disabled)

the cd should spin then say 'press any key' to carry on with installation

personally, i format my hard drive first, then configure bios then insert cd

 

sounds like you dont have a proper bootable cd/dvd.

 

right

Now i try and use any CD or DVD in either of the drives and they wont work WHAT could cause that

This i feel is the root cause of the issue


Dave kiss my ass my Brother in law is Nevville

 

so now the cd and dvd isnt working in the operating system or in DOS mode.

in the bios there is a section where it lists all drives, it should be on auto detect and enabled in the boot section, to been shown in windows, its hard to diagnose really, as most bios screens are different

 

nige, ifg you have bad BIOS.. which i know you do...

try lynx dry.. africa is my favourate fragrance

 

lol

 

dave = Bell End

LOL

 

 

Ok

I can see both the drives in BIOS this is what it says

Primary Master = Hard Drive
Primary Slave = OFF

Secondary Master = CDRW
Secondary Slave = DVD RW (jumpers are set accordingly too)

IDE Drive UDMA = OFF

Is this ok so far

##Then in XP operating system

I can see both of the drives and they both have discs in but neither show ANYTHING when you try and look at them eitehr by double click or right click Search or right click explore

Nige

 

Is it a genuine xp disc? If its just a copy it may have become corrupt or may not be a bootable version. If you have any other discs you know are bootable try those.

 

genuine disc and first generatiin copy

The issue is the fact that the drives wont do anything at all

How do i sort that

n

 

Try swapping the ide ribbon cables over and see if that makes a difference, incase its a fault with cable. Also try with just one drive connected. It may also be an idea to reset the bios as a last resort.

 

You could try resetting the BIOS back to standard settings, thentry running the XP disc again. Another thing to check is the actual connections inside the case - are they all correct?

 

lol great minds think alike!!!!

 

tony i have just downloaded and installed the latest BIOS flash from Dell and stuck that in , The cables seem to be fine adn have checked them this is the image i get when looking at ANY disc this one is for REM Greatest Hits

any thoughts

 

Hmmmm well the computer is seeing the drive, its just not reading the disc correctly.... i'm stumped now

 

well just to confuse matters more

If i put a DVD in the DVD RW it sees it and reads it OK




Heres the image but any other type ie CD , DAta , Software it doesnt

Whats that about

??

 

Strangenessss. Just to be clear about things - if you put the XP disc in a reboot, does it give you the option to 'boot from disc'??

 

Get hold of some XP boot disks and try those instead?

I'd normally suggest http://www.bootdisk.com, but I'm pretty sure they've started charging for XP boot-disks now!

 

rS nutter nope it will just hang

NIge

 

Nige when your trying to boot from the xp disc you have make sure the cd drive is disconnected on both power and ide leads. Some bios will only let you boot from the drive that is on the top end of the cable. If this drive is duff it could be locking the system up.

The last thing I would try is swapping the hard drive onto the dvd drives ide channel, this would determine if the board is duff as the hard drive wouldnt boot now.

 

If it doesn't read the disc when in xp even though xp detects the drive, then the drive is probally totalled.

They can be tempramental, like all dam computers

Try swapping over the IDE cables, try didfferent jumper setting like putting your cd drive on the same cable as the hard-drive (primary) and then change the jumpers accurdenly, try using the cable select jumper on any drive thats on its own on a cable.

If all else fails try taking the cd drive apart and clean up the laser lens and pull all the tiny cable apart and put them back somtimes they can get bad connections, be carfull though these are easy to break and easy to rip the cables, this might fix it i'ved fixed lots of things, that the cables come loose on.

 

You can use either the CD or the DVD drive for installing.

 

nige you have a pm ...