I have a Dell optiplex 150 windows XP operating system. I get the dell logo screen fully loaded and that's as far as I get. I can access the setup screen. I opened the CPU in setup and it tells me that the CD Rom Drive is not installed and the hard disk drive is not installed and it doesn't say that the diskette drive is not installed. I don't have bootable floppy disk so what can I do. I'm not real tech savy but pretty familiar with computer. I know enough to be dangerous.
WILARD428 0 Newbie Poster
gerbil 216 Industrious Poster
"it tells me that the CD Rom Drive is not installed and the hard disk drive is not installed "
Uh-oh. BIOS cannot see any of your drives.
Okay, Dangerous Dan, about the first thing you would do is reset BIOS to defaults via BIOS Setup [often a BIOS exit option] and try to restart.
WILARD428 0 Newbie Poster
"it tells me that the CD Rom Drive is not installed and the hard disk drive is not installed "
Uh-oh. BIOS cannot see any of your drives.
Okay, Dangerous Dan, about the first thing you would do is reset BIOS to defaults via BIOS Setup [often a BIOS exit option] and try to restart.
I don't find a BIOS exit option or a way to reset BIOS to defaults
WILARD428 0 Newbie Poster
I don't find a BIOS exit option or a way to reset BIOS to defaults
Okay, I finally found out that I could reset to default by removing the CMOS battery for a few seconds and putting it back in. I did that but bios setup still lists my drives as not installed. What now?
gerbil 216 Industrious Poster
Next step is to check the internal connections to those drives... they can become dislodged or just give poor continuity occasionally [the pins are often gold plated, but not always, to resist oxidation]. Power off at the wall, then remove the top or LHS side panel and you will see one or two wide [grey] ribbon connectors at the front of the mb [if there is only one cable then it goes to both hdd and cd drive, and that is encouraging...]]; replug all connections on that ribbon cable. Power up and check for success. If no go, power off, wait half a minute then swap the ribbon cable to the other connector on the mb, and power up again.
The floppy drive has its own connector and cable; because BIOS recognised it don't touch it.
If and when things look good, power off and replace the panel. Say how it goes.
WILARD428 0 Newbie Poster
Next step is to check the internal connections to those drives... they can become dislodged or just give poor continuity occasionally [the pins are often gold plated, but not always, to resist oxidation]. Power off at the wall, then remove the top or LHS side panel and you will see one or two wide [grey] ribbon connectors at the front of the mb [if there is only one cable then it goes to both hdd and cd drive, and that is encouraging...]]; replug all connections on that ribbon cable. Power up and check for success. If no go, power off, wait half a minute then swap the ribbon cable to the other connector on the mb, and power up again.
The floppy drive has its own connector and cable; because BIOS recognised it don't touch it.
If and when things look good, power off and replace the panel. Say how it goes.
I reconnected all connections. there are separate ribbons for hdd and cd drive. When I powered upI got the following: "Alert! Previous attemptsat booting this system have failedat checkpoint [Vmgr}. For help in resolving this problem, Pleasenote this checkpoint and contact Dell support. Primary harddisk 0 not found."
WILARD428 0 Newbie Poster
I reconnected all connections. there are separate ribbons for hdd and cd drive. When I powered upI got the following: "Alert! Previous attemptsat booting this system have failedat checkpoint [Vmgr}. For help in resolving this problem, Pleasenote this checkpoint and contact Dell support. Primary harddisk 0 not found."
Some progress has been made. It found the CD drive 0, but it still can't find the hard drive.
gerbil 216 Industrious Poster
Hi, yes, I saw that. I think you need to test that hdd. You could either download a bootable test application from the manufacturer's site and run it, else connect that hdd into another system and see if it is recognised.
Some test tools are found on this page: http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287
If you were to disconnect the hdd only and try to boot you should eventually see a message, depending upon your BIOS, stating something like an OS or boot files or an active partition could not be found, or hard disk failure; then you might assume that all else was working satisfacorily. For this test you could even load a bootable cd into that drive, eg a windows Setup cd, to see if the system worked fully with that.
gerbil 216 Industrious Poster
Hi, yes, I saw that. I think you need to test that hdd. You could either download a bootable test application from the manufacturer's site and run it, else connect that hdd into another system and see if it is recognised.
Some test tools are found on this page: http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287
If you were to disconnect the hdd only and try to boot you should eventually see a message, depending upon your BIOS, stating something like an OS or boot files or an active partition could not be found, or hard disk failure; then you might assume that all else was working satisfacorily. For this test you could even load a bootable cd into that drive, eg a windows Setup cd, to see if the system worked fully with that.
WILARD428 0 Newbie Poster
Hi, yes, I saw that. I think you need to test that hdd. You could either download a bootable test application from the manufacturer's site and run it, else connect that hdd into another system and see if it is recognised.
Some test tools are found on this page: http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287
If you were to disconnect the hdd only and try to boot you should eventually see a message, depending upon your BIOS, stating something like an OS or boot files or an active partition could not be found, or hard disk failure; then you might assume that all else was working satisfacorily. For this test you could even load a bootable cd into that drive, eg a windows Setup cd, to see if the system worked fully with that.
I disconnected the hard drive and tried to boot up and it said "primary harddrive 0 not found. I also downloaded Seatools for windows and created an ISO cd and tried to boot up with that and got the same message.
gerbil 216 Industrious Poster
Then I would test the hdd in another system because it is looking like it died... :(
WILARD428 0 Newbie Poster
Then I would test the hdd in another system because it is looking like it died... :(
Ok I have an external HD enclosure. I'll put it in there and plug it into my laptop and see what happens.
benmar -5 Posting Whiz in Training
buy new MOBO ....
artemporio 0 Newbie Poster
Try your hdd on other pc then check is it detected by pc or not
WILARD428 0 Newbie Poster
Then I would test the hdd in another system because it is looking like it died... :(
The hard drive is apparently ok. I installed it in an exterior enclosure and plugged it into my laptop and it worked fine.
WILARD428 0 Newbie Poster
Try your hdd on other pc then check is it detected by pc or not
The hard drive is apparently ok. I installed it in an exterior enclosure and plugged it into my laptop and it worked fine.
WILARD428 0 Newbie Poster
buy new MOBO ....
I was hoping for a less expensive option. If I go to a new mobo I would upgrade everything. As it is, it is maxed out with a 512mb memory and 20g hd. It's pretty old and outdated. It may not worth the expense.
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