Little bit of help with old Gateway...please.

Well...so I took my Dell PC to a local guy (not the friends nephew). He called today and said I need a new motherboard and PCU. Then he told me he has a really nice PC he will sell me for $350. Is he just trying to get me to buy a PC? What do you guys think? :confused

 

Hi sorry I am late in adding my two cents.....I have a older PC like you and I too had problems installing on a new hard drive. The PC is a Compaq Presario S4210NX with a P4 (478) 2.4 GHz chip.
Let me get to the main idea of this reply now. I found that I had tons of trouble getting the PC to boot and install windows properly until I had set the boot order with the Floppy first --> then CD second --> and then hard drive last (USB floppy should work). I found the tip at this site here and this was the message that I got Booting from CD ROM no emulation. Its in the post from Roy G and he even gives us a guide to installing windows (slipstreaming too) Hope it helps even if its late... http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/18843/

 

to matt8911
On a bit of a side note, is your P4 an HT version?

 

My daughter's pc has a floppy drive...my Dell only has an internal floppy drive.

 

For what its worth here is my parting shot. I would try to finnish fixing it first, and then after exahusting all possible quick (and inexpensive fixes) consider replacing the board or the whole system. Keep in mind that most Dell's and Compaq's are built with Proprietary(unlike other systems and built by Dell and Compaq) Hardware. So changing parts will involve even more consideration.

HD recognised check and DasedandC... you can look at the hard drive label for any information to post back if you care to

Boot Sequence
1. Onboard or USB Floppy (not present) Correct but nonpresent check to see if your floppy is enabled or disabled elsewhere in your BIOS.
2. Onboard SATA HARD DRIVEShould be boot dev #3
3. Onboard IDE HARD DRIVE (not present)
4. Onboard or USB CD-ROM Drive Should be boot dev#2
I found the help here http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/18843/
and I used it in my post here http://forums.tweaktown.com/f17/presario-s4210nx-new-300gig-hd-questions-37050/ Just wanted to say again I think its important that you try to get a working floppy drive in the system(USB floppy should work) Boot order is my tip 1floppy2CD(orDVD)3hard drive I have had no trouble with windows seeing my SATA hard drives on my systems with Win XP SP2 or Slipstreamed XP SP3 (both home versions).
Another very important question is did you (or someone else) change the hard drive from the original? Compaq has done something to alter the drives (more proprietary devices again) so the install knows that you do not have a Compaq hard drive installed. I tried installing on a new hard drive (not from Compaq) and the install refused to install the system recovery portion then after that it would not install at all(prolly due to boot order again:cry)
Why cant Compaq just keep it simple for all or us??:confused

Another BIOS setting that I think is incorrect is this one

I do not think you have a RAID setup and thus your system is looking for a RAID setup and then it fails??
The system default is not always correct. If you have one Drive then you do not have a RAID setup(two or more drives).
Here is a guide to installing windows with slipstreaming help too
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm

Yes make sure its enabled in the BIOS and try installing a USB floppy set to boot first very important (there may be a USB storage detect setting that need to be "ON" too).
See if there are any BIOS updates listed at your Dell support site. consider updating the BIOS if an update is available. But be careful doing this as it can be risky(ask for help on this please)
See if you can get started with my technique or not to install windows. Also good to post any other BIOS setting related to your Floppy and hard drives. I know you are letting someone else do the work but you can relay the info to him. Well that is about enough for me and oh yes hrlow2 my system does not have a hyperthreading CPU.
Matt

 

Well...here I am again. I had to take a break from all of this. I was getting too frustrated.

So...what should I do from here? Could somebody give me some ideas (in the easiest to follow instructions as possible )?

 

Let me just start with this...I can install Windows using the XP Home Edition CD, but after it installs I get a black screen that states "Floppy Disc seek error".

 

You should use the OEM disc, if you have it.
Plus, Dells have a built-in recovery partition. After the dell splash screen, it has a blue bar that says www.dell.com, if you press F11 when you see that, it does a factory restore. But you probably overwrote that already.

 

Yes, I believe the factory restore is gone now. Windows XP does install, but it just won't boot. Today I got this error message:
"Previous attempts at booting this system have failed at checkpoint [WAKE]. For help in resolving this problem, please note this checkpoint and contact Dell Technical Support"
Anybody here know what to do? Unless you're paying for support, good luck with Dell!

 

Well Dazedandconfused (is that name related to the led zepplin song?) 1Getting back to the discussion. I think there has already been a lot of information given on this subject so lets see if I can be of assistance here.
I usually give full specs on the system in question, which you have done in the beginning but they are spread out in the thread. This can be annoying to forum mods and helpers. link--> http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=212245
The preferred method is to add specs to your signature. But I will leave that topic alone for the moment.
First these questions
1 do you have a Dell install disk? or a windows install disk?
2 do you want to test with a linux install disk(you can DL and burn free)
3 can your list your BIOS settings on paper or text and post them in this thread? I know it takes some time but paying someone 100-200 for a fix on this system seems expensive in money. These BIOS setting can give us some clues as to whats wrong with your setup. I am surprised that no one has suggested this, as yet.
I did find a guide in Dell DellSupport page found ?here--> http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/opgx620/en/ug/a02/reinstal.htm However, I think you need the original install CDs to start this install procedure, as zDawg32 suggested near bottom of page--
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=212245&page=3
These disks may not have been shipped with your PC and needed to be ordered for a fee(10-20 dollars if they are still available?) If your system came with windows XP home and you have a xp home cd you may be able to use it and use your old key that on your tower. Please note that xp home and professional are not available for sale AFAIK(as far as I know). You may be able to buy a used copy of your OS at ebay.com(50.00-100.00) One other option is linux or Ubuntu operating systems free DL and copy to a CD or DVD(cost one CDor DVD1.00). I thought someone already suggested this as a test to see if you could install successfully with another Operating system?
One last shot is that we may also need your system specs listed such as hard drive manufacturer model (original drive shipped with this system?) Or did you add a new hard drive? System type: AMD or Intel (chipset version if intel--my specialty ) power supply maker and model number. CD DVD drive: maker and model

How much does it cost to get a Dell techhead on the phone anyway?(50.00?)
Assuming a new hard drive may solve this problem1(50-90.00 used) here is a tally of costs to fix this aging system
1 Install 1CDs 10-20.00
2 Used hard drive 50-90.00
3 New CD drive just thrown in there prolly not needed 40.00
4 Dell Tech support 50.00 for those important questions.
So 110-160.00 minimum costs to get you started on a fix for this system. Some costs can be eliminated by using other peoples parts friends relatives etc. 200.00 maximum cost to get started on a fix. Note this is just a estimate of what it could cost you to get running on your own and there are no guarantees that your problem will be solved. I just added this analysis of the money side in case you are interested in the possible costs involved compared to buying a new system 1000.00 possibly? The down side is you will still have a 5 year old PC that is slow at most tasks, but that may be ok for just surfing the net.
What is the purpose for the PC?

Regards
Matt8911 signing off

 

Hello Matt8911

No...it's related to my PC problems!!:-D

Strangest thing is happening now. I turned on my Dell, so maybe I could find some of the info you requested. I got the usual...Dell splash screen, followed by the black screen with the message "floppy drive seek failure". I pressed the F1 key...and suddenly...there was a Windows splash screen! I started following the prompts, inserted the install CD when prompted...and Windows installed!! Now, when I turn on the PC, I still get the Dell screen, followed by the "failure" message, but if I press any key it boots to Windows. :confused

 

Yes its because the floppy drive is failing and it stops the boot sequence until you press the F1 right? From our viewpoint the PC is checking certain hardware and stopping when it sees bad hardware (the floppy) it should say press F1 to continue. Then it boots to windows normally. What I would suggest is buying a USB floppy drive and then that problem should stop happening, cuz the floppy tests ok.
So here is your homework Dazed
A. Buy a USB Floppy at best buy or frys and install it and report back the results.
B. list the BIOS settings in the Integrated periferals section and any other section related to the hard drives and the floppy drive.
Regards

 

All you need t do at this stage is disable the floppy drive in the BIOS and this message should go away.

 

Oh my gosh...thank you a bazillion times collinsl (and everyone else that helped me in my quest to get my PC back up and running)! I feel such a sense of accomplishment already...even though I still have a few problems to iron out. (I lost a bunch of drivers in the process.) But just to get to this point is great...I've been working on it since Feb. 4th! *Singing "I am Woman, I am strong"* LOL!

All you guys are the BEST of the BEST!

 

collinsl,

It appears as though you were right and I was wrong in my original diagnoses of the problem! :major That is an apoligy!

 

Glad we could get it working for you.

Thanks!