Boot Up Problem

[BillB]

My wife has a 64 bit Dell computer with Vista Home Premium OS. Recently when she turns the computer on she gets a screen with Dell in the center & F2 Setup & F12 Boot Menu in the upper right corner. After a few seconds she gets a black screen with the message "Diskette drive O seek failure." She has a choice of Press F1 to continue or Press F2 to enter SETUP. If she preses F1 the computer boots up normally.

I suspect that one of the grandchildren that occasionally use the computer did something to cause this. I went into SETUP & loaded all the defaults thinking that this might correct the problem but nothing changed.

What can I do in order to have the computer boot up normally when turned on?
Thanks for your help.

[DJofSD]

Go to the Dell web page to see if this is a known problem. If you are right and the grand kids have altered something, likely there is a way to undo it. Unfortunately, I don't have any hands-on experience with Dell otherwise I might have more specific help.

Maybe those on this board will have specific knowledge and can be more helpful.

[DJofSD]

See if the information on this page looks famaliar and might apply to your problem at hand: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4600/en/4600i/sm/syssetup.htm


Changing Boot Sequence for Future Boots

1. Enter system setup.

2. Use the arrow keys to highlight the Boot Sequence menu option and press <Enter> to access the pop-up menu.

NOTE: Write down your current boot sequence in case you want to restore it.

3. Press the up- and down-arrow keys to move through the list of devices.

4. Press the spacebar to enable or disable a device (enabled devices have a checkmark).

5. Press plus (+) or minus (–) to move a selected device up or down the list.

[headhawg]

It sounds like the bios is trying to detect a floppy disk drive. So into Setup (F2) and look for a bios option that says something about the FDC (floppy disk controller). It might be enabled which would give you the error if you don't have one. If you don't have a floppy disk then obviously choose the disable option. It might also be helpful to change your boot order and put the hard drive first.

[HUSKER55]

grandkids have a dell and theirs came with a "system restore" disk for just such emergencies.


hope that helps

good luck

[Marshall Bennett]

I know I had a weather radar running in the background on my computer , it would update every 5 minutes . I was performing another task when it updated and everything crashed . After rebooting I had nothing , couldn't bring up my task bar or click an icon on the desktop that would do anything . I made a call and was told to press F11 when rebooting and restore my settings to the day before . Everything was back to normal . Perhaps if you restored your settings back to before the kids played with it , it would erase the problem that was created . Just a thought .

[tupper]

Headhawg's diagnosis seems correct. This error is happening in the BIOS stage of the boot (before the OS boots). Try headhawg's solution.

Also, Make sure to remove any CDs/DVDs/floppies before booting.

[Hanover1]

DJof SD has the correct answer...been there, done that.

[BillB]

Thanks to everyone who responded. I have been too busy this week to try these suggestions out. Since it is not a major problem - just irritating - I will try to work on it next week.