Hi Mike,
I really do understand all of that. I made those CMOS
changes AFTER I'd finished getting the data you'd
asked for. And, after rebooting and noting what
happened during post, I changed them back again.
Anytime I change anything, I always write down exactly
what I've changed, or copy it to a floppy. I'm REALLY
well aware that I know very little (at best) - I would
never make a permanent change to my system without
KNOWING it was the right thing to do. Especially not
in the middle of troubleshooting.
I went the "friendly neighborhood tech" route, and to
make a long story short, as I have been with Dell,
Microsoft and Symantec, I was "patted on the head and
sent on my merry way" -- $120 dollars later.
You are THE FIRST person who has understood what I was
trying to say about the "GoBack.io" remaining after an
fdisk and format. You have no idea of how happy that
made me! Someone finally GOT it...
And the money isn't an issue here. The way I look at
it, right now I have WELL over $3500K
in equipment just sitting here going to waste.
But I do know that I'm basically impatient and have a
tendency to go off on tangents, so I promise I'll
shaddup and stick with what you ask... :)
> What is the model? Does the system have a "service
tag" sticker on it? If so, what is that number? I may
be able to find some technical documents on the model;
I have for other clients.
-Dell Dimension 4100
(my service contract & all correspondence from Dell
lists "description" as "DIM XPS-Z series", but I don't
know if this means anything)
-Service Tag No.: C1Y1101
(Dell replaced my motherboard in September, and since
then my CMOS lists my Service Tag as No.HB8H201, but
I've been using the original service tag number with
no problems)
> Now, this could be problematic. Some BIOS need a
"system save" partition in order to place the system
into Sleep. I don't believe
this is the case with DELL systems, however. I know
Compaq has done it.
> The way you know if you need this partition is if
the system complains during POST about the missing
partition.
Nope - no complaints at all during POST
> Are these other bins on C:\ ? In other words, do
they reside at root?
No - all were in the Windows folder or subfolders
> Also, are you able to find any ovl files in C:\ ?
No .ovl files at all, anywhere
> All these lead me to believe that there is some SCSI
device on your system. The 1540 is a SCSI host
adapter, as is the 6360 and 7890.
> In Device Manager, look for the listing "Hard Disk
Controllers." Expand the listing. Write back to me
with the lines underneath that listing.
In Device Manager / by device:
------------------------------
--Hard Disk Controllers
--Intel 82801BA Ultra ATA Storage Controller-
244B
--Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
--Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)
In Device Manager / by connection:
----------------------------------
--Intel 82801BA Ultra ATA Storage Controller -
244B
--Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
--generic IDE disk type 47
--Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)
--Iomega zip 250
--Samsung DVD-ROM SD-612
All controllers listed in both Device Manager and
System Information are from Intel [No.s 82801BA
(2440,244B & 244E), 82801BA/BAM (2442 & 2443) & 82815
(1130 & 1131).] I can't find any system info on the
controllers from Adaptec at all. The only time I see
anything about them is while I'm booting into DOS.
> SCSI controllers generally have their own BIOS. You
can usually watch the separate BIOS post for the SCSI
Adapater. It will scan the SCSI chain for devices.
I've never seen this during POST on a normal (Windows)
boot
E>....Windows folder for "MS-DOS MODE FOR GAMES
WITH MS AND XMS SUPPORT". It took me out of windows to
a command....
M> This is fine. Do not worry about it. It's
immaterial to our discussion. All it does
This was cut off at this point. Did you mean it to be?
Thanks again,
Ellen Williamson
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Send your FREE holiday greetings online!
http://greetings.yahoo.com
Visit our website regularly for FAQs,
articles, how-to's, tech tips and much more
http://freepctech.com
|
