Re: Floppy stopped working: Could this mean a boot sector virus?
- From: "Christopher Muto" <muto@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 04 Oct 2005 22:06:06 GMT
the inspiron 3500 runs windows xp just fine and all drivers for it are built
into windows xp (so no additional ones to download/install). however you
need a 10gb hard disk for an xp installation with office 2000 and you need
at least 128mb of ram for xp.
your problems stem from taking the disk from the thinkpad with windows
installed on it and expecting it to work on the inspiron as it. windows
nt/2k/xp can not be transplanted between different systems like that. there
is a layer of software called the hardware abstraction layer that is
tailored to the specific machine when windows is installed and it now has no
idea how to talk to your various components. if it is an oem install of
windows then you should be able to find a copy of the original windows 2k
disk in a folder on the hard drive. from there you should be able to start
a new installation of windows. if you are careful you can install it
without formating your hard drive. other than that you could use the
makedisk utility to create a set of 4 bootable diskettes from your win2k cd
(in another machine) and then boot from your floppy (that only works when in
the internal bay in the i3500). be sure to enter the system bios and modify
the default boot sequence to move the floppy to the front of the list and
the cd drive second. good luck.
"news.rcn.com" <news.rnc.com> wrote in message
news:hbednSdC8YxadN_eRVn-jQ@xxxxxxxxxx
> This is an Inspiron 3500 running at 366 MHz with 64 Meg ram which is about
> the minimum for 98SE: I don't think it will run XP but have an install
> disc so could give it a try if I could get a CD working.
>
> The problem I have is that the system won't recognise the floppy at all or
> now the CD, neither in the bay or at the end of the cable (supplied so
> that you can use the floppy with the CD in the bay). It lights the LED
> on the front, sometimes buzzes as if it were trying to read, clicks slowly
> a few times as if it were trying to read and then gives up. Pressing A: in
> windows explorer does much the same and you get a message telling you that
> the floppy isn't formatted and do you want to format it.
>
> The only other oddity is that all the drives show to be working in DOS
> compatibility mode??? Could this mean that there is some boot sector virus
> somewhere which is preventing the system seeing the floppy? And if so, how
> do I remove it without a floppy or a cd? I seem to remember a virus years
> ago which exhibited these tendencies called NYB although it wasn't a hard
> drive boot sector virus was it? You got rid of it by using FDISK /MBR as
> I remember it but I cant see doing this from within windows and any
> boot-up puts you in windows
>
> Otherwise I was wondering whether there was a way of reinstalling the BIOS
> over the present possibly corrupted BIOS installation? The present BIOS
> is 4.00 revision 6.00 with Version 10 showing and a version 14 on a floppy
> I thought I had installed. I suppose it may not have installed if there
> is a boot sector virus?
>
> This may well be just poor hardware components but I am somewhat comforted
> by the fact that the CD went out only a short while after the floppy
> stopped working so it MAY well just be the BIOS which has become corrupted
> or a boot sector virus: I am also slightly comforted by the appearance of
> a Win 95 USB updater in ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS so there is a possibility I
> may be able to get an USB CD reader working so long as it doesn't need
> drivers to work
>
>
> "Christopher Muto" <muto@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:o_e0f.10475$794.4103@xxxxxxxxxxx
>> would help if you mentioned the model...
>
> ORIGINAL POSTING:
>
> I am suffering what appears to be a Dell issue (I have only had it on Dell
> computers, - and too often on various different Dells), which is that
> suddenly this computer wont recognise its floppy drive. It spins and
> spins
> and however many times I try to check the BIOS and boot off it, the
> computer
> wont boot off the floppy. So I cant get it to see whatever CD I put in the
> drive.
>
> The unit wont see its floppy whether I put it into the bay or at the end
> of
> the cable. I don't think it is a BIOS revision issue OR is there some way
> of
> reinstalling the same BIOS as is in the unit already? Can an attempted
> install of an OS screw up the BIOS? I haven't unplugged the Unit since all
> this arose so I can't see this as a BIOS battery issue
>
> The full problem is that I have changed the hard drive and put one off a
> ThinkPad in with Win 95 on it. It works. I tried to install 98SE off the
> original install discs but, booting off the CD, the unit won't do a clean
> install. I discovered that it also obviously won't install with the 95
> win.com in place. Then suddenly after this failed install, the OS stopped
> seeing the floppy (and, later, the CD as well)! Now I don't dare format
> the hard drive and try to install 98 SE from the CD for fear that the unit
> won't see its CD when I try this. I kinda presume that the not seeing the
> CD
> is not a hardware fault but is something to do with the OS although it
> wont
> see its CD on boot either. It booted off the CD when it was doing this
> install but wont boot off it any more now after restarting the unit.
>
> Anyone know what causes this Dell floppy issue or is it simply a poor
> quality hardware issue?
>
>
>
.
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