Diskette Drive 0 Failiure

[Fedup28]

Dell Inspiron 531 Windows Home Premium. I recently had a CMOS battery (?) not working message. By leaving the PC on this has recharged it & the message has gone away. Now I get Diskette Drive 0 failure, press F1 message up. How do I get rid of this? I cannot apply all other answers to this problem I have found on the forum, perhaps they apply to different models. Please note I am a complete novice at this sort of thing. Thanks for your help.

[KenB]

Hi and welcome to ExTS

 

By leaving the PC on this has recharged it & the message has gone away

These CMOS batteries are not re-chargeable.

If the date and time are wrong this is a good indication that the CMOS battery needs replacing.

 

Diskette Drive 0 failure

This refers to the floppy drive.

Do you have one ?

 

Switch on and tap F2 about once per second.

This should take you into the BIOS.

Look for Boot Order / Boot Sequence or similar ( all BIOS are different ) and see if Floppy is the first in the boot order.

 

If it is change the order to 1 - CDROM 2 HDD

Put the floppy 3rd if you have one - if you don't have one then move it even further down the boot order.

 

You will get information - usually on the right side of the screen - on how to move the devices up and down.

It is usually done with the + - keys.

 

Don't forget to Save and Exit ( usually F10 - it will say on screen )

[BeeCeeBee]

Just in the slight chance that you are reading KenBs advice as being 2 separate issues, they are not. You need to do both including replacing the CMOS battery. If you just follow the second set of instructions it is likely that the issue will return.

[Fedup28]

I'm lost

 

Thank you for your offers of help. The CMOS battery has come back to life by leaving the PC switched on at the mains whilst closed down & the time/date holds OK. So I proceeded to hit F2 & get the BIOS. What I got in a list was: Floppy A & its details; SATA 0; SATA 1 none; SATA 2 HL DT ST DVD+/- RW GSA-H73N; SATA 3 None; HDD SMART disabled. None of these seemed to bear any relation to your intructions I'm afraid, & despite pressing various +/- keys at the bottom, no order change was achieved. The intructions on the right of the screen were incomprehensible. Thus I am no further forward with the problem, except that the PC seems to take much longer than ever to start up once I have pressed F1 as requested in Diskette Drive Failure screen.

[KenB]

Hi

The manual for your machine is here:

click here

 

It describes how to change the Boot Sequence.

You need to press F12 ( according to the manual ) It is normally F2 or DEL which is why I suggested F2 earlier.

 

Check to see if the Floppy Drive is before the Hard Drive ( HDD ) if it is change it to:

CDROM

HDD

other ....your choice

[Fedup28]

Thank you KenB. I pressed F12 & nothing happened. I went to the manual and, using F2 as the screen says, tried to follow the instructions from the manual headed Changing Boot Sequence. This talked about Boot tabs & Boot Device Property which I don't have. What are they anyway? As is normal with computer driven things, I am getting absolutely nowhere. I have decided I can live with pressing F1 every time I want to start this wretched thing, the only alternative seems to be to take it to a shop. Thank you for your help.

[KenB]

I have decided I can live with pressing F1

It is no big deal - but annoying.

 

The manual did specify F12.

Have you tried tapping this about once per second after switching on ?

 

On your monitor you will see ( usually in the bottom left corner ) just after you switch on ....

"Press *** to enter Set Up "

This is the key to get you into the BIOS.

[Fedup28]

F12 does nothing, even tapping it. Message at bottom of SATA screen reads: Strike F1 to retry boot; F2 for setup utility. I have hit F2 but the instructions on how to change the order as in your previous message are incomprehensible.

[KenB]

I can't do more than quote from the manual:

 

[h=4]Changing Boot Sequence for the Current Boot[/h]You can use this feature, for example, to restart your computer to a USB device, such as a floppy drive, memory key, or CD-RW drive.

1. If you are booting to a USB device, connect the USB device to a USB connector.
   
2. Turn on (or restart) your computer.
   
3. When F2 = Setup, F12 = Boot Menu appears in the upper-right corner of the screen, press <F12>.
   

If you wait too long and the operating system logo appears, continue to wait until you see the Microsoft Windows desktop, then shut down your computer (see Turning Off Your Computer) and try again.

1. The Boot Menu appears, listing all available boot devices.
   
2. Use the arrow keys to select the appropriate device (for the current boot only).
   

[Fedup28]

May have solved the mistery regarding my F12 not working. Apparently (according to my grandson) when I switch on, the PC does not display the 'Boot' screen with the F2/F12 option to start with. Rather it goes straight to the Diskette Failure screen, so I get no chance of using the F12 command.

[KenB]

I am coming back to your original post - and the CMOS message.

 

I would be inclined to replace the CR2032 battery - it is a small cost.

By replacing the battery this will reset the BIOS to defaults.

the + on the battery is always visible and on top.

 

Give this a try and get back to us :)

[BeeCeeBee]

Just following up on KenB's suggestion. In one of your posts you indicate that the CMOS battery came back to life. That didn't happen and without a good CMOS battery you cannot save any changes to your bios and expect them to remain. Since that bios dates back a bit, it probably is defaulting to a boot sequence that starts with a floppy drive. For many years floppys were the standard means of installing an operating system. In later years the manufacturers would simply change the boot sequence. Once the CMOS battery fails it can revert to the bios default and keep repeating causing you to lose whatever changes that were made.

 

It would seem to me that unless you do what KenB has suggested nothing else that anyone may recommend to you can be relied on to stick.

[Fedup28]

Thank you all for your help. I'll have to take the PC to a dealer to get the CMOS battery done, because I wouldn't know what I'm looking for.

[KenB]

Hi - Don't do that ...........it is so simple.

 

Take a look here:

click here

 

 

[Synapse]

Just have a look on ebay for your CR2032 battery, cheap as chips.

[Fedup28]

Thank you for your encouragement. I found a CR2032 in a torch that works fine so I followed the video & put it in. Sadly it made no difference & the PC goes straight to the diskette failure screen with no access to F12

[KenB]

I have re-read the manual and F12 is used to alter the current boot only ...........my mistake.

 

I was right first time - it is F2.

Switch on and immediately start tapping F2 - about 1 tap per second should do it.

Shortly after the DELL Logo appears ( keep tapping F2 ) you should be taken to the BIOS.

 

From there you will be able to alter the Boot Sequence.

 

I think that the Floppy Drive is first at the moment and you need to move this down the sequence - described earlier.

Don't forget to Save and Exit .......usually F10 but it will say on screen.

 

The Manual is very clear

click here

[Fedup28]

I did this & it took me to the screen I could get to simply by pressing F2 from the diskette Failure screen & I referred to this screen earlier & said I could make no sense of the intructions therein. Thank you for your attempts to help but please close this thread now as I am getting nowhere.