I was given a Dell inspiron 8100...not working. It can't find the Hd or the
CD to boot and they both are not in BIOS. I'm assuming a motherboard but
I'm open to suggestions. It seems too coincidental for both drives to fail.
It will see and boot from floppy. Other than the fact that it doesn't work,
it's a nice free laptop.

Probably the IDE interface is bad BUT it could be one of the drives causing
the error OR the bios could have had the IDE interface disabled. Kind of a
long shot on that one. Probably not the cable. Good Luck!
Respectfully,
Ron Moore

"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
. ..
I was given a Dell inspiron 8100...not working. It can't find the Hd or
the CD to boot and they both are not in BIOS. I'm assuming a motherboard
but I'm open to suggestions. It seems too coincidental for both drives to
fail. It will see and boot from floppy. Other than the fact that it
doesn't work, it's a nice free laptop.

Why do you say not the cable? Back in the dim past (before I discovered
the value of feigning ignorance about PC's) half the disk problems I
solved were bad cables.

Ron Moore wrote:

Probably the IDE interface is bad BUT it could be one of the drives causing
the error OR the bios could have had the IDE interface disabled. Kind of a
long shot on that one. Probably not the cable. Good Luck!
Respectfully,
Ron Moore

"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
. ..

I was given a Dell inspiron 8100...not working. It can't find the Hd or
the CD to boot and they both are not in BIOS. I'm assuming a motherboard
but I'm open to suggestions. It seems too coincidental for both drives to
fail. It will see and boot from floppy. Other than the fact that it
doesn't work, it's a nice free laptop.






--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Yes, I would at least reseat the connectors. If you have another cable, try
switching them.

"Tim Wescott" wrote in message
...
Why do you say not the cable? Back in the dim past (before I discovered
the value of feigning ignorance about PC's) half the disk problems I
solved were bad cables.

Ron Moore wrote:

Probably the IDE interface is bad BUT it could be one of the drives
causing the error OR the bios could have had the IDE interface disabled.
Kind of a long shot on that one. Probably not the cable. Good Luck!
Respectfully,
Ron Moore

"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
. ..

I was given a Dell inspiron 8100...not working. It can't find the Hd or
the CD to boot and they both are not in BIOS. I'm assuming a motherboard
but I'm open to suggestions. It seems too coincidental for both drives
to fail. It will see and boot from floppy. Other than the fact that it
doesn't work, it's a nice free laptop.






--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Reflash the BIOS. There are good 3rd party utilities for this, like
Uniflash.
JR
Dweller in the cellar

Tom Gardner wrote:
I was given a Dell inspiron 8100...not working. It can't find the Hd or the
CD to boot and they both are not in BIOS. I'm assuming a motherboard but
I'm open to suggestions. It seems too coincidental for both drives to fail.
It will see and boot from floppy. Other than the fact that it doesn't work,
it's a nice free laptop.




--
--------------------------------------------------------------
Home Page: http://www.seanet.com/~jasonrnorth
If you're not the lead dog, the view never changes
Doubt yourself, and the real world will eat you alive
The world doesn't revolve around you, it revolves around me
No skeletons in the closet; just decomposing corpses
--------------------------------------------------------------
Dependence is Vulnerability:
--------------------------------------------------------------
"Open the Pod Bay Doors please, Hal"
"I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.."

One of the first lessons that we learned (practically) about computers in
aviation was that most problems are contact related.
First line of action was shut down and reseat the applicable connections,
whether it be cables or cards. Solved 90% of the problems.
Ray
"JR North" wrote in message
...
Reflash the BIOS. There are good 3rd party utilities for this, like
Uniflash.
JR
Dweller in the cellar

Tom Gardner wrote:
I was given a Dell inspiron 8100...not working. It can't find the Hd or
the CD to boot and they both are not in BIOS. I'm assuming a motherboard
but I'm open to suggestions. It seems too coincidental for both drives
to fail. It will see and boot from floppy. Other than the fact that it
doesn't work, it's a nice free laptop.


--
--------------------------------------------------------------
Home Page: http://www.seanet.com/~jasonrnorth
If you're not the lead dog, the view never changes
Doubt yourself, and the real world will eat you alive
The world doesn't revolve around you, it revolves around me
No skeletons in the closet; just decomposing corpses
--------------------------------------------------------------
Dependence is Vulnerability:
--------------------------------------------------------------
"Open the Pod Bay Doors please, Hal"
"I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.."

On Wed, 26 Oct 2005 22:33:31 -0700, JR North
wrote:

Reflash the BIOS. There are good 3rd party utilities for this, like
Uniflash.
JR
Dweller in the cellar

Tom Gardner wrote:
I was given a Dell inspiron 8100...not working. It can't find the Hd or the
CD to boot and they both are not in BIOS. I'm assuming a motherboard but
I'm open to suggestions. It seems too coincidental for both drives to fail.
It will see and boot from floppy. Other than the fact that it doesn't work,
it's a nice free laptop.


http://ist.ctech.ac.za/home/desktop/...ron%208100.pdf

THE FULL SPECS
1 Ghz Mobile Intel Pentium III CPU
512 MB SDRAM (special order)
30 GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive (special order)
16x CDRW/DVD combo drive with loads of software (special order)
3.5" floppy drive
15" Super XFT display
2 USB ports
32 MB NVIDIA GeForce2Go Video Card (special order)
16-bit Soundblaster-compatible sound card
56K modem/10-100 Ethernet card combo
PCI slots
All standard ports (including an Infra-Red port), jacks, cables, etc.
TV-OUT port and cable (use your television as a monitor!)
Windows XP Professional OS (special order)
Est. Battery Life: 3.0 hours
Extended 3-yr. Warranty with Mail-In service and 24x7 phone support
Weight: 10 lbs.(!)
TOTAL COST:
$2,295.00

http://search.dell.com/results.aspx?...e tup&x=0&y=0
http://support.dell.com/support/topi...en&s=gen&~ck=m
http://search.dell.com/searchcom_redirect.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&cs=&k=8100 +setup&cat=all&tdc=0&tcn=1&curcatni=1&curcatna=all &tdcp=0&lbcp=1&ubcp=0&ty=content&cd=1&sfp=res&redp =http%3a%2f%2fsupport.dell.com%2fsupport%2ftopics% 2fglobal.aspx%2fsupport%2fkb%2fen%2fdocument%3fdn% 3d1062439%26l%3den%26langid%3d1%26c%3dus%26cs%3d%2 6s%3dgen&redpe=f9e5192a-57b4-739e-ff85-e08fac4ec489

To enter the BIOS, CMOS, Setup, or the System Setup on Dimension
systems, perform the following steps:

1.

Restart your system.
2.

As the system reboots, press the Delete key.



Restoring Setup Defaults on the Inspiron 500m, 600m, 3700, 3800, 4000,
4100, 4150, 8000, 8100, 8200, or 8500

Follow the appropriate steps below for your system:

1.

Restart your computer.
2.

At the first text on the screen or immediately after the Dell
logo appears, press the F2 key every three seconds until the message
Entering Setup appears.
3.

When the System Setup screen appears, press Alt + F keys at
the same time.
4.

Press the Esc key.
5.

Press the Enter key to save changes and exit.
Your computer restarts.
"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the **** out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner

I was given a Dell inspiron 8100...not working. It can't find the Hd or the
CD to boot and they both are not in BIOS. I'm assuming a motherboard but
I'm open to suggestions. It seems too coincidental for both drives to fail.
It will see and boot from floppy. Other than the fact that it doesn't work,
it's a nice free laptop.


My son had a Dell that wouldn't boot up - acted like a power supply
problem - lights would flash like one time, then just sit there....
It was a memory board that was bad. Works like new, now.
Ken.

In a laptop/notebook, cables are not prone to come loose or loose
connection. More often, cables can be torn or damaged in the process of
trying to just get to them in the laptop case. It's not just 2 screws and
pop the cover. Can happen, yes, but not at all likely.
Respectfully,
Ron Moore
Servicing PC's since CPM (but that doesn't necessarily mean anything)

"Tim Wescott" wrote in message
...
Why do you say not the cable? Back in the dim past (before I discovered
the value of feigning ignorance about PC's) half the disk problems I
solved were bad cables.

Ron Moore wrote:

Probably the IDE interface is bad BUT it could be one of the drives
causing the error OR the bios could have had the IDE interface disabled.
Kind of a long shot on that one. Probably not the cable. Good Luck!
Respectfully,
Ron Moore

"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
. ..

I was given a Dell inspiron 8100...not working. It can't find the Hd or
the CD to boot and they both are not in BIOS. I'm assuming a motherboard
but I'm open to suggestions. It seems too coincidental for both drives
to fail. It will see and boot from floppy. Other than the fact that it
doesn't work, it's a nice free laptop.






--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

"Ron Moore" wrote in message
news:wGX7f.6877$vS1.2964@dukeread03...
Probably the IDE interface is bad BUT it could be one of the drives
causing the error OR the bios could have had the IDE interface disabled.
Kind of a long shot on that one. Probably not the cable. Good Luck!
Respectfully,
Ron Moore

No cable! header on the mb. Won't boot with either drive removed. No way
to enable or disable the interface in bios, it either sees drives or it
don't. I see that laptops are way different than desktops.

"Ron Moore" wrote in message
news:4k48f.6894$vS1.5917@dukeread03...
In a laptop/notebook, cables are not prone to come loose or loose
connection. More often, cables can be torn or damaged in the process of
trying to just get to them in the laptop case. It's not just 2 screws and
pop the cover. Can happen, yes, but not at all likely.
Respectfully,
Ron Moore
Servicing PC's since CPM (but that doesn't necessarily mean anything)

Then you remember "pip"? I still have a Xerox 820/BigBoard that I soldered
together from surplus parts. Kids today that have "built" computers don't
even OWN a soldering station.

No cable! header on the mb. Won't boot with either drive removed. No way
to enable or disable the interface in bios, it either sees drives or it
don't. I see that laptops are way different than desktops.

"Ray Field" wrote in message
news:jRZ7f.56842$S4.23287@edtnps84...
One of the first lessons that we learned (practically) about computers in
aviation was that most problems are contact related.
First line of action was shut down and reseat the applicable connections,
whether it be cables or cards. Solved 90% of the problems.
Ray

No cables except for the keyboard. I did take an eraser to the contacts.

"JR North" wrote in message
...
Reflash the BIOS. There are good 3rd party utilities for this, like
Uniflash.
JR
Dweller in the cellar

Ahhaa! A good idea!

Ken Sterling (Ken Sterling) wrote in message
...
I was given a Dell inspiron 8100...not working. It can't find the Hd or
the
CD to boot and they both are not in BIOS. I'm assuming a motherboard but
I'm open to suggestions. It seems too coincidental for both drives to
fail.
It will see and boot from floppy. Other than the fact that it doesn't
work,
it's a nice free laptop.


My son had a Dell that wouldn't boot up - acted like a power supply
problem - lights would flash like one time, then just sit there....
It was a memory board that was bad. Works like new, now.
Ken.


This one will boot on floppy. I did remove the mem boards one at a time
with no change in symptoms.

That's what I kinda figured, no cable. Unfortunately, I doubt that a bios
flash (rewrite) will have much impact. If you have it open. find and
disconnect the bios battery (if available) for a while to allow all cmos
settings to be lost. PIP, Peripheral Interchange Program. or something to
that effect, as I remember. I remember having to rewrite the bios in an 820
to support a parallel printer. Ah, the good old days.
Ron
"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
. ..

"Ron Moore" wrote in message
news:4k48f.6894$vS1.5917@dukeread03...
In a laptop/notebook, cables are not prone to come loose or loose
connection. More often, cables can be torn or damaged in the process of
trying to just get to them in the laptop case. It's not just 2 screws
and pop the cover. Can happen, yes, but not at all likely.
Respectfully,
Ron Moore
Servicing PC's since CPM (but that doesn't necessarily mean anything)

Then you remember "pip"? I still have a Xerox 820/BigBoard that I soldered
together from surplus parts. Kids today that have "built" computers don't
even OWN a soldering station.

No cable! header on the mb. Won't boot with either drive removed. No
way to enable or disable the interface in bios, it either sees drives or
it don't. I see that laptops are way different than desktops.

"Tom Gardner" wrote:

Then you remember "pip"? I still have a Xerox 820/BigBoard that I soldered
together from surplus parts. Kids today that have "built" computers don't
even OWN a soldering station.

I still have a 820 that is almost done Think I found an add for
them in Micro Cornucopia wayback.

Wes
--
Reply to:
Whiskey Echo Sierra Sierra AT Alpha Charlie Echo Golf Romeo Oscar Paul dot Charlie Charlie
Lycos address is a spam trap.

Anybody want to buy a fully functional Zerox 820 II? It is in
the original shipping box and includes all the manuals including
the CP/M manual and several programs such as wordstar dB2 and
supercalc. has (2) 5_1/4 drives only also have Kaypro [Darth
Vader lunchbox] for sales also in original packing includes most
manuals and programs and I will throw in a cobol compiler. Has a
built-in 300 baud modem!!! Has the DOS motherboard installed
[with 640K!!!!] and you can run some non-graphic DOS programs.
True dual processor machine.

GmcD

On Thu, 27 Oct 2005 15:20:50 -0400, wrote:

"Tom Gardner" wrote:

Then you remember "pip"? I still have a Xerox 820/BigBoard that I soldered
together from surplus parts. Kids today that have "built" computers don't
even OWN a soldering station.

I still have a 820 that is almost done Think I found an add for
them in Micro Cornucopia wayback.

Wes

I just noticed on reviewing this post that I still have my old
email listed.

new email if anyone is interested is
note .us and not .com




On Thu, 27 Oct 2005 15:37:19 -0500, F. George McDuffee
wrote:

Anybody want to buy a fully functional Zerox 820 II? It is in
the original shipping box and includes all the manuals including
the CP/M manual and several programs such as wordstar dB2 and
supercalc. has (2) 5_1/4 drives only also have Kaypro [Darth
Vader lunchbox] for sales also in original packing includes most
manuals and programs and I will throw in a cobol compiler. Has a
built-in 300 baud modem!!! Has the DOS motherboard installed
[with 640K!!!!] and you can run some non-graphic DOS programs.
True dual processor machine.

GmcD

On Thu, 27 Oct 2005 15:20:50 -0400, wrote:

"Tom Gardner" wrote:

Then you remember "pip"? I still have a Xerox 820/BigBoard that I soldered
together from surplus parts. Kids today that have "built" computers don't
even OWN a soldering station.

I still have a 820 that is almost done Think I found an add for
them in Micro Cornucopia wayback.

Wes

On Thu, 27 Oct 2005 13:59:26 GMT, "Tom Gardner"
wrote:


"Ron Moore" wrote in message
news:4k48f.6894$vS1.5917@dukeread03...
In a laptop/notebook, cables are not prone to come loose or loose
connection. More often, cables can be torn or damaged in the process of
trying to just get to them in the laptop case. It's not just 2 screws and
pop the cover. Can happen, yes, but not at all likely.
Respectfully,
Ron Moore
Servicing PC's since CPM (but that doesn't necessarily mean anything)

Then you remember "pip"? I still have a Xerox 820/BigBoard that I soldered
together from surplus parts. Kids today that have "built" computers don't
even OWN a soldering station.

No cable! header on the mb. Won't boot with either drive removed. No way
to enable or disable the interface in bios, it either sees drives or it
don't. I see that laptops are way different than desktops.

It's another "Dell from Hell" Save yourself a lot of agravation and
just hit it with a hammer and put it out of it's misery.

I still have a 820 that is almost done Think I found an add for
them in Micro Cornucopia wayback.

I have every issue, I just can't throw them away.

Tom Gardner wrote:

"JR North" wrote in message
...


Reflash the BIOS. There are good 3rd party utilities for this, like
Uniflash.
JR
Dweller in the cellar



Ahhaa! A good idea!




From the Dell website, you can download an .exe file that can create a
boot floppy which will flash the bios.

Fred

On Sun, 30 Oct 2005 08:38:13 GMT, ff wrote:

Tom Gardner wrote:

"JR North" wrote in message
...


Reflash the BIOS. There are good 3rd party utilities for this, like
Uniflash.
JR
Dweller in the cellar



Ahhaa! A good idea!




From the Dell website, you can download an .exe file that can create a
boot floppy which will flash the bios.

Fred

I thought I provided all the links to that stuff for Tom. Didnt it
show up?

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the **** out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner