When computer boots, it flashes that there is no 80-pin cable on IDE-1, then re-boots. I can boot to the Dell utility partition, and the utilities all show that the HD is okay. Ran a full scan and still shows okay, but won't boot. Through the utility partition, I can SEE all files on the hard drive, but that's about it. HELP!

Has there been any Software or hardware changes in the PC before this Boot problem? What Dell PC is this? Not giving us the exact Model of your Dell PC makes it difficult to understand what its Hardware Specifications are. Given the BIOS boot error message about not having an 80-wire Cable on IDE-1, my first troubleshoot would be a hardware check by opening the PC and looking at the Hard Drive to see if it is an Ulta ATA HDD requiring an 80 Wire 40 Pin IDE cable and inserting one as required. " Ran a full scan and still shows okay, " You did not say what Scan you have done but we must probably infer it is some sort of Hard disk Health check by Dell's Proprietary software or Hard disk manufacturer's disc. M How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

Thanks for the insults. First of all, it's a 2350. Second, it WAS working. For quite some time. She was in the middle of a print job, and the computer froze. She tried to cancel the print job, but couldn't. In fact, she couldn't do anything, so she tried to reboot, and it went into that loop. The drive is the one that came with it, 80gb WD. I booted with the Windows CD, and ran the restore console, to no avail. If you read what I wrote, you'd know that I used Dell's scan utility, as I said I was able to boot to the Dell utility partition. I ran full tests, and after several hours, it still said everything was okay. Using the Windows CD, I then chose to repair the current installation. I'm in the process of running updates on it right now. It's STILL showing the 80-pin error message when it boots, but it IS booting. When the repair installation was finished, there was a message in Windows saying there was some sort of catastrophic crash that was caused by an unknown driver. To my knowledge, the only software recently installed was an update to her "Skype" program. The XP version is SP-2. I don't understand why it still shows the no 80-pin error. Maybe this is a BIOS problem? I've just never seen this before. And, before anyone asks, I DID replace the cable, and tried switching where it was plugged in as well (swapped with the CD-ROM). A school tech looked at it and couldn't figure it out either.

You can try a BIOS Reset by removing the Jumper shunt from the current two adjascent pins and connecting the next two adjascent pins on the MoBo after shutdown>Decable>Disconnect the MoBo power Connector(s) [Intel type of MoBo with a 20 -Pin and 4 pin MoBo Power connectors) After 10 seconds insert the CMOS jumper back to default pins, Reconnect MoBo Power Connector(s)> Recable> Reboot and enter the BIOS Setup to check the settings , making sure Year/Month/Date/Time oK to your Time zone. Save and Exit. If the error persists change BIOS to Safe Defaults if present Hope this helps. M How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

By the way there is no 80 Pin IDE cable. The Ultra ATA cables are 80wire/40 pin with 80 wires running along the length with 40 pin female connectors at the Ends and middle. The CD devices can use the 40wire/40 pin IDE cables. M How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

Or clear the NVRAM and then reboot. You can avoid many of these Windows problems with Linux. Linspire eases the transition for new users