Dell Dimension 8400

[tranestation]

I updated a Dell Dimension 8400 to XP Pro from XP Home. To do this, I had to edit the Bios and take it from ACHI to ATA, this allowed me to install XP Pro OS. Now, after a couple of days, the Bios begins to reset, and will not boot. So I have to go into the Bios every boot to change the option to ATA, and it boots. Now I just replaced the Bios battery, and before that I reset the CMOS/Bios with the reset jumper, and updated the Bios to the A09 version. What could be going wrong with this bios? Should I revert back to the original (I have every bios downloaded from Dell.com for this Dimension 8400, A00 - A09).

Also, I installed a new larger HDD as well, I went from a 160GB to a 750GB, could this be an issue?

As mentioned before, it ran perfect for about a week, then after I returned to the customer, it began this behavior???

Please Help, I can not find any info regarding this issue anywhere!

 

[spinning rust]

sounds like the battery on your motherboard is dying.

 

[tranestation]

Spinning Rust, I replaced the CMOS/BIOS Battery. it is still doing the same thing. is this the motherboard battery your are refering to?

 

[rockyjohn]

Could be a bad battery you installed.
You removed the jumper used to reset the CMOS/BIOS correct?
Have you updated all the service packs for XP?
What brand of HD did you install and what driver was used for the new HD? Did you get the new hardware wizard and did it load a driver from XP or did you manually load one?
And you did not do anything different immediately before the the BIOS reset problem started?
What exactly do you see each time it does this when you try to boot?

 

[tranestation]

rockyjohn, Ok, i will try another batter. regarding the jumper used to reset the bios, do you mean to remove it completely? I have XP Pro SP3, the brand was a WD 750GB, I loaded the driver from WD website manually,I did not do anything differently nor did the customer (that I am aware of).

On every boot, we get an error that no hard drive is detected, reboot again, hit F2 to access bios, and go change it to ATA from ACHI, and then save and reboot again, boots fine.

 

[rockyjohn]

do you mean to remove it completely?

Sorry - I was not very clear. No, return the jumper to its original location on pins 2 and 3.

If you have not found anything else yet, I would suspect a driver issue - although I can't understand how it would reset the BIOS. Are you certain the new HD can operate in ATA mode and that you loaded the appropriate drive - I understand some HD need a different drive for ATA vs. ACHI - although I don't have experience with such an issue.

Am I correct in assuming the 750GB HD is the boot drive - and that you changed the BIOS to ATA, physically installed the new HD drive, then installed XP? Did you remove the old hard drive and or reformat it? Is the new drive the C drive?

I am also wondering if it could be a Dell driver issue - that something in their BIOS or system requires special Dell drivers for the HD. Just speculating here but you might do a quick search on the Dell forum about upgrading to Professional.

 

[tranestation]

rockyjohn, yes, this new WD 750GB HDD is the new boot drive. I took the old HDD and extracted all the customers info that they wanted, then formatted it blank. It is now used as a "Backup HDD", with the Drive Letter "D". The 750GB HDD is drive letter "C".

Your assumption is correct with what I did with this Dell system. I have spent hours on www.dell.com regarding this issue, and I can not find a single thing that actually gives me direction on resolution of this issue. I get caught in the Dell Loop on their site, click on 1 thing, takes you back to another, type in the search bar on their site, takes me to irrelevant pages and topics.

I will check about the driver again and compare it to Dell's specs, hopefully this will resolve this issue. If you think of anything else, I always appreciate it!
Thanks

 

[geno777]

I updated a Dell Dimension 8400 to XP Pro from XP Home. To do this, I had to edit the Bios and take it from ACHI to ATA, this allowed me to install XP Pro OS. Now, after a couple of days, the Bios begins to reset, and will not boot. So I have to go into the Bios every boot to change the option to ATA, and it boots. Now I just replaced the Bios battery, and before that I reset the CMOS/Bios with the reset jumper, and updated the Bios to the A09 version. What could be going wrong with this bios? Should I revert back to the original (I have every bios downloaded from Dell.com for this Dimension 8400, A00 - A09).

Also, I installed a new larger HDD as well, I went from a 160GB to a 750GB, could this be an issue?

As mentioned before, it ran perfect for about a week, then after I returned to the customer, it began this behavior???

Please Help, I can not find any info regarding this issue anywhere!

Don't know if this will help. But after owning a few dells. I have found out I can't put a retail copy on one. Somthing about the motherboard/BIOS are only good for Dell OS software.

 

[tranestation]

I have successfully installed a Retail OS XP Pro SP3, and it worked fine for about 7 days, and then it began the behavior mentioned before. And I have installed multiple retail OS's on Dell and HP/Compaq pc's, so this is why I am so puzzled with this one.