This is an odd issue, I can usually solve my own issues but this one is really strange. I have been repairing pc's for over 15 years and this one has me stumped.
A week ago I fixed a machine bsod with Combofix and cleaned out a lot of spyware it was running great.
Yesterday I upgraded the memory and now it will not boot or even try to access the hard drive. I can access BIOS and make changes and reboot but still will not access the HDD or even try to boot. It completes POST fine. Will not boot to a Winxp cd, it starts but after it loads all of the drivers it just gives BSOD and statues an error that I should run check disk /f. I checked the xp disk in other machines and it works fine. I also tried other Winxp boot disks and they don't work either. Booted to Ubuntu and can it boots fine. I can even see the HDD and open up files. Boot sector looks to be intact. It even surfed the net with no problems. I do find it odd that the default is to have Raid on. However, After reading a lot of posts on the Dell site they do that so they can be easily changed to different arrays depending on the original order.
Here is what I have tried Thus far:
Downloaded the bootable Memtest and ran 100% with no errors.
Removed hard drive and checked in another system, Scanned drive all came up clean.
Ran the Hardware check under the F12 Dell start up with no errors.
Downloaded the upgraded BIOS to and installed with a floppy boot disk.
Downloaded the Dell boot and in depth hardware check iso. Ran check and all good
Loaded CMOS default values.
Removed the CMOS Battery and reset.
Changed CMOS battery with a new one.
Changed SATA operation from "Raid ON" (default) to "Raid Autodetect/ATA" and back.
Checked motherboard for bad Caps but all look fine.
Checked power supply and it is working fine with test unit.
Removed and cleaned processor and memory contacts and reinstalled.
Reseated all connectors.
Swapped Cables and drive location connections to MB
Machine info:
BIOS 2.4.0 5/24/07
Dell E520
Pentium (D) 3GHz
Dual Core
Processor Buss 800Mhz
L2Cache 4mb
Memory 3gb 667mhz DDR2 SDRAM*
250gb Seagate SATA hard drive (controlled by Raid Bios, default)
Raid on (default)
*Started with 1gb and added 2gb more (now removed and back to 1gb) no change
At this point I guess I may be looking at a motherboard issue, I just find it hard when it passes all tests.
A week ago I fixed a machine bsod with Combofix and cleaned out a lot of spyware it was running great.
Yesterday I upgraded the memory and now it will not boot or even try to access the hard drive. I can access BIOS and make changes and reboot but still will not access the HDD or even try to boot. It completes POST fine. Will not boot to a Winxp cd, it starts but after it loads all of the drivers it just gives BSOD and statues an error that I should run check disk /f. I checked the xp disk in other machines and it works fine. I also tried other Winxp boot disks and they don't work either. Booted to Ubuntu and can it boots fine. I can even see the HDD and open up files. Boot sector looks to be intact. It even surfed the net with no problems. I do find it odd that the default is to have Raid on. However, After reading a lot of posts on the Dell site they do that so they can be easily changed to different arrays depending on the original order.
Here is what I have tried Thus far:
Downloaded the bootable Memtest and ran 100% with no errors.
Removed hard drive and checked in another system, Scanned drive all came up clean.
Ran the Hardware check under the F12 Dell start up with no errors.
Downloaded the upgraded BIOS to and installed with a floppy boot disk.
Downloaded the Dell boot and in depth hardware check iso. Ran check and all good
Loaded CMOS default values.
Removed the CMOS Battery and reset.
Changed CMOS battery with a new one.
Changed SATA operation from "Raid ON" (default) to "Raid Autodetect/ATA" and back.
Checked motherboard for bad Caps but all look fine.
Checked power supply and it is working fine with test unit.
Removed and cleaned processor and memory contacts and reinstalled.
Reseated all connectors.
Swapped Cables and drive location connections to MB
Machine info:
BIOS 2.4.0 5/24/07
Dell E520
Pentium (D) 3GHz
Dual Core
Processor Buss 800Mhz
L2Cache 4mb
Memory 3gb 667mhz DDR2 SDRAM*
250gb Seagate SATA hard drive (controlled by Raid Bios, default)
Raid on (default)
*Started with 1gb and added 2gb more (now removed and back to 1gb) no change
At this point I guess I may be looking at a motherboard issue, I just find it hard when it passes all tests.
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