XP home - booting problems

[Guest]

My daughter's computer all of sudden one day ended up with a blue screen with
virtual memory dump on it. I tried to reinstall windows xp home and now when
the computer boots up it stops since it cannot recognize that we do not have
a floppy drive. We get an error message diskette seek failure.

Any ideas on how to fix this problem and get the computer up and running
again?

Thanks,

Evan

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

My daughter's computer all of sudden one day ended up with a blue screen with
virtual memory dump on it. I tried to reinstall windows xp home and now when
the computer boots up it stops since it cannot recognize that we do not have
a floppy drive. We get an error message diskette seek failure.

Any ideas on how to fix this problem and get the computer up and running
again?

Thanks,

Evan

This sounds like a hardware problem, not a Windows problem.
Check your floppy disk cables and your CMOS settings. If
unsuccessful, repost in a hardware newsgroup.

 

[Guest]

I stated in my problem that I do not have a floppy drive on the computer.

 

[Michael D. Alligood]

Evan. Did you get my email? If not here was my response:

Power down the PC; if not already.

Press the power button to initiate the boot process - I need you to
enter the BIOS before you see the Windows XP Splash Screen. With Dell, I
believe you press the F2 button when you see the Dell Splash Screen.

Once in your BIOS, look for something called "Drive Configuration" and
press enter. You should see the 3 ½" Floppy Drive listed. Again working
on memory here, but you should be able to tell the BIOS that you do not
have one installed by using you arrow keys (the right arrow key I
believe). Press F10 or the corresponding key to Save changes and Exit.

Your computer should reboot without incident.

Basically what you are doing is telling the BIOS (Basic Input /Output
System) that no floppy is installed. Otherwise it will search for it and
give you that error. Also your BIOS sounds like it is also configured to
"Halt" booting on errors. Which is why you PC will not boot. Normally
when configured otherwise, you will still get the error but have an
option to press something like F1 to continue to boot into Windows.

--
Michael D. Alligood,
MCSA, MCDST, MCP, A+,
Network+, i-Net+, CIW Assoc.,
CIW Certified Instructor