Dell Precision 370

J

Jackattak

New Member
Greetings All,

My first post here because I'm not sure where else to go. I am an 8-year MCSE with a network security background.

I have a Dell Precision Workstation 370:

- P4 3.2 HT
- 2GB RAM
- 1 x 80GB WD (OEM)
- 1 x 250GB Seagate (aftermarket, non-RAID obviously)
- 256MB nVidia 6800GS PCI-Ex (aftermarket)
- Windows XP Pro SP2

I was sold an older P-2 400mHz IBM Thinkpad from an ex-employer that was selling them to us for dirt cheap in order to get rid of the old and make way for the new. I finally got around to fiddling with the thing and I realized that its BIOS was locked with a password at the systems level, and I was unsuccessful in trying to get it unlocked to that level (although I got it unlocked to the user level, which is useless).

I had an IDE cable that allowed for a laptop HD to be placed into a desktop IDE port, with a power connector. I plugged this into the laptop's hard drive to try and format it from my Precision 370 since the laptop had no floppy drive and I was unsuccessful in getting it to boot from an external source (i.e. external floppy, USB key, etc.). After connecting the laptop hard drive to my 370, I booted the system. The system went through the POST phase just fine, but then a quick flash of "NTDETECT failed" came on the screen and the system rebooted. This has been the case now since Friday afternoon when I first started this idiotic procedure (quite possibly the dumbest thing I've tried to date).

I have the feeling that this IBM Thinkpad-BIOS-Locked hard drive has locked down my system's devices and quite possibly the motherboard, although I have evidence that proves quite to the contrary, which is strange.

First off, I removed the damnable laptop hard drive and re-installed my CD-RW and DVD-ROM drives. Then I rebooted, and still the "NTDETECT failed" message flickered across the screen and the system rebooted immediately.

I tried to boot into Safe Mode, and the Safe Mode screen comes up when I punch F8 after POST, but any selection made here to move forward results in the "NTDETECT Failed" message. I tried to run Windows Recovery and was told by Windows Setup that it could not detect any hard drives on my system, with "press F3 to exit" being my only option. I tried using a brand new 250GB Seagate (out of the box brand new) hard drive and that was also not detected. I tried a Windows XP boot disk, and the system simply will not boot from the disk. I tried the boot disk in another machine and it worked fine. I ran several Dell Diagnostics Tests, all with passing results. As far as I have ever known, Windows XP supports setup to SATA drives without the need of loading device drivers. When I try to load SATA device drivers at Windows XP Setup by pressing F6, Windows Setup just keeps asking me to insert the manufacturer's driver disk into the floppy drive, regardless of whether or not the disk is loaded into the floppy drive. I tested that disk and it worked fine another system. I took the floppy out and replaced it with a brand new one, out of the box. No good, same results. I put the floppy form my 370 into my test system, and it worked like a charm. So it isn't a bad floppy. I'm now thinking that something security-related has gotten embedded into my motherboard somehow.

I am on the latest available BIOS version for my 370, which is A07. I cleared out the BIOS by shorting the pins, and it cleared successfully. I even removed the battery, which I don't even think is necessary anymore, but I did it anyway. No good, still same results across the board. Funny thing is, I am able to boot from CD-ROM using both my Dell-supplied WinXP Pro SP1 OS disk and from my personal WinXP Pro disk (non-OEM, store-bought). Just that every time I do boot form CD-ROM, I am not able to go any further due to the OS not recognizing any SATA drives.

Things I have NOT tried yet:

- Booting from CD-ROM with an IDE hard drive as opposed to SATA
- Plugging my 80GB and 250GB hard drives into a SATA-capable system and attempting to access the data on them that way (and then promptly moving it to an external source before anything ELSE happens)

At this point I am at a loss, with the exceptions of what I have not tried as of yet. Unfortunately I haven't the resources to try either of those things, for I have no other system that is SATA-capable besides the Precision 370. I am fearful of loading my test system's IDE hard drive into my Precision to try and get Windows to install on it due to obvious reasons (because I'd be without Internet then and that's not good given what I do for a living).

If anyone has had any experience with anyone as idiotic as me in the past and can shed some light on what has happened or even better has a solution (no matter how difficult) that they think will work that I have not yet tried, please let me know.

Thanks much and feel free to ask me anything I have not posted here that would be helpful for you.

Regards, Jack
 
Trying to help people

I am just trying to help people solve their problems. Since most on this forum seem to help gamers mostly and don't seem to want to help the rest of us. I just was pointing this person to a site that has a lot of real smart people willing to give their time and advice solving computer and software problems.

Now do you have the answer to the above persons problem?:)
 
bigsaucybob said:
1. Against the rules

2. Are you trying to get people upset?

3. I didn't read his thread becuase it is too long, try slimming it down to key information.
Click to expand...


Now I dont want to sound like a jerk or anything, I am just trying to find out why this is against the rules, and how it is going to upset people? I'm not doubting that it is against the rules, but why?
 
flanker said:
I am just trying to help people solve their problems. Since most on this forum seem to help gamers mostly and don't seem to want to help the rest of us. I just was pointing this person to a site that has a lot of real smart people willing to give their time and advice solving computer and software problems.
Click to expand...

And we arent a bunch of smart people who are willing to give time and advice to solving computer problems. You basically just described everyone on this site.

Now do you have the answer to the above persons problem?:)
Click to expand...

The things he hasnt tried are the things I would suggest. To see if it is a faulty motherboard or faulty hard drives.

He should still shorten the thread.

Now I dont want to sound like a jerk or anything, I am just trying to find out why this is against the rules, and how it is going to upset people? I'm not doubting that it is against the rules, but why?
Click to expand...

No problem,

Forum Rules said:
4. Spam, multiple posting of same topic, promoting your own site/forum and posting of sites with affiliate ID's is not allowed.
Click to expand...

He posted a link to another forum, it is kind of like competiton. I dont know if people will get upset (IDK why I said that) but instead of trying to help all Flanker did was point him to another forum. He did nothing besides point away from our forum and tell us we arent smart and dedicated to helping.
 
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Thanks

bigsaucybob said:
The things he hasnt tried are the things I would suggest. To see if it is a faulty motherboard or faulty hard drives.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. I am working on a way to get the assets I need to test those items fully.


bigsaucybob said:
He should still shorten the thread.
Click to expand...

If you had of taken the two minutes to read what I posted, you'd find that all the information posted is extremely pertinent to the situation and to coming up with a solution I have not yet tried myself. Otherwise, I would have gotten a lot of useless repsonses (and wasted time and energy). In the IT world, I think you'll find that the more information you have, the better off you are. :D

Thanks again for the advice, seeing as how you're the only one who gave any instead of yapping about this site and its rules. :cool:

J
 
since you bought the comp from dell, i would call them up and ask them how to image restore it. i did that with my comp, but i had warranties on them. they should giv u like 2 keys to press at the same time after the BIOS check, for example mine was ctrl + F11.i would try that.
Also if the hadrdrive is a SATA/RAID it wont detect it because u need the floppy disk with the drivers.
 
bigsaucybob said:
He did nothing besides point away from our forum and tell us we arent smart and dedicated to helping.
Click to expand...
agreed. i have helped multiple people with software or hardware issues on this forum, and im not the only one that helps other people out.
 
one more thing jack, bigsaucy had a good point in suggesting that you should shorten ur posts, or split them up into 3 different ones because it makes it less intimidating. therefore more people will be apt to actually reading it instead of clicking on it and then clicking back immediately because it takes too long to read the post.
 
daygowop said:
since you bought the comp from dell, i would call them up and ask them how to image restore it. i did that with my comp, but i had warranties on them. they should giv u like 2 keys to press at the same time after the BIOS check, for example mine was ctrl + F11.i would try that.
Also if the hadrdrive is a SATA/RAID it wont detect it because u need the floppy disk with the drivers.
Click to expand...

Thanks much for the advice on the CTRL+F11, I will try that when I get off work today...assuming that I am allowed to leave. ;)

daygowop said:
one more thing jack, bigsaucy had a good point in suggesting that you should shorten ur posts, or split them up into 3 different ones because it makes it less intimidating. therefore more people will be apt to actually reading it instead of clicking on it and then clicking back immediately because it takes too long to read the post.
Click to expand...

You read it and gave advice (hopefully which will help), and I've gotten help from now two sources that had some good advice (you and bigsaucy). The people who don't take the time to read it aren't worth taking advice from, quite simply. :) The people who do...well I guess you get my point. :thumbup:
 
glad i can help, make sure u call dell because it might not be ctrl + f11 for ur comp, my PC was dimension 9100.
 
Quick little update:

I tried a different floppy cable because who knows? It might have worked!


Too bad it didn't. :banghead: Still can't access the floppy (general read failures).

However I did pickup a 10GB IDE hard drive today from www.freegeek.org in order to try and load XP on it. I'll post results later.

Peace, J
 
I have not as of yet. I was able to load WinXP OS on the 10GB IDE hard drive, though. I then loaded the drivers for the SATA controller and was able to access the data on both SATA disks! w00t! We're saved!

I've replaced the boot files on the SATA OS disk and now I get a new error message: "<Windows Root>\system32\hal.dll is missing or corrupt: Try replacing the file and restarting Windows."

I have replaced the file multiple times with different versions of the file, some SP1 versions, some SP2 versions, and still no dice. Same message. I know what the hal.dll does (it's a hardware related dll), but I don't understand why I keep getting it regardless of what I do. It's a bit irritating to have come so far only to still not have 100% functionality, but oh well. At least we can access our data.

Now I've just got to figure out this floppy problem... :D
 
okay with that hal.dll problem, i would get ur windows cd so u can get to the recovery console. to do that, boot from the windows cd, when the setup screen comes up type "r" to get to the recovery console. it might ask u for an administrator password, if u dont have one then just press enter, if u do type it in then press enter. now at the command prompt type "chkdsk /r" then enter. at the command prompt again type exit then enter to restart ur computer.

This might do the trick because one time my comp wasnt able to get into windows either and i did this and after i was able to get back into windows. let me know if it works.
 
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