Member Avatar for cyrusmsa

:'(When i restarted my machine i got a keyboard error message. I went into setup and found that neither of my hard drives or optical disk drives are recognized i am unable to boot up at all. Is there someone ouit there that can give me a hint? could it be the bios battery? every thing else in the setup looks to be correct. the only thing that has changed is that none of the 4 drives are recognized.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Vinny555

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Summary and targeted test plan for 's symptom (keyboard error, then Setup shows none of the drives): 's note that the drives work in another PC points away from drive failure; others have suggested cabling/CMOS/jumpers and a possible Dell BIOS quirk (see , , ). Below is a concise, non-redundant sequence to isolate the fault and protect data.

  1. Capture exact POST/beep text and the BIOS version shown in Setup.
  2. Run a pre-OS storage check: use the system's built-in diagnostics (if present) or boot a small live diagnostic medium (GParted Live / an HDD maker's bootable tool / Ultimate Boot CD) and see whether the tester detects the drives independent of Setup.
  3. If the diagnostics or a live OS detect the drives while Setup does not, the problem is BIOS/configuration-related — update the Dell BIOS to the latest GX240 release and then load Setup defaults before changing other options.
  4. If the diagnostics and live OS also fail to see drives, try adding a cheap PCI SATA/IDE controller or connect a drive to a different controller; if that controller sees the drive the onboard storage controller or motherboard is at fault.
  5. Always recover important data first by connecting suspect drives to a known-good PC via a USB-IDE/SATA adapter or enclosure before any destructive tests.

Notes and cautions: swapping keyboards (or trying both PS/2 and USB) is worth doing because a persistent keyboard error can alter POST behavior on older machines. Flashing BIOS carries risk—only use Dell's official files and follow their instructions with reliable power. If the cheap PCI controller works, it is often the quickest, lowest-cost repair compared with replacing the motherboard.

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Member Avatar for caperjack

hello,i dough if its the battery as it should still show them in the bios default settings ,battery is used to save info when power plug is removed from you computer .i would start with checking the harddrive cables/power plugs, inside the tower,unplug them and plug them back in

Member Avatar for Paffyman

I too have been having a problem with this. I've tried several hard drive but non have worked. I've tried them on a working system and run a chkdsk on 2 of them and they all work fine. Is there anyway around it?

Member Avatar for caperjack

I too have been having a problem with this. I've tried several hard drive but non have worked. I've tried them on a working system and run a chkdsk on 2 of them and they all work fine. Is there anyway around it?

hi, you tagged an old post .please start your own thread and give a bit more info ,to what the problem is you are having

Member Avatar for wlb1

Try replacing sata port & sata cables & check if has a has jumper

Member Avatar for Vinny555

This problem of being unable to recognize a good IDE hard drive, particularly in the wake of having used a SATA drive, is well-known with this model and certain other models of Dell desktop PCs; as witnesed by a quick web search. The problem seems to be widely known, and seems to be due to some deficiencies in BIOS code.

Some folks have found work-arounds by temporarily removing the BIOS backup battery and then re-booting the PC minus the battery, but I can tell you from first-hand experience with the OptiPlex GX240 that this method, while it often works to some extent, often requires multiple tries and lots of experimentation, fiddling and tinkering.

~~~Vinny

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