# Dell XPS 410 help



## justbeingme (Aug 8, 2004)

I unhooked some power supply cables from my computer, thought I reconnected them correct but when my computer stars I hear 2 beeps and it says "Floppy Diskette seek Failure". I don't have a flppy disette drive, I have a DVD/CD Drive. That is hooked up properly. Did I put a wrong connector in somewhere to get this error? HELP!!:4-dontkno


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## makinu1der2 (Jan 1, 2008)

Post the make/model of the PC. If this is a custom build then post the specs.

Check all power connections to MB and drives.

Make sure that HDD has power cable plugged in.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Can you enter the Bios?
Check that the hard drive power cable is fully seated and the data cable is fully seated on both ends motherboard and drive.


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## justbeingme (Aug 8, 2004)

wrench97 said:


> Can you enter the Bios?
> Check that the hard drive power cable is fully seated and the data cable is fully seated on both ends motherboard and drive.[/QUOTE
> 
> I can enter Bios, hard drive cable fine, what data cvable are you talking about(sorry if this is a dumb question)..thanks


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## justbeingme (Aug 8, 2004)

makinu1der2 said:


> Post the make/model of the PC. If this is a custom build then post the specs.
> 
> Check all power connections to MB and drives.
> 
> Make sure that HDD has power cable plugged in.


How do I post specs?
:4-dontkno


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## makinu1der2 (Jan 1, 2008)

Nevermind about spec.. I overlooked it in your title.

Is the HDD detected in the BIOS?

*wrench97* is referring to the SATA cable that connects to the back of the HDD.


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## justbeingme (Aug 8, 2004)

makinu1der2 said:


> Nevermind about spec.. I overlooked it in your title.
> 
> Is the HDD detected in the BIOS?
> 
> *wrench97* is referring to the SATA cable that connects to the back of the HDD.


Yes all are connected, the only thing I removed which I am not sure is icorrect is the power supply to my CD/DVD Drive, it has a P4, P3,P8,P9 that will fit it. I am such a dunce not to have at least written down what I unplugged, is the SATA the fat grey cable? I did not unplug that.SATAhard drive not deteced in boot sequence.:4-dontkno


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## justbeingme (Aug 8, 2004)

wrench97 said:


> Can you enter the Bios?
> Check that the hard drive power cable is fully seated and the data cable is fully seated on both ends motherboard and drive.


I am in Bios-Boot Seqeunce

1.Onboard SATA Hard Drive (not present)
2. Onboard USB CD-Rom Drive (not present)
3.WDC WD2500JS-75NCB3
4. USB Device (not present)
5. Onboard USB or Floppy Drive (not present)

I do not know whick plug forpower goes into CD rom..oh I am so frustrated..why isn't my hard drive showing?..Help pleaseray:


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

The hard drive will be be one of P3, P5, P8, P9, P13, and P14
The Dvd/Cd drive I believe is a IDE type unit and will be P10
Dell wiring > http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xps410/en/SM_EN/techov.htm#wp1060548

If either the power or Data cables are not connected to the drives they won't be recognized.


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## justbeingme (Aug 8, 2004)

wrench97 said:


> The hard drive will be be one of P3, P5, P8, P9, P13, and P14
> The Dvd/Cd drive I believe is a IDE type unit and will be P10
> Dell wiring > http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xps410/en/SM_EN/techov.htm#wp1060548
> 
> If either the power or The P3 is connected to the hard drive, the P10 does not fit in the DVD/CD , it's too big.The P8,P9,P13,P14 are the only ones that fit. Any ideas? And why do I get floppy drive diskete error when I don't have a floppy drive. Also I cannot use a USB flash drive!!:upset: Please help!:sigh:


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

If it has a Sata DVD drive then any of the P3, P5, P8, P9, P13, and P14 will be what goes in there, the later 410's had Sata DVD drives the 400 and early 410's used IDE drives.
It's looking for a floppy because it can't see a bootable drive so defaults to a floppy.

Did you check both ends of the hard drive data cable motherboard end and the end in the drive?


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## justbeingme (Aug 8, 2004)

wrench97 said:


> If it has a Sata DVD drive then any of the P3, P5, P8, P9, P13, and P14 will be what goes in there, the later 410's had Sata DVD drives the 400 and early 410's used IDE drives.
> It's looking for a floppy because it can't see a bootable drive so defaults to a floppy.
> 
> Did you check both ends of the hard drive data cable motherboard end and the end in the drive?


Yes, I have checked and rechecked the hard drive cable and it is in tight on the motherboard and the drive. Not sure if this does anything but I did a password clear by moving jumper and think I did clear cmos also, would that do anything? :4-dontkno


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Yes a CMOS clear would reset any custom hard drive settings to default. 

Do you have 2 hard drives in the optional Raid configuration?

Tap F2 on boot to see if it enters the Bios.


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## justbeingme (Aug 8, 2004)

wrench97 said:


> Yes a CMOS clear would reset any custom hard drive settings to default.
> 
> Do you have 2 hard drives in the optional Raid configuration?
> 
> Tap F2 on boot to see if it enters the Bios.


Well, now I remember I did do the CMOS clear, that was stupid of me!!:upset:
I can get into Bios, when I turn on computer it beeps twice and only lights that remain litup green on the front by the power button are 1,2 and 3..4 is not lit. Any help is appreciated!!:sigh:


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

1&2 are lit or 1,2&3 are lit?
1&2 is a add in card issue do you have any other then the video card?

1,2&3 is a hard drive failure or data cable issue.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xps410/en/SM_EN/adtshoot.htm#wp1056411


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## justbeingme (Aug 8, 2004)

wrench97 said:


> 1&2 are lit or 1,2&3 are lit?
> 1&2 is a add in card issue do you have any other then the video card?
> 
> 1,2&3 is a hard drive failure or data cable issue.
> ...


Only 1,2,3 are lit.

This is what I have: XPS 410, C2D, E642092.13 GHZ), VIIV 1.6
16X DVD+R/RW CD-RW Combo Drive,P
250GB SATA II,7200 RPM.DIM,P
2GB DDR2 SDRAM AT 667MHZ-2X1GB,DIM,P

This is just the things I thought you would need to know. Any ideas? It's obvious I need help and thank you.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

1,2&3 are telling us the hard drive is not hooked up, powered up or has failed.
Assuming the system was working when you removed the power connectors, go back and recheck the power plug, the data cable, connections, if all else fails try swapping the Sata data cable from the DVD drive to the hard drive.


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## justbeingme (Aug 8, 2004)

wrench97 said:


> 1,2&3 are telling us the hard drive is not hooked up, powered up or has failed.
> Assuming the system was working when you removed the power connectors, go back and recheck the power plug, the data cable, connections, if all else fails try swapping the Sata data cable from the DVD drive to the hard drive.


I originally had a problem with not being able to get any power to my computer at all. I was going to replace the power supply myself(but after getting inside with all the cables no way they are hooked in good) I had removed all cables to supply then reconnected them after I said I was not going to do the replacement, just for the heck of it I plugged it in again and it powered up. It was not connected to my monitor so I turned it off and connected it to monitoe and that is where I got the problems we havetalked about. I did remove the memory cards at one time but reinstalled them in slot 2 and 4. Hard drive is connected to power supply by P3 connector. Do you think I need a new hard drive? I did switch the hard drive and DVD cables, still get only light 1,2,3 on front of computer so that's a bust.:upset:


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

The ram should be in slot 1 and 3 on that board.
Do you have access to a digital voltmeter?> http://www.techsupportforum.com/f210/test-your-power-supply-with-a-multi-meter-151526.html

Did you have any diagnostic lights on before? Was the power button on solid green, solid amber, blinking amber, or not on at all?


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## justbeingme (Aug 8, 2004)

wrench97 said:


> The ram should be in slot 1 and 3 on that board.
> Do you have access to a digital voltmeter?> http://www.techsupportforum.com/f210/test-your-power-supply-with-a-multi-meter-151526.html
> 
> Did you have any diagnostic lights on before? Was the power button on solid green, solid amber, blinking amber, or not on at all?


I will change the ram,1 and3 have blackclips, thought it was suppose to beonwhite clips. No I do not have a volmeter, wet to radio shack but not sure what to get and is it dangerous to use? Power light was not on at all before. I did see in Bios that with swichng SATA cables that hard drive is not recognized but CD rom is


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

If you're near a Sears store in the tool dept.> http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_03482141000P?mv=rr

It is not dangerous the supply puts out 12v, 5, and 3.3v.

If you have the windows CD see if it will boot from it, do not try to install just see if the PC will boot from the drive.


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## justbeingme (Aug 8, 2004)

wrench97 said:


> If you're near a Sears store in the tool dept.> http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_03482141000P?mv=rr
> 
> It is not dangerous the supply puts out 12v, 5, and 3.3v.
> 
> If you have the windows CD see if it will boot from it, do not try to install just see if the PC will boot from the drive.


Says it is only availableonlineandout of stock...why would this be? Guess i can go in and se if they have one here. Not sure which CD is the windows for Vista, I have 2 disks, one red and one blue(labels)


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Should be the Blue one.

The Stores have one very similar if not the exact same meter for about the same price.

I even saw one in Kmart since they started handling a limited line of Craftsmen tools.


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## justbeingme (Aug 8, 2004)

wrench97 said:


> Should be the Blue one.
> 
> The Stores have one very similar if not the exact same meter for about the same price.
> 
> I even saw one in Kmart since they started handling a limited line of Craftsmen tools.


I will go tomorrow, Kmart is close also. Funny thing, looked at computer it was yellow on the power light and the fan just started running really ,reallyfast..never heard that before. Had to pull power out because it would not shut off..is this another bad sign???


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Yea, what Video card do you have? Dell used about 6 different ones over the life of that model?


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## justbeingme (Aug 8, 2004)

wrench97 said:


> Yea, what Video card do you have? Dell used about 6 different ones over the life of that model?


Where I found out the video card info to relate it to you?


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Have you ever upgraded it or is it the stock from Dell card?


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## justbeingme (Aug 8, 2004)

wrench97 said:


> Have you ever upgraded it or is it the stock from Dell card?


Never did an upgrade. So I guess it is stock from Dell card.


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## justbeingme (Aug 8, 2004)

Purchased the volmeter you said to get, can you give me instructions on how to use it?


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## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

http://www.techsupportforum.com/f210/test-your-power-supply-with-a-multi-meter-151526.html


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