Dell Bios

[mscallisto]

Can anyone enlighten me as to how to enter BIOS on a Dell Dimension XPS T500 Desktop running W98se?

 

[rudeboyjeff]

Most of dell's bios, you either hit delete, f2, of tab to enter the bios settings on startup.

 

[LilBunnyFuFu]

hit delete key before the startup screen appears*<|

 

[mscallisto]

Thanks Guys...del key worked like a charm although I was surprised to see the default settings for a desktop with win98.

Plug and Play was disabled, Power management was on, boot sequence was floppy, hard disk then finally CD and a few other strange settings.

 

[SPYDERIX]

Hold on!!!

Do not change any of the boot sequence stuff. It is supposed to boot in this order: FLOPPY, HARD DRIVE, THEN CD.

That is so you can boot to floppy first if you ever need to go into DOS to fix something.

Hope this helps! NATE

http://www.spyderix-designz.com

 

[MattWray]

It won't hurt anything to change the order of devices in which the BIOS looks to boot. Matt Wray
CCNA, MCP
mwray77518@yahoo.com

 

[rudeboyjeff]

I actually have my boot sequence cd-rom, hard drive, and floppy drive. It makes no matter what order. If you're running a non-windows os like linux, or even the newest versions of windows, you can boot them right from the cd.

Jeff

 

[SPYDERIX]

mattwray & rudeboyjeff,

&quot;It won't hurt anything to change the order of devices in which the BIOS looks to boot.&quot;

&quot;It makes no matter what order.&quot;

So are you saying that when I am re-installing Windows and the harddrive is completely wiped that I don't have to go into the BIOS and change the boot sequence to CD (Atapi CD-ROM first) to load setup.exe from the CD.

Is that correct.

Why does my OEM supplier tell me to do that then. If it doesn't matter what order they are in then I shouldn't have to do that - correct???

I just re-started my computer, went into the BIOS and change my boot sequence to be in this order:
HD, CD, FLOPPY

I saved the changes, put in my startup disk and restarted the computer. Now according to both of you, it doesn't matter what order I put these in. So of course I expect the start-up disk to load.

Does it? - NO IT DOESN'T! The computer just ignores the startup disk and continues to load.

Then I changed the order back to the default:
FLOPPY, HD, CD
Saved changes, put in start-up disk and restarted.

What loaded first this time - THE STARTUP DISK - Go figure.

Maybe it has something to do with the order of the boot sequence in the BIOS.

Have I made my point yet. Why change the boot sequence when you don't have to. What happens when you need to use a startup disk? I'll tell you what, you have to change the boot sequence to floopy, save, then restart with the floppy in. Why make things harder for yourself and add extra steps to your process, when you can keep the settings the way they are intended to be so that if need be you can just put in a startup disk and push restart and the disk will load without any extra hassles.

You are giving advice to people on this website saying that it doesn't matter, but I have just proved you wrong. So then the computer illiterate person who saw your post and changed their boot sequence wonders why their startup disk won't work the way it is supposed to when they have a problem and has to figure out how to change the boot sequence or if they remember how to do that then they have to go to that trouble.

BTW - What happens when you get a BIOS virus that denies saving changes to anything (ie- the boot sequence). You have to use a start-up disk to access the computer to get rid of the virus. What happens when your startup disk won't work b/c you have change the boot sequence and you can't change the boot sequence b/c of the virus.

Have a nice day!

PS - I just tested this on both my Dell Dimension 4100 Computers. NATE

http://www.spyderix-designz.com

 

[mscallisto]

SPYDERIX

I can boot from HD and floppy no problem.
The problem is I need to boot from a restore CD.


The default:FLOPPY, HD, CD never gets to the CD.

Most often one doesn't have a bootable floppy or bootable CD loaded so I believe it makes sense to have the order be Floppy, CD then HD.

My reasoning is most often one boots from the HD but if one needs to boot from either of the other devices one can.

Am I not seeing something?

 

[SPYDERIX]

Hi,

loading in this order is fine:
FLOPPY, CD, HD

All I was really stressing above was that FLOPPY should be first no matter what just in case the computer decides to play games with you.

What are you trying to do? Re-install windows??? When I re-install windows from the CD I have to change the boot sequence to CD-ROM first to load from the CD then I change it back to the defaults. You can also (if you have a bootable floppy) just startup the computer with CD-ROM support and run anything you need to from the CD without having to change anything in the BIOS.

What CD's did Dell give you. How old is this computer. The reason I ask is b/c I have a Dimension 4100 and it came with a million CD's not just one restore CD.

Hope this helps!

NATE

http://www.spyderix-designz.com

 

[mscallisto]

It's actually my neices Dell. I work for NEC Computers and have never use a Dell product, thus the questions.

I should have said Bootable Win98 CD not a product restore CD.

Yes I am going to restore the OS since she lost a bout with the klez virus. I've saved a clean copy of her My Documents folder and plan to format the HD before re-installing 98.

My original question was how to open BIOS on a Dell. NEC usually uses F2 and I totally forgot about the Del key.

My only point to you is I believe it makes sense to have the order be Floppy, CD then HD.

As I stated above, with that sequence it is unlikely that you will ever need to re-visit BIOS to change boot sequence.

Plus as in my case the default setting would not let me get to the CD since the HD was bootable.

Thanks for your help

Much Luck

 

[ANFPS26]

Plug and Play being disabled is okay. I have a Gateway and it is disabled in the bios. (Came that way from Gateway). I enabled it once and didn't notice any diffence. I set it back to disabled. &quot;A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.....&quot;

 

[SPYDERIX]

mscallisto,

I agree, that is a good order, the only reason I go into the BIOS is when re-installing windows. I think I might change the order of mine to that. NATE

http://www.spyderix-designz.com

 

[MattWray]

Man spyder, you ever try decaf? You even told him yourself to put the CD before the HD, must be difficult to do without changing the boot sequence.. Calm down... Matt Wray
CCNA, MCP
mwray77518@yahoo.com

 

[mscallisto]

Thanks to All

I think it's time to cut this thread.

Thanks again

Much Luck