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possible low Bios battery &nbsp;- it should read 3v; CMOS battery is located underneath the keyboard.<br />
or just replace it
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possible low Bios battery  - it should read 3v; CMOS battery is located underneath the keyboard.
or just replace it

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masqueraid: Where do I get the SATA drivers and how do I install them?
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masqueraid: Where do I get the SATA drivers and how do I install them?

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laptop all of a sudden took a turn for the worst - Mobo fried. wasn't able to try the above. sorry.
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laptop all of a sudden took a turn for the worst - Mobo fried. wasn't able to try the above. sorry.

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I have a dell vostro 1520 laptop. &nbsp;it keeps losing an important bios setting (the AHCI/ATA compatibility). &nbsp;It keeps switching back to AHCI after I set it to ATA. It won't boot if it's set to AHCI and I have to manually change it to ATA mode as it loses the setting. &nbsp;<br />
<br />
Any idea how i can make it retain the settings?<br />
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I installed a new hard drive and loaded a fresh copy of XP. &nbsp;Everything works normally after setting it to ATA mode and restarting it.
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I have a dell vostro 1520 laptop.  it keeps losing an important bios setting (the AHCI/ATA compatibility).  It keeps switching back to AHCI after I set it to ATA. It won't boot if it's set to AHCI and I have to manually change it to ATA mode as it loses the setting.  

Any idea how i can make it retain the settings?

I installed a new hard drive and loaded a fresh copy of XP.  Everything works normally after setting it to ATA mode and restarting it.

Dell vostro 1520 not retaining bios settings

A laptop or notebook is a portable personal computer with a clamshell form factor, suitable for mobile use. Although originally there was a distinction between laptops and notebooks, the former being bigger and heavier than the latter, there is often no longer any difference. Laptops are commonly used in a variety of settings, such as at work, in education, and for personal multimedia. A laptop combines the components, inputs, outputs and capabilities of a desktop computer, including the display screen, speakers, a keyboard, and pointing devices (such as a touchpad or trackpad) into a single unit. The device can be powered either from a rechargeable battery or by mains electricity from an AC adapter.

Laptops Notebooks

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A personal computer is a general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities and price make it useful for individuals, and is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer time-sharing models that allowed systems to be used by many people, usually at the same time. Personal computers may be connected to a local area network (LAN), either by a cable or a wireless connection, and through that to the Internet. A personal computer may be a laptop computer or a desktop computer running an operating system such as Windows, Linux or Macintosh OS.