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Round141

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Windows XP Pro Boot Sequence

I reinstalled windows XP Pro on a Dell OptiPlex 755. Now every time I reboot I get a message that says: Floppy Diskette Seek Failure; Strike the F1 Key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility, Press F5 to run the onboard diagnostics. If I press the F1 key Windows does load and everything works but I'm giving this computer to my 10 year old grandson and need to simplify things so windows boots when the machine is turned on.

The floppy disk does work. That's how I reinstalled XP. I've tried changing the boot sequence but can't seem to get it right since I still get the above message when I boot the machine. Any help is appreciated.
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BigPapaGotti

Go into the BIOS and change the boot order so that it looks at the HDD first. Also make sure there is no floppy disk in the drive
If the system does not have a floppy just disable it in the BIOS screen.  I usually set the CD\DVD rom drive as 1st boot and hard drive as 2nd boot.  Just in case you had to run a memtest, hard drive test, or reinstall so it boots to the disk.
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I've tried various boot sequence setups and always get the Message: "Floppy Diskette Seek Failure; Strike the F1 Key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility, Press F5 to run the onboard diagnostics."

Here is what setup looks like right now:
  Boot Sequence
     1. Onboard or USB CD Rom Drive
     2. WDC WD 2500AAJS-75VWA
     3. USB DEvice  (Not Present)
     4. Onboard or USB Floppy Drive (Not Present)
         Onboard SATA Hard Drive (Not Present)
          Onboard Network controller (Not Present)
Drives
  * Diskette Drive   (my comment: this is set on internal)
  * SATA-0           (My comment: says SATA-0 is the WDC WD etc. hard drive)
  * SATA-1          
  *SATA-3
  * SATA Operation
  * Smart reporting
There are a few things that may cause this even though the floppy drive is working with windows.

The most common is the BIOS (F2 - setup utility) has a second Floppy drive enabled (usually B: ).
It is this missing drive that causes the error. Systematically go through all the options in the BIOS to see if this option is available and disable it.
The floppy data cable may be at fault. Windows and the BIOS check the drive in different ways so a minor fault on one data line could cause an issue. check all connectors are firmly home and that the data ribbon is properly seated in the back of the connectors as sometimes they come loose, especially after unplugging and plugging. If you can, swap it out with a known good cable.

Remember to remove the power lead from the computer and discharge any static electricity from yourself by touching an earthed bare metal object like the water pipes or a radiator before working inside the computer case.

If you can, swap out the drive with a known good one to eliminate the drive from the problem.
Check that the floppy drive is the last one on the end of the data cable, Some systems use a cable-position-select to ID a drive. Windows may re-map the drive to work where as the BIOS will not find it.
As floppies are so old hat now, due to usb storage, consider disabling the drive in the BIOS to see if the problem goes away as you can always re-enable it if it is needed for emergencies.
Some BIOS have a "Floppy Seek" Enable/Disable option. Keep an eye out for this as this would work as a work-around.
Finally, as a last resort, try resetting the BIOS, as it may have glitched. In the computer manual it should explain this procedure. If not, look for a button battery or AA battery attached to the mother board, detach the battery (remembering which way it was attached) count to 10 and re-attach.

Hope this lot helps :)
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nobus
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Seems it was a floppy disk problem. Not sure how this was set up since is a Dell computer that was used in our now closed business. I removed the floppy disk reader, got another install disk from Dell and rather than running the disk as a repair, just installed from the CD. Now it works. Thanks.
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