[Fragbagger]

I recently acquired a Dell Inspiron 2500 Notebook. It did not have a hard drive or a power cable when i acquired it. I purchased a dell PA-6 power cable for it and a Western Digital 80 gigabyte Scorpio 2.5 inch ATA hard drive. I placed the adapter that came with the notebook on the hard drive and installed the drive. I have an genuine windows 98 CD and a genuine upgrade disk for windows XP home edition.

I attempted to install XP on the hard disk, but during post the computer states the error message

ERROR
0200: Failure Fixed Disk 0
Press <F1> to resume, <F2> to Setup

The hard drive is not damaged or malfunctioning in any way, I have since connected the hard drive via an external enclosure to a desktop pc and it has worked fine. When I press F1 to resume, I get the error message

Operating System Not Found

I have experimented extensively with manipulating the boot sequence between the HDD and the optical drive, but the computer will never get past post or BIOS if the HD is connected to the computer.

As a final attempt to rectify the situation, i started the computer with the HDD not attatched and the Windows XP Home edition upgrade CD in the optical drive. The computer booted from the CD and I attached the HDD as soon as the CD drive began to spin. The windows setup proceeded as i would have expected, i chose to install XP on the unpartitioned space (the whole disk is unpartitioned at this time) and it began formatting in NTFS.
After formatting, it copied the windows files, and stated that it would restart in 15 seconds and that any floppy disks should be removed.
Upon restarting, however, the computer booted from the CD just as it had before, and prompted my to choose a partition to install XP into.

I have tried both NTFS and NTFS (quick) formatting options

I have since connected the hard drive to another computer, and all of the windows files are present and the hard drive is functional.

If the XP disk is removed after the aforementioned setup process and the computer is rebooted, the

ERROR
0200: Failure Fixed Disk 0

message is displayed during post. The Operating system not found message is still presented upon pressing <F1>

I do not suspect that the hard drive is the source of this problem, an I have searched extensively for similar problems online, both in dell's database and other sources, such as forums and FAQ's.

I would greatly appreciate any assistance and would gladly answer any questions for further clarification

 

[Fragbagger]

Update:

I contacted dell tech support, and they reccommended using a HDD self check utility that wasn't even present on that model. Typical tech support from the boys at dell. their other reccommendations included processes that required to be activated from windows... well, geez, guys, i cant start windows. anyway, still struggling w/ this.

 

[Fragbagger]

(bump)

still no luck, running out of ideas.

 

[auntiej]

when you say you placed the adaptor on the hard drive, is this the piece that goes over the pins?
As I expect you know when you buy a laptop from Dell they have a diagnostic utility on the drive, but of course your laptop did not come with the original drive. I wonder if that is what dell tech support were referring to? Have you had a word with the person that you got the laptop from to see if he/she had had bad problems with it? As the hard drive works attached via usb to another computer I'm stumped re the message you are getting - I wondered for a moment if it could refer to the CD drive but of course it says fixed disk 0. Have you removed/reseated the CD drive and memory? It could be a duff cable. I wondered if it could be hard disk controller? I'm afraid these are the only thoughts I can offer, hopefully someone else will think of other ideas.

 

[Fragbagger]

the adapter is a small, long piece of plastic with holes for all the pins (except for the 4 jumper pins) on one side and a strip of contacts on the other side for quick insertion and removal into the ide HDD connection built onto the motherboard.

I have removed and reseated the following devices several times in the process of trying to fix the issue

hard drive
floppy drive module
battery
CD-rom module
memory
Modem/LAN mini-PCI card
PCMCIA Compact Flash card

The message received from dell follows, i sent them what i originally posted here:

Dear Brian Butler,


In an effort to provide you with an answer to your question or concern as quickly as possible, our automated response system is sending this reply to your inquiry. If the system has interpreted your message correctly, you have requested assistance or information about hard errors with your Dell Desktop or portable computer.

This response covers the topics listed below in the Table of Contents.

=================
Table of Contents
=================
1. Run the Drive Self Test (Hard Drive Diagnostic)
2. Hard Drive Cannot Boot, is not Detected or Reports Errors
3. Further Assistance




1. Run the Drive Self Test (Hard Drive Diagnostic)
=============================

The first step to perform when you encounter errors with the hard drive is the drive self test. Depending on the system, this test can be run either from a CD or from the System Setup (BIOS). When you run the diagnostic test, you will be informed whether the diagnostic is able to test your hard drive.

Most recent Desktop, Portable, and Workstation systems have the hard drive diagnostic included in the System Setup. You will find detailed instructions on running this test at the following web address:
http://support.dell.com/support/top...cument?docid=126A722713F6D0D0E0401E0A55174AE6




2. Hard Drive Cannot Boot, is not Detected or Reports Errors
=============================

There are many steps that will help solve or least determine the exact cause of the hard drive errors you might encounter. You'll find easy-to-follow steps at the following web address:

http://support.dell.com/support/top...902096F9F49C8E030030ABD6238A1&c=us&l=en&s=gen




3. Further Assistance
=============================

If you need further assistance, you may chat immediately with a Dell support representative by visiting the following web address:
http://support.dell.com/chat

You may also reply to this document to be contacted by an email representative (normally within one business day). Please include any troubleshooting steps you have already performed.




I have also thought that perhaps there was a problem with my BIOS recognizing an 80 GB boot partition, so I made a 2 GB partition in FAT format to test the theory. It did not work, but changed how it booted slightly. The first few times i booted after installing windows on the smaller partition it came up with a

MBA UNDI (bus1 slot11)

option in the bios boot options as well as entering a Managed Boot Agent utility upon booting. The MBA said that there was a error with the media check and that i need to check the disk connection. I assume that this error is not particularly accurate due to the fact that each time i have installed windows on the drive it has installed completely. there is not a lack of communication between the PC and the HDD, just that for some reason it will not boot from the HDD. The only difference between booting it with the hard drive in and with it out is that when it is in it hangs up for a while before telling my the fixed disk error and that there is no OS found, but if i boot it without the HDD it goes straight to no OS found unless the Windows CD is in the drive. The computer will not boot to the WINDOWS cd while the hard drive is attatched.
in desperation, i have ordered a secondary hard disk module to replace the floppy module, in hopes that perhaps there is a fault in the connection and that there may be some change with the other connection.

 

[Fragbagger]

If anyone has any ideas, regardless of how obscure, im willing to try just about anything, i really don't want the 100 bucks i invested in this thing to go to waste, i feel like there is just something im missing or overlooking. . .

 

[coldbluezone]

I have had much experience with my Dell Inspiron 2500. Mostly with new OS installs. Win 98, XP, DSL, Ubuntu and others. Currently running OpenSuse 10.2 with only 128 meg ram.
If you still have a floppy drive, make yourself a floppy boot disk. You can make one from most Windows install disks. Linux disks prompt you to make a "boot disk manager" floppy. The pop up start screen allows you to boot from: CD ROM, BIOS, HDD, Reboot, Off and a few other options. This allows you to bypass the BIOS settings during start ups and testing when needed. Release the floppy after a selection.
I have not seen your new hard drive but besides selecting "autodetect" for drive 0 and 1 in the BIOS you must also select the pin jumpers on the Optical Drive and HardDrive. Usually Hard Drive 0 is set as Master and Drive 1 Optical is the slave. If there is no jumper on your new laptop hard drive then you can set the optical drive pins to "Cable Select". If you have no pin sets on the drives, then select Autodetect in the BIOS for the first test and try Cable Select in the second test.
One more thing..... After partitioning your new hard drive, you must set a partition(s) active and format the drive BEFOR trying to install any new operating system. I use FDISK from my Windows emergency boot disk. Ubuntu, Kubuntu and OpenSuse will shrink or delete your Windows partitions, create new partitions for root, home,swap and format them into a non dos file structure. Hope this helps. CBZ ><>

 

[coldbluezone]

Just re-read your problem and my answers. Sorry to lead you off on a wild tangent. You said "The computer will not boot to the WINDOWS CD while the hard drive is attached." This is a typical boot sequence error. In your boot sequence the computer looks for the operating system in the harddrive first and then if it cannot find it there looks at your second selection, the floppy or optical drive. This sequence is usually done to speed up the Windows start by bypassing the inspection of two other drives. The correct error trapping start should be, first the floppy (for a boot loader or emergency repair disk), secondly the Optical drive for utilities and new installs and finally the hard drive. If the PC talks to the HDD and installs Windows for you then don't mess with pins or cable select stuff. Just change the boot sequence 1) floppy, 2) Optical, 3) HDD. Remove any floppy or CD during the boot or the reboot right after your new system install . If you still have the error, then your Master Boot Record (MBR) at the start of windows may be corrupted. You can repair the MBR two ways. I boot with the Norton Utilities in the CD Drive and let it do it's magic. On other machines I plop in the Windows disk and select "repair system." Usually works. CBZ ><> PS Why are you messing with an old bloated OS like Windows ? Install Linux and be happy. Linux breathes new life into old machines.

 

[ritetome]

I am facing exactly the same problem. I too have a DELL INSPIRON 2500 and just bought a new Western Digital Scorpio 80 GB 5400 rpm.
Did you find any solution to the problem ?
Is it that 5400 rpm is not supported with this series ?

 

[clong]

I have also hit on this problem. I duplicated a 10 GB Hitachi drive to the new 80 GB WD before installing, but when I plugged the 80 GB in, I got the same messages you did. I pulled a Fujitsu 80 GB from another laptop, and it is recognized correctly, and the WD is recognized by the other system as well. I've upgraded the BIOS of the 2500 to A15. I wish I knew something else to try, but it looks like some sort of incompatibility with the drive and the system.

 

[R|VER]

Me too... HDD went out and bought a new WD 80 gig and getting same error.
:4-dontkno

 

[stuke]

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/18701399/19058921.aspx#19058921

The conclusion seems to be that the 2500 does not (fully) support Seagate and Western Digital drives, at least in capacities >= 80GB. The best bet seems to be to stick with Hitachi Travelstar drives, which was the brand originally fitted (as IBM Travelstars).