help broken pc

wobbles08

Hi I wonder if anyone can help, when i turn on my pc i get a blank screen with the following message.

Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A04
Copyright 1985-1988 Phoenix Technologies Ltd
Copy right 1990-2004 Dell Inc.
All rights reserved.

Dell System OptiPlex GX280 Series
BIOS Version A04
www.dell.com

Drive 1 not found: Serial ATA, SATA-2
Drive 3 not found: Parallel ATA, PATA-1 (PRI IDE Slave)
Type the system password and press enter:

Then when I enter the password it should be it says

**Incorrect password**
Number of unsuccesful password attempts: 7 or more

System halted! Must power down.

The computer makes no noise when typing the password and it does not look to be typing on screen. But when you press the enter key the computer starts beeping like mad.

Can anyone help or should I just throw the pc out?

lilibeth

Do NOT throw it out.

Now I could be wrong on this but if it can't recognise the password (presuming it is correctly typed and you don't have num or caps lock on, and that you actually set a system password in the first place) I would imagine it may be because in your case it isn't seeing your discs and therefore can't access that information to verify it.

It sounds like a physical problem, as it's not seeing the drives.
1st completely turn it off remove plug from socket etc

Wait a minute before turning it all back on.
If you get the same error try hitting return without typing a password.
If you get some joy with that post back and tell us what it says.

Are you confident enough to open the case and check your hard drive connections to make sure they haven't come loose? Turn everything off and disconnect from power supply first! And make sure you earth yourself by touching something metal (like the case).

If none of this works (likely) post back.

wobbles08

hi thanks for the quick reply, I have just tried all the above but it is still the same. I dont ever remember setting a password. If I did it would of been the same password that i use for everything else.

Exo

Hi, this may help with the password.
http://www.tech-faq.com/dell-bios-password.shtml

It would appear the bios is not recognising and hard drive.
Check all connections to drives.
If necessary, run a hard drive diagnostic to confirm or eliminate hard drive malfunction.

exo