Reformat problems

Rev

Cheers, thanks. I'll give it a try in a bit, in dire need of food right now.

Thanks for the suggestions. It's much appreciated.

albertross_2

The other possibility is that the F2 key is bust.

fwor

Also, check if the motherboard has a jumper marked "CLR CMOS", as it will save having to remove the battery. Simply move the jumper from current position to the alternative position and back - your BIOS will have reverted to default settings.

Just have to hope the default is not "USB keyboard disabled"!

Rev

Well tried that and now it wont even boot.

Says 'floppy diskette seek failure' please press F2 to enter setup'

Only thing is there's no floppy on the system, never has been, and it's still not detecting the keyboard (tried three different ones on all USB ports) so I can't enter the setup to tell it there's no floppy drive.

Rev

Just tried booting with nothing but the monitor plugged it and it says 'Keyboard Failure'.

Really don't get this, it ignored the keyboard when plugged in and says failure when it's not.

albertross_2

!!!!!! ,,,,,,,,

are you holding f2 at the very start after power on

Rev

yes holding F2 as I switch it on. There's not even a sign of life in the keyboard, usually the light flash on start-up, but no, nothing.

Completely ignores the keyboard when there but stops loading when it's not.

albertross_2

bios update maybe, but usually needs a floppy


you could try calling Dell

Rev

Will dell help? Since what's left of the warranty isn't in my name and the change can take up to 30 days.

albertross_2

shouldn't matter.