if you boot from the install cd, does it detect your existing install and ask you if you want to upgrade? In other words, does the installer find your previous install on your hard drive?


If you think you can boot from a floppy, you can use the installation cd to make a bootdisk for you. The easy way to do that is to go through the install process again, this time choosing to upgrade. There's an option for creating a boot disk. It may be under the advanced options of the mandrake installer.

-rhett

Strangely, it does detect that it's been installed which is why I'm not sure why it can't boot from it. I tried a win98 bootdisk and when I tried fdisk it says Cannot read fixed disk. or error writing to fixed disk, I don't remember which, the only thing I can think of is that it's the mother board having some kind of problem

My only guess left is to replace the mobo, but I'm uneasy about that. Plus there's a 30% (or was it $30) re-stocking fee.

I found and fixed the boot problem.
Believe it or not, Dell helped.

I was helping someone fix a computer that had a hard drive with physical damage so we were putting in a new one, when taking it out, we saw the hard drive's jumpers were set to CS and not Master. I thought this was weird since it was a prebuilt dell system, but when I got home, I changed my HDD on my computer from Master to CS and it now boots on it's own, I don't know why it works but it does and I'm fine with that

PXE = (Preboot Execution Environment)
Umm what this is for is mainly for servers .. you might want to go into your bios and disable

Boot From Lan
and also as you go along id recommend you turn off any PXE options

Nvidia boot agent, PXE 2.0(Built 082 v1.82)
Copyright (C) 2001 Nvidia corporation
Copyright (c) 1997-200 Intel Corporation
PXE-E61: Media Test Failure Check Cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting Nvidia Boot Agent
DISKBOOT FAILURE INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER

PXE-E61 Error is refeering to your ethernet cable or your nic card

- Pyus

The problem was that I needed to have the hard drive's jumper set to CS, setting it to master didn't work.

I found out that if your IDE cable supports the CS feature, then you have to use it.

Did dell also tell you that when you sent it in?

dell wasn't involved in this in any way ???

No text

I meant that when working with someone else's dell computer, I noticed their jumper setting and when I tried it on my computer it fixed the boot problem.

i was just curious as to what jumper setting?

as I said above, I had it on master but it wasn't working. The problem was that the ide cable supported cable select and if that's the case then it has to be used. Therefore, the correct jumper setting will be CS.

Lost me yet again ..
oh well dont worry bout it

nice postin with you c-ya later
sry the PXE error didnt help ya any i was sure that was your problem

have a nice day

that is cause dell computers use a drive utilty that partitions the drive and then hides it, on this is a disk utility that will tell you when your hard drive is failing, or going to fail. it's a S.M.A.R.T. utility.

with all due respect ...

theres more to this story then whats being told
i work on dell computers since thats what we have been using for the last 12 years here at the state
with that said lets talk about S.M.A.R.T .. it doesnt produce PiXiE errors for 1

ive just been trying to figure out how it went from PXE to a bad HDD to CS fixed the problem
i am also havin a PXE problem on a home DHCP and am trying to set it up for lan boot .. this server is using mandrake 10 and i just peered into this thread to find some insight .. but you have to admit, no solution was found no1 knows why or what the PXE error said .. all we know is CS fixed the problem
i was curious as to find this solution but ive lost my curiosity and have given up

maybe i should call dell too

-- Edit

sorry i guess its been since 1996 is when we switched from gateway / comp to dell. which would make it 8 years roughly 9