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m7700 Can't access BIOS

post #1 of 8
9/21/08 at 7:32am
Thread Starter 
Hi everyone,

My friend gave me his old m7700, but it had been wiped and I've spent the past day and a half trying to install the SATA drivers so that I can actually install XP on it. After working on it for a while I though, I've discovered that I can't access the BIOS.

When I first tried to install XP onto the the laptop (before I knew about having to have the SATA drivers), it would show a typical POST screen and I could press F2 and access the BIOS just fine. However, after I tried to run a slipstreamed disk I'd created, (with an Alienware Recovery disk) instead of a typical POST screen I had an Alienware bootscreen that said "Press F2 to access system utilities" at the bottom.

When I press F2 from the Alienware bootscreen it immediately tries to load an OS, and since there isn't one it says "Operating System Not Found". I've Googled around for a solution, but I've turned up nothing. Can anybody think of a solution?
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post #2 of 8
9/21/08 at 10:00am
Hold the F2 button down immediately on start up. It will beep alot but just hold it and see if it goes into BIOS.
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post #3 of 8
9/21/08 at 8:55pm
Thread Starter 
Wow, that was so simple I can't believe I didn't think to try it. Thank you.

Next problem: I've tried setting up with the slipstreamed disk I've made in both RAID Mode and SATA Mode, and unless I'm mistaken I'm pretty sure I saw the SATA and RAID drivers load, but Setup still doesn't recognize the drives.

What am I missing here. Did I slipstream the disk wrong or something?
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post #4 of 8
9/21/08 at 10:02pm
Are the units set up as RAID in the BIOS?

http://4help.alienware.com/cgi-bin/a...p?p_faqid=4449

Since you are setting it up as RAID and install Windows I assume that you do not have anything of importance on the drives.
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post #5 of 8
9/21/08 at 10:31pm
Thread Starter 
No, there isn't anything important on the drives. The whole system was wiped clean when I got it.

I've tried my slipstreamed CD with the BIOS set up as RAID and as ATA and neither worked. I'm not really trying to set up for RAID as much as I am just trying to get the Setup program to recognize the drives so I can install XP on them. No matter what I've done so far though I can't seem to get it to work.
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post #6 of 8
9/22/08 at 11:02pm
There are separate drivers for non-RAID and RAID-enabled systems. Make sure you're using the correct drivers and have the drives setup for whatever matches those drivers.
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post #7 of 8
9/23/08 at 1:50am
Thread Starter 
Well, my friend came back and after I told him about the problem he took a look at it. As it turns out the hard drives are completely shot. Which explains why I couldn't get the drives to work no matter how I set it up.

Sorry for wasting your time guys.
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post #8 of 8
9/23/08 at 5:53pm
Glad you got the problem figured out, even though the end result is a little depressing. Are both drives shot? If not, you can use only one drive.
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