# Solved: Strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for Setup Utility



## tjcrm (Dec 5, 2005)

Trying to fix son's girlfriend's Dell Dimension 4600. We think the hard drive is bad. Put it in a sleeve and hooked it to another computer ... shows no files. So she bought a new WD 160GB hard drive. Installed the new hd after connecting it to another computer and using Disk Management to format it. Then installed it in the Dell 4600. When we start the computer it shows:

Dell System Dimension 4600 Series
BIOS Version A02
www.dell.com

Performing Automatic IDE Configuration ...
Secondary Master: CD ROM Device
Secondary Slave: CD ROM Device

Strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for Setup Utility

F1 does nothing but repeat prior line.
F2 brings up the BIOS settings.

Boot sequence only shows:
Diskette Drive
IDE CD ROM Drive

no new HD listed.

I also cannot get it to boot from Windows XP disk even after I change the boot sequence to IDE CD ROM Drive in the first position. Although, yesterday it did attempt to load XP, but ended at a BSOD - Unmountable_boot_volume.

Help. What should my next step be?

Thanks for any and all help.


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## tjcrm (Dec 5, 2005)

I have consistenly gotten the computer to run the Windows XP disk up to the point where it states "loading Windows" than everything goes black for a few seconds before the BSOD stating Unmountable_boot_volume. 

I cannot get past this screen. 

I don't know too much about the BIOS only that I needed to make the CD Rom drive be in the first position under boot sequence. Could I be missing something in the BIOS? 

I read somewhere how to make and use a Dell Diagnostics disk, but that won't run either. 

Any help would be appreciated.

Roseann


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## OneHandClapping (May 5, 2009)

Have you checked the IDE cable connection to the motherboard? It may have come loose when removing the original drive. Also, check the jumpers on the drive to see if it is set to master, slave, cable select, or not there at all. And check in the BIOS for the setting for that IDE channel to make sure it is set to auto detect. If it has a particular drive listed it could make it not work.

On some systems in the past with older WD drives, I had to remove all jumpers if it was the only drive on the IDE cable; setting it as master if it was the only drive would not work; I had to remove the jumper completely. If it was paired with another device then I had to have the jumper in the correct position. This only happened with WD drives, and nearly drove me crazy the first time it happened. It made no sense then, and makes no sense now, but I've still got one drive from about 5 years ago that has no jumper because it won't work with one since it's the only drive in the PC. This particular PC is also a Dell, so maybe this helps some.


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## tjcrm (Dec 5, 2005)

Good questions ... I checked the IDE cable and even swapped it with one from an older computer. I don't know the difference between 40 and 80 pin cables -- do they look and fit the same? 

The jumper is set to CS, I will try tomorrow to remove the jumper altogether and see what happens as this is a Dell with a WD hard drive. 

Tomorrow I will also hook it back up to my current computer's monitor and check the BIOS for the IDE channel (auto detect). That one doesn't ring a bell. 

Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. I will check it out tomorrow and report back.

Roseann


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## tjcrm (Dec 5, 2005)

I removed the jumper from the new hard drive, and then went into the BIOS to see if there was anything I could do.

~The Drive Configuration IDE Drive UDMA was set to "on". 
~The Primary Master Drive was set to "auto"; it was showing the capacity at 160 GB for the WD drive. 
~All looked right including the Secondary Master and Slave drives set to "auto'" and showing the correct makers. 

Here's where I was confused:
Auto Power On - Disabled
Fast Boot - On
OS Install Mode - Off
IDE HD Acoustics Mode - Bypass

Was not sure what any of these meant. Except the OS Install Mode was really bothering me that it was set to "off" so I changed it to "on" 

I rebooted the computer and it came to this screen:
Alert! OS Install Mode enabled. Amount of available memory limited to 256MB. Strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility. (The F1, F2 line made me think that nothing was going to happen when I pressed them, just like all the other times before.)

I inserted the WinXP disk and hit F1 and the setup started. That was a good sign, BUT I have been through this part before and it would stop right before loading Windows and give me the unmountable_boot_volume error so I was cautious not to get my hopes up. And then it came to the screen that said it would take 39 minutes to load Windows. It actually took A LOT LONGER, but Windows loaded !!!!! YEAH !!!!!!

We are back in business. 

So you think I would be happy there (and I was), I then hooked up the old c: drive as a secondary and turned on the computer again. This time, it error checked the disk and found some errors and corrected them. SO ... now son's girlfriend even has ALL her pictures and music too.

Thank you so much for all your help. I would not have thought to take off the jumper and touch anything in the BIOS without you. 

Roseann, who has been happily installing anti-virus, firewall, word processing and Itunes programs and of course Windows updates all night.


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## OneHandClapping (May 5, 2009)

Glad you got it up and running, but you should change the OS install mode back to off. It is limiting the amount of memory available to the OS to use, so even if you have 512mb you're only using 256mb which will make it soooo slooooow.


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## tjcrm (Dec 5, 2005)

Thank you. I was not aware of that. I just thought it was an oversight that it was set to "off". I never noticed that in the BIOS of my computer! I'll have to look next time.

Well I'm off to change the BIOS to OS Install "OFF" before work.

THANKS sooooo much again,
Roseann


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## OneHandClapping (May 5, 2009)

Don't forget to mark this "solved" if it has indeed fixed your issue.


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