PC comes up "press F1 to continue or F2 to enter setup"

[arcIT3]

I have a Dell GX260 low body and a regular GX260 desktop system, when they boot up, they will display "press F1 to continue or F2 to enter setup". I know this means that it is not reconizing in one form or another the HD. But, what I do not understand, the HD is reconized in BIOS. I have even installed a new HD with the same situation. At other times, system will boot into XP Pro and work fine until a restart, then it goes back to the F1 or F2 thing. We build several computers each week installing the OS XP Pro. We have taken all the parts out of the computers and reseated them. We have even went as far as to switch some parts out of another identical pc. I have even had a Dell Dimension E310 do the same thing. When we contacted Dell, they said it is the MB. What was even stranger was the one that had been sitting the longest, I tossed the original HD back into to see if I could check the name of the computer, it booted into Windows perfectly. I do not see how the motherboard could work now and not later and then start working again.

This is starting to be a really big issue and taking way to much of our time. If anyone can shed any light on this, I would appreciate it.

 

[King X13]

It is in fact the motherboard. I have had this happen many times with the same model you are talking about. It is a problem with the IDE controller on the motherboard. So thats why you need to replace the motherboard.

I am not sure if a PCI IDE controller would work if you cant replace the motherboard but it might be worth a shot. I always just replace the motherboard.

 

[SHAWN]

Like Kinkx13 said, it is simply a system board. I have replaced tons of boards on the gx260 and gx270 pc's. You can try to update the bios on the board to the latest revision. If that fails then I would replace the board if its covered under warranty, otherwise use it as a door stop and buy a new machine.