Quote (read this if you want to; it helps with the following question; i wrote this when i was high)

It starts with: One day, I turn my DELL PC on via power button. It loads the BIOS and gets to the screen where it checks hard drives 0-5, and I have to "STRIKE F1 TO CONTINUE". When I pressed it, not only did it NOT load Windows XP(like it is supposed to), it goes on to tell me that it's "MISSING DELLBIO.BIN", where every single button I pressed spammed the error like a command window. So, I basically yelled at the monitor, turned the computer off, went to get some Baskin Robbins to get fat, and came back to find my computer actually letting me get past the "STRIKE F1" screen(where I completely disregarded what had just happened to my computer and continued to play Diablo). Over the span of the next 6 months I would receive this error about once every week, and I waited for about 2 hours or so every time before it started to work again. I tried checking cables, replugging said cables, reformatting/erasing the hard drive, googling a shit ton, changing hard drives.. nothing worked except the good ol' waiting-for-a-longass-time trick. At some point, I went into the system setup while it was loading the BIOS, and looked at the drives. What was surprising was that the section where it shows the startup order(via CD/hard disk/floppy/USB/etc), the computer wasn't detecting a hard disk/drive. It said "..NOT SUPPORTED/FOUND" next to it. I checked drives 0-5, and all of them were off except drive 4, like it was supposed to be. When I restarted and got to the "STRIKE F1" screen, it showed hard drives 0-5, I got the "MISSING DELLBIO.BIN" error again, so I waited. The next day, I start up the computer, get to the "STRIKE F1" screen, and loads Windows. However, before, I saw that it showed only hard drives 1-5, instead of the 0-5 I usually saw when I got the error. For the next month, I knew when I was about to get the error when I saw that it displayed hard drives 0-5. Later, I realized that although I checked/replugged the cables, I never really REPLACED the cables. When I got the error again, I snuck into my brother's room, replaced his SATA cable with mine, and the computer worked fine for the whole week(w/o error). The next week(up until this point in time), however, I got the error again. My brother's computer, along with mine, are at the very least, 5+ years old, so I am guessing both of our SATA cables are just wearing down.

Quote (ghot @ Jul 13 2011 07:01pm)

go to the Delll website  let it scan ur comp for an updated BIOS  first....also get new motherboard CMOS battery

Quote (McFacializer @ Jul 13 2011 10:02pm)

I've tried an updated BIOS. I remember going here when I first got the error. They haven't updated since it fuckin' came out!.. 2006ish.

Quote (ghot @ Jul 13 2011 07:03pm)

welll for that time span...it prolly ur CMOS battery  they cost about $6  and u can get at bestbuy or radio shack....thats what I'd do first  ^^

and yes  u def need more RAM...and def shouldn't have bought a DELL 

and the CMOS batteries  last tween 5-8 years that's IF they didn't sit in the store for a cpl years 1st  ^^

Quote (136100 @ Jul 14 2011 04:13pm)

Your lack of ram is a problem. I think there is another issue if it takes that long to get to the xp screen. You may have hardware that is causing hangups. I usually disconnect the floppy drive as a default.

Cmos batteries hardly ever need to be replaced