[SOLVED] What to do to fix this A: Drive error

[Pankaj Nath]

A: Drive Error! Press F2 to continue or F1 to enter setup.

I've been getting this error in my pc, which I'd bought in 2008 and kept idle since 2016, and resumed using it since about a week.

Earlier it even wouldn't start and I had to take it to the shop. They fixed it saying it has a PSU issue (which I got replaced with a new one and also got the cmos battery replaced), and there too they faced the same issue during boot up. They fixed it by disabling floppy drive setup Drive A in bios. It worked well for a day or two, and now again the issue's resurfaced. Each time I'm having to go to bios and set Floppy Drive Setup Drive A to [Disabled] to resume startup boot. I could do by pressing F2, but it's resetting the date and time to back to 01/01/2008 which is sort of screwing up google and youtube settings, so that's not an option.

It's a Lenovo ideacentre kseries 2008 system. Runs on Intel Core2Duo E7200 @2.53 GHz, DDR2 2gb ram, Hitachi 298gb Harddisk, chipset P35/G33/G31, nvidia geforce 210 1gb, and Win7 Ult-SP1 32 bit. Except for this issue it's fine otherwise.

Help/advice in resolving this problem would be greatly appreciated.

 

[stonecarver]

I would go back and check the battery.

 

[Pankaj Nath]

I would go back and check the battery.

You mean the cmos battery, friend? Well, I just had it newly replaced. Still I'll check that.

And in case it turns out alright, which I guess it will, what else could the problem result from?

 

[SamirD]

I think they forgot to put the cmos reset jumper back where it belonged. Otherwise, the battery is dead again.

 

[Karadjgne]

The jumper should be on pins 1-2, not 2-3 on those older boards. Setting to 2-3 shorts the cmos, basically removing any bios settings, reverting back to original factory default, which of course sets A drive as enabled and resets the clock to bios install date.

Power down and check the jumper. Hopefully it hasn't drained the battery.

 

[Pankaj Nath]

The jumper should be on pins 1-2, not 2-3 on those older boards. Setting to 2-3 shorts the cmos, basically removing any bios settings, reverting back to original factory default, which of course sets A drive as enabled and resets the clock to bios install date.

Power down and check the jumper. Hopefully it hasn't drained the battery.

https://imgur.com/cBUoGPV

View: https://imgur.com/cBUoGPV


I'm attaching an image. I guess the jumper is the one that's enclosed in the red rectangle toward the left end of the image. If you watch closely, you'll see there's one pin visibly naked, which I believe is pin 1. Going by this logic, it's fixed on pins 2-3, not on pins 1-2 as it should've been on this old mobo. Still, I'll appreciate if you could tell me if it's correctly positioned on the pins; I can't quite tell from which side it ought to be counted from - top or bottom.

I won't take any chances and I'll get a brand new battery. What'll be the process of replacing and resetting cmos? Is it as simple as putting it back in place and fixing the jumper on pins 1-2, or in addition to this it'll take any settings changes in the bios?

Thanks. Much appreciate your advice.

 

[SamirD]

If you haven't already downloaded all the documentation for this system, it would be great if you did. A lot of the answers to these questions (as well as detailed instructions on how to do things) is in that documentation.

It's hard to tell from the picture which pin is #1 as the writing on the board is blocked from the angle of the picture. But like I said, the documentation would clearly tell you which position is which. The documenation will also tell you how to replace the battery. It isn't hard at all, but you do have to know how to do it so you don't damage anything. And as always, unplug the system and press the power button a few times to make sure all power is out of the board before doing anything.

 

[Pankaj Nath]

If you haven't already downloaded all the documentation for this system, it would be great if you did. A lot of the answers to these questions (as well as detailed instructions on how to do things) is in that documentation.

It's hard to tell from the picture which pin is #1 as the writing on the board is blocked from the angle of the picture. But like I said, the documentation would clearly tell you which position is which. The documenation will also tell you how to replace the battery. It isn't hard at all, but you do have to know how to do it so you don't damage anything. And as always, unplug the system and press the power button a few times to make sure all power is out of the board before doing anything.

Here's a larger image -

https://imgur.com/hzR82xs

View: https://imgur.com/hzR82xs


I think it's placed on pins 1-2, as the 3rd pin is visible. But, I'll want an expert confirmation from your end.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[stonecarver]

It looks like its on pins 1 & 2 if pin 1 is indeed on the far left. So that leaves the battery. By the look of the battery it does not at least to me look like a new battery to much scratch rash. it should look shiny and new with maybe a thumb print from the person who installed it. Volt meter set to DC would settle that though. I will look back in the morning to see where your at. I say just stop for the night and start fresh in the morning. Night Boss

 

[Pankaj Nath]

It looks like its on pins 1 & 2 if pin 1 is indeed on the far left. So that leaves the battery. By the look of the battery it does not at least to me look like a new battery to much scratch rash. it should look shiny and new with maybe a thumb print from the person who installed it. Volt meter set to DC would settle that though. I will look back in the morning to see where your at. I say just stop for the night and start fresh in the morning. Night Boss

Nighty night

 

[SamirD]

Here's a larger image -

https://imgur.com/hzR82xs

View: https://imgur.com/hzR82xs


I think it's placed on pins 1-2, as the 3rd pin is visible. But, I'll want an expert confirmation from your end.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Still the same angle so I can't read what's on the board 'below' the jumper. There's usually a mark of some sort to indicate pin one (if not a small '1' there).

 

[Pankaj Nath]

Still the same angle so I can't read what's on the board 'below' the jumper. There's usually a mark of some sort to indicate pin one (if not a small '1' there).

Here.

https://imgur.com/U7UcPWY

View: https://imgur.com/U7UcPWY


There's nothing in the shadow to the left. Thanks.

 

[SamirD]

Still can't tell because there maybe something to the left in that shadow towards the top (can't tell if that's a letter or a symbol as there's only half of it in the pic).

Nevertheless, I think it's better to look at an owners manual for this thing. Lenovo usually has a machine number or machine type. If you can give me that, I'll see if I can't find out which position the jumper is in and needs to be for normal operation.

 

[Pankaj Nath]

Still can't tell because there maybe something to the left in that shadow towards the top (can't tell if that's a letter or a symbol as there's only half of it in the pic).

Nevertheless, I think it's better to look at an owners manual for this thing. Lenovo usually has a machine number or machine type. If you can give me that, I'll see if I can't find out which position the jumper is in and needs to be for normal operation.

See these images.

Unfortunately I've lost the documents. Hope it helps.

https://imgur.com/Q41k79i

View: https://imgur.com/Q41k79i

https://imgur.com/EphNVWt

View: https://imgur.com/EphNVWt

https://imgur.com/Wy6ykSz

View: https://imgur.com/Wy6ykSz

 

[zx128k]

That looks like normal position, at the right you have CLR_CMOS on the PCB and then this is repeated on the table. CLR_CMOS writen to the right is to let you know that this is the position for CMOS reset.

CMOS 11 page 13

Manuals Lenovo-Ideacentre-K210