Diskette Drive 0 seek failure (error message) Solved/Closed

Question

Dell B110

Hello,
About 4 mos ago my computer began to display this message "Diskette drive 0 seek failure" on a black screen at startup.  When this happens the computer may or may not startup.  I was told by a computer shop that my hard drive needs to be replaced.  Others have said it's my battery.  Does anyone know what may be causing this and what I can do to fix it?

Thank you.

tklov87 · Accepted Answer

you need to press f2 then go to Standard CMOS Features, then highlight drive A. change it to none. should not have anything in there enless you have floppy drive......

anil · Answer

Hi this might happen becaue of Faulty or improperly installed diskette, loose diskette/CD interface cable, or loose power cable.Replace the diskette. Ensure that the diskette/CD-drive subsystem is properly installed. If the problem persists, replace the diskette/CD-drive subsystem. try checking it might help

Bigane · Answer

I had the same bother and it was enabling floppy disc drive which I dont have.go to bios f2 and click on load default then go into Integral at the bottom.Click on FDC or FDS and disable it and you have cracked it

wojak · Answer

go into your bios and disable floppy drive, disk 0, its should be under drivers

magicdonjuan · Answer

Thanks alot Richard

ruslan2k7 · Answer

Thanks bigane, my error message was fixed, but after that it goes into this black screen with just the arrow mouse on it. This started happening around the same time as the error message, what could it be?

rhyno · Answer

I had the same problem, and these answers helped a lot. My bios menu was a little different. Look for anything that refers to your 'drives'. Make sure its not trying to find a floppy drive that isn't there. That's what mine was doing. If it is change where it says floppy to 'not installed'

Nice tip · Answer

Good advice ... But now the screen has gone blue and it says"STOP : 0x00000024 blah blah blah! Help

bearguy2u · Answer

I have 2 errors Disk 0 and Disk 1 seek failure. When I go to F2 nothing happens or F12 nothing hppens, same message w/no results. I am assuming the motherboard at this point is dead as there is no BIOS to find.

thabear · Answer

This come up


Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause.

If windows files have been damaged or configured incorrectly , startup repair can help diagnose and fix the problem. If power was interrupted during startup, choose start windows Normally
(use the aarow keys to hightlight your coice.)

Launch Startup Repair (recommended)
Start Windows Normally

i click the launch startup repair then it show seconds until the highlighted choice will be selected automatically: and it show the number and it goes back to what it say again and again but when I leave the computer alone for awhile it show a blank black screen. Then when I select Start Windows Normally it show up the start up screen and give me Diskette Drive 0 Seek Failure

HelpWithuComp · Answer

Check your hardware configuration in your computer. How many hard drives do you have? on your IDE Cable, the big skinny Grey cord, make sure you plug the end cord of the IDE cable to your hard drive and your CD/DVD ROM drive to your middle one and the other end to your motherboards primary IDE port(Should say on your motherboard were to plug into Primary IDE) and change your jumpers on your CD/DVD Rom to slave(Look on the drive it should say were to plug it in for the jumpers) and your hard drive you use to store your OS on to Master,|| and your other hard drive you use to store your photos and all on master also(plug this on the secondary IDE port if there isn't one, refer to step 1) and start up your computer(but remember if you have a second hard drive, use the end of the ribbon cable to your hard drive and the other to the motherboard(usually the blue part that goes into the motherboard) and it should work. if it don't tell me your hard drive configuration and I shall help you. and I think that error message shows if these steps didn't help, go into your bios and change the settings on the drives to

1:Primary Master Drive Boot Device - CD/DVD Rom
2: Primary Slave drive - hard drive
3: Secondary Master Drive - Hard drive.

if these don't work refer to this post and I will try and help you on your problem, but post your hard drive configuration and maybe some pictures of your bios so I can help properly.

rapture · Answer

nevermind. I solved the problem. for dell users u have change your first boot hardware to Harddisk and the go to integrated components and disable FDC.

gw2250 · Answer

I've tried shutting it off in the BIOS menu but then I get a bunch of other messages witch I forget what they say but after that the computer just does nothing so I have to restart the computer and turn it back on for it work. the computer runs just fine when the menu pops up and I hit F1.

I should also let you know that the computer was used by my uncle who like to vist porn sites and the computer was loaded with virus and everything before I did the the factory default restart.

Phrostbyte · Answer

Dell dimension 4600  bios version A07   ****||PROBLEM SOLVED ||****


What I did to solve this error was go into the bios by pressing F2 at startup.  
I then changed the setting for the a: floppy drive to "disabled" as I do not have one installed.  

I then checked the system event log on the bottom.  It stated Bios battery failure.  This explained the issue.  

I then changed the bios battery inside the pc by opening the side of the case and removing the little flat 3v battery and replacing it with a new one.  


***  !!!!Be sure to have the computer off and unplugged for about 20 seconds before attempting to replace the system battery.  Also when replacing the battery make sure you are using one hand to hold a metal part of your computer case or have an electrostatic wrist strap on to avoid electrostatic discharge and damaging your internal electrical components!!!!   ***

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Badapple · Answer

I have a Dell Dimension E521 with Windows XP Media Edition installed and I recently had an AVG screenpop up telling me I had a virus so I started a system scan. During this scan my pc restarted itself so I couldnt complete the scan and now when I try to boot up windows it says "Loading your personal settings" then if i'm lucky i'll get my wallpaperscreencome up for a few seconds and then it will go back to the user accounts screen and say "Logging Off". I have tried to run it again and reboot it but to no avail.
I have tried rebooting in safe mode, i've tried rebooting from the hard drive and the CD-Rom using the windows installation disc I originally got with the machineand I have tried the above options too but it still will not boot up.
I do have the "Diskette Drive 0 Seek Failure" message come up and it has also told me that the "Diskette Drive (B)" is corrupt.
How do I sort this and is my hard drive completely knackered?
Thanks in advance for any advice

pb · Answer

Thanks "Bigane"...your solution solved my issue!

putnutOH · Answer

I fixed mine.  The board reset when I removed the battery.  So I went into BIOS and set the floppy drive to disabled (because I have no floppy so it will never find a floppy upon startup).  It was right on the first page of the BIOS settings.

beat88 · Answer

Vista XP on Dell desktop: F2 for set-up, go "Standard CMOS Features", change Drive A: from "1.44, 3.5 in" to "None." Solves the "Diskette Drive 0 seek failure" problem.

afiz..... · Answer

i'm really2 thanks to you.......:p
lalalalalalalalalalalala...........

delamuerte · Answer

dude you were sooo right disable you diskette ddirve, a thousand thanks

SMS · Answer

I had the same problem w/ the seek failure message, got the answer here, but had trouble finding the step-by-step instructions on the "how to" so here they are - at least for Dell Inspirons...

TO CHANGE 1ST BOOT DEVICE TO HARD DISK...
At Startup press "F2" to enter setup;
Arrow down to select "Boot device configuration" - press enter;
Arrow down to select "1st boot device" - press enter;
Arrow cursor to select "Hard disk"  - press enter;
Press "F10" to save changes;
Select "Y" for yes to confirm saving changes;
Press "esc" to go to main menu;
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
TO DISABLE FDC CONTROLLER....
Arrow down to select "Integrated peripherals" - press enter;
Arrow down to select "Onboard FDC controller" - press enter;
Arrow cursor to select "disabled" - press enter;
Press F10 to save changes;
Select "Y" for yes to confirm saving changes;

Hope this helps the non-experts like me.

jayman16 · Answer

Thanks a ton, this solved my problem!

sniper33 · Answer

PROBLEM SOLVED PURSUANT DELL TECHNICAL SERVICE:

I was so frustrated when I reinstalled my operating system (Windows XP Home Edition) only to find upon boot-up that I was getting the message "FLOPPY DISKETTE SEEK FAILURE". I am a former Network Admin and I spent 3 hours reinstalling, pulling the jumper on the system board, etc., etc. I finally searched the internet, and everything mentioned there I had ALREADY TRIED to NO SUCCESS!!!! I was finally so exasperated I called DELL in spite of the fact my PC was out of warranty. Thankfully the tech could hear the frustration in my voice and I told him thousands of people on the internet wrote with this same problem so this is prevalent to DELL Dimension 9150s. He put me on hold and came back with the following and it WORKED IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!!

PROCEDURE:
1) Reboot PC and hit F2 key to go into SETUP. 
2) Arrow down to DRIVES and hit Enter.
3) Arrow down one space to "DISKETTE DRIVE" and hit Enter
4) Highlight "OFF" and Hit Enter
5) Press Esc to Exit
6) Highlight EXIT and hit Enter

fara · Answer

When PC boots hit F2 and go to BIOS. IF it fails to enter BIOS remove power cable from hard drive and then try entering BIOS again, it should work. (off course before removing power from hard drive shut down you PC and make sure MAIN POWER IS OFF TOO) My PC did not had floppy so I disable it. Then go to each IDE make sure they are not disabled. Then very important one like many guys mentioned above me go to INTEGRATED DEVICES. In that section make sure you disable DISKETTE INTERFACE.  That should do it at least it did it for me. Sorry for broken ENGLISH.

jessica · Answer

thanks for posting your solution to fixing the "0 failure error" my dell computer all the sudden started showing this message and I couldnt get it off and I followed your steps and it worked great, thanks so much

medclinician · Answer

was stuck on this one with a seek error 0 - a sata hard drive and DVD and this annoying message. Doing the F2 bios disabling the FDC cured it. 

thx

med

tartousy90 · Answer

Thanks to Bigane my problem was solved thank u sooooo much

Allone · Answer

I have the same problem like everyone here with one wrinkle. When I press F2 the screen goes black and I am unable to see any bios menu screen. Has anyone else experienced this? Any help would be appreciated. The system is a Dell xps400.

KK · Answer

Thanks Bigane! 

I was frustrated with the GRUB Message. When I tried to google, all it gave was about some LINUX machines, but I run windows. Found this page - great help!
I would like to add more to it guys.

I have a Dell 4100 with a SATA Drive, a DVD RW, DVD, 1 HDD. Here is what I had to do -
- Disable the floppy drive
- do the Alt F, Alt E, Alt B
Even these didn't work.
- Then I removed the power supply from the DVD drive. The PC works now!

- I guess in my case the reason was since my machine is pretty old now, it doesn't has much juice left!

goliath · Answer

Thanks for the help...disabling the diskette drive in the F2 setup menu on my dell worked!

sand · Answer

Bigane....thank you so much.  u just solved my problem.

Mike · Answer

Hello All,

I have a slight variation on the posts I have read.  Great feedback by the way.

I have a Dell Dimension 4550 Series computer with bios version A03.  I received the" Diskette Drive 0 seek failure" about a week ago.  Using feedback from this forum I have set the diskette drive A to "not installed." Within the boot sequence I have also unchecked the floppy drive and placed it as last in the sequence.  

When I resume the startup the "diskette drive 0" error disappears, but it is replaced by a completely black screen and a blinking text cursor.  If I return the bios settings to include the floppy drive again, the diskette drive 0 seek error is recreated.

Per other advice I read in this forum, I tried replacing the bios battery and double checking to make sure all the internal hardware connections were secure.  The blinking cursor remains and I'm stumped.  Any suggestions?

Sincerely,
Mike

Hifly49 · Answer

Damn that was to easy Thanks for all the great advice I pressed F2 went to standard cmos hit enter went down to diskette A pressed enter selected none pressed F10 to save and exit and booted back up normally  ....Thanks a million

Don Piter · Answer

The answer is in the jumpers. CS (cable select) on CD/DVD rom, and Hard disc.

Davu · Answer

Hi all I have just fixed my brother inlaws pc which had Diskette Drive 1seek failure (error message).It took me a good Three hours to figured it out.First impression was the hard drive but I tried to re-install window but it would'nt allow me.I than pulled out an old 80 gig hard drive from an old pc and replaced the 20 gig hard drive 
than I tried to re install window agian but did not work aswell
step 1 press F2 to enter bios set up Disable drive 0 and other drive that does not have hardwared install in it.
step 2 configure the boot sequence.have the bios start up first ,second the cd,third the floppy disk and last the main hard drive( primary drive).If you have secondary drive than it should after the primary drive.
Hope this will help someone.
Regards,
Davu

Sunny · Answer

Its you floppy disk is what is looking for just go into bios and disable floppy disk drive or select as none and restart your computer your done.

some computer does not have floppy disk drive, so it does not need to boot from floppy disk.

kb11 · Answer

Thanks to all...if not for forums like this my life would be a hell of a lot more difficult

azajewel · Answer

Thanks.... Not sure why this was set to look for floppy.  Guess someone messed with the CMOS...   Set "Default Settings".....?  Anyway....thanks!

Rickqq · Answer

go to bios , click on disk drives ,  turn off   A   drive

jax · Answer

it does that to me and I just  booted up from utillity parttion and it started up another reason is some1 wrongly dissconnected your drive either yanking it out or unpluging it while on but after the partition it should work fine :D

Diskette Drive 0 seek failure (error message)

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