BIOS: Dell Vostro 220

balloonshark

Diamond Member
Jun 5, 2008
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I had to reinstall XP Pro on a friends new Vostro and wanted to make an image in the event the machine becomes unbootable again. I'm using a boot disc to make the image but it ran very slow. On my machine I fixed this by changing PCI IDE Busmaster to enabled.

Does anyone know where this setting is in the Dell Vostro Bios or is there a hidden key combo to get into the more advanced settings?
 

o1die

Diamond Member
Jul 8, 2001
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No. I doubt it. You don't get many bios adjustments with any dell motherboard, no matter who makes it. That's to prevent a no post situation and wasted calls to dell support.
 

tcsenter

Lifer
Sep 7, 2001
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PCI IDE busmastering is a 12+ year old feature that has been "on" by default for a good eight years. Sometimes it is selectable in OEM BIOS but if not, then its most likely enabled by default.
 

balloonshark

Diamond Member
Jun 5, 2008
6,769
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Thanks for you help o1die and tcsenter. Whenever I get a chance to see the machine again I'll look around and see I can find it. If not then I will assume that it is on by default and look around for a different imaging boot disc.
 

WaitingForNehalem

Platinum Member
Aug 24, 2008
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I was trying to reinstall Windows on a Dell and it ran very slowly. After researching, I reset the BIOS by removing the CMOS battery and it worked fine after that.