Occasional boot-up issue

Hi, I have a Dell XPS desktop and occasionally this comes up after the Dell boot-up/post screen:




I've noticed that this only happens when the keyboard numlock key doesn't light up on the post screen. I've also disabled keyboard failure notifications because they used to come up instead of that screen, and tell me to press a key which I obviously couldn't.

I've plugged the keyboard usb cable into different usb ports but this error still occasionally pops up. Otherwise, the keyboard numlock light does light up most of the time and the keyboard functions perfectly in the Win XP environment.

I don't understand if this is a problem with the keyboard or the motherboard or what?

Any help is appreciated

-Leo

 

Yes, I tried to double boot linux and xp with grub and had easybsd in the mix but that didn't work out too well, but eventually I removed it and rewrote the MBR. Normally, I never get a screen asking me whether I want to launch XP.

I don't have another keyboard to test, so I went ahead and reinstalled the driver for the chipset (it was the same version) and uninstalled the USB controller. We'll see if the computer starts acting up again

It is a Dell XPS 720

Thanks for replying

 

Ok, so I don't seem to have any booting issues right after the POST screen. However, two times now since my last post on the 11th, the computer has froze completely just a few seconds - minutes after loading the windows XP desktop. Hard drive activity (the hd sounds) stops and the mouse cannot be moved either. Someone had suggested before that the computer may be overheating, but the computer had not been on before that, and the room isn't all that hot. This has been happening before aswell, when I was dealing with the POST bootup errors.