Computer Will Not Start, Does Not Pass First Loading Screen

Discussion in 'Software' started by smssoleimani, Jul 24, 2009.

  1. smssoleimani

    smssoleimani Private First Class

    I first want to say thank you for taking the time to look at this.

    This is a Dell Vostro 1700 with Intel Core 2 Duo - Windows XP. I turn it on and the Dell logo appears along with the loading bar below it. It never gets all the way through. I tried F8 and sometimes I will try F12 nothing works. When I was messing around with the F8 and F12 keys I got a message saying "preparing a one-time boot menu" and nothing happenes, then another time I saw a message saying something about the keyboard. I'm not sure whether this topic belongs in this area or in the hardware department, please advise me to where it belongs, or please move it if this is the wrong area.

    Thank you in advanced for your help, it is greatly appreciated.

    Thank you,

    Steve
     
    smssoleimani, Jul 24, 2009
    #1
  2. plodr

    plodr MajorGeek Super Extraordinaire Moderator Staff Member

    From what I'm reading, this shipped with Vista, not XP. Is that correct?
     
    plodr, Jul 24, 2009
    #2
  3. smssoleimani

    smssoleimani Private First Class

    Surprisingly it did not, this is running Windows XP.
     
    smssoleimani, Jul 25, 2009
    #3
  4. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Is it still under warranty? Have you tried contacting Dell support? Do you have the installation discs?
     
    TimW, Jul 25, 2009
    #4
  5. smssoleimani

    smssoleimani Private First Class

    the warrenty support ran out a month ago, before this problem started. I tried calling Dell but they wouldn't help becasue the warrenty was up :mad

    I have the installation disks.
     
    smssoleimani, Jul 25, 2009
    #5
  6. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Then I suggest you first try doing a repair install.
     
    TimW, Jul 25, 2009
    #6
  7. smssoleimani

    smssoleimani Private First Class

    how do i go by doing that? insert disk, then should i press a certain key to boot from cd?? and repairing does not erase data right?
     
    smssoleimani, Jul 25, 2009
    #7
  8. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    TimW, Jul 25, 2009
    #8
  9. smssoleimani

    smssoleimani Private First Class

    sweet i will definitely try this, although how do i "Configure your computer to start from the CD-ROM drive"
     
    smssoleimani, Jul 25, 2009
    #9
  10. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    You need to boot into the bios....watch your screen as you boot up...there will be a display telling you what key to hit....could be f12 or f2?

    Once in bios...you set the boot order to boot to cd first and then hard drive second.
     
    TimW, Jul 25, 2009
    #10
  11. smssoleimani

    smssoleimani Private First Class

    ahh yes, i know what you are talking about. this may be a bad sign, maybe not, but the screen never displays anything about pressing a certain key to enter the bios....weird.
     
    smssoleimani, Jul 25, 2009
    #11
  12. smssoleimani

    smssoleimani Private First Class

    smssoleimani, Jul 25, 2009
    #12
  13. plodr

    plodr MajorGeek Super Extraordinaire Moderator Staff Member

    I don't think changing the button battery, p182, will have any effect on windows loading or not loading.

    According to your manual on p. 107, as soon as the Dell logo appears, you press F12. You'll then get a screen which allows you to move the highlight down to boot from CD/DVD/CD-RW. Make sure that you have your windows CD in before you select that option. Then you should be able to do a repair as TimW has outlined. That only works for one boot. After that, your computer will revert to booting from the hard drive so if you wish to boot from the CD again, you have to repeat clicking F12.

    If that fails, your computer may have come with a Dell PC Restore partition. At bootup, to get to that, you would press ctrl + F11. Note: if you use this, you will lose all your files and programs you have installed. It takes the computer back to the way it was from the factory.
     
    plodr, Jul 26, 2009
    #13
  14. smssoleimani

    smssoleimani Private First Class

    as soon as i saw the dell logo i pressed f12 and i kept on tapping it, eventually in the top right corner of the screen it says "Preparing one-time boot menu .." but it stays there, the dell logo stays there, the white loading bar at the bottom stays at 75% and nothing happens :confused

    at this time there is no cd in the cd drive because i am waiting for my brother to give them to me but i thought i give this a try to see if it would work. does it matter that there is no cd in the drive?

    I took the computer to some computer service store and he did some type of diagnosis and told me the hard drive is fine as well as the memory, but the motherboard is not. he said we can repair by ordering some new chips to repair and put in, or a whole new motherboard which would be more expensive. this a possibility that it could be the motherboard?
     
    smssoleimani, Jul 27, 2009
    #14
  15. plodr

    plodr MajorGeek Super Extraordinaire Moderator Staff Member

    Sorry, I know nothing about motherboards.
    Well yes, if you select boot from CD/DVD and there is no CD nor DVD in the drive it would cause a problem.
     
    plodr, Jul 27, 2009
    #15

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