Dell XP1 issue's

Well to make it short this XP1 is about to fly out the window to the street corner(where it belongs).

Last week with vista 32 bit installed(since 2008) and 2 gig's of memory and 250 gig WD HHD, it started to die and black screen some error;s ever so often after being on for a bit. then attempts to restart and error's again till complete shut down is done then restart then it works for a min or two then rinse and repeat.

Error msg:
------------------------------------------------
Intel (r) Boot Agent GE v1.2.50
Coptight (c)1997-2007 Intel Corp

PXE-E61 : Media Test Failure, check cable
PXE-M0F " Exiting Intel Boot Agent

No boot device available
-----------------------------------

Now I have checked the HHD sata cable, replaced it and even tried to format the HD and do fresh installs of the OS and it had same issue's every time and repeated it on a Maxtor 500 gig HDD... Then I got the crazy idea for the hell of it I'm going to toss windows 7(64) on it.. Well it worked for 1 week strait with out no issue and the dam bugger moved like a champ, so paid for another lis key activated it after 4 days.. and now this dam error is back.. I have tried updating every driver possible from chip set's, bios..


Any idea's??

Thanks for your time and help in advance.

MrB

 

Greetings, MrBloody369.

That 'PXE' error usually means the machine is trying to boot to a network device - try accessing BIOS upon startup, make sure your boot order specifies that any network device(s) are at the bottom of the list.

Since you've checked the cables, drivers, and tried a new hard drive, your other symptoms may be pointing to power supply issues.

What's the Dell Service Tag #? May as well look at the specs, see what we're dealing with.

 

Dell Service Tag #1DTLDD1

For some reason after it die's from running after a short period it doesn't see the hdd connected for some reason.. this is the case with both WD and Maxtor drive's

Network device is listed @ bottom of boot

 

I would of thought HD or HD cable both of which you replaced.

Did you go back to the original HD when installing Win7 or use the new one?

 

Just the newer one so far.. Since this error started with that hdd, and trying a different one didn't fix the issue, I'm considering ruling out a HDD issue.. But am considering trying one of my spar ter hhd in there but that's too big for a main drive.

 

Just a thought: you said Vista's been installed since 2008 - how old is this machine? Possible CMOS battery replacement?

To clarify: you're getting "PXE-E61 : Media Test Failure, check cable" and "No boot device available" errors while running, or upon startup? If those are startup errors, what message are you seeing when the machine crashes while running?

 

When the system crashes it freezes and some things go black(like browser side bars and top title area's) before it auto reset's, then
" "PXE-E61 : Media Test Failure, check cable" and "No boot device available"" come's up after the system crashes and reboots it self, and on that reboot only does it show that error only... And if I turn off system or rest after that error it will start up normal, then lock up with in 3-10min and repeat the cycle black edge;s auto reset;s and error pop-up doreing boot


Sorry for not being clear before.

 

No problem - just trying to get a handle on this thing.

Try this: Go to Control Panel > System > Advanced system settings > Advanced > Startup and Recovery settings. Make sure 'Automatically restart' is not checked, and save your changes.

After the next crash, hopefully you'll get a blue screen - try to record any info you see. If you can get the machine booted again, navigate to the %root%: > Windows > Minidumps folder, copy those files to the Desktop, zip and upload them as an attachment per these instructions: HOW TO: Attach Items To Your Post.

 

For some strang reason just splitting the drive in 3 and doing a freshinstall(3rd time) worked with no issue so far, just trying to get drivers for tuoch buttions will work on but not avalable in 64 bit for install software by dell so ya..