Pc won't boot up

Got a problem here, just got a brand new dell vostro 200...pc powers up and shows the windows screen, and then nothing boots up...just a black black screen with the cursor blinking on top of screen...
First occurrance, had to tried twice, and then finallly boot up again..
*no new hardware was installed

Second occurance, tried for like 5 times and can't get into my desktop, have to use my blackberry to post this
*added memory and new soundcard since, but I've booted up before with this new hardware, so doubt its any issues with that...the only other thing was opening up my ports for portforrwrding for utorrent...


Pleaseeeeee help...this is a stupid question, how do I get into the "Last known good configuration" screen/option...I went into f2 setup, f12 for boot and its not it

 

Have you tried pressing f8

 

Possibility with sound card drivers - they can be picky - if you can get in via F8, then try safe mode, and then click start, right click my computer, left click manage, click on event viewer, then click applications, and look for yellow warnings- double click those warnings, and note what they say- just be sure to close all boxes, afterwards- come back and tell us what you find.

 

Are you running XP, XP Pro, ?

 

Thanks for the direction...but do u think I just got a bad pc?...
Will try F8...and yeah, I got windows vista...

Thanks

 

Sob, F8 won't work for me...I guess I can't get into safe mode, now what?...

Pls help...is my only option reformatting the whole pc?, or that isn't an option anymore?

 

http://supportapj.dell.com/support/...4361A78768F197CEE040A68F5A2866EC&l=en&s=gen#1

 

Vista is a different kettle of fish, as it can play up more when adding extra goodies, - I would not have thought you have added anything it does not accept without phoning home and playing up.
If the Dell guide does not help, make sure the system is powered off, unplug, press power button momentarily to ensure that all power has gone- touch the frame first, befire going inside, and , carefully check the leads to the cpu fan, and all cd rom cables etc; are not loose.
Then try again,
If still not able to start, remove the soundcard, and try again.
Lastly, remove the extra ram, if it still does not start - by the way I think a lot of Dells like Kingston ram, and from the Dell site you can check if you have an incompatability problem, with the ram

 

Will try to open up and check cables...just wabted to add before the second occurrance of unable to boot up, I was actually trying to restart my prior to that...I actually booted up, but my find pc to be really slow, and taking forever to load my aol, windows explorer etc. so I decided to reboot but then my failure happened...


Any other possibilities?

 

I have to go off line, good luck - others might be around to help.

 

I'm lost and frustrated, removed ram and soundcard and nothings happening, still won't boot up...put in windows reinstallation cd and selectef to boot from cd, moves, I see the a windows status bar moving, and then when completed, moves on this next screen, all I see are a windows meter going back and forth...nothing loads and the screen just stays there, meter going back and forth...plsssssss help

 

corection: pc loads "Dell screen" and not the "windows screen" as I mentioned in op...guess I'm trying to get my windows to boot up...

I was a little more patient in second attempt, boot from vista cd, got past the windows meter screen, and then a blank screen comes up for awhile, and then finally the windows vista wallpaper shows, displaying the cursor, but nothing else...waited for few minutes to see if anthing loads up but nothing...

 

Rma?

 

alright, took the good advice of calling dell and having it replaced...

Julie from Dell was excellent..

**just didn't want to deal witht the hassle of waiting on a new one and then shipping back the old one, but i guess i have no choice..anyone did rma's before?...they send you a new one right and not a refurbished one??