Can't get to a DOS command screen

Question

Dell Dimension 2400 running XP Home. CD but no floppy. No printer attached. No modem in use. Just a monitor, mouse and a keyboard. When I power up PC I get normal boot up screens and then before desktop appears I get a blue screen appears saying that it must reinstall Windows XP. About half way through the process of re-installing another blue screen appears advising that it has encountered a BAD-POOLER-CALLER error and it can go no further.  It recommends that I try again.  I do but get the same response each time. I was told to boot from the Windows XP disk that came with the Dell. When I switch to CD first on boot up the disk spins and reads the disk but eventually I get the same result. I was then told to re-format the drive and reinstall everything fresh from the disks I have.  I can't get to a DOS command screen. No keys take me there prior to the Dell logo screen or not. Any ideas?

volcano11 · Answer

If you have two optical drives, try the other one.  Only the CD/DVD drive on the master channel is bootable.   Steve

Nonyo · Answer

Thanks for your reply. This PC only has a hard drive and a CD read only. When I try to boot the Windows XP CD that came with the PC I get the same result as when I try to let the hard drive boot.  How can I get to a DOS command promt to re-format the hard drive and start over?

volcano11 · Answer

No matter what you do, you will eventually need to be able to boot from the Windows CD, so unless you can do that, reformatting your hard drive will not get you any further along.   Reformatting is part of the installation when booting to the Windows CD.   Can you boot from the Windows Cd on another computer (this just assures you that the Windows CD is bootable)?   Are you watching the screen after restarting the computer with the Windows CD in the CD drive?  It should ask if you want to boot from the CD.  If you are not paying attention, you may miss this message and it will then attempt to boot from the hard drive.   Steve

Nonyo · Answer

When I start the PC it doesn't ask me anything. It starts to boot up mormally  and suddenly it says that it has encountered an error and must reload windows. It starts to reload windows, saying that it will take about 38 minutes. About 5 minutes into the process (loading drivers) it stops and I get a BAD-POOL-CALLER error asking me to try again. I do withthe same result.  I can never get the process to complete and I can not get to any screens.

volcano11 · Answer

Unlplug all external devices from your computer.   You should not be getting this error if you are booting to the CD as Windows will not load and therefore cannot produce the error.   Steve

Locked Topics – Desktops General

Was this post helpful?