Dimension 2400 and 3000 boot up issues...

Very odd that both of them fail to boot. Exactly what error message do you get?

Why do you think the issue is the optical drive? You also swapped RAM, and if it isn't fully compatible, they may not boot. Dell PCs can be very finicky about RAM.

Any beeps when they don't boot? What color are the 4 diagnostic LEDs on the rear of the tower when they don't boot? If not all green, look up error codes for 2400 

<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

and 3000.

When was the last time the batteries were replaced, not just removed and reinstalled? Did they die?

Ron

There is no error message, it just says... "we apologize... blah blah  "   It's the standard safe screen message...

I took out the ram from OTHER dell computers (same models) so I know they work and there are no beeps, windows actually starts... but doesn't get very far at all.

I only think it's the optical's cause that's the only thing that really changed... (my guess)

I've never replaced the batteries... but this did the same thing the week we did the swap and they were only 6 months old at the time... and now they do the same... so I COULD replace them but I don't think that's it, unless you tell me that's it for sure, then I'll go get some.

The light are solid green on the "safe mode" and when I reboot they all 4 change... hard to catch them all as they change fast but first "A" goes yellow, then B then A AND B... and then the other two flicker too, then it fails to load and they all go green again.

Any suggestions?

Ok, so I was able to redo the flash bios thing (had to hold down the power button for 3 seconds) and got that reset but it didn't work, so then i played with the D2400 for a bit more and found out I still had the HD set for boot, i disabled it, and got the beast to boot to repair... but now it's asking for the admin pwrd to repair it... and I don't have that.... sigh

Unreal, so i finally found the Admin Password, and it immediately drops me to the C/ prompt... i read this... http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058

But it tells me it's supposed to:  

After you start the Windows Recovery Console, you receive the following message:

Enter the number for the appropriate Windows installation. In this example, you would press 1. Then, Windows prompts you to enter the Administrator account password. ...

...After you enter your password and the Windows Recovery Console starts, type Exit to restart the computer. 

So NO "Windows Recovery Console" Starts here ?!?!

Someone please help...

Alrighty then...

I found out that the c: prompt i'm looking at IS the windows recovery :O)

So, I ran all this from here...http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Windows-Recovery-Console-from-XP-CD

did fixboot, fixmbr, and ran chkdsk /p :c twice (first had errors that it fixed)

Same exact issue, I did all this to the 2400, haven't touched the 3000 yet.

So I'm sure it's a driver issue, as it's bailing right as all the drivers attempt to load in safe mode.

There's got to be a way to fix this w/o wiping all the data.

Still looking for more help on this.

Alrighty then... I found out that the c: prompt i'm looking at IS the windows recovery :O) So, I ran all this from here...http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Windows-Recovery-Console-from-XP-CD   did fixboot, fixmbr, and ran chkdsk /p :c twice (first had errors that it fixed) Same exact issue, I did all this to the 2400, haven't touched the 3000 yet.   So I'm sure it's a driver issue, as it's bailing right as all the drivers attempt to load in safe mode.   There's got to be a way to fix this w/o wiping all the data.   Still looking for more help on this.

If it were me, I'd clone the old hard drives over to new ones and install Windows 7 (which saves the old OS installation in its own directory). Hard drives are cheap now (500gb can be had for $50).

yes, you are right, old system, so optical drive is ide not sata, which then makes me wonder how it is set up in bios... primary master should be hard drive and secondary master should be optical ide drive... and confirm correct orientation of ribbon cable to mobo and optical drive.  Also, since ide optical probably is jumpered on back... would check jumper settings to see if set properly (maybe they were jumpered as slave but is now primary?)... just a thought to check

For Dell PCs, IDE drives should be jumpered to "Cable Select". The hard drive should be at the end of the IDE ribbon cable that's connected to the primary IDE channel. If the optical is on the same channel, it should be connected to the middle connector on the ribbon.

If optical drive is on the secondary IDE channel, it should be connected at the end of that ribbon.

But again, they both should be jumpered to Cable Select, regardless of which IDE channel they're on.

Ron

That's the issue, I didn't remove it, I swapped it for another one, (cd for cdr)

Yeah, all the jumpers were correct and the "slave" settings weren't changed either... remember, I had one working dell with HD and CD in one computer and working Dell with HD and CDR in it... i simply swapped the cd for the cdr... the one that got the plain cd worked fine but BOTH that got the CDR wouldn't work anymore on bootup.  So to clarify we did NOT change the bios, the slave settings or the jumpers or the cable positions, we just MOVED the optical drives.

 On a side note I just reformatted the 2400 and re-installed windows and it worked just fine. So i'm at a complete loss why going "down" to a cheaper optical would work and "upgrading to the better optical failed on two machines.  So I'm gonna just wipe it and be done with it, maybe someone somewhere will find the answer.

These are old systems with IDE optical drives so there's nothing to turn off. And they're so old, I doubt they have the capacity to run Win 7. rollaznv-  Are you saying you can get to the desktop in Safe Mode or not?  Safe Mode only loads built-in generic Windows drivers. So if you can't get to the desktop in Safe Mode you have a major Windows issue. If you're planning to sell these systems, why do you care about the "data"?? All you need is Windows and drivers because you don't want other people seeing your personal stuff. Unfortunately, you ran fixboot so now you've lost access toDell's  PC Restore option which would have reset the hard drives to exactly the way Dell shipped them, with WIndows and all the drivers installed. So now your options are either to run a Repair/Reinstall or reformat the hard drives and run a clean install. A repair/reinstall will leave all drivers and personal files and software untouched. A clean install erases everything and you'll have to install Windows and the correct hardware drivers.  To run the Repair/Reinstall, boot from the XP CD but do not press R at first screen. Accept the user's license, select your version of Windows (should onlyl be one) and press R on following screen for Repair/Reinstall. Note: You will have to download and install all XP updates and hotfixes again from the Microsoft site after the Repair (or after a clean install too). Ron

Yeah it does NOT get to the safe desktop, just failed immediately

These are old systems with IDE optical drives so there's nothing to turn off. And they're so old, I doubt they have the capacity to run Win 7.

They'll run Windows 7, although they'll likely need better video cards and more memory. (I installed it on a 2350, which is a lesser machine than either of these.)

Hi Rollz:

You seem to have a lot of experience in fixing Dell computers.

My Dell Dimension 3000 displays on the screen:

- Error loading operating system

I could not get it to work.

Could you help me to get it working again?

Thanks,

Richard