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January 6th, 2011 07:00

Inspiron 545 will not go past DELL logo screen

Hi,

Tried talking to DELL support but my machine is no longer under warranty :(  so not able to get any help from them.

When i turn my computer on it will not go past the DELL logo loading screen.  I did not update or install anything new and am completely baffled as what has gone wrong. I shut it down the night before just fine and when it came to turning it back on the next morning, i found we had a massive problem.  

I have run diagnostics from the F12 options and it all came up as passed.  I have tried to do a system image restore but with no luck.  I have also scoured the internet for solutions to my problem but without success, hence this post. I have been a complete fool and not backed up any of my photos, so my main aim is to try and recover the photos. I am terrible with the technical side of PC's so any help would be much appreciated.

My OS is windows 7 home premium

PC is inspiron 545

if any more info is needed just let know and i will try my best

Thank you

 

9 Legend

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33.3K Posts

January 6th, 2011 09:00

Reset the BIOS (CMOS Memory) and see if that helps.  With the PC powered off, open the case and remove the CR2032 CMOS backup battery on the motherboard for about 10 minutes.  Reinstall, observing battery polarity, and power on.  If it gets past the Dell splash screen you will probably get some other error such as floppy drive detected or some similar and if you get that, press F2 to enter the Setup and disable the floppy diskette and delete it from the boot device order.  

Post back on whether this helps or not.

4 Operator

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34.2K Posts

January 7th, 2011 05:00

Hi Muppet2368,

Replace your motherboard battery. If that does not help, then you may have a bad motherboard.

6 Posts

January 7th, 2011 05:00

Thank you for your reply fireberd, i have done as suggested, but did not disable floppy diskette as we do not have one.

Message error was CMOS checksum failure/error loaded defults

pressed F1 to continue and we got

Boot from CD:

No boot device available, press enter key to retry

SATA-0: installed

SATA-1: installed

SATA-4: installed

SATA-5: None

pressed enter but same message appears

6 Posts

January 8th, 2011 02:00

Hi,

Thanks osprey4 will get a battery asap and let you know if it helps

6 Posts

January 8th, 2011 03:00

Tony,

have done that, all bar the keyboard and mouse which is wireless. Unfortunatley didnt make a difference, but thank you for the advice :)

2.9K Posts

January 8th, 2011 03:00

Muppet,

When diagnosing a problem, disconnect everything but the mouse, keyboard and monitor.  USB devices such as memory sticks, printers (especially those with flash card slots), cameras and even Ethernet cables can sometimes prevent a system from booting. 

Tony

6 Posts

January 10th, 2011 09:00

bought new battery and swapped out old one, still not working :(

4 Operator

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34.2K Posts

January 11th, 2011 17:00

Well, the good news is that the data on your hard drive is probably all fine. You might want to remove the drive and put it into an external enclosure to get your pictures off.

As far as the system, it's really hard to tell remotely what might be wrong. It may be something simple for all I know. So I'd suggest your try a local shop for proper diagnosis and repair.

Good luck!

2.9K Posts

January 11th, 2011 18:00

Osprey,

I noticed in Muppet's reply to Fireberd's suggestion earller, that his system shows SATA1 and SATA2 hard drives and SATA4 optical drive.  I wonder if he is running RAID0 or RAID1?   If so, your suggestion to try a local shop may be the best advice given.

Muppet, earlier you said you tried to restore a system image.  I hope you were talking about reverting to an earlier system restore point.  Which was it?

Tony

 

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