Strange Symbols On DELL Boot Up Screen

Question

When I boot up my GX150 I see funny symbols on the boot up screen that says DELL F2 to enter setup F12 to network boot. These symbols look similiar to the symbols you would see if you opened a .dll file in Notepad. I tried running a virus scan, removing the CMOS battery and unplugging power cord to clear BIOS settings, and upgrading the BIOS from A05 to A07 to A10. Still when I boot the computer up I still see the strange symbols.

This has been going on for awhile now. Recently, I have been having issues with the BIOS reporting the correct size for my hard drive. I have a 20 gig hard drive but the BIOS is reporting it as a 4 gig. I took the hard drive out of my computer and put it in another GX150 and that computer also reports the drive as a 4 gig. I am not too concerned about the hard drive because I can easily replace it. I am, however, very concerned that whatever is causing the problem with the DELL boot up screen may have also caused this problem.

Can anyone tell me what causes the funny symbols on the DELL boot up screen, how to get rid of them, or if this is something that I don't need to be concerned about?

Thanks!

Message Edited by yconniey on 01-06-2004 01:40 AM

peterfelgate_ce40d3 · Answer

I raised a similar issue in another thread relating to a similar problem on a GX1. I have tried the same things as you to no avail. I have however had NO other symptoms and the machine continues to run perfectly. In my case, the symbols are ALWAYS the same - is this your experience as well?
It seems to be just one of those things.....

speedstep · Answer

This can indicate that somehow the system does not 'see' or recognize the Riser card on the system. Check and see if the Riser needs reseating.

yconniey · Answer

Yes Peter it does appear to be the same symbols everytime I boot up. Like you I haven't really seen any other problems but was just concerned because I've never seen this particuliar hard drive problem and was wondering if the two problems were connected.

Speed, this is the desktop version of the GX150 and there is no Riser card.

Thanks to both of you for your responses!

peterfelgate_ce40d3 · Answer

I will try SpeedStep's suggestion however on my GX1 - I have a spare riser (or I can take a known working one out of another GX1 which doesn't exhibit the fault). Note that in the case of my GX1 I have nothing installed in the riser card, so if the latter WAS indeed faulty (e.g. such that expansion cards wouldn't work) I may not see any symptoms...

Duhhh · Answer

I had the same problem on one of my systems. I ran ASSET.COM and setting the asset/owner tags. The problem went away after that.

jwark · Answer

I've seen that. It's because your asset information is bios is messed up, or at least that's what it was for me. You need to use asset.com to make it correct again.

yconniey · Answer

Thanks Duhhh (LOL) and Jwark, that was exactly what was wrong. Actually it was the Owner tag but the asset.com utility fixed it. And what's more than that I have the peace of mind that there is no virus and the BIOS on the motherboard isn't corrupt. Thanks again!!!

Peter, you might want to try their suggestion. It may be the same problem with you. Here is the url that I downloaded the utility from.

ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/utility/assetA00.exe

And here are the instructions I got from Dell-Mark A:

Hi,

The asset.com utility can be found on the Dell OpenManage Server Assistant CD (DOSA) on on our FTP site:
ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/utility/assetA00.exe

Directions for entering a Service Tag Number:

1. Create the Asset Tag utility diskette from the download above - or from the Dell OpenManage Server Assistant CD (DOSA)
2. After making the diskette, perform a safe reboot to the diskette created in step #1.
3. After booting to the diskette, enter the following command (substitute the actual 5-7 digit system Service Tag for the X's); asset /s XXXXXXX
4. Once this action has completed, the system can be rebooted.

I stole this from the http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=pes_bios&message.id=1599

peterfelgate_ce40d3 · Answer

I tried the asset reset but using the /o and /d options as suggested in another thread, not using the service tag and the /s option as suggested in your post. I will give it a try....

yconniey · Answer

Glad it worked for you.  Thank Duhhh and Jwark for their assistance.  They solved two problems with one solution!

peterfelgate_ce40d3 · Answer

The suggested asset tag utility works, but you need to use the /o option not /s as posted.  I note that this is an Inspiron or Latitude asset tag utiliy whereas the one I tried before was I'm sure for desktops.  Ah well, it worked and that's all that matters....

Locked Topics – Desktops General

Strange Symbols On DELL Boot Up Screen

Was this post helpful?