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58360
Dimension 3000 - can't get past blue screen
Hello,
We bought our Dimension 3000 PC new from Dell in 2005. About a year/year and a half ago I added additional memory. Other than that we have done nothing to it.
Everything had been fine with it until last Monday night. Now when we start it up, we can only get as far as the blue screen (of death). We get a "STOP: 0x00000024" error message, which I understand is the hard drive (or maybe the memory).
I've tried starting in 'Safe Mode'; tried starting with last working configuration, etc. Nothing has worked, though I've read that I may be able to start it up with a Windows XP boot disc, which would allow me to run the check disk and possibly repair what is wrong. Unfortunately, Dell did not send an operating system disc with the unit - only a set of Works Suite discs. I still have the packing slip, so I was able to verify that it did not come with a Windows XP disc. Not a good practice in my opinion...but anyway...
Is there something else I can try to get it working? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you.
bobga57
13 Posts
1
March 7th, 2011 07:00
SUCCESS!!
Borrowed a USB keyboard and mouse from work, and was able to run the repair. That fixed what was bad - at least for the time being. Then I plugged the PS/2 mouse and keyboard back in and after a couple of days the unit seems to be working fine. No data lost.
Our IT Mgr. at work thought perhaps the part of the hard drive that had the PS/2 driver on it was the section that needed repair (or words to that effect), so that was why the keyboard locked up at that crucial time.
Anyway, thanks for all help everyone, and thanks for sticking with me Ron.
bob
fireberd
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February 25th, 2011 16:00
If you are in the US you can request a set of Discs (includes Windows) HERE from Dell.
There are Dell diagnostics accessed by F12 at power on. You can run the diagnostics to see if there is a hardware problem.
bobga57
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February 25th, 2011 16:00
Thanks for the quick reply.
I did request a set of discs right before I posted...thought it couldn't hurt, and hoping maybe there was something else I could try.
I actually try F12, though I don't recall exactly what happened; there didn't seem to be any information that told me what the problem was. I'll try again.
Thanks.
osprey4
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February 26th, 2011 13:00
Hi Bobga57,
If you hit F12, it should bring up a boot menu. What you want is the utility partition. From there, select the 32-bit diagnostics.
RoHe
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February 26th, 2011 18:00
When you get your Windows disk from Dell, boot from that CD and press R at Welcome screen to launch the Recovery Console
At the prompt, type in:
chkdsk c: /r
Press Enter and go take a nice long nap. When it's done, remove the CD and reboot normally.
If that doesn't fix it, you'll need to run a Repair/Reinstall of Windows. Personal files will be OK, but you'll probably have to install a bunch of Windows updates and fixes again after the Repair/Reinstall is done.
Ron
bobga57
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February 26th, 2011 20:00
Thanks for the suggestion Ron. Do you think I have a pretty good chance of getting the disc I need from Dell?
bobga57
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February 26th, 2011 20:00
Thanks for the suggestion, Osprey.
Unfortunately, when I try this it goes right back to the blue screen (as does everything I've tried). Hopefully Dell will come through with a boot disc and I'll at least be able to run the check disc repair.
RoHe
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February 27th, 2011 09:00
May depend on where you live. For US residents, completing their online form typically gets the disks shipped in a day or 3. Ex-US, I have no clue.
Note that Dell may be charging for the disks now.
Ron
bobga57
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February 27th, 2011 11:00
My fear is that Dell will charge for the disks - which isn't altogether fair in my opinion. An IT guy I know, who deals mostly with Dell products, says someone he knows was charged $90 for disks.
Thanks, Bob
RoHe
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February 27th, 2011 17:00
I don't believe "$90" for a Windows disk.
Dell said they'd start charging S&H for the disks which would probably be less than $10. I've not heard anyone say they got charged after filling out that form.
If the request form didn't ask for your credit card info, they can't charge without contacting you first. And if they want some unreasonable amount, you can always refuse. But at some point you're going to need those disks...
Ron
bobga57
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February 28th, 2011 07:00
Thanks, Ron, that seems to be the case. I heard back from Dell this morning and they are going to send me "Windows XP Home with latest service pack 3 and dvd software disks." One wrinkle...my system did not come with a DVD drive in it, only CD. I would think they would be able to tell that from my Service Tag number, and the information associated with it. I replied to Dell's e-mail questioning this.
The e-mail Dell sent me also included links to "the basic system hardware drivers which you can burn on a cd and can make drivers cd of your own." There weren't any further instruction on this, so I'm not sure if I put each of the five driver .exe files on separate CDs, or on one CD; and I don't know if these drivers will definitely need to be installed after Windows is installed or if they are to be used only on an "as needed" basis if running Check Disk does not fix things. Do you know about this?
Thanks again for your time.
RoHe
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February 28th, 2011 10:00
XP Home will likely come on a CD, not a DVD. That's the way they sent me XP pro SP3 when I requested it. Not sure what the DVD disks will be, but to do what you need, they're not necessary, so I wouldn't worry. :emotion-5:
Unless you're planning to do a clean install, you won't need the drivers right now. But if you ever do need them, you can download and burn them all onto a single CD or just copy them all onto a USB memory stick, assuming it has enough space. And you only need the specific drivers for the hardware installed in your system, so you don't have to download every single driver listed for this model.
Ron
bobga57
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February 28th, 2011 13:00
Thanks, Ron, I'm hopeful that will be the case.
bobga57
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March 1st, 2011 18:00
Ron/Osprey,
It looks like I need a little more help. Dell overnighted the discs to me - which was great of them.
I booted to the CD, some files loaded, then I eventually got the Windows set up screen. The choices are Enter=Continue; R=Repair; F3=Quit.
I hit R and nothing happened. In fact the keyboard now seems dead. I then hit F3 just to see if anything would happend. I even hit 'Caps Lock' and 'Num Lock' just to see if I could get those lights to come on...but nothing happens. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks, Bob
bobga57
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March 1st, 2011 19:00
No, it's not a USB keyboard (or mouse). It's the other kind (OS2?).
Other discs sent were: One for Reinstalling Dell Tools System Software (Antivirus, Support, Multimedia, Internet); a disc for Installing Dell Dimension and Dell XPS Computer Software (device drivers, diagnostics and utilities); a Roxio Disc; and a disc for reinstalling Cyberlink Power DVD software (I only have a CD drive). Is one of these the Resources disc you refer to?
Should I still try what you suggested?
Thanks again.