I didn't try that yet. I assume it's one of the CDs that came with my computer?
How do I reboot from a cd on windows XP (never tried that before...)? Is such a thing safe for the data on the PC?
You will first have to enter BIOS by pressing F2 at the blue inspiron screen when you start of the laptop. You then go to the page with the boot order and change the order using the arrow keys so that your CD-ROM comes before your hard disk. Exit BIOS saving the changes and let it boot up to desktop. Insert the Dell utilities CD then restart the computer.
The system will now boot from the first bootable device in your list which hopefully in your case is set to CD-ROM.
I think you'll find that the diagnostics aren't that great for memory errors. Unless the fault is occuring whilst running the diags, it wont pick up a fault. And from what you've said, the problem sounds intermittent so i doubt the diags will pick up anything. I would suspect that if your system is getting BSODs, and its having troubles reading all the memory, its either going to be an intermittent memory fault, or an intermittent fault with the mb.
0x0000008e irq_less_or_equal
anyway just a tip to access the quick boot feature. instead of undergoing the bios system setup which changes the setting permanently, quick boot is much more convenient. instead of pressing "F2" press "F12" you will see there the BOOT DEVICE MENU. anyway, have you tried booting to safemode? that's "F8" while you are on the dell logo. it is windows advance options. try the safemode. so far troubleshooting that blue screen is not only within the memory. it could be a faulty device that u have. if you do not encounter it in safe mode, disable all your device drivers in the device manager. right click "My co puter" and click on properties. click on the "hardware" tab and click on device manager. you can right click a device and must have the disable option. try disabling, video adapter, network adapter, audio devices. boot to windows normally and try enabling those disabled devices one by one. if you identify the device that is causing the issue try to download the latest driver for that specific device. also if you are willing to try. try reformat your pc and install a fresh copy of windows. if you still have the same problem now that's the time to jump to hardware. memory modules can be interchanged. try to isolate your memory modules. hope this will help
bacillus
2 Intern
•
14.4K Posts
0
September 30th, 2004 07:00
k_oron
2 Posts
0
September 30th, 2004 12:00
I didn't try that yet. I assume it's one of the CDs that came with my computer?
How do I reboot from a cd on windows XP (never tried that before...)? Is such a thing safe for the data on the PC?
bacillus
2 Intern
•
14.4K Posts
0
September 30th, 2004 14:00
The system will now boot from the first bootable device in your list which hopefully in your case is set to CD-ROM.
snapohead
1.2K Posts
0
September 30th, 2004 22:00
I think you'll find that the diagnostics aren't that great for memory errors. Unless the fault is occuring whilst running the diags, it wont pick up a fault. And from what you've said, the problem sounds intermittent so i doubt the diags will pick up anything. I would suspect that if your system is getting BSODs, and its having troubles reading all the memory, its either going to be an intermittent memory fault, or an intermittent fault with the mb.
seanTSR
22 Posts
0
October 2nd, 2004 06:00
anyway just a tip to access the quick boot feature. instead of undergoing the bios system setup which changes the setting permanently, quick boot is much more convenient. instead of pressing "F2" press "F12" you will see there the BOOT DEVICE MENU. anyway, have you tried booting to safemode? that's "F8" while you are on the dell logo. it is windows advance options. try the safemode. so far troubleshooting that blue screen is not only within the memory. it could be a faulty device that u have. if you do not encounter it in safe mode, disable all your device drivers in the device manager. right click "My co puter" and click on properties. click on the "hardware" tab and click on device manager. you can right click a device and must have the disable option. try disabling, video adapter, network adapter, audio devices. boot to windows normally and try enabling those disabled devices one by one. if you identify the device that is causing the issue try to download the latest driver for that specific device. also if you are willing to try. try reformat your pc and install a fresh copy of windows. if you still have the same problem now that's the time to jump to hardware. memory modules can be interchanged. try to isolate your memory modules. hope this will help