if you're using any bios revision before A22, try flashing to that (it has worked for most people with your problem).
to do the flash, you will need to make a bootable CD (dos) with the flash program included ... you will then need to remove your harddrive to force a boot to CD.
for good measure, if that goes well, flash to A31 (not a32 ;p)
Thank you for your reply, I am sure this will help many people as well. I will try this and see how well it'll work. If it works, I hope I have the opportunity to formally thank you.
Remove the HDD. Remove any CD that you may have in the CD drive. Restart the system.
It should give you the message that no bootable device is found and you should have the option to enter setup using F2.
Once in the BIOS, you should first reset the defaults, set the data and time right and then change the boot order.
After that exit the BIOS and let the system come to the error message. Put the Windows XP CD in the drive now and shut down the system.
Put the HDD back and restart. Press any key when prompted to boot from CD.
If this also doens't work, then go to the BIOS again. Change the boot order back making the Hard Disk the first boot device then exit the BIOS. Then shut down the system.
Restart and keep tapping F12 as soon as you power on the system.
The removal of the hard drive worked, and it forced itself to boot the Flash bootable cd, and I upgraded my BIOS from A04 to A22, and I was able to move into BIOS setup. To my dismay, I really didn't know how to remove a hard drive on a laptop. I do know how to on a desktop. I spent time removing all them bloody screws only to find out that I am going about it wrong. To the novice users, like myself, use this link: http://www.elinmastrangelo.net/Dell/inspiron/hdd.htm as a tool to help you remove the hard drive, it's a very simple 5 second process, I learned the hard way.
Thank you NemesisDB & dj_cool for your timely effort in assisting meself and other troubled users.
Just wanted to thank you guys in this forum. The above tips worked for me, too. I had browsed this forum after being through a week of calls and emails to Dell support, and they finally told me to send my laptop in because it needed a new system board!
I couldn't believe no one had ever had this problem before, as they would have me to think!
As it turns out, it looks like it's quite common. After checking the postings, I was able to do the whole fix, including making the bootable CD, flashing the bios, and getting the boot order changed within an hour.
NemesisDB
2 Intern
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7.9K Posts
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November 15th, 2004 04:00
dbarton221
4 Posts
0
November 15th, 2004 09:00
NemesisDB,
Thank you for your reply, I am sure this will help many people as well. I will try this and see how well it'll work. If it works, I hope I have the opportunity to formally thank you.
Your friend,
Don
dj_cool
451 Posts
0
November 15th, 2004 11:00
dbarton221
4 Posts
0
November 16th, 2004 10:00
The removal of the hard drive worked, and it forced itself to boot the Flash bootable cd, and I upgraded my BIOS from A04 to A22, and I was able to move into BIOS setup. To my dismay, I really didn't know how to remove a hard drive on a laptop. I do know how to on a desktop. I spent time removing all them bloody screws only to find out that I am going about it wrong. To the novice users, like myself, use this link: http://www.elinmastrangelo.net/Dell/inspiron/hdd.htm as a tool to help you remove the hard drive, it's a very simple 5 second process, I learned the hard way.
Thank you NemesisDB & dj_cool for your timely effort in assisting meself and other troubled users.
Your friend,
Don
soisays
1 Message
0
November 18th, 2004 13:00
Just wanted to thank you guys in this forum. The above tips worked for me, too. I had browsed this forum after being through a week of calls and emails to Dell support, and they finally told me to send my laptop in because it needed a new system board!
I couldn't believe no one had ever had this problem before, as they would have me to think!
As it turns out, it looks like it's quite common. After checking the postings, I was able to do the whole fix, including making the bootable CD, flashing the bios, and getting the boot order changed within an hour.
Thanks again!