Win Me. Inspiron 2500 Protection Error. Can't reboot to safe mode.

Question

HELP!! A while ago I upgraded my BIOS, now always get fan error even though can hear fan working. Anyway, that is not the real problem.

I boot windows, get above error which states for me to press F1 to continue, this works than, gives me startup option. Everything single one will result in. "Window protection error. Please restart your computer. System halted."

I rather not have to reinstall Win Me or reformat but know maybe have no choice. The option for starting on CD has been enabled, but nothing happens when I reboot with disk in. I also did not make the start-up back up disks either.

What can I do, to at least get back to safe mode? I am in Taiwan and there's nobody that really knows Dell. I also don't speak good Chinese. So any help anybody can give me will be most appreciated. I rather not take my laptop to a shop to repair because not many technicians are Dell certified. Thanks

ethanweku · Answer

do you have an external storage? i am afraid that you cannot possibly fix this and then live with it, you have to eventually format the hard disk to get rid of all those bad things..

anyways, for the time being, you might want to install win me again, but don't format or anything just reinstall, i'm sure your current files would not be deleted, just that your windows will be rid of customisations. if you're using winxp, you'll get the option to repair windows.

when you start your computer, press f12 at the bios and then choose your boot device.

kormath · Answer

Boot to the windows ME cd using F12 boot menu.  Use option 2 to start computer with cdrom support.  At the dos prompt change directory to c:\windows\command  (cd windows then enter then cd command)  if i remember the directory correctly.  From the prompt there type scanreg /restore  that will scan the registry files and restore them.

mylaptop · Answer

Thanks for the info but unfortunately none of the suggestions have had results. Pressing F12 doesn't have any affect on Windows and even though I have chosen the option of booting to CD-ROM by changing settings, my system seems to re-loop and ignore this configuration. I can't even use my System disk. I was hoping someone would give me or point me to a Start up download using floppy as I never made one myself. Maybe this will work.

Taiwan does not have Dell support for my system despite me buying a three year international warranty. So far three of the shops I visited won't even check the system. They don't want to touch a Dell because they can't get help if there is a problem. So right now, I'm rather upset cause this barely three year old machine seems to be worthless. I can't (re)install anything it seems. Me very sad.

If anybody has any suggestions I would be most appreciative. Thank again for your responses.

ethanweku · Answer

F12 is only applicable during the BIOS boot screen where the Dell logo shows up. By default, as the BIOS loads, there should be two lines on the top right hand corner of your screen:
F2 for setup
F12 for one time boot
or something like that. However, just after BIOS has finised loading, if you press F8 repeatedly, there should be an option for you to choose to boot into safe mode.

If you want to create WinME startup disk, you either have to use your friend's computer, or you can go to a pc shop and ask them for help, or you can go to a LAN shop to make one yourself. Either ways, you have to go to control panel and look for the icon systems. Under that, there will be an option for you to create a bootup disk. If you cannot do it, then while in the computer go to help and type startup disk. The help file should scourge out the necessary information for you to do it. Tell me if you need more help.

Locked Topics – Laptops General

Win Me. Inspiron 2500 Protection Error. Can't reboot to safe mode.

Was this post helpful?