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Help! XP boot problems
Hi,
Really hoping someone can help here.
I have a Dell Latitude C400 laptop with 256mb ram, I upgraded the ram to 512mb and restarted the computer, I followed all the procedure for installing ram and have done it several times before, I am positive I installed it correctly and it shows on the bios as the right amount of ram. It gets past the first windows xp screen but then goes blank before the user log on screen and although I can see the hard drive is being accessed through the little blinky light, it never starts. Logically I thought it had something to do with the memory. I checked the bios which was all okay and was registering the new memory and had the correct amount of ram showing. I took out the memory module I had installed thinking it must have been bad and then tried to reboot with the normal 256mb ram. Unfortunately same problem but the bios did recognise again the correct amount of ram. Strangely enough on one occasion I unplugged it, waited five seconds then plugged it back in and it worked and rebooted normally (thankfully allowing me to save all my files). But then after restarting again, same trick and no matter what I do with the power now it won't start windows xp anymore, and I don't get any error messages, it all appears normal with the screen with the big ms windows logo then hangs before getting to the log on window
I have tried to reboot in safe mode, to last known good config etc and also no luck, safe mode hangs as well.
I don't have the windows xp pro cd disk or I would have tried to repair it, I also don't have a floppy drive for the laptop it is cdrom only. I have managed to get a copy of a win xp home edition cd and run check disk on it which showed errors and repaired them, but this hasn't solved the problem. I really want to avoid having to call dell or microsoft, getting the reinstallation cd and reinstalling the whole thing. Is there any suggestions anyone has as to what I could try next?
Any help would be great
Gill
Really hoping someone can help here.
I have a Dell Latitude C400 laptop with 256mb ram, I upgraded the ram to 512mb and restarted the computer, I followed all the procedure for installing ram and have done it several times before, I am positive I installed it correctly and it shows on the bios as the right amount of ram. It gets past the first windows xp screen but then goes blank before the user log on screen and although I can see the hard drive is being accessed through the little blinky light, it never starts. Logically I thought it had something to do with the memory. I checked the bios which was all okay and was registering the new memory and had the correct amount of ram showing. I took out the memory module I had installed thinking it must have been bad and then tried to reboot with the normal 256mb ram. Unfortunately same problem but the bios did recognise again the correct amount of ram. Strangely enough on one occasion I unplugged it, waited five seconds then plugged it back in and it worked and rebooted normally (thankfully allowing me to save all my files). But then after restarting again, same trick and no matter what I do with the power now it won't start windows xp anymore, and I don't get any error messages, it all appears normal with the screen with the big ms windows logo then hangs before getting to the log on window
I have tried to reboot in safe mode, to last known good config etc and also no luck, safe mode hangs as well.
I don't have the windows xp pro cd disk or I would have tried to repair it, I also don't have a floppy drive for the laptop it is cdrom only. I have managed to get a copy of a win xp home edition cd and run check disk on it which showed errors and repaired them, but this hasn't solved the problem. I really want to avoid having to call dell or microsoft, getting the reinstallation cd and reinstalling the whole thing. Is there any suggestions anyone has as to what I could try next?
Any help would be great
Gill
c0tt0n_CaNdy
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September 8th, 2006 23:00
hi,
try running diagnostics first here. strangely the problem started after installing new RAMs, does the 512 have the same speed as the 256s?
dunedin
2.7K Posts
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September 9th, 2006 10:00
nep
2 Posts
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September 9th, 2006 17:00
Thanks so much for the responses. i tried several things you tried, I took out the ram and tried to install it aagain, it didn't work but I then tried rebooting from last known good config again and lo and behold it booted up and has been doing so ever since, so I still don't know what was wrong with it apart from being something to do with the memory, but fingers crossed it seems to be okay now. I will be running the dell diagnostics and memory check on it though.
Thanks for your help
Gill