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PLEASE HELP!!!!: windows XP Home on Dell Dimension B110
I have an old dimension B110 and a while ago I turned it on and all i came to was a Blinking Cursor in the upper left hand side of the screen. I called dell and they said Windows was corrupt.
I used my disk that came with it to re-install and it did the same thing. So I called again to dell and they said bad disk so i paid for ANOTHER disk and they sent it to me and it did the same thing. The only thing Dell suggests is to buy another computer in-which they can help with that -.-
I have used a seperate hard drive and it still does this. I have replaced the RAM with others but no good. I have replaced my CMOS battery.
I have checked in BIOS settings and yes it does detect the HDD. I have used the windows disk and ran the commands, FIXMBR, CHKDSK /P /R. and FIXBOOT.
2 weird facts: i can use the HDD in another computer(HP MANUFACTURER) and will boot fine and try to complete the windows instalation. But i have tried in my friends MOTHERBOARD(DELL) with BOTH HDD's with proper instalations WILL NOT work.
No matter what i try I am still stuck with this blinking cursor
Need any more info just ask, I have tried everything and don't understand this. PLEASE HELP!
jackshack
6.4K Posts
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December 20th, 2010 22:00
The blinking cursor indicates that the computer has successfully completed self test and is awaiting boot code. Do you have any USB devices attached to the computer? If you do, and any of them contains memory, the computer can stall while it awaits a reply from one of these devices. You should try unplugging all peripherals except for keyboard, mouse, and monitor, and try booting again.
Your post suggests that you have managed to boot from the Windows installation CD, but if that is not the case, you should remember that there are two approaches for this procedure. The first is the one time boot menu reached by pressing F12 during the self test after starting or restarting the computer. The boot menu will appear in the upper right of the screen allowing you to select the boot device. Selecting CD ROM with the CD in the CD ROM drive should result in seeing a message to strike any key to boot from CD. If a key is not pressed, the computer will begin trying to boot from the devices in the boot order list. The second method is to modify the boot order to place the CD ROM drive ahead of the hard drive in the boot order. Again, if you place a bootable disk in the CD drive you should see the message to strike any key to boot from CD. If you do not press a key, the computer will try the boot order devices.
The problem you report can also result from a corrupted or failed hard drive, but I assume you have replaced the drive and will need to look elsewhere for the problem.
speedstep
9 Legend
9 Legend
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47K Posts
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December 21st, 2010 06:00
The Hard Drives should all be set to cable select.
The Dimension 1100/B110 can be had used working for $130 or less.
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carbonelite
4 Posts
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December 21st, 2010 07:00
No external devices connected. Mouse, keyboard, moniter, power, thats all i have connected. Yes i have managed to boot from windows CD. I can Boot windows CD both ways, by pressing F12 and changing BOOT order. Windows CD never fails to start. But when i change the boot order to Hard Drive first and/or press F12 and select the Hard Drive to boot, all i get is the blinking cursor.
Both Hard Drives that i have used are on cable select.
jackshack
6.4K Posts
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December 21st, 2010 07:00
Have you tried installing Windows on the hard drive? Keep the original so that you have a chance to copy the data from it later, install a replacement drive, and use Windows setup to delete the existing partitions and install Windows from Scratch. See if the computer will boot from the fresh installation.
carbonelite
4 Posts
0
December 21st, 2010 08:00
I tried that and again i came up with ERROR LOADING OPERATING SYSTEM.
UPDATE: I tried my friends HDD with windows XP pro and put it in my computer and it worked DX. Is there anyway i can start up my working PC with its WINDOWS, (Having a blank HDD and the one that worked in it) and manually copy windows directories?
carbonelite
4 Posts
0
December 21st, 2010 08:00
JACKSHACK: I am gonna do that right now and see what i get.
UPDATE: i turned the computer on this morning and now i just get an ERROR LOADING OPERATING SYSTEM. I know windows is on this Hand Drive so i put it in my HP and it boots, any comments on this? i am completely confused with this computer
jackshack
6.4K Posts
0
December 21st, 2010 08:00
Installing Windows on a hard drive mounted in one computer and then moving that same drive to a second computer seldom works properly. Windows setup copies drivers specific to the computer on which it is being installed, so the only way a second computer will boot properly from such a drive is if it is the same model having the same configuration as the first computer.
You can try running a repair installation on the problem computer to see if it will correct the drivers problem, but that does not always work. This difficulty is nearly always due to a problem hard drive, but it is possible that the computer itself has a problem with its drive controller. I would try a second hard drive, again installing Windows from scratch, deleting any existing partitions before beginning the installation. If that fails to work I would call it a day and recommend replacing the computer.