keep getting blue error screen

Hi patsgirl71,

This may be a software or hardware issue.  I recommend you to run diagnostics on the hardware components of the system. To run diagnostics restart the system and at Dell logo tap the F12 key every two seconds. This will start the One-time boot menu. Using arrow keys select ‘Diagnostics’ and hit enter. This will run diagnostics on the hardware components of the system which may take around 5 minutes. Please reply to this post in case of any error message.

Next I suggest you start the system in ‘Last Known Good Configuration’ or ‘Safe Mode’. Restart the system and at Dell logo tap the F8 key every two seconds. . In the ‘Advanced Boot options’ window using arrow keys, select ‘in Last Known Good Configuration’ and hit enter. Check if the system turns on.
Reply with the status to assist you further.

“To know more about Dell’s products, services and drivers & downloads, please go to http://dell.to/QjjZDA

Thank you for your suggestions but they did not work. Is there anything else I can try? I was thinking about restoring my pc back to the factory date but I don't want to lose any of my photos and I don't have a way to back them up. If the only solution is to restore my pc then I will do it but I want to make that my last resort. Please let me know if there is anything else you recomend.Thank you for your time.

Hi patsgirl71,

In case you ran diagnostics on hardware components and if all the tests passed, then I suspect it is a software issue. As you suggested restoring the system to the factory installed state is the option. However you may have to back up the data when the system is able to start normally and is working fine.

Please find the steps to restore the system to the factory installed state from the link below:

http://dell.to/gB7c4b

Revert for further queries.

If the only solution is to restore my pc then I will do it but I want to make that my last resort.

If you have irreplaceable data on the existing hard drive, you should back up it up to another device before trying these various recovery options.

Have you tried booting in Safe Mode?

I tried to restore the computer back to the factory settings but it will not give me the option to do so. I clicked F8 as the dell logo appeared, then i hit repair computer but I it only gave me two options: it said somthing about repair and start windows normally. When I hit the one that says repair it does nothing. it just keeps going back to the same screen every time I hit the enter button. Am I doing something wrong? I really need to fix this please help!

Hi patsgirl71.

If it is not proceeding further when selecting repair option, I suspect the recovery partition is corrupted. You may have to install the Operating system manually using the discs.

Please find the link below for instruction for Operating system reinstallation:

http://dell.to/Wj1rZe

In case you do not have the discs, you may click on the link below and request for discs (US customers only)

http://dell.to/TmYffg

 Revert if you have any queries.

could you please tell me wich discs I would need and how much they cost?

Have someone Burn you an UBUNTU DVD and buy a $30  32 Gig USB Flash drive.

Boot from the UBUNTU DVD Live without installing and with the flash drive installed.

Copy your Fotos from the Documents folder or USER folder to the flash drive.

ubuntu-12.04.2-dvd-i386.iso

Or go to a Bookstore and Get a book on Ubuntu 12 and Boot from the DVD that comes with it.

Ubuntu Unleashed 2013 Edition: Covering 12.10 and 13.04

Microcenter and other Book Stores would also have Linux Magazine.

Special Editions

Current Issue

could you please tell me wich discs I would need and how much they cost?

Which version of Windows do you have?

I have windows 7 home premium. I was told that it might be a start up issue because once I am fianally able to get on the computer runs fine. It's only at start up that these problems occur and it can take me quit a few tries before I am able to get on. Would uninstalling and reinstalling windows 7 fix the problem? and if so how do I do that?

Clean-installing is a fix if the problem is software in nature, but not if it's due to failing hardware. Since this problem seems to be intermittent, I suspect it's due to hardware like a bad power supply.

You can download the Windows 7 Home Premium install ISO here: msft.digitalrivercontent.net/.../X17-59465.iso and burn it to DVD. Once done, it can be used for a clean install.

so if it is bad power supply how do I find out that that is really the problem and how do I fix it? You don't think it's a start up problem?

What's the model again?

It could be a Dying hard drive. BACKUP EVERYTHNG IMMEDIATELY.:emotion-3:

16 gig sandisk usb FIT drives are $14 and 32 gig drives are $29.

My relative's 5150 had symptoms like this (boot difficulties and instability), and it turned out to be the power supply.