Boot failure: system halted ??

Question

Working on a buddies machine and it goes through the post then comes up with 'boot failure:system halted'. I checked out the BIOS settings and things look okay there. Any ideas out there ?? Thanks   youngjoh

shesagordie · Answer

youngjoh.   What is the computer model and version of windows?   Have you tried running Dell diagnostics?   The procedures should be in the owner's manual.   Bev.

youngjoh · Answer

OOPS, sorry about that. The machine is a Dimension 4400 (P4 1.6 GHz) running XP Home Edition (at least that is what the sticker on the side says as I can't get that far is the boot process to actually "see XP"). BTW, I have nothing else but this machine, i.e. no owner's manual, no software, no nothing. I will say that one of the things that piqued my eye was that I did not see a hard drive under the IDE controller (primary or secondary) section of the BIOS settings. All I saw was the CD Drive.

JY

shesagordie · Answer

youngjoh.   It sounds as if the hard drive has failed. any EIDE make of HD, except a Maxtor, should fine.  You could test the hard drive [after checking the make installed] by going to the maker's website and download their diagnoctic utility to a floppy.   When you replace the hard drive you will need to reinstall XP, with the D-4400, Dell shipped a complete set of reinstallation CDs.   Bev.

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