Help! Windows XP Home won't start up at all.

What color are the 4 diagnostic LEDs on rear of the tower when it won't boot? If not all green, look up error code here.

 

Have you installed any new software or hardware lately? Have you tried disconnecting all peripherals except mouse, monitor and keyboard?

 

You can order the XP and Resources CDs for free from Dell here.

 

Ron 

 

The letters on the back (A, B, C, D) are all green. The only thing I have installed recently was 2-3 months ago when I replaced Micro-cillin PC with Kaspersky Internet Security. And I disconnected everything and tried again.. still nothing.

Reboot and press F12. Go to utilities partition and run extended hard drive tests. Make note of any error messages.

 

If no error messages, reboot from XP CD and launch Recovery Console.

At c: prompt, type in:

chkdsk c: /p /r

Press Enter

(Go take a nap!) 

 

When it's done, reboot normally from the hard drive.

 

Ron 

Thanks so much for your help!

I ran the extended tests, no errors and still no XP starting. I sent for the XP disk from Dell yesterday, so now I guess I just wait for that.

Amy 

While you're waiting for the XP CD, you could try clearing NVRAM:

 

* Restart the PC

* Watch the keyboard lights. When they flash, tap the F2 key
* The message, Entering Setup should appear
* Press the [Caps Lock], [Scroll Lock] and the [Num Lock] keys to light up all three lights on the keyboard
* Press the [Alt] and keys at the same time
* The computer issues a beep
* Press the [Alt] and keys at the same time
* The computer issues a beep
* Down arrow to Onboard or Integrated Devices [press Enter]
* Set everything to On except for USB Emulation which should be set for NO BOOT
* Press the [Alt] and keys at the same time
* The BIOS saves settings and the computer restarts

 

Ron 

OK, now I am really stuck. I tried the clearing the NVRAM, and I got the CD today from Dell. Neither one worked. I get the same blank screen when I try to boot up from the disk.

 

I got this error message after clearing the NVRAM:

Diskette drive 0 seek failure

performing automatic IDE configuration

Then it reboots and goes back to the blank screen. (I don't have a diskette drive)

 

The only way I know how to get to the CD drive to try to load that is through the boot menu. Am I doing that wrong? 

Please help! I am out of ideas.

Amy 

Resetting BIOS (clearing NVRAM) sets everything to factory defaults. And in this case that means the floppy drive controller is enabled, even though you don't have an internal floppy drive.

 

So reboot, press F2 and run BIOS setup. Find the settings for the floppy drive controller and disable it. Then find the boot sequence and change it so your CD drive is first on the list. Put the XP CD in the optical drive and close the drawer. Now save the changes to BIOS and exit. 

 

It should (fingers x'd) boot from the XP CD.

 

Ron 

Still nothing. I tried all of the above (multiple times) and I still get the blank screen after starting. Even afterthe last, I got  "press any key to boot from cd" and then "inspecting hardware configuration", then back to blank screen.

It is still doing the same thing. What else can I try - besides throwing it all out a window?

Amy 

Disconnect all external peripherals except mouse, monitor and keyboard. Try to boot normally.

 

If that doesn't help, you might have a dead battery on the motherboard if it's more than 2-3 years old. It's 3-Volt CR2032 lithium coin cell that costs ~$2 at places like Walmart, Target etc.

 

If you're comfortable working inside the case, you can find instructions to replace the battery here. Be sure to disconnect the PC from the wall and read all the Cautions at this link before beginning.

 

I can't promise a new battery will help, but it's a relatively cheap fix (assuming it does fix it), and if it doesn't fix it, at least you can rule that out as the problem. 

 

Ron 

 

I gave up and finally just brought it in to have it fixed... the hard drive was fried. I had to replace the whole thing.

Thanks for your help!

Amy