Help

Announcement Banner
Start a discussion
UNSOLVED

J. B. Robinson

updated

20 years ago

Closed

JB

J. B. Robinson

18 Posts

0

7857

May 30th, 2006 19:00

Startup problem

Occasionally (2 or 3 times a week) my 8200 fails to complete startup.
Things seem to stop just before the mouse cursor should appear (I think).  I am left with a blue screen and no HD activity light.
To remedy this, I press and hold the 'on' button, then after a few seconds re-start.  Then a black screen with options, including normal start, previous good configuration, safe mode, etc.  I select normal start and it then loads windows without further problems.
 
Any ideas anyone, please?
 
John
  • R

    rwm32

    557 Posts

    482

    0

    Posted May 31st, 2006 08:00

    Have you made any changes to your system recently? New drivers for anything?
     
    If you have, try reversing the change / reverting to the previous drivers.
     
    Have you run chkdsk?
     
    Otherwise, the nearest problem to your description I've experienced turned out to be caused by a faulty HDD on-board controller.  This should show up if you run the diagnostics off the CD a couple of times (after, or course, backing up everything...). 
     
    If that is the problem, a new HDD will fix it.  This doesn't have to mean a full system rebuild -- you should be able to save a disk image onto an external (USB or Firewire) HDD (or lots of CD-Rs) and restore onto the new HDD. I use DriveImage 7 from PowerQuest (now owned by Symantec) for this, but there are other options.
     
    Rom
  • JB

    J. B. Robinson

    18 Posts

    482

    0

    Posted May 31st, 2006 17:00

    Many thanks for your reply.

    No, I haven't installed any new drivers, and haven't tried chkdsk recently.  I could try this.

    This suggestion of a HDD controller is a little worrying.  Does this mean that my HD is about to fail?

    I have already copied all my work to an external HD, but not using disk imaging software.  What is the difference between using disk imaging and just copying files to an external drive?  I assumed that by copying files to another drive, I could re-install them on to a new HD if replacement were necessary.

    Sorry to sound a bit naive!

    John

  • R

    rwm32

    557 Posts

    482

    0

    Posted May 31st, 2006 18:00

    If you've got your data backed up, that's the main thing.
     
    A disk image copies all of your operating system and boot info as well as your data; it simply means you don't have to load WIndows and all those updates and drivers again.  But it's not essential to have one.
     
    Yes, it could be the HDD -- that's my best guess, since you haven't changed the config recently. But it is only a guess. Maybe someone else might have other suggestions...
     
    Sorry not to be more help!
     
    Rom
  • S

    sparkenh

    570 Posts

    482

    0

    Posted June 9th, 2006 00:00

    Run Dell Diagnostics to test your hardware.

    What was the error message or code on the blue screen?

Dell Support Resources

Latest Solutions

View More