Hi RonHop,

The issue described could be due to a faulty image on the hard drive. Running the diagnostics will rule out any hardware. Please follow the below mentioned steps to troubleshoot:

1. Disconnect any external devices if connected.
2. Switch on the computer; tap F12 at the Dell logo for the One-time boot menu.
3. Use the up/down arrow keys to highlight “Diagnostics” and press enter.
4. Make a note of the error message if any after the diagnostics.
5. Switch off the computer.
6. Switch on the computer and keep tapping F8 key after Dell log for the windows “Advanced Boot Options”.
7. Use the up/down arrow keys and highlight “Disable automatic restart on system failure” and press enter.
8. Now when the computer gives a blue screen, it will stay on the screen with the error message.
9. Make a note of the exact error message and also the first part of the Stop Code.

Please post with the results.

Diagnostics did not find any problems.

A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

Technical information:

*** STOP:  0x0000007B (0xFFFFF880009A98E8, 0xFFFFFFFFC000000D, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000)

Hi Ronhop,

Follow the below mentioned steps to troubleshoot further:

1. Switch on the computer; tap F2 at Dell logo to enter the BIOS.
2. Once in BIOS, click plus sign next to “System Configuration”.
3. Under “System Configuration”, click “SATA Operation”.
4. On the right hand side of the screen, SATA Operation would be set to “AHCI”, click “ATA”.
5. Click “Apply”. Press ESC key, system will prompt to “Remain in Setup, Save/Exit, Discard/Exit”, click “Save/Exit”.
6. Restart the computer.
7. Check if issue persists, if so, repeat Steps 1 to 5 and change SATA Operation from ATA to AHCI.
8. Restart the computer.

If the computer gives the blue screen again, Operating System has to be reinstalled. In this case, please click on my username and add me as a friend. Send me a direct message with the service tag of the computer and name of the registered owner. I will help you further.

Do reply with results.

Still get blue-screen but second parameter is different.

*** STOP:  0x0000007B (0xFFFFF880009A98E8, 0xFFFFFFFFC0000034, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000)

The computer did have viruses which is why I wanted to reimage it.

Any updates/solutions? I'm having the same problem and can't find a solution. I simply restored from the factory image and now I can't boot into Windows, and I'm outside of the warranty period. So frustrating.

I ended up recreating the computer without a restore partition.  Dell forum Support was most helpful and sent me Windows 7 install and utility/driver disks and a link to the PowerDVD software.  Some of the drivers were pre Windows 7 but I think I sorted that out.  It is working fine now.

Hi

RonHop - Thank you for providing the information to dhhoffm.

dhhoffm - I would like to know if the computer displays the same blue screen as mentioned by RonHop in the previous post. Also, have you performed any of the troubleshooting steps that I have mentioned in my previous posts dated 4th September & 5th September.

After trying all of the suggestions that were previously provided, nothing fixed the problem. I was not getting an error screen, but simply the computer would not boot Windows after loading the bios (i.e. the dell start screen). I ultimately requested the recovery disks from Dell and am waiting for them to arrive in the mail. 

I did run the hardware diagnostics, and there were no reported problems.

Thank you for the link to the detailed instructions. I will post back over the next few days to report if I was able to solve the issue.

Hi dhhoffm,

Thank you for the information.

I hope you have run hardware diagnostics on the computer to rule out any hardware failure. If not, please follow the instructions in my first post in this thread to run the diagnostics. For your reference, please use the following link for detailed instructions to reinstall the operating system: http://dell.to/HMjvUD

I will follow up till the issue resolution.

Please reply if you have any further questions.