Old Dell system will not boot past the splash screen!!

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BMWlover

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 13, 2006
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I got a old dell system and when ever I try to boot it up it loads about 1/3 of the loading bar on the Dell screen then freezes. What are some thinks that could be causing this? Thanks a lot
 
Maybe virus destory the bootloader i'll try install or formating windows.
but first I ask this;
Does it past the BIOS post test?
Do you hear a beep sound?
you said Dell screen looks like the BIOS part to me.
 
It gets past POST, then freezes. Yes it is the BIOS part which it freezes at, so I guess it does not POST. I do not hear the beeps though.
 
Could be a hardware issue. Have you tried unhooking the non-essencial hardware, and trying to boot?
 
This is a fairly old system, with no add in cards or extras in it. Once it booted about 4/5 of the way through the BIOS loading bar, but then stopped. I would really like to get this thing working again. Thanks
 
I'd probably check each component, one at a time, to rule things out. Test the RAM, perhaps see if the harddrive works in another computer, etc.
 
Yeah, I will do that, I already rulled out the optical and floppy drives. The system did detect it when no ram was in, do you think a BIOS update might help or fix it. Thanks
 
Ok, I check the caps, It will not let me run boot and nuke. :mad: The is no way to reset the entire computer is there on this dell,as in you can't clear the CMOS? I cannot install XP as well. Thanks

Oh, and would buying a new hard drive fix this up? It is the original Maxtor hard drive that is currently installed.
 
Sorry to double post but, I am thinking about buying a 40 dollar Western Digital or Seagate Hard drive. Would ditch the old Hard drive and installing a new one with XP on it fix the booting issues? Thanks a lot
 
Have you tried the HD in another machine, yet?

I know sometiems when things don't want to work, computers will jam when attempting to detect that drive.
 
Yes, I tried the HD in a old HP with no operating system. It did nothing but screw that computer up. Now I can't get that comp to install windows, says ERROR cheak time and date settings. Would a new HD fix this up?
 
BMWlover said:
I got a old dell system and when ever I try to boot it up it loads about 1/3 of the loading bar on the Dell screen then freezes. What are some thinks that could be causing this? Thanks a lot
Click to expand...


First thing to do is get the dell screen OFF the screen. You need to see what is going on in the background.

This is usually accomplished by pressing ESC, F1, DEL, etc... It should say SOMETHING when you turn on the computer about VERBOSE or "seeing" the stuff that is showing while booting. Once you see what is going on, most of us can give you a much better idea what is going on.
 
Ok, sorry, I will be back with a Pic soon. Thanks

EDIT: sorry could not get a good pic, but the screen is all black with the Dell logo and underneath the logo it says optiplex GX1 350M+. Then a loading bar, then underneath that it states Dell Bios Revision A09. The computer does not respond to any commands during boot up.

I am thinking I will buy a new HD any install windows fresh, do you think that will solve it?
 
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