Failing XP computer

[Guest Dean]

I got a scare this morning when my daughter's computer wouldn't boot. It

would stop almost immediately into the startup process at where it would say

'www.dell.com' (in a blue background, if I recall) at the very top, with the

rest of the screen blank. Also, the computer was making a faint ringing

sound, almost as if someone was barely hitting a tiny bell with a tiny

hammer. I tried rebooting twice and the same think happened. Fortunately,

I also noticed that , just before it 'froze', there was an option to hit two

F keys, one was F12 and I don't recall what the other one was. So I

rebooted again, as soon as that flashed by the screen, I hit F12 and it then

launched just fine, so I guess my fear of loss of hard disk is wrong.

 

Right now, my daughter is busy backing things up, so it's not a catastrophe.

Can anyone tell me how I might be able to troubleshoot or fix this, please?

It seems that it is getting stuck in the normal boot up process.

 

Thank you muchly,

Dean

[Guest Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Re: Failing XP computer

 

 

"Dean" <DEANALT@AOL.COM> wrote in message

news:485d6356$0$20187$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...

>I got a scare this morning when my daughter's computer wouldn't boot. It

>would stop almost immediately into the startup process at where it would

>say 'www.dell.com' (in a blue background, if I recall) at the very top,

>with the rest of the screen blank. Also, the computer was making a faint

>ringing sound, almost as if someone was barely hitting a tiny bell with a

>tiny hammer. I tried rebooting twice and the same think happened.

>Fortunately, I also noticed that , just before it 'froze', there was an

>option to hit two F keys, one was F12 and I don't recall what the other one

>was. So I rebooted again, as soon as that flashed by the screen, I hit F12

>and it then launched just fine, so I guess my fear of loss of hard disk is

>wrong.

>

> Right now, my daughter is busy backing things up, so it's not a

> catastrophe. Can anyone tell me how I might be able to troubleshoot or fix

> this, please? It seems that it is getting stuck in the normal boot up

> process.

>

> Thank you muchly,

> Dean

 

Download and run the disk checking program that the disk

manufacturer makes available on his home site. You can

see the brand when you get into the BIOS setup program.

 

Backing up important files when the disk makes grinding noises

is a bit late. They should be backed up regularly! A 2.5" disk in

an external USB case is a highly effective and surprisingly low-

cost backup medium.

[Guest JS]

Re: Failing XP computer

 

That sound you heard was most likely the error code "beep" sequence,

this can be one or more beeps.

Go to the Dell web site, search your model and find the support link.

 

Also

This is the Dell generic beep code listing:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/dta/XPSP602/00000016.htm#POST%20Beep%20Codes

 

How to Run the Dell Diagnostics Utility

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?c=us&dl=false&l=en&s=gen&docid=A9E3A15597A04AFBB02EE16785D39C5C&doclang=en&cs=

 

JS

http://www.pagestart.com

 

 

"Dean" <DEANALT@AOL.COM> wrote in message

news:485d6356$0$20187$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...

>I got a scare this morning when my daughter's computer wouldn't boot. It

>would stop almost immediately into the startup process at where it would

>say 'www.dell.com' (in a blue background, if I recall) at the very top,

>with the rest of the screen blank. Also, the computer was making a faint

>ringing sound, almost as if someone was barely hitting a tiny bell with a

>tiny hammer. I tried rebooting twice and the same think happened.

>Fortunately, I also noticed that , just before it 'froze', there was an

>option to hit two F keys, one was F12 and I don't recall what the other one

>was. So I rebooted again, as soon as that flashed by the screen, I hit F12

>and it then launched just fine, so I guess my fear of loss of hard disk is

>wrong.

>

> Right now, my daughter is busy backing things up, so it's not a

> catastrophe. Can anyone tell me how I might be able to troubleshoot or fix

> this, please? It seems that it is getting stuck in the normal boot up

> process.

>

> Thank you muchly,

> Dean

>

[Guest Jim]

Re: Failing XP computer

 

 

"Dean" <DEANALT@AOL.COM> wrote in message

news:485d6356$0$20187$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...

>I got a scare this morning when my daughter's computer wouldn't boot. It

>would stop almost immediately into the startup process at where it would

>say 'www.dell.com' (in a blue background, if I recall) at the very top,

>with the rest of the screen blank. Also, the computer was making a faint

>ringing sound, almost as if someone was barely hitting a tiny bell with a

>tiny hammer. I tried rebooting twice and the same think happened.

>Fortunately, I also noticed that , just before it 'froze', there was an

>option to hit two F keys, one was F12 and I don't recall what the other one

>was. So I rebooted again, as soon as that flashed by the screen, I hit F12

>and it then launched just fine, so I guess my fear of loss of hard disk is

>wrong.

>

> Right now, my daughter is busy backing things up, so it's not a

> catastrophe. Can anyone tell me how I might be able to troubleshoot or fix

> this, please? It seems that it is getting stuck in the normal boot up

> process.

>

> Thank you muchly,

> Dean

>

If I am not mistaken, that screen is displayed by the BIOS. One explanation

for this behavior is that the BIOS

is hung while trying to load the operation system.

 

If I were you, I would:

a) Locate all of the disks which Dell shipped with the computer.

b) Get everything that you might need off the harddrive.

c) Read how to install the system from the disks or from a restore

partition. You will need the manual to get instructions

d) Get a new hard drive soon.

 

Jim

[Guest deanalt@aol.com]

Re: Failing XP computer

 

Sorry for the delay in thanking you all. Apparently, Time Warner shut

down newsgroup access to all its customers in the interim! So, I am

now doing this via google groups, which apparently, will reveal my e-

mail address to all, so I'm a bit cocnerned but I'm using an e-mail

address reserved for junkier stuff, so not a biggie (comments

solicitied on the vulnerability threat).

 

The computer has, temporarily healed itself (perhaps when it cooled

down, see below), so for now, after backng up all data, we are

ignoring the problem, though I suspect it will recur. One of the

issues is that the computer doens't have a lot of venitliation space

so the fan occasionally runs fast and noisily, plus my duaghter isn't

very willing to shut it down for the night very often. So, yes, I

know I'm at risk here!

 

As far as as the last answer from Jim, it sounds like good advice but

I am a little confused. It is a 4-yr old (?), bottom of the line,

Dell Dimension 3000 computer I think, so I don't know that it makes

sense to replace the hard drive. It is already crawling along with

only 512 MB of RAM, whihc costs $200 to expand to 2GB, so maybe I

should just wait till it fails and get a new cheap one. Actually,

maybe a laptop since she will need it for college in a year anyway.

Also, though I know almost nothing about BIOS, does a BIOS problem

have anything to do with a failing hard drive? Shouldn't the F12

workaround get me into my operating system if this happesn again?

Would the BIOS problem likely be temperature related?

 

Thanks to all!

Dean

[Guest JS]

Re: Failing XP computer

 

Laptop is a good idea, but I'd hold off buying one now as laptop prices are

dropping noticeably as more and more people are switching from desktops to

laptops. Wait a year and get one for her as a High School grad present. This

should provide plenty of time for her to configure, learn and use it, also

will allow time for any bugs to be fixed before she is off to college.

 

JS

 

<deanalt@aol.com> wrote in message

news:c41c73c9-b2a8-4df7-bde8-6a0a2c528632@p25g2000pri.googlegroups.com...

> Sorry for the delay in thanking you all. Apparently, Time Warner shut

> down newsgroup access to all its customers in the interim! So, I am

> now doing this via google groups, which apparently, will reveal my e-

> mail address to all, so I'm a bit cocnerned but I'm using an e-mail

> address reserved for junkier stuff, so not a biggie (comments

> solicitied on the vulnerability threat).

>

> The computer has, temporarily healed itself (perhaps when it cooled

> down, see below), so for now, after backng up all data, we are

> ignoring the problem, though I suspect it will recur. One of the

> issues is that the computer doens't have a lot of venitliation space

> so the fan occasionally runs fast and noisily, plus my duaghter isn't

> very willing to shut it down for the night very often. So, yes, I

> know I'm at risk here!

>

> As far as as the last answer from Jim, it sounds like good advice but

> I am a little confused. It is a 4-yr old (?), bottom of the line,

> Dell Dimension 3000 computer I think, so I don't know that it makes

> sense to replace the hard drive. It is already crawling along with

> only 512 MB of RAM, whihc costs $200 to expand to 2GB, so maybe I

> should just wait till it fails and get a new cheap one. Actually,

> maybe a laptop since she will need it for college in a year anyway.

> Also, though I know almost nothing about BIOS, does a BIOS problem

> have anything to do with a failing hard drive? Shouldn't the F12

> workaround get me into my operating system if this happesn again?

> Would the BIOS problem likely be temperature related?

>

> Thanks to all!

> Dean

[Guest Elmo]

Re: Failing XP computer

 

deanalt@aol.com wrote:

> Sorry for the delay in thanking you all. Apparently, Time Warner shut

> down newsgroup access to all its customers in the interim! So, I am

> now doing this via google groups, which apparently, will reveal my e-

> mail address to all, so I'm a bit concerned but I'm using an e-mail

> address reserved for junkier stuff, so not a biggie (comments

> solicited on the vulnerability threat).

>

> The computer has, temporarily healed itself (perhaps when it cooled

> down, see below), so for now, after backing up all data, we are

> ignoring the problem, though I suspect it will recur. One of the

> issues is that the computer doesn't have a lot of ventilation space

> so the fan occasionally runs fast and noisily, plus my daughter isn't

> very willing to shut it down for the night very often. So, yes, I

> know I'm at risk here!

>

> As far as as the last answer from Jim, it sounds like good advice but

> I am a little confused. It is a 4-yr old (?), bottom of the line,

> Dell Dimension 3000 computer I think, so I don't know that it makes

> sense to replace the hard drive. It is already crawling along with

> only 512 MB of RAM, which costs $200 to expand to 2GB, so maybe I

> should just wait till it fails and get a new cheap one. Actually,

> maybe a laptop since she will need it for college in a year anyway.

> Also, though I know almost nothing about BIOS, does a BIOS problem

> have anything to do with a failing hard drive? Shouldn't the F12

> workaround get me into my operating system if this happens again?

> Would the BIOS problem likely be temperature related?

>

> Thanks to all!

> Dean

 

Microsoft has its own server which is independent of the Time Warner

service.

 

http://news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

 

--

Joe =o)

[Guest harvey]

Re: Failing XP computer

 

 

Suggest taking the PC to a repair shop and having them back up the Old

drive onto a new one,

 

then having them installing it into your old PC

 

Will give you more years of a perfectly good PC for ~ 150

 

 

 

On Jun 26, 1:00 pm, dean...@aol.com wrote:

> Sorry for the delay in thanking you all. Apparently, Time Warner shut

> down newsgroup access to all its customers in the interim! So, I am

> now doing this via google groups, which apparently, will reveal my e-

> mail address to all, so I'm a bit cocnerned but I'm using an e-mail

> address reserved for junkier stuff, so not a biggie (comments

> solicitied on the vulnerability threat).

>

> The computer has, temporarily healed itself (perhaps when it cooled

> down, see below), so for now, after backng up all data, we are

> ignoring the problem, though I suspect it will recur. One of the

> issues is that the computer doens't have a lot of venitliation space

> so the fan occasionally runs fast and noisily, plus my duaghter isn't

> very willing to shut it down for the night very often. So, yes, I

> know I'm at risk here!

>

> As far as as the last answer from Jim, it sounds like good advice but

> I am a little confused. It is a 4-yr old (?), bottom of the line,

> Dell Dimension 3000 computer I think, so I don't know that it makes

> sense to replace the hard drive. It is already crawling along with

> only 512 MB of RAM, whihc costs $200 to expand to 2GB, so maybe I

> should just wait till it fails and get a new cheap one. Actually,

> maybe a laptop since she will need it for college in a year anyway.

> Also, though I know almost nothing about BIOS, does a BIOS problem

> have anything to do with a failing hard drive? Shouldn't the F12

> workaround get me into my operating system if this happesn again?

> Would the BIOS problem likely be temperature related?

>

> Thanks to all!

> Dean

[Guest deanalt@aol.com]

Re: Failing XP computer

 

Yes, but harvey, I think I need to also spend $200 on RAM so, now it's

$350 on an older computer, bottom of the line computer. Also, you

seem to be assuming the hard drive is on its way out but Jim said:

 

<< If I am not mistaken, that screen is displayed by the BIOS. One

explanation for this behavior is that the BIOS is hung while trying to

load the operation system. >>

 

to which I asked (and no one answered):

 

<< Also, though I know almost nothing about BIOS, does a BIOS problem

have anything to do with a failing hard drive? Shouldn't the F12

workaround get me into my operating system if this happesn again?

Would the BIOS problem likely be temperature related? >>

 

This was asked after one person said that the inability to boot into

Windows might be a bios problem. Recall, that hitting F12 just prior

to when it would stall caused it to boot up just fine. Then later,

the problem (whihc may be due to overheating) temporarily dissapeared.

 

Thanks much!

Dean

[Guest JS]

Re: Failing XP computer

 

One inexpensive thing you can try is to replace the battery on the

motherboard.

A weak or marginal battery can play havoc with the BIOS.

 

JS

 

<deanalt@aol.com> wrote in message

news:1ec3404b-dfb9-4127-8960-3e1866a3cee4@w4g2000prd.googlegroups.com...

> Yes, but harvey, I think I need to also spend $200 on RAM so, now it's

> $350 on an older computer, bottom of the line computer. Also, you

> seem to be assuming the hard drive is on its way out but Jim said:

>

> << If I am not mistaken, that screen is displayed by the BIOS. One

> explanation for this behavior is that the BIOS is hung while trying to

> load the operation system. >>

>

> to which I asked (and no one answered):

>

> << Also, though I know almost nothing about BIOS, does a BIOS problem

> have anything to do with a failing hard drive? Shouldn't the F12

> workaround get me into my operating system if this happesn again?

> Would the BIOS problem likely be temperature related? >>

>

> This was asked after one person said that the inability to boot into

> Windows might be a bios problem. Recall, that hitting F12 just prior

> to when it would stall caused it to boot up just fine. Then later,

> the problem (whihc may be due to overheating) temporarily dissapeared.

>

> Thanks much!

> Dean

>

[Guest deanalt@aol.com]

Re: Failing XP computer

 

OK, will check this out next time the problems recurs, whihc it hasn't

for over a week now.

 

Thanks all!

Dean