[Houdini_Hammy]

Thanks again guys.... Here is my new problem

My Computer will not bootup... It comes up with a black screen with an error message

"alert previous attempt at booting this system has failed at checkpoint [ithr]....."

I have search the internet for hours and can not find a cure for this... I have tried to startup in Safe mode by using F8 but it will not work....


any help would be great.....

thanks

Edited by Houdini_Hammy, 04 October 2006 - 08:53 PM.

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Hi Houndini Hammy
Do you have a dell computer ?If yes
Out of Warranty Support Program

Customer Letter

Dear Customer – Dell has recognized a motherboard component issue that may affect a portion of the OptiPlex™ GX280, GX270 and SX270 desktops. The failure mode may manifest as an intermittent system problem where some users may experience a failure to boot, a thermal shutdown or intermittent lockups when using the affected systems. Users may also notice that capacitors on the system board are bulging. Although not all systems are affected, Dell has implemented a unique program in North America to provide out of warranty coverage for motherboard failures related to the leaking or expanding capacitors on the affected OptiPlex™ GX280, GX270, and SX270 systems. If a desktop computer listed in the "Products Affected" section has a failed motherboard exhibiting expanding or leaking capacitors and is within the time period described below, contact Dell Technical Support to have the motherboard replaced at no charge per Dell's Next Business Day service coverage program. This motherboard replacement program is valid for 5 years from the original date of purchase of the system or January 31, 2008, whichever occurs first. Systems that fall outside the motherboard replacement offer terms may be repaired under Dell's Out of Warranty service program.

Products Affected: SX270 USFF (Ultra Small Form Factor) GX270 SFF, SDT, SMT (All Form Factors - Small Form Factor, Small Desktop, Small-Mini Tower) GX280 - SFF, SDT, SMT (All Form Factors - Small Form Factor, Small Desktop, Small-Mini Tower)

Sincerely, Dell
Even if you do not have a Dell I would look at the caps on the mainboard and the cpu fan.
Also found this
I unplug the tower and rip off the side panel. Depress the power switch for about five seconds to bleed off any latent power in the system, pop out the battery and wait a few minutes. Pop the battery back in, button up the tower and plug in the power cord, keyboard and mouse and monitor. Power up the system and it boots. It has done this three times in the last seven or eight months and this routine has fixed it every time.

You have to get into the BIOS and tell it to disable the onboard audio, forget about any floppy drives, and set the clock. It forgets all this information, apparently, when you leave the battery out for a few minutes. I hope this information will be of some buttistance to someone who is having this issue. It took me about a week to find all the information the first time this happened.
Cheers
Peterm

[peterm]

Hi Houndini Hammy
Do you have a dell computer ?If yes
Out of Warranty Support Program

Customer Letter

Dear Customer – Dell has recognized a motherboard component issue that may affect a portion of the OptiPlex™ GX280, GX270 and SX270 desktops. The failure mode may manifest as an intermittent system problem where some users may experience a failure to boot, a thermal shutdown or intermittent lockups when using the affected systems. Users may also notice that capacitors on the system board are bulging. Although not all systems are affected, Dell has implemented a unique program in North America to provide out of warranty coverage for motherboard failures related to the leaking or expanding capacitors on the affected OptiPlex™ GX280, GX270, and SX270 systems. If a desktop computer listed in the "Products Affected" section has a failed motherboard exhibiting expanding or leaking capacitors and is within the time period described below, contact Dell Technical Support to have the motherboard replaced at no charge per Dell's Next Business Day service coverage program. This motherboard replacement program is valid for 5 years from the original date of purchase of the system or January 31, 2008, whichever occurs first. Systems that fall outside the motherboard replacement offer terms may be repaired under Dell's Out of Warranty service program.

Products Affected: SX270 USFF (Ultra Small Form Factor) GX270 SFF, SDT, SMT (All Form Factors - Small Form Factor, Small Desktop, Small-Mini Tower) GX280 - SFF, SDT, SMT (All Form Factors - Small Form Factor, Small Desktop, Small-Mini Tower)

Sincerely, Dell
Even if you do not have a Dell I would look at the caps on the mainboard and the cpu fan.
Also found this
I unplug the tower and rip off the side panel. Depress the power switch for about five seconds to bleed off any latent power in the system, pop out the battery and wait a few minutes. Pop the battery back in, button up the tower and plug in the power cord, keyboard and mouse and monitor. Power up the system and it boots. It has done this three times in the last seven or eight months and this routine has fixed it every time.

You have to get into the BIOS and tell it to disable the onboard audio, forget about any floppy drives, and set the clock. It forgets all this information, apparently, when you leave the battery out for a few minutes. I hope this information will be of some buttistance to someone who is having this issue. It took me about a week to find all the information the first time this happened.
Cheers
Peterm

[Houdini_Hammy]

Sorry for the late response, I was travelling on business..

Thanks for the input... I tried the Removal of the battery etc. and it got me past the first black screen of death... but now it got stuck 1/2 through the DELL startup screen.. it just hangs there.... So I guess I will have to call DELL about the problem and hope its part of that recall...

But my Dell Dimension 4700 , P4, 3.0 GHz..doesn't seem to be part of that list you provided above....

thanks again

Edited by Houdini_Hammy, 16 October 2006 - 12:50 PM.

[peterm]

Please let me know if this is part of the dell recall
Cheers
Peterm

[diabillic]

A bit off topic, but thanks for this info peterm. My company has quite a few clients with the optiplex 270 and 280's that have experienced mobo failures and have had to replace the units.

[Houdini_Hammy]

I called Del and explained the problem. They had me disconnect all of the cables on my computer but leave the Monitor, mouse and keyboard on... When I rebooted, it worked.

I pluggged all the other cables back in and tried to start it but the error came back. I tracked it down to the Cable modem USB connection. When I disconect this cable, the machine booted ok... Changing the cable did not work... But changing the USB port did work...

Therefor it looks like it might have been the USB port I was using. When I use either of the 2 USB ports , I get the error...

Thanks all for your help.

Please let me know if this is part of the dell recall
Cheers
Peterm

[hollisterbulldawg]

Yep, I just suffered the same thing last night. Wish I had had access to this forum before spending 85 minutes on the phone with a person who barely spoke english. After she got me in some Express Test mode that was going to go for two hours (I have 4GB RAM and two 400GB drives!), I told her I would have to fix the problem some other way. I even asked her to define what ITHR was. She did not know. Yes, it is a bad USB socket on the back of the Dell 8400 desktop. I used the front USB socket for this connection and the system booted fine.

So, off topic...what computer would anyone recommend with which the technical support for a limited geek is excellent? I need a laptop loaded with at least 4GB RAM for my photog business. I want to download and view in the field.

Thanks. And great forum!

[MrSchultz]

I had this problem on my Dell XPS600. Actually, "checkpoint [Ithr]" only appeared ONCE in dozens of boot cycles. Most of the time all I'd get was a black screen, and a nogo.

After reading the forums here, I took a look at the BIOS settings. There is one place where you can tell the BIOS not to boot from USB (at least, I think that's what it does). At any rate, selecting No Boot there doesn't do much to fix the problem. However, when I make the local hard drive the FIRST bootable device, THAT worked. I disabled all but the hard drive and the CD drive, but made the hard drive first in the list. Preventing the BIOS from looking for a bootable device on a USB connection seems to have fixed the problem.

Icky.

One side effect seems to be that it boots faster now - an unexpected bonus.

Good Luck!