[livia7916]

I own a Dell Inspirion 5100 laptop. The OS is Window XP Professional edition. I believe its the latest Windows. I have read websites regarding this problem and have tried everything suggested.

Everytime I boot the laptop, I get the following message:

Broadcom UNDI, Pxe-2.1 (build 082) v 1.0.4
Intel base code
PXe-E61: mediatest failure, check cable
PXE-MOF: Existing Broadcom Pxe rom
Operating System Not found.

I have tried going into the Bios section, ordering the boot sequence: Hard drive, CD/dvd, Floopy drive, NCI or something like that (I don't know what this is NCI means).
After trying that the laptop started fine. Then the next day, it was the same problem again. I then went into the Bios section and hit the default under the boot tab. This ordered the boot sequence as: floppy disc, cd/dvd, hard drive and NCI.
I have several questions. Under the Main section in the Bios, it reads BIOS A06. I can't seem to hit anything in this section. Should I upgrade to a different BIOS- maybe A22 or A32?

I also did a seagate diagnostic on the hard drive, the harddrive passed. Sometimes I hook up an external hd to the laptop. I also did a scan on an external WD 500gb hard drive, it also passed. I even took out the internal hard drive and putting it back in the laptop and nothing.

Finally, I went into the msconfig tab to look in the sytem configuration utility. In boot.ini. It reads "signature(9dcxxxxx)dsk(o)rdisk(o)partition(1)\windows="microsoft windows XP professional"/fastdetect". It then asks me would you like to remove it from the Boot.ini file? What is this? Is this the problem?

Can anyone please help me? I've had this problem for awhile and I thought reading and doing as adviced to others in other websites could help me but it hasn't. One of my coworkers suggested to reformat the internal harddrive by taking it out of the laptop and put it in an external enclosure and then connected it with a usb to my computer. But wouldn't that fry my computer or delete the XP from the harddrive?
Anyone Please help!!! Thank you for any input.

Edited by livia7916, 13 April 2011 - 11:21 AM.

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try running chkdsk /r...
If you do not have a windows xp disk, download the following file: rc.iso....go here..then run chkdsk /r
from the rc.iso cd...be sure the bios is set to boot from the cd drive first...

if you don't have a burning program that will burn .ISO files go here and get burncdcc ..a small FAST no frills iso burning program...

NOTE...do not put a blank cd in until burncdcc opens the tray for you
1. Start BurnCDCC
2. Browse to the ISO file you want to burn on cd/dvd ....in this case its memtest86.iso
3. Select the ISO file
4. click on Start

make sure in the bios the cd drive is the first boot device....put the cd in the cd drive..boot your computer....when you get to the screen that gives you the option to install or repair ...select r...then when you get to the prompt...type in chkdsk /r..press enter

NOTE THE SINGLE SPACE BEFORE THE /
While chkdsk is running you will see a light blue window with a dark blue band at the top and bottom. or a black dos box depending on on which cd you use... a Chkdsk will display the specific stage it is checking as well as the percentage of completion of the stage....
there are 5 stages...it may appear to hang at a certain % for a hour or more...it even will sometimes go back over a area...this is normal...
WARNING... Microsoft does not recommend interrupting the CHKDSK process
DO NOT SHUT DOWN THE COMPUTER OR YOU CAN HAVE SERIOUS PROBLEMS...it can take a long time depending on how large the drive is...
You cannot do anything else on your computer while chkdsk is running. When chkdsk is finished, it will automatically reboot your computer....



reboot after your done running chkdsk /r...
then Go to Start...Run and type: eventvwr.msc press enter
When Event Viewer opens, click on Applications... then scroll down to Winlogon and double-click on it. This is the log created after running Checkdisk...copy and paste the log back here

[happyrock]

try running chkdsk /r...
If you do not have a windows xp disk, download the following file: rc.iso....go here..then run chkdsk /r
from the rc.iso cd...be sure the bios is set to boot from the cd drive first...

if you don't have a burning program that will burn .ISO files go here and get burncdcc ..a small FAST no frills iso burning program...

NOTE...do not put a blank cd in until burncdcc opens the tray for you
1. Start BurnCDCC
2. Browse to the ISO file you want to burn on cd/dvd ....in this case its memtest86.iso
3. Select the ISO file
4. click on Start

make sure in the bios the cd drive is the first boot device....put the cd in the cd drive..boot your computer....when you get to the screen that gives you the option to install or repair ...select r...then when you get to the prompt...type in chkdsk /r..press enter

NOTE THE SINGLE SPACE BEFORE THE /
While chkdsk is running you will see a light blue window with a dark blue band at the top and bottom. or a black dos box depending on on which cd you use... a Chkdsk will display the specific stage it is checking as well as the percentage of completion of the stage....
there are 5 stages...it may appear to hang at a certain % for a hour or more...it even will sometimes go back over a area...this is normal...
WARNING... Microsoft does not recommend interrupting the CHKDSK process
DO NOT SHUT DOWN THE COMPUTER OR YOU CAN HAVE SERIOUS PROBLEMS...it can take a long time depending on how large the drive is...
You cannot do anything else on your computer while chkdsk is running. When chkdsk is finished, it will automatically reboot your computer....



reboot after your done running chkdsk /r...
then Go to Start...Run and type: eventvwr.msc press enter
When Event Viewer opens, click on Applications... then scroll down to Winlogon and double-click on it. This is the log created after running Checkdisk...copy and paste the log back here