[Gray.Muzzle]

Dell Dimension 5100 and Windows XP Home - I think it was SP3 but the CD is SP2.

Computer is wife's and she got a BSoD. I do not know what she was doing at the time but she only uses it to look for information, play one or two games (Mah Jong? or Spider Sol) and a little Email.

She did not know what to do so she pulled the power cord. I was not home at the time.

When I try to boot I get a few blinks on the DVD & CD drives (takes say 3 to 4 seconds) and a one line display on the monitor: "K300XT BIOS P/N 113-A33437-102". The hard drive light stays on for say 10 to 15 seconds longer. Then nothing further happens.

I tried booting with each of two CD's in the CD drive and then in the DVD drive. One CD was the original Windows XP Home SP2 provided by Dell. The other was a boot disk made with Acronis True Image Home 9 made for an image on a different computer. The response was the same for both CD's. If the computer is on when I insert the CD, the CD (or DVD) drive light blinks for say 8 seconds but nothing else happens and the hard drive light never comes on. If I have the CD loaded and then turn the computer on, the CD (or DVD) drive light blinks for say 8 seconds. When it goes out the hard disk light stays on for say 10 to 15 seconds more like when no CD is used.

In all cases I get the same one line message on the monitor.

I would guess that memory on the motherboard (ROM?) or a basic file for booting on the hard drive is corrupt but I do not really know that much about computers.

If I cannot find out anything I guess I will consider buying a new motherboard; much to my surprise I found they are available. This computer is 6 years old and has never been reloaded.

Gray.Muzzle

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Hi Gray.Muzzle sorry to hear you are having this issue.
Have you changed the boot sequence in the BIOS to CD drive first and the HDD second?
On boot up tap the F2 key once there use the - or + key to change the boot sequence,
once the first drive is set as CD drive press the space bar to enable it, when you have
also set the HDD as the second boot device press Esc to save the settings and exit, put
your XP disc in the drive and then reboot, you may then be able to do a repair XP install
a tutorial by Admin to help you @ http://www.geekstogo...air-windows-xp/
Once done be sure to go online and install all XP updates including Sp3.
Let us know how it works out or if we can assist in any way.

NB: You may also be able to do the above with the XP disk in the CD drive and tapping F12
on boot up.

[phillpower2]

Hi Gray.Muzzle sorry to hear you are having this issue.
Have you changed the boot sequence in the BIOS to CD drive first and the HDD second?
On boot up tap the F2 key once there use the - or + key to change the boot sequence,
once the first drive is set as CD drive press the space bar to enable it, when you have
also set the HDD as the second boot device press Esc to save the settings and exit, put
your XP disc in the drive and then reboot, you may then be able to do a repair XP install
a tutorial by Admin to help you @ http://www.geekstogo...air-windows-xp/
Once done be sure to go online and install all XP updates including Sp3.
Let us know how it works out or if we can assist in any way.

NB: You may also be able to do the above with the XP disk in the CD drive and tapping F12
on boot up.

[skifxr]

I don't think he gets that far phillpower2.

I just replaced the mobo on my brothers computer because it would get stuck at the checking memory step. Sounds similar but I would do some basic troubleshooting first to eliminate other possibilities. phillpower2 will help you with that.

[Gray.Muzzle]

Hello Phillpower2,

Thank you for the response.

After trying so carefully to say everything, I see I forgot a couple of things.

We have 3 Dell desktops, all about 6 years old, and as best as I can recall, all 3 use the F2 & F!2 keys when you boot. The first thing I forgot was I had tried repeated tapping of each of those keys when I tried to boot but I don’t think it was when I used the Windows CD.

So since reading your comments I did try both keys again but with the Windows CD loaded when I powered up. I tried using both the CD drive and the DVD drive as on one of the Dell computers, I recall that it included the DVD drive and maybe not the CD drive. I am not sure of that last part but I believe I do recall that at least the DVD drive was listed before the CD drive if both were listed because having the DVD drive first surprised me.

The results of the above test was the same as before in my original post, a few seconds of blinking lights and the same one line of print on the monitor.

The second thing I forgot to mention is that I have no idea what the order is for the boot devices. I used to keep track of these things but just cannot keep up with everything anymore. I did find the notes I made for the initial startup when we bought the computer but there was no mention of the boot device sequence.

So I am unable to follow your instructions after the words “once there” and unsure what to try next. I did notice that in one post regarding BSoD problems, the person used “Hiren’s Boot disk” and was able to go online and perform other operations.

But I suppose that if I cannot boot from a Windows CD, then I probably cannot boot from any CD??? If this is true, then this seems like an important point to me as it prevents me from doing anything??? And in that case the only option I can think of is to replace the motherboard. However, if the problem were in the Master Boot Record, the Ntdlr file, etc., then that would not work either?

So I will take back the “only” in “only option”. Maybe I could pull the hard drive and buy an enclosure and examine it on another computer, perhaps wipe it clean?

Any comments?

[email protected]

[Gray.Muzzle]

Hello skifxr,

I think you are right on I don't get that far. As I said in my reply to Phillpower2, a few seconds of blinking lights and one line of text on the monitor, apparently a Part Number for the BIOS (I think).

I replyed to Phillpower2 just a few minutes ago.

I am still trying to learn how to use Geeks To Go. One thing I wonder about is that I set up a name and a password but I have never had to log on since? I struggled a bit trying to find how to reset the options on notifications and maybe now I have better settings (I hope).

[email protected]

[happyrock]

these are the bios options for dell...try them all and change the boot order to the cd/dvd drive first...
if you are unable to get into the bios you could try replacing the mobo battery then the bios codes again...

Dell® 400 F3
Dell 400 F1
Dell Dimension® F2 or DEL
Dell Inspiron® F2
Dell Latitude Fn+F1 (while booted)
Dell Latitude F2 (on boot)
Dell Optiplex DEL
Dell Optiplex F2
Dell Precision™ F2

[Gray.Muzzle]

Hi happyrock,

Thank you for the response.

So if I remove the mobo battery and then reinstall it, the BIOS will reset itself to its original coding and then (maybe?) respond to the F2 clicking when I try to boot???

I will probably give this a try although the last (and first) time I tried to remove a mobo battery (that time it was to replace it) I messed it up and Dell replaced the mobo in a service call. Fortunately it was under warranty at that time. I cannot recall what the purpose of replacing the battery was but I was doing it at the request of Dell Help.

Gray.Muzzle

[happyrock]

So if I remove the mobo battery and then reinstall it, the BIOS will reset itself to its original coding and then (maybe?) respond to the F2 clicking when I try to boot???

maybe but if its 6 years old I would replace or at least test it with a multi-meter
if after that you still can't get to the bios you have a dead mobo