[ctjoe]

I have a Dell Inspiron 2500 which has decided not to boot up anymore. I can get it to run in safe mode but nothing more - I can not boot from the cd/dvd drive, can't get it to revert back to a known working time, can't get it to do anythin but go to the Weindows XP start page where the three little blue bars freeze after about 12 seconds. Nothing happens after that. I can not get past this point and it is very frustrating.

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ctjoe...

Boot into Safe Mode. Click Start then Run and type chkdsk /r in the Run box...click "Ok". Make sure your recovery cd is in the cd-rom drive when you do this. This procedure does not require that the machine boot from the cd so it should run...if it does, it will want to run on startup, so accept any prompts to allow it.

Let us know how you fare...

wannabe1

[wannabe1]

ctjoe...

Boot into Safe Mode. Click Start then Run and type chkdsk /r in the Run box...click "Ok". Make sure your recovery cd is in the cd-rom drive when you do this. This procedure does not require that the machine boot from the cd so it should run...if it does, it will want to run on startup, so accept any prompts to allow it.

Let us know how you fare...

wannabe1

[ctjoe]

Now when hitting f2 for set up I get the PhoenixBIOS Setup Utility. Can I boot from the dvd drive here?

[ctjoe]

Tried chkdsk /r and the response was:

The type of file is FAT32.
Cannot unlock the current drive.

Chkdsk cannto run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N) _

[ctjoe]

Accepted all responses an machine still does not boot. Still gets stuck on windows xp page

[wannabe1]

Type Y, press "Enter", and reboot. chkdsk runs on startup...

wannabe1

[wannabe1]

Hmmmm...let me research for issues with this machine. I'll post back with what I find in a bit.

wannabe1

[ctjoe]

Thanks...very frustrating

[ctjoe]

When booting in safe mode I get a string of lines like this:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partion(2)\WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\ACPI.sys

other endings include:

WMILB.SYS
pci.sys
isapnp.sys
combatt.sys
BATTC.SYS
intelide.sys
PCIIDEX.SYS
pcmcia.sys

and so on...does this mean anything

[wannabe1]

ctjoe...

Enter BIOS setup (press F2 during bootup) and reset the BIOS to Default Settings. Save the settings and try to boot normally.

wannabe1

[ctjoe]

no changes....won't boot. I think the machine is really f***ed.

[wannabe1]

ctjoe...

When you boot to Safe Mode, have you tried the "Last known good configuration" option? I wouldn't give up on this machine quite yet....

wannabe1

[ctjoe]

I've tried every "last good configuration" going back at least three weeks. Is unable to revert to any "known safe time".