the old reformating a dell
- Thread starter spamdos
- Start date
Viking
New Member
good for you,,, you don't care , I don't care , either. So here is your answer.
when the notebook boots you do not see anything on the LCD screen ?
if you see nothing , do you see the HD activity light flickering ?
you might try hooking a desktop monitor to the vid connector on the back of the notebook. You may have to reboot the notebook after connecting the monitor to the notebook.
possible causes there is not a display on the lcd screen
the lcd lamp is burnt out or the inverter is bad for the lamp
this is a high probability if you see the hd activity light flickering away
if there seems to be no activity, it could be the mainboard or processor
try removing all power, the main battery, the plug at the back, take out your ram and reseat the ram. Some notebooks like the HP 4100's have a little hole that a paper clip can be inserted to "reset" the cpu, which many times gets her bootin' again. Also taking apart and putting back to gether has the same effect, though you have to know what you are doing.
when the notebook boots you do not see anything on the LCD screen ?
if you see nothing , do you see the HD activity light flickering ?
you might try hooking a desktop monitor to the vid connector on the back of the notebook. You may have to reboot the notebook after connecting the monitor to the notebook.
possible causes there is not a display on the lcd screen
the lcd lamp is burnt out or the inverter is bad for the lamp
this is a high probability if you see the hd activity light flickering away
if there seems to be no activity, it could be the mainboard or processor
try removing all power, the main battery, the plug at the back, take out your ram and reseat the ram. Some notebooks like the HP 4100's have a little hole that a paper clip can be inserted to "reset" the cpu, which many times gets her bootin' again. Also taking apart and putting back to gether has the same effect, though you have to know what you are doing.
I think he's saying that he can't get into the BIOS, not that there is nothing on the screen. When it's booting, try all the F# or "function" keys, as well as the "Delete" key. They are most commonly used to get into the BIOS.
Realize that you have to format first to really re-install XP, simply installing XP over XP is pointless, and is probably more of a recovery process. I'm not sure if it will even let you, but it's an option in the Recovery Console.
Realize that you have to format first to really re-install XP, simply installing XP over XP is pointless, and is probably more of a recovery process. I'm not sure if it will even let you, but it's an option in the Recovery Console.
Viking
New Member
also the DEL key at boot up for the bios
I think Dells are F1 or F2
I would clear cmos first by jumper AND battery B4 anything else.
Installing xp ontop of itself works great, I do not think you can do that from the recovery console, you have to go through, almost all the way through the text mode part of the xp setup. Just like you are installing. XP will present you with your current installation and sak you want to do with it. One of the options is " R " for repair.
only do this if
1. ram is not failing
2. HD is sound
3. no spyware, viruses, trojans
if not it may crash and burn.
it will also reset the SAM and also you will need a cdkey and reactivation.
I think Dells are F1 or F2
I would clear cmos first by jumper AND battery B4 anything else.
Installing xp ontop of itself works great, I do not think you can do that from the recovery console, you have to go through, almost all the way through the text mode part of the xp setup. Just like you are installing. XP will present you with your current installation and sak you want to do with it. One of the options is " R " for repair.
only do this if
1. ram is not failing
2. HD is sound
3. no spyware, viruses, trojans
if not it may crash and burn.
it will also reset the SAM and also you will need a cdkey and reactivation.