Simple....get into the BIOS again and hit F9. That restores everything to default settings.

"Inspiration is the Mother of Invention. Desperation is its Father."

System 1:

Inspiron 4100
1.2 GHz-M
14.1 SXGA+
1 GB Crucial RAM
40 GB Toshiba ATA 100 5400 rpm
30 GB IBM ATA 100 Media Bay
8x Combo CD-RW/DVD
16 MB ATI Radeon
10/100 Ethernet
Compaq IPaq 11MPS Wireless Ethernet
Windows XP Home
Bright Yellow and Blue Herringbone Color Kits
Office XP Professional

System 2:

Dimension 8200
2.4 GHz
768 MB RDRAM
40 + 100 + 60 GB HD's
Promise ATA 100 Controller
Adaptec Duo Card (Firewire/USB 2.0)
80 GB Firewire
16x DVD
HP 200i DVD+RW/+R
32x Que! USB 2.0 CDRW Drive
128 MB Geforce4 TI4400
SB Live!
17" Samsung TFT LCD Monitor
Linksys 10/100 USB Ethernet
Hauppauge WinTheater Stero TV
WinXP Home
Office XP Professional

That's what I'm saying, it freezes while "entering setup" is on the screen.

Is there anyway to bypass "cmos" settings?

Thanks. Tried it and no difference.

Can anyone thing of something that would cause it?

It's set to boot from hd. Is there anything I can hold down during post testing to force a boot from floppy? It does do a floppy seek but won't boot from there.

If I don't touch a thing while it is booting, I get the blue Dell graphic screen and it never boots. It just stays stuck on that screen forever.

If I press f2 early during what should be the post testing, it comes to the stock power up post display for the post test. It says "entering setup" at the bottom of the screen. It hangs right there and goes no further.

I've pulled the hd, vid card, cd/floppy, and tried to boot several different ways. It always hangs there at the 'entering setup' - won't boot from floppy or cd.

Only other thing I can think of that I may have turned on in bios was that mode to reduce cpu usage. Being a p2-400, it probably doesn't support that? That shouldn't effect it successfully going into setup though.

I didn't create a suspend to disk partition when I formated the hard drive. (can't see how that would effect this situation).

The box did work and succesfully ran win98 without a hitch.

I just think there is something I set in setup that is causing the machine to hang on boot.

Is there no way to bypass cmos settings during boot?

I concur on reseating the memory. Good advice.

For the two user accessible rams:

For the internal one bu the cpu module:


If you need to replace any modules, you can use 16-chip 256mb modules for a total of 768mb - try Crucial.

John
_________________________________________________________________
I4000 700Mhz W98se
Fix for "Black Border Syndrome" = Fn + F7 key combo
Inspiron Fn Key Combos
3Com mini-PCI combo 10-100 NIC/56k Modem (part #313-7776)
GeForce2 Go video board part number - 4D597
GeForce4 Go 64mb video board part number - 5J149 - $129
ATI Radeon 7500 video board part numbers - 9J057 $169 and 9J066 $179 (both same part)
Sharp 15" ASV UXGA LCD - 9P031 - $559 + shipping
Fan part number for the 8200 - 6F858 / 8100 - 068RU
I8K-8.1K-8.2K, I4K-4.1K, I3.8K Media Bay parts: 4169D = carrier; 4 x 53965 = screws | $30.00 for 12.5mm drives
I8K-8.1K-8.2K, I4K-4.1K, I3.8K Media Bay parts: 29MFN = carrier; 4 x 53965 = screws | $30.00 for 9.5mm drives
I7.5 Mega Bay parts: 4124T = carrier, 11 x 3771U = screws | $30.00
This Media Bay carrier holds 9.5 and 12mm 2.5" drives but not 19mm.
I7.5K Internal HD Connector: CON;2X22;INTFC;IDE;HDD;I7000 2960E $4.95
Internal Carriers: 4x00 - 480WV $4.95, 8x00 - 48CVX $4.95, 40-pin conn. - 8267R $4.95, 4 screws - 97580 $.05, 1 screw 6350E $.05
I8200 AC Power Supply: 06G356
Actiontec (Lucent 8.22) Driver link
Dell IBM Noise
Firmware A0G2 for Hitachi DK23DA-- (20, 30, or 40) mobile hard drives
IBM Travelstar Noise
8000 Updates for WinME (OSUPA00.EXE)
8100 Updates for W2K and WinME (28226.EXE)
I8kfangui
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
US Mobile Computing Hotlines
Corporate/Government Accounts - 800-822-8965
Direct Accounts - 800-247-9252
Outside of the United States - Contact Dell in your global area.
Dell Spare Parts - 1-800-624-9896, select option 2, then 2, then 4

It could actually be any of an assortment of hardware problems which have happened coincidental to the BIOS/software updates. The memory is one candidate. If the system won't post, you might need to replace the CMOS battery on the mobo, as the NVRAM settings may not have been preserved when AC power was off. A system of that vintage could lose the little battery right about now. Other than that, good luck!

(bill)
--
I am a software engineer, not a musician.

Message Edited on 08/06/02 10:26AM by bill.newell

Another very good suggestion.

John
_________________________________________________________________
I4000 700Mhz W98se
Fix for "Black Border Syndrome" = Fn + F7 key combo
Inspiron Fn Key Combos
3Com mini-PCI combo 10-100 NIC/56k Modem (part #313-7776)
GeForce2 Go video board part number - 4D597
GeForce4 Go 64mb video board part number - 5J149 - $129
ATI Radeon 7500 video board part numbers - 9J057 $169 and 9J066 $179 (both same part)
Sharp 15" ASV UXGA LCD - 9P031 - $559 + shipping
Fan part number for the 8200 - 6F858 / 8100 - 068RU
I8K-8.1K-8.2K, I4K-4.1K, I3.8K Media Bay parts: 4169D = carrier; 4 x 53965 = screws | $30.00 for 12.5mm drives
I8K-8.1K-8.2K, I4K-4.1K, I3.8K Media Bay parts: 29MFN = carrier; 4 x 53965 = screws | $30.00 for 9.5mm drives
I7.5 Mega Bay parts: 4124T = carrier, 11 x 3771U = screws | $30.00
This Media Bay carrier holds 9.5 and 12mm 2.5" drives but not 19mm.
I7.5K Internal HD Connector: CON;2X22;INTFC;IDE;HDD;I7000 2960E $4.95
Internal Carriers: 4x00 - 480WV $4.95, 8x00 - 48CVX $4.95, 40-pin conn. - 8267R $4.95, 4 screws - 97580 $.05, 1 screw 6350E $.05
I8200 AC Power Supply: 06G356
Actiontec (Lucent 8.22) Driver link
Dell IBM Noise
Firmware A0G2 for Hitachi DK23DA-- (20, 30, or 40) mobile hard drives
IBM Travelstar Noise
8000 Updates for WinME (OSUPA00.EXE)
8100 Updates for W2K and WinME (28226.EXE)
I8kfangui
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
US Mobile Computing Hotlines
Corporate/Government Accounts - 800-822-8965
Direct Accounts - 800-247-9252
Outside of the United States - Contact Dell in your global area.
Dell Spare Parts - 1-800-624-9896, select option 2, then 2, then 4

I know this is an old thread but I have the exact same problem. Reset the bios with the cpu setting and the bloody thing won't boot past the 'post'. F2 get to the same thing.

 

I have tried everthing suggested.

Is there anyway to "reset" the bios when bios itself cannot be loaded?

Michael Sr