I WANT TO SEND THE COMPUTER BACK TO DELL BUT THEY INSIST THAT IT IS A SOFTWARE PROBLEM.  THEN THEY TELL ME THEY HAVE TO RESEARCH IT AND CALL ME BACK AND THEY NEVER CALL ME BACK SO I AM CAUGHT IN A CIRCLE THAT I CANNOT GET OUT OF!  I AM GOING OUT OF MY MIND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!!!!

Annie,

What isn't going right for you? Have you looked at the reinstall guide on the Dell website?

Dimension 4100 Bought January 2001
Windows XP Home SP2 Slipstreamed
866 Pentium 3
512 Ram
Western Digital 60 gig Hard Drive
Western Digital 120 gig Hard Drive
Sony 19" LCD Flat Panel Monitor
GeForce 5200
Creative SB Live
Digital Research DVD RW
RCA Cable Modem
HP Deskjet 932
HP K-60 all in one
Canon Scanner

Inspiron 5150
Windows XP Pro
3.06 Pentium 4
512 Ram
60 Gig HD

I CANNOT INSTALL WINDOWS XP.  I GET THE FOLLOWING ERROR MESSAGE:

FILE \I386\NTKRNLMP.EXE COULD NOT BE LOADED. THE ERROR CODE IS 7.  SETUP CANNOT CONTINUE.  PRESS ANY KEY TO EXIT.

I HAVE BEEN ON THE PHONE FOR A WEEK, I HAVE RUN THE DIAGNOSTICS FOR EXTENDED PERIODS OF TIME WITH ONLY PASS ON EVERY ONE!!!!!!!  I DO NEED TO KNOW IF I PURCHASE A NEW HARD DRIVE, WILL THAT SOLVE THIS PROBLEM?  I JUST WANT TO USE THIS COMPUTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  WILL I HAVE THE SAME ERROR MESSAGE ON THE NEW HARD DRIVE???

You really do not get it.  this is what it is.

I get a screen that says:

File \i386\ntkrnlmp.exe could not be loaded.  The error code is 7

Setup cannot continue.  Press any key to exit.

 

So, what do I do.  I followed the directions.  Believe me.  It is a total mystery.  I don't know what I am going to do.  A new hard drive is not the answer.

Have you tried CLEANING the XP CD. It sounds like it can't copy the file from the CD TO the hard drive not that it can't read it from the hard drive.

You may need a new CD as it may be scratched.

I did a quick Google and according to the Microsoft web site the cause can be either a faulty memory module or an incorrect BIOS setting. Try passing the URL below to the Dell support person.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318729/EN-US/

Hope your problem is sorted out soon.

I would take a guess that Annie has never changed any settings in the BIOS. This leads me to believe either the cd/dvd is bad or the hard disk is bad. CD's are pretty good these days. I doubt it is scratched enough to get this error. It is probably the hard drive. Just make sure if you buy a new hard disk that it is returnable incase you get the same error.

Annie, do you have any old OS discs like windows ME or windows 2000? If so, you might want to try installing one of these and then do an upgrade if possible.

I tried to install Windows 98 but after it copied the files and rebooted I got an error of insufficient memory to intitialize windows.  I couldn't get a hard drive that would work of any where I called in town.  Nothing in stock.  I downloaded the latest bios but couldnt get it to boot when I loaded the disk.  I don't think I have the correct file or I need to unpack the file.  Downloading the file to my desktop, not a dell, makes it hard to open it. I don't have an external floppy.  Would a flash drive work?

It looks like it is a memory error. Either one of your ram sticks is bad or isn't seated properly. How much ram does your notebook have anyways?

I'm not sure a flash drive would work. I know the inspiron 6000 can boot from a usb, and it's very likely your inspiron 9300 can do the same. But I've never seeen anyone flash a bios without using a floppy. You have to change the boot sequence in bios. Put USB as #1, dvd as #2, and hard disk as #3 and whatever else is remaining as last. Also make sure you format your flash drive before putting the bios files on it. You should be able to format it as fat32 on your desktop.

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@annieb6427 wrote:
I tried to install Windows 98 but after it copied the files and rebooted I got an error of insufficient memory to intitialize windows.  I couldn't get a hard drive that would work of any where I called in town.  Nothing in stock.  I downloaded the latest bios but couldnt get it to boot when I loaded the disk.  I don't think I have the correct file or I need to unpack the file.  Downloading the file to my desktop, not a dell, makes it hard to open it. I don't have an external floppy.  Would a flash drive work?

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