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Laptop stuck at BIOS/Dell welcome screen.
Hello, I am trying to fix up a couple Inspiron 1000's. When I start them they get to the BIOS screen and freeze. F2 to BIOS and F12 for boot menu do nothing at all. I am guessing they are running XP.
When I bought them they had no ram. I purchased a 512mb PC2700 and when I installed and turned on the screens were black. So i just purchased a 256mb PC2100 and also have a 256mb PC2700 on the way. I just installed the 256 pc2100 and this is where it just gets stuck. So I am guessing the memory slots are working if one stick turns the monitors black and the other turns on but freezes, they are being read. There are no beeping noises and when I remove the hard drive to see if this is bad it does the same thing, freezes. Both laptops freeze up the exact same way. Any help? Thanks
Ftdsn244
49 Posts
0
June 8th, 2012 09:00
UPDATE
So I took out the batteries of the laptops then just plugged them in and they both worked fine, did not freeze at all? Anyone know the problem here? I have had bad batteries installed before and they never froze like that they just didn't read or didn't hold charge. Could it be from sitting there they are so dead or are they just bad?
DELL-Chiranjeev
185 Posts
1
June 8th, 2012 20:00
Hi Ftdsn244,
Welcome to the community.
In this case I would suggest you to release the static power and load BIOS defaults. The issue may be caused by the static power. Following are the steps to release the static power.
Remove the battery as well as the ac adapter from the system. Press and hold down power button pressed for 10 seconds.
Once done, load the BIOS defaults by using the followings steps-
Restart the system and start tapping the F2 key as soon as you see the Dell Logo. Once done. Press the “F9” key on the keyboard and then press the “F10” key.
Let me know of the findings, Glad to be of assistance.
Chiranjeev
Social Outreach Professional
You can reach us at http://en.community.dell.com/
Ftdsn244
49 Posts
0
June 8th, 2012 23:00
Thanks, I just tried doing both and still the same result. Are you suppose to hear any noises or anything when you hold the power button for 10 seconds releasing the static power?
Ftdsn244
49 Posts
0
June 11th, 2012 19:00
Any other suggestions?
I re installed Windows, completely updated everything, tried updating bios but it was already up to date. Took out CMOS battery, and everything in between. Still freezes on Dell screen and F2 or F12 do absolutely nothing.
I fixed a couple Dells before with dead batteries and they may have just not read or said battery not installed but they never made the entire laptop freeze but maybe all are different. Could a dead battery be the cause of this? I just do not understand how both batteries could be doing the exact same thing although both laptops came from the same person and she said they were just sitting in her closet. Should I just try charging the heck out of them even with the battery light blinking? Maybe they are just so dead they need a good charging, I have no clue what else it could be after I updated everything else.
DELL-Chiranjeev
185 Posts
1
June 11th, 2012 21:00
Hi Ftdsn244,
Thank you for your reply.
In this case I would suggest you to run a test on the hardware by performing the following steps-
1. Shutdown the computer.
2. Press and hold the key, then press and release the power button.
3. Release the key.
The PSA diagnostics sequence begins.
After approximately 2 minutes the system produces a number of alert tones.
After the alert tones, the system produces either a series of low beeps or error codes.
4. Note the sequence of beeps or error codes.
At the same time, I would suggest you try powering on the laptop with one memory chip installed at one time and check if both work fine when installed separately.
Let me know of the findings, Glad to be of assistance.
Chiranjeev
Social Outreach Professional
You can reach us at http://en.community.dell.com/
Ftdsn244
49 Posts
0
June 11th, 2012 22:00
Well good news. I just let it sit on the charger for awhile just turned it on and it works. Started right up with the battery installed. Battery is saying unknown so I am going to try the battery recalib. to see if that works if not atleast I know nothing is wrong with the laptop. Thanks for the help
gauravvarshney
3 Posts
0
July 7th, 2012 10:00
Hi Chiranjeevi,
Although FTDSN244's problem was resolved without doing anything techie..
I would need your expertise to help me out of this. Let me explain my problem first.
I have a Dell Latiude E5410, I have the same problem my dell junk is stuck at DELL logo screen. How it happened I will explain the details.
I was trying to run the keyboard diagnostics test for that I made my cd drive as the first boot device n system booted n I started running the test. But the diagnostics cd n laptop model didn't match n the test was stuck. I had no choice but to restart the system.
Solutions I have tried till now are removing RAM, Harddrive, CD ROM, running system on AC Power, on battery, without CMOS battery. I have even tried Shorting the BIOS by joining the CMOS battery circuit but no success.
I tried your solution about Fn key and Power button but nothign happens just the Diagonistics boot Selected comes up. pressing F12 and F2 also doesnt help the texts come up Entering boot setup etc etc but the progress bar is still stuck.
Need some expert help here.
DELL-Chiranjeev
185 Posts
1
July 7th, 2012 15:00
Hi gauravvarshney,
Welcome to the community.
Do you hear any beeps when you turn on your laptop? Also what is the status of the Power button LED when you press the power button?
Let me know of the findings. Glad to be of assistance.
DELL-Chiranjeev S
Social Outreach Professional
You can reach us at http://en.community.dell.com/
ejn63
9 Legend
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87.5K Posts
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July 8th, 2012 04:00
To reset the BIOS, unplug the system, remove the battery and hold the power button for 30 seconds. Then apply power again.
If the system won't power up, and it has a memory module, remove and reinstall that (the base RAM as I recall is soldered to the board). If that doesn't solve the problem, replace the system board.
gauravvarshney
3 Posts
1
July 8th, 2012 04:00
Hi EJN63,
Thanks for replying.
I did remove the CMOS battery and did the 30 sec exercise with Power button. But it didnt help.
System powers up but the DELL progress bar is still stuck to 1/3. Not sure how the base RAM works and how it should be reset.
Replacing the system board would cost a zillion so that isn't the option for me.
gauravvarshney
3 Posts
1
July 8th, 2012 04:00
Hi Chiranjeev,
No there is no beep sound. (if you are thinking there is a problem because of RAM, then I have alreayd checked this by removing the RAMs interchanging and running with only 1 chip)
Power button LED is constant.
What I understand of the problem is, that BIOS is corrupted and thats why it is getting stuck.
Suggest a way to reset the BIOS without getting into the BIOS. (I have tried shorting the BIOS but it didnt work.)
Would need your expert opinion on this.
Thanks.
Gaurav Varshney
ejn63
9 Legend
9 Legend
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87.5K Posts
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July 8th, 2012 04:00
The base RAM can't be removed. You've basically eliminated all the possibilities except for the system board.
Tjok417
1 Message
0
April 19th, 2015 10:00
Good day all,
Was there any fixed results for this issue?
I have this same issue with a Precision M4600.
When turning on, it get stuck at the BIOS screen.
Please help!!!!
SaabFAN
1 Message
0
October 24th, 2015 23:00
I have a similar problem with a Precision M4600: When I cold-start it or reboot it, the Laptop hangs at the Welcome-Screen. It takes a complete power-cycle (Remove Battery and PSU-Cable, hold down Power-Button for 10 seconds) to get past the welcome-screen. Sometimes several attempts of that procedure.
Diagnostics-Program shows all components to be healthy (Battery is listed as worn out, but still works for about 1 hour), I have tried different settings of the TPM-Module and disabled the Computrace-Module, as well as trying to boot in both BIOS-Mode and UEFI-Mode - No change.
Short of a complete disassembly and reassembly of the device, I have done basically everything. BIOS-Battery has about 3V, Graphics-Card has been reseated and cleaned, same goes for the CPU, the RAM, SSD and the optical drive.
Interestingly, the laptop seems to be doing something with an SADA-Device just before freezing. Unfortunately, one of these handy POST-Cards for notebooks doesnt show any useful codes on UEFI-Based notebooks. On mine it just shows A0.
Is this more likely a software-problem, or are these the symptoms of a failing SATA-Controller? I remember reading about prematurely aging and failing chips in Intel Chipsets