My dell computer is not booting up - it shows the logo with the blue scroll bar, then shows a blank screen.?

Question

After that it restarts itself. What can I do to fix this??

Answer 1

So it shows the Dell splash screen and then a blank. You can do a couple things first before calling dell help & support. Listen to your case, if you know a little about computers, try to listen for a clicking sound. That could be your harddrive dying (click of death). Also, what type of hdd do you have and did it COME with the pc, or did you buy it? Is it compatible with your system or did you have to buy a controller (card/adapter) to make it work? If it is restarting itself, does it EVER give you a blue screen with an error and parameters? (hexidecimal numbers) If so, this may be a conflict with hardware or your bios which you may or may not need to update. There are a ton of things you can try, but here...try sticking in your windows reinstallation disk (the disk that has your OS on it that Dell sent you or you bought). After that, turn your pc on and SPAM F2 for your setup (or F12 to just skip to boot order). Scroll down to boot order and hit enter. Use + and - to move the boot order to "boot from cd-rom" first. See if you are able to boot from that disk and maybe try a repair. The only other thing I would try first would be to SPAM F8 and try to boot in safe mode. If it starts, I would try to do a disk check (double click My Computer, right click your hdd [usually c:/] and click tools, under error-checking, click Check Now). If it pops up with nasty stuff, I would call Dell (since they don't like you adding hardware yourself) and either have them service it if it's still under warranty, or buy a new HDD. If none of these work, then I would reccommend going to CompUSA and buying what's called an "external hdd enclosure" (generally around 30-50$). Before you do this though, open your case, take out your hdd, and see what type of hdd you have (i.e. IDE, SATA, etc) so you can buy the right type. Head to a friend's house and follow the instructions. I hope this basic testing works. If not, *giggles* you STILL have Dell support lol.

Answer 2

Try going in to safe mode. During the boot process, click the [F8] key to get in to safe mode - your computer might use another key, consult your user's manual. There are a number of options to select from, choose safe mode with network connection. You should be able to start Windows XP. Once logged on to your account, try restoring your computer to an earlier state before the problem started by using Windows System Restore (start menu > help and support > undo changes to your computer with system restore > restore my computer to an earlier time > choose a restore point > [Next]...[Restart].

See if this solves your problem. If not, reboot > click the [F8] key > choose "use last known working configuration." You should be able to log in to Windows.

If neither of these things work, drop me an e-mail and I can give some other options.

Answer 3

at the dell logo start hitting F12, this will give you the boot menu scroll down to Hard Drive Diagnostics (IDE drive diagnostic) and enter that will run a test on your Hard Drive, write down the error code...
after that run an extended test on the 32 bit diagnostic(its on the boot menu: boot to utility partition).
next thing you can try is booting into safe mode (hitting f8) if youre able to get into the safe mode go to start>run>msconfig
go to the startup tab and disable all of the startup applications, check if that lets you go into windows normally if thats true you need to enable/disable each startup app to know which is the one thats giving you the issue and uninstall it, one last thing> call Dell support.

Answer 4

Insert windows CD and click fix boot.

Answer 5

Ur laptop is ruined you need to do a factory restore

Answer 6

get another computer