Inspiron 8100 hangs during boot

Try clicking on the function [F8] key through the boot=up cycle. This should give you a screen with several choices such as normal boot normal boot witl log safe boot dos boot and some others

chose the safe boot -- this does not load any drivers or other programs. it will be in 6430X480 vga mode. If your machine comes up in this then you know it is something in the boot sequence or a tsr program. Then you chose the windows boot step by step to isolate the problem.

good luck -- this can be a royal PITA as many programs install other programs and/or change boot parameters with no notice.

A program I have installed on my 'puter is system mechanic 5 pro from iolo.com I am very pleased with this as it is both a tune-up program and also will provide programs to prevent boot sequence changes or modifications to the autoboot/startup file without your approval.

Good luck and let us know what happens.

GmcD

Is it by chance an AMD processor? I've had several DELL AMDs (and some non Dells as well) that have become VERY flakey after overheating. Replacing the processor did NOT solve the problem, yet the processor also misbehaved on a known good board. If I cooled the system right down, I could get it to boot, but not run long enough to get any data off.

My experience is older Dells, and older AMD systems are generally not worth wasting ANY time on.

The "DELL from HELL"

When you swap the memory DIMMs with known - good parts, what happens?

--Winston

Uhm... Dell has NEVER offered AMD procs in any of their systems.

Robert

I have one of these and it does rhis once in a while. It's a known Dell issue. When the system hangs,

1) Remove the AC adapter from the back of the computer. 2) Remove the battery - pull it out enough to disengage it. 3) The thing should now be off. 4) Plug the battery pack back in and power up the computer. 5) Shut down. 6) Plug the AC adapter back in and power on again.

The battery has a chip in it that causes a conflict and halts the boot process for some reason.

This works for me but YMMV.

I hope your are wrong, but I've been leaning that way myself. If, indeed, this is the case, then I believe this box is just spare parts for the Latitude. Thanks for the tip,

I have not tried that as I do not have any spare DIMMs. The Latitude has 1gb of memory, all on the board. Maybe, I will acquire an additional gHz of memory for the Latitude and try it in this Inspiron; however, short of that, I only can reset the DIMMs, which I will try. Thanks for the reply and tip.

Try booting

it's a standalone memory tester; you'd make a boot floppy with the memtest image off the web site and boot the minimal config that still boots. If it runs for few hours w/o errors, your motherboard is probably hosed. In the recent year I have seen several IDE controllers gone bad---could be your problem.

You are correct - It has been Dells AND AMDs I've had problems with - the Dells were not AMD, and the AMD were not DELL. Generally I've had more flakey problems with Dell than most other brands I've worked with - and significantly more AMD problems than Intel, processor wise. Mostly heat related.

I have to do the same with my Inspiron also from time to time. Only difference, I usually start it on just the power cord and after it's booted, put the battery back in.

Fred