Coputer Problem

cotwold

My stubborn Dell is refusing to boot no matter what i try to do.

When i turn it on i get these 3 screens (sorry for the xl pictures)




I connected my desktop hard drive to my laptop to see if there was a problem with that but everything seems fine. My friend has suggested that the problem is with my sata controller on my motherboard and suggested i buy this http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=354386

Can anyone tell me if this is what i need, will i be able to boot from the controller. Or if there are cheaper controllers that'll work.

Otherwise if you thinking im barking up the wrong tree please say so.

O'Coonassa

Flash your BIOS to the latest version first and see if that sorts it out it could just have become corrupted.

DonkeyStyle \o/

Could be that the CMOS battery is dead and your BIOS settings defaulted to something crazy. Judging by the "Copyright 1990 - 2004 Dell Inc.", it seems about the right age for the battery to start going.
Have a mozey on into the F2 "setup utility" and see if it's keeping the date/time properly.
If the date is something whacky, you might try loading some other BIOS defaults and seeing if you can get into windows on that boot... or maybe there's somewhere you can find the proper settings online.
Just something quick to try anyway before you go shelling out for new hardware.

gamer

TRY ,REBOOT hold down f8, safe mode,use arrow down to select DIRECTORY services restore mode.press enter to select it.
or use restore mode, reboot press cntrl , f11 ,simultaenously when dell logo appears.this restores winxp os, BUT YOU wiLL deLete aLL DATA,MP3S, PHOTOS,MUSIC ETC. IE it goes back to new pc winxp os,nothing ,of stuff you may have installed,no games,no mp3s.i think part of the registry ,boot up files is damaged,which is common with windows os.
OR put in winxp cd,reboot,use R repair option from cdmenu.

W!zard

This happens alot with Dell laptops, in events like this with the PC, plugging out the Sata controller and putting it into another slot does get it back to life but with the Laptop, your friend was right to say its the sata motherboard. You can aways plug your HD into an external USB HD case and boot it from there. You will know if its your HD or worest, the motherboard.

Follower Gamers advise if you want to get the HD back running again but you will lose everything (unless you transfer all the files from plugging the HD into a USB case and transfer the data to the PC).

O'Coonassa

Try the BIOS flash first. I used to work for Mr Dell and that's the first port of call for this problem. I've actually even seen it fix it in some cases lol You don't want to go destroying your data for no good reason.

cotwold

Ok im gonna try updating my Bios first in that case, i found a lot online trying to dissuade people from doing this so does anyone a good wlakthrough or tutorial i can follow? The one on dell's website on gives directions if you have a floppy.

O'Coonassa

If you've no floppy drive you'll have to burn it to a bootable CD and boot from the CD drive.