yet another startup problem

[SwedishSteel]

Didn't see this one in another thread.

Running XP Home on a new Dell Inspiron 530. Turned it on this morning and it never got past the black Dell logo screen with F2 and F12 as an option to configure/reboot (I think).

The only software I've installed is ESET NOD 32, iTunes, and MS Office 2003.

I unplugged, waited 10-15 seconds, replugged and same results. Any ideas before I force myself to use Dell's tech support?

Thanks,

Steel

[glc]

Dell will probably have you do a system recovery - if you don't mind starting from scratch and losing what you have installed, I'd recommend you try that if you think it's a software issue.

Press Ctrl+F11 on startup to access Symantec System Recovery. It will restore the computer to the exact condition it was in when you took it out of the box.

If this won't run, you probably have a hardware failure, you can access Dell diagnostics by pressing F12. You can try this before doing the recovery if you want, Dell will probably have you do that anyway. Unplug all peripherals except the keyboard and mouse.

[SwedishSteel]

Thanks GLC. I'll give that a shot tonight. I uninstalled all my Norton Internet Security and replaced it with ESET NOD 32. Is the Symantec System Recovery a separate application from Internet Security?

[glc]

Totally separate - it runs at bootup and restores the factory image from the hidden recovery partition. It's based on Ghost.

[SwedishSteel]

Just got off a Dell Chat tech support. Nothing worked so they're sending a new motherboard and will have a guy install it for me. Normally I'd be up for the challenge of doing it myself but I just bought the thing last week and want the royal treatment.

I'm peeved that it crapped out so quick, and not sure if it truly is the motherboard. Worse comes to worse, I'll dispute payment via Mastercard and protect myself there. Hoping for the best though.

Lesson learned, before you buy a brand name machine, check out support forums on the vendors website. I saw similar issues (today).

glc, thanks again for your input. You were right, and Dell had me do the things you suggested again.

~Steel.

[glc]

I've recommended the 530 to a few customers, and none of them have failed like this yet. Maybe they got one bad batch of boards?

[SwedishSteel]

Weirdest thing. After my Dell support chat session, I opened up my machine, checked all the power cables, and gave it another shot. Booted right up. The only cable that seemed loose was the one from the 13 in 1 card reader to the motherboard.

Later, I noticed it only boots up when the external hard drive is turned off.

[glc]

BINGO!

It's trying to boot from USB. Review your bios boot order carefully.