# Laptop will not boot up



## erndiarch (Mar 29, 2007)

My 2003 Dell Inspiron 2650 laptop is not booting up anymore. Fortunately, I was able to remove the hard drive, install it in a MadDog MegaVault enclosure and transfer all personal files to another computer via 2 USB cables.

I reinstalled the hard drive and tried all of the options to fix the problem but it stops all efforts at these points:

1. Powered up, got "We apologize for the inconvenience..." message and menu, chose Safe Mode, numerous files scroll on the screen and stops at "...\DRIVERS\agp440.sys". Left it for 30 minutes, no change.
2. Powered up, got "We apologize for the inconvenience..." message and menu, chose Last known good configuration..., Windows Logo shows up then hangs up with a blank screen. Left it for 30 minutes, no change.
3. Powered up, got "We apologize for the inconvenience..." message and menu, chose Start Windows Normally..., Windows Logo shows up and then hangs up with a blank screen. Left it for 30 minutes, no change.
4. Powered up, pressed F2 for PhoenixBIOS Setup Utility menu, chose F9 for Setup Defaults, saved it and it restarted at: "We apologize for the inconvenience..." message. I forced it to shut down.
5. Powered up, pressed F2 for PhoenixBIOS Setup Utility menu, in the BOOT tab I moved the CD-Rom Drive option to the top of the list so it would boot up from the Reinstallation CD for Win XP. The "Welcome to Setup" shows up and loaded numerous files. Then it gave me 3 options - I tried them all with these results:
a. Chose "To set up WinXP, press ENTER". Pressed F8 to accept their agreement, the "WinXP Home Edition Setup" window appeared at the top, the statement "Searching for previous versions of Microsoft Windows..." shows up at the bottom and goes no further. Left it for 30 minutes, no change.
b. Chose "To Repair, press R". The Recovery Console showed "1: C:\WINDOWS, Which Windows installation would you like to log onto". There was no other listing so I typed "1" and pressed ENTER. The cursor disappears, the CPU light on the front panel blinks for 10 seconds and then stops. It never asked me for a password or anything else. The screen is just frozen showing the last step I took. Left it for 30 minutes, no change.
a. Chose "To quit Setup..., press F3". Pressed F3 and got: "Windows XP is not completely set up... to quit Setup, press F3", I did and got "your computer will reboot in 13 seconds" and we start all over again at "We apologize for the inconvenience..." message. 

I called Dell and got someone from India. After hours of trial and error going through their procedure list, they concluded that the computer as irreparable.

I called the Geek Squad (a support service at "Best Buy") and they at least helped me save my personal files from the hard drive via the MadDog enclosure mentioned above.

Can you tell me what you think the problem is with my Dell Inspiron 2650 laptop and any recommendations to fixing it?

Greatly appreciated,

Ernie


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## norton850 (Mar 9, 2004)

When you called Dell did they have you run the diagnostics? If they did, did everything pass?


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## Mulderator (Feb 20, 1999)

Also, it appears your laptop is booting but its Windows that is the problem--correct me I'm wrong. Have you tried to get into the BIOS? Any problem doing that?

I would just reinstall Windows (you said you reinstalled the hard drive, and I think you meant you just put it back in).


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## erndiarch (Mar 29, 2007)

Norton850 - Diagnostics? Well, Dell (India Rep) had me go through numerous steps for about 45 minutes as I mentioned earlier and then declared it irreparable because the laptop would go no further . 

Mulder - Get into Bios? No and not sure how to go about this. Can you forward steps on how to do this or redirect me to a website that might walk me through this? 

Thank you all so much for taking time to reply.

Ernie


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## Jedi_Master (Mar 13, 2002)

Howdy folks...

erndiarch...

Hmmmm....

Kinda hard to tell, I'd suggest running Memtest http://www.memtest86.com/ and see if has any errors ( there's an ISO for CD-ROM boot, if you don't have a floppy drive )...



> Get into Bios? No and not sure how to go about this. Can you forward steps on how to do this or redirect me to a website that might walk me through this?





> . Powered up, pressed F2 for PhoenixBIOS Setup Utility menu, chose F9 for Setup Defaults, saved it


Looks like you've allready been there ...

Due to all the errors you are getting, I'd say it's memory...but that's JMHO...


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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

Replace the hard drive, set bios to boot to cd drive 1st boot device (tap F2 after turning on power until you enter bios, then look for boot order) and install XP.


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