Ricewalker
Thread Starter
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2004
- Messages
- 5
Hopefully someone can point me toward a solution (and not reformatting the HD unless absolutely necessary) that I am having with my Dell Inspiron Laptop. When I power up the laptop, after it being turned off for an extended period of time (i.e. overnight), it will begin the boot process. I get the Windows XP Pro splash screen and then the screen goes black for about 30 seconds or so. If I then see a cursor (arrow) on the black screen I know that the laptop will finish the boot correctly. If no cursor appears after 30 seconds I know it has locked up. If it locks up, I hit the power button to restart the laptop. It will then come up with the "You did not shut down correctly" message and it lets me choose to boot in Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Networking, or Normally. If I select standard Safe Mode (the first choice), the laptop boots up into Safe Mode. I then immediately tell it to Restart and the system shuts down and then boots normally. Once the system is up correctly I can shut it down and reboot without problems (90% of the time) so long as I reboot it immediately after doing the shutdown.
This boot problem happens 8 out of 10 times I try to start up the laptop the first time. I have contacted Dell and they were about as helpful as a sharp stick in the eye (it may have been a language barrier).
I have a feeling if I just reformat the HD and re-install Win XP Pro and all my apps the problem will go away, BUT, I want to try other solutions before doing the re-format as its a PITA (as we all know).
Thanks for any help you can provide
Richard Anderson
This boot problem happens 8 out of 10 times I try to start up the laptop the first time. I have contacted Dell and they were about as helpful as a sharp stick in the eye (it may have been a language barrier).
I have a feeling if I just reformat the HD and re-install Win XP Pro and all my apps the problem will go away, BUT, I want to try other solutions before doing the re-format as its a PITA (as we all know).
Thanks for any help you can provide
Richard Anderson