Windows XP forum: Can anyone help me get rid of this BSOD?

I am unable to boot to any mode. After the Dell splash screen the monitor turns black. Forgot to give system info: Dell Inspirion 3000 Running Windows XP Upgraded to 2 GB. Contacted Dell and Microsoft and they both said that it may be either a BIOS upgrade is needed or a video driver upgrade. All I know is that there is no way that I can get past this black screen.

Is this Inspiron the desktop 3000 or L/T? How did you go about loading Win 8? Do you have the original OS disks? A little more information or your procedures might help.

Forgive me, it is a desktop. Windows 8 was loaded via download from Microsoft. There is no OS disk. The black screen came after the first, and only, reboot. I have tried connecting different monitors and connecting my netbook only for the same result, a black screen after the Dell splash screen. Thanks.

It would be nice if I could re-install. I have the OS CD but it just won't happen with the black screen. Believe me, re-installing the OS was at the top of my "did" list.

I can't imagine no backup when installing an OS. There must have been a plan.

Let's say there was no backup. Then it's like a car with a flat tire and no spare. We have to decide if we want to tow it into the shop for a fix or go buy a spare tire.

Either way fixes the car.
Bob

How correct you are. I know that there is nothing wrong with the monitor. I tried to reinstall Windows with another hard drive and got the same result. I know the hard drive works. So if the monitor works and the hard drive works could it be something like the video driver, graphics card, or what??? I am trying not to have to take it to the shop simply because of the computer's age. Other than it's agre it has been a good computer until this happened.

I would love to go back to a supported OS, however, I cannot get this computer to reinstall Windows 7 that was installed on the computer. I wonder if I tried XP would it take?

There are many reasons for the issues. Some push back at repairing the machine. I've re-checked your posts and can't see where you tried wiping the drive and installing any OS cleanly.
Bob

Again you are correct, I haven't tried wiping the hard drive. If this involves seeing anything on the screen then that will not be an option since the only thing that I can see on the screen is blackness. I am a newbie here but I do know that without being able to see anything on the screen I am severely limited in what I can do.

At your first post you write " After the Dell splash screen the monitor turns black."

Now you declare " the only thing that I can see on the screen is blackness."


To reinstall we set the BIOS to boot from the CD and now that you only see blackness and not the Dell splash this means the issue has changed from a relatively simple OS install to a machine repair.
Bob

Please excuse me. I obviously have not been very clear. The blackness that I see is after the Dell splash screen. Nothing in that department has changed. The only thing that I can do is F2 or F12. One shows some numbers to boot or something like that and no matter what number I press it still goes to a black screen. I apologize for any confusion. Thanks.

Just like many machines you set the machine to boot from the CD and then you put the OS CD in and then restart the PC and install the OS. Ubuntu, XP and other OSes have plenty of web pages about this. It appears you just need to get your OS CD out.
Bob

the key to press to get into the BIOS setup. Press it quickly. I don't think your problem is hardware, it's just that you don't have a bootable OS on your C: drive. Once you get into the BIOS, you can do as instructed above. If you don't see the message on the splash screen, you can download your user guide from the Dell web site. Just get the service tag from the sticker on your computer, put it in, and download the user guide. It will tell you what key to press to get into setup.

When you've gotten your system back like you want it, I urge you to get yourself an external hard drive and a good 3rd party backup program. You can set it up to do everything automagically at the time and frequency of your choice. 1 TB external hard drives are about $70 these days and a really good FREE backup program is the Easeus todo backup free which you can download from
http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm . That can save you a lot of time and frustration the next time something like this happens. Sooner or later it happens to all computers for one reason or another.

Good luck.

I have tried to use the OS cd and it does absolutely nothing. This was tried prior to my initial post. I really wish that it was that simple, there would have been no need for me to post at all.

If you set the BIOS to boot the CD and it does, the age factors in. Many CD drives lose the boot capability so we have to fix that. Be sure you tested your CD in other PCs.

Most common issue? The CD drive is old.
Bob

PS. No. You don't fix CD drives, you replace them.

Thank you. I will just have to give up on this machine. It is very well possible that the cd drive has died within the last few days. I do not think that I want to put money in a machine that I purchased used for less than a hundred dollars. Thanks again.

Newegg has them but I can't tell if it's IDE or SATA so I can't give you a direct link.

It's a very common part to change in old desktops.
Bob

I will check to see which kind it is and then I will check on Newegg and maybe TigerDirect.
Also, thanks for letting me know about the spam. Spam seems to be able to get everywhere.