Big Problem Cannot Solve Any Ideas?

[marlenejojo1]

I bought a computer off of Ebay for $100 with the hopes to get it running good (with some upgrades) for me to game with. Its a Dell Dimension E510 running windows xp. I have had countless issues with it and no matter what trouble shooting I go through I cannot figure out what is wrong. Let me start with what is wrong....when I boot up it gets to the dell logo and the white bar at the bottom loading bios will not complete it halts at about 25%. Because it freezes I cannot access the bios nor windows. Due to suggestions I tried resetting the bios by removing the cmos battery. When I did that it would not go to the logo screen but either would be a blank screen with a blinking cursor...or it would be a black screen that says x300xt bios p/n 113-A33-437-102 and not move any further. The diagnostic lights indicate a solid number 1 and number 4 light for the x300 screen....and for the other (bios freeze) the 1 2 3 lights are lit solid green. The fans work, the hard drive works (tried it in another system), the ram is brand new just bought it (yes this error occured before I switched the RAM). I also tried unplugging the cd drives and no change. What do you think is wrong or what else should I try? When I first got it, it would sometimes do these errors, and sometimes boot to windows...its random, but now it seems to be stuck between these two errors I explained.

 

[marlenejojo1]

I should also note that I added a new 500W psu from pc + cooling. So new RAM, new psu, working hard drive....ughh I need help with this one lol

 

[marlenejojo1]

cant anyone tell me what the problem is or something I can check??

 

[Ritwik7]

I wonder if your BIOS has become corrupt. In that case you'll have to get in touch with the manufacturer.

 

[marlenejojo1]

There was a bios update for my system that I did not download, but with it freezing up on logo screen I cant get that on there. What will the manufacturer do, tell me to buy another motherboard? It isnt under warranty so I would rather not if there is something I can troubleshoot on it thus my asking for suggestions. Ty though

 

[raybay]

Sounds like a bad hard drive to me... or a drive with corrupted data... or a drive with Windows installed for another computer. How did you test it on another computer?
When you installed it on this computer did you remove the partition and reinstall the partition, then reformat the drive?

 

[marlenejojo1]

Yes I deleted the partition, recreated a new partition, formatted it and then installed windows. It worked briefly after I did that and let me get to windows for a long time I had it up and it seemed to be running good....but then the computer shutdown and restarted itself a few times. That is when I started getting the 1-2-3 or the 1-4 lights errors and the blank screen or the x300xt bios p/n error. I cant reinstall windows because it freezes up on the dell logo screen. I am not sure what to do. I have tried everything from resetting the bios (removing the cmos battery) to unplugging all the drives and nothing seems to get it past this point. I should note that when I did have windows up I installed the factory intel chipset (from dell.com using the tag #) that the computer came with as well as an ethernet driver and audio driver...could that be related to the problem and if so what can I do?

 

[marlenejojo1]

I forgot to say that when I did it on the other computer the hard drive was fine, it let me into windows and the system did not attempt to restart nor did it give me any issues starting up, its just when it is inside the e510 machine that it will not post. The hard drive came with the e510....so it doesnt make sense to me that it works better in a different machine thus my wondering what is wrong with the e510 and if it is a bios or motherboard issue.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

so it doesnt make sense to me that it works better in a different machine thus my wondering what is wrong with the e510 and if it is a bios or motherboard issue.

Well, since its highly likely a motherboard problem (in fact, the BIOS is intimately related to the motherboard, so I guess its likely a problem with both), it would make sense that the harddrive would work on a different computer.
Remember that windows installs itself for the SPECIFIC hardware of each computer, windows is NOT interchangeable between computers.

 

[BILL_S]

All BIOS and driver updates for Dell as well as specs are on their support site page, put support before Dell.com

I would also submit that my newly purchased Dell Precision 9150 has issues with the HDD as well, formatted was tested from another Precision 9150, where XP Pro was used on a SATA drive, it got half way through the SAFE mode loading, freezes. It booted my Acer laptop drive when I tested Vista Home on that platform (oddly they cannot tell Acer from Dell among the 9150 and Aspire 4710 series, so Dell restore discs work on the Acer laptop!!!

Anyway, I have a PATA 3.5 drive and that would not format. Windows boots off the DVD ROM and loads all drivers, then gets to the Windows is Starting or similar screen. Starting Setup, etc.?

Then freezes at that point. I'm told by the shop selling and testing their drive on it, that the motherboard is the issue and it must be replaced I guess, but my BIOS appears fine.

Get BIOS update loaded onto a floppy via a working computer, anyones, then flash the computer your dealing with via the self booting floppy

 

[marlenejojo1]

There is actually a bios update for my system. I have A05 and there is an A07 version available. The only problem is that neither of my computers have a floppy disk so I cant copy it from another machine and even if I could I cant get it into the e510 *sighs*. I could try to copy that onto a cd from another machine but even if I did my e510 freezing up on the logo screen would prevent me from being able to boot from the cd.

 

[BILL_S]

Like all long time computer users, you should have encountered a floppy or two in your time. I added one where my PC lacked a floppy, and there are plenty out there that people neglected. I'd get one for the purpose of booting in emergencies! I saved Flash floppies for the various Dell Latitudes I bought and worked on. Even got a ZIP250 Dell drive and started collecting used Zip media (Goodwill store!!)