Old windows computer won't start up.

[danchurchill123]

didn't know where to put this and I can't post in the wasteland forum (thought that was just an off-topic section for everyone?) it said i can't post there...so move this thread if it's not in the correct area!

I have an old dell computer...about three years. and recently (like a few months ago) it kinda died. when i boot it up it comes up with the "DELL" loading screen, except this time it has about a dozen green lines going down the screen. and then after that screen the computer just dies.

i think my only choice is a complete wipe of the drive since i can't even get into bios or anything but thought i might post here first.

 

[DoFoT9]

this seems like the best place for it, wasteland is for deleted threads.

it sounds to be like a hardware issue, can you boot from a Windows OS installer disc? does that work?

 

[umiwangu]

More details?

I have an old dell computer...about three years. and recently (like a few months ago) it kinda died. when i boot it up it comes up with the "DELL" loading screen, except this time it has about a dozen green lines going down the screen. and then after that screen the computer just dies.

i think my only choice is a complete wipe of the drive since i can't even get into bios or anything but thought i might post here first.

Not to flame or anything, but this is Windows on Mac, not Windows on Dell.

Anyway, when you say the computer 'just dies', what do you mean? Do the fans stop, does the screen turn off? And if you can see the Dell screen, can you press F2 or Del, or whatever the Dell BIOS Setup key is...

Does your Dell have the diagnostic lights anywhere? Or does it make any beeps?

Personally, I would post this in the Dell Community forums. en.community.dell.com/forums/

And if you have data on that hard drive you want to recover, just add it as a slave to another desktop or get one of those handy IDE/SATA to USB adapters from NewEgg.

HTH.

 

[Winni]

If you can't even get into BIOS, how do you intend to wipe the computer's drive (which won't help you anyway)?

Without a very detailed error report it's near to impossible to help you trouble shoot this problem.

 

[TerrorOFdeath]

Sounds like the onboard Graphic Unit is done for.
Even if you manage to get in to the Bios, its should also have those lines you mentioned.

You could try to open it up, and clean the GFX chip and blow the old dust out. But even so.. i dont think it will help

Tod

 

[danchurchill123]

thanks for the replies guys. i'll post it on the dell forum and see what happens.
no beeps no nothing. the monitor just shuts off and then the computer goes silent like it's idling and never recovers from that vegetative state.

 

[umiwangu]

Before you do post on Dell, you may want to check the diagnostic lights on the computer (if it has them). That could help in finding out what's malfunctioning.

Seth