You might try booting another operating system to see if the hardware is the issue. The other operating should also fail to boot. Possibly.
-- Bob > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: 07 June 2007 22:26 > To: PDML@pdml.net > Subject: Computer help! > > My computer is fracked up again, though this time I've been > able to at least > recover my data with relative ease. > > I really need help: my computer won't boot. > > It's a Dell Precision 650 (I think) dual-Xeon workstation, > running Windows > Vista Ultimate for about a week now. It's a few years old, > but it's more > powerful than anything new I've tried lately. I bought it > used from my old > boss last December. It never had problems while I was using > it at work for two > years, nor after I brought it home, until I started playing > games on it > (specifically GTA San Andreas and Star Wars Battlefront II). > A little over two > weeks ago, my hard drive became inaccessible and I didn't > have the original > Windows XP disk, so I had to scrap everything and buy a new > OS and hard drive. > Vista has been a dream until two days ago. > > At the point in the boot cycle where the BIOS is done and > Windows is supposed > to start, nothing happens. The screen is blank and a cursor > smugly blinks away > in the upper left corner. I've tried using the restore > options on the Windows > Vista disk, but to no avail (it says there's nothing wrong > with my install of > Vista, and restoring the system to a previous date doesn't > fix anything > either). I used an old Norton SystemWorks disk to run their > equivalent of Disk > Check, where it found some sort of "security descriptors" > problem and fixed it, > but the system still won't boot. I'm beginning to think this > is a hardware > issue unrelated to the hard drive, but I don't know how to > find and solve the > problem. > > Also, since this is a used computer, I don't know how to get > access to Dell's > BIOS drivers and related software in case there are updates > and whatnot. > > If anyone has any ideas on things I can try or where I might > find drivers and > such, please let me know. I'm getting desperate here: I just > want a stable > computer! > > Oh, please don't throw some "Switch to Mac/Linux/abacus" > balloney at me. Aside > from the fact that I can't afford anything new, I actually > like Windows and > don't think the OS is the issue here. > > Thanks, > John > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
