I have a DELL Inspiron laptop which now fails to start at all even if
the startup screen appears if I try to access the BIOS it hangs. It
will startup in as much as the caps-lock button will flash but it gets
no further.

Is it possible to do a start from CD to get into the DOS prompt? .

I really want to resurect this heap of junk rather than be forced to
buy a new laptop. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> I have a DELL Inspiron laptop which now fails to start at all even if
> the startup screen appears if I try to access the BIOS it hangs. It
> will startup in as much as the caps-lock button will flash but it gets
> no further.
>
> Is it possible to do a start from CD to get into the DOS prompt? .
>
> I really want to resurect this heap of junk rather than be forced to
> buy a new laptop. Any help would be much appreciated.
>
> Thanks

If your machine is not even booting an operating system, then you have
hardware failure. You can't fix this yourself. Contact Dell for
repair/replacement.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Since you would need to get into the BIOS to set the boot sequence to CD
first. I'd say you will need to replace failed hardware, say the
motherboard from a donor machine for starters.

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> I have a DELL Inspiron laptop which now fails to start at all even if
> the startup screen appears if I try to access the BIOS it hangs. It
> will startup in as much as the caps-lock button will flash but it gets
> no further.
>
> Is it possible to do a start from CD to get into the DOS prompt? .
>
> I really want to resurect this heap of junk rather than be forced to
> buy a new laptop. Any help would be much appreciated.
>
> Thanks
>

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> I have a DELL Inspiron laptop which now fails to start at all even if
> the startup screen appears if I try to access the BIOS it hangs. It
> will startup in as much as the caps-lock button will flash but it gets
> no further.
>
> Is it possible to do a start from CD to get into the DOS prompt? .
>
> I really want to resurect this heap of junk rather than be forced to
> buy a new laptop. Any help would be much appreciated.
>
> Thanks

Remove Hard drive, battery, CD. Try again to get to the BIOS. Also try
reseating, then replacing RAM.

If no go: it's dead. Or at any rate, gravely ill. Repairs are likely to
be labor intensive and expensive.

Bob I wrote:
> Since you would need to get into the BIOS to set the boot sequence to CD
> first. I'd say you will need to replace failed hardware, say the
> motherboard from a donor machine for starters.

That's not starters, there are easier to get to parts first.