System stalls after BIOS screen

[The Seabat]

Howdy:

I have a neighbors Dell Dimension 2400 running Windows XP Sp2 that
is stalling right after the Dell BIOS flash screen displays. It goes
to a black screen with the cursor flashing in the upper left hand
corner. It stays this way for up to 12 minutes and then will boot
into Windows with no problem. She is experiencing no problems with
the system after it boots. There are no indications of anything
wrong in Device Manager.

When I tried to enter setup (F2 key) it does the same thing before
entering the BIOS display. While in the BIOS is reset everything to
default and still no joy.

She says that it does not always take that long, but always there is
a wait of some kind. Any one have any ideas on what is causing this
and how to fix it? Is it hardware or software related? Thanks.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Howdy:

I have a neighbors Dell Dimension 2400 running Windows XP Sp2 that
is stalling right after the Dell BIOS flash screen displays. It goes
to a black screen with the cursor flashing in the upper left hand
corner. It stays this way for up to 12 minutes and then will boot
into Windows with no problem. She is experiencing no problems with
the system after it boots. There are no indications of anything
wrong in Device Manager.

When I tried to enter setup (F2 key) it does the same thing before
entering the BIOS display. While in the BIOS is reset everything to
default and still no joy.

She says that it does not always take that long, but always there is
a wait of some kind. Any one have any ideas on what is causing this
and how to fix it? Is it hardware or software related? Thanks.

The Seabat
GoogleGroups filtered with extreme prejudice.

Sounds like the machine has a serious problem locating the
active partition. You can prove/disprove it like so:
- Boot into Windows.
- Format a floppy disk on this PC.
- Copy these files from the \i386 folder of the WinXP CD to A:\
ntldr
ntdetect.com
- Click Start / run / cmd {OK}
- Type this command:
type c:\boot.ini > a:\boot.ini {Enter}
- Boot the machine with this floppy. You may need to
adjust the BIOS to make it boot from the floppy disk.

If the PC boots quickly then the machine has a problem
finding the active partition.

 

[s_zwick]

Howdy:

I have a neighborsDellDimension 2400 running Windows XP Sp2 that
is stalling right after theDellBIOS flash screen displays. It goes
to a black screen with the cursor flashing in the upper left hand
corner. It stays this way for up to 12 minutes and then will boot
into Windows with noproblem. She is experiencing no problems with
the system after it boots. There are no indications of anything
wrong in Device Manager.

When I tried to enter setup (F2 key) it does the same thing before
entering the BIOS display. While in the BIOS is reset everything to
default and still no joy.

She says that it does not always take that long, but always there is
a wait of some kind. Any one have any ideas on what is causing this
and how to fix it? Is it hardware or software related? Thanks.

try disconnecting all your USB devices except for your keyboard and
mouse and then boot up

 

[Rock]

Did this problem ever get fixed? If not, I will be more than happy to
help in any way I can.

You are replying to an older thread but you haven't quoted any of the
message to which you reply. Many folks use a newsreader and only download
the latest posts, so they don't see the previous messages. That's why it's
standard protocol to quote at least some of the message to which you reply
to keep the context. Thanks.