laptop probs

[thechurchguy]

We recently bought a laptop on Ebay(dell inspiron csx)
loaded with Windows 2000 professional. It started a few
times, but now will start to load, a blue screen flashes
on for less than a second, then reboots, then locks up. I
cannot read enough info during the quick flash of blue
screen, but it mentions system dump.if nothing else, I'd
like to just reformat the HD and install windows 98. What
to do?

 

[Dave Patrick]

To wipe the drive, some ways include; boot a win98/ME startup disk, run
fdisk and delete all partition information found (as long as NTFS is
primary). Or boot the Windows 2000 CD-Rom or setup disks and when you get to
the point, delete the existing NTFS and or other partitions found, then
abort the install. Or use a utility named delpart. Once removed you can boot
the Win98/ME CD-Rom or restore CD-Rom to start your install. Make sure you
have win9x device drivers available before hand.

ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/winnt/winnt-public/reskit/nt31/i386/reskit.exe

Go here and put in your service tag.
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| We recently bought a laptop on Ebay(dell inspiron csx)
| loaded with Windows 2000 professional. It started a few
| times, but now will start to load, a blue screen flashes
| on for less than a second, then reboots, then locks up. I
| cannot read enough info during the quick flash of blue
| screen, but it mentions system dump.if nothing else, I'd
| like to just reformat the HD and install windows 98. What
| to do?

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Have you tried to reboot into Safe Mode?

To get started troubleshooting the cause of your problems, we'll
need to learn what specific errors are occurring and being recorded.

To get the error message from the blue screen (a.k.a. the BSOD --
Blue Screen of Death), you'll need to turn off Win2K's automatic
reboot "feature:" Right-click My Computer > Properties > Advanced >
Startup and Recovery > Uncheck "Automatically restart." The next time
your PC crashes, you'll be left with a blue screen full of memory
addresses and other seeming gibberish. The top 2 or 3 lines of this
screen will contain information that can help solve your problem.
Carefully write down these lines and post the exact text back here.
Hopefully, one of us will be able to provide some insight.

Additionally, you should check your Event Logs to see if they can
shed any light on the matter, To do so, Right-click My Computer >
Manage > Event Viewer > System and Application. Record the specifics
of any red-flagged error messages and post the exact text back here.
Again, hopefully, one of us will be able to provide some insight.

Otherwise:

HOW TO Manually Remove Win2K and Restore Win9x
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];Q250456


Bruce Chambers
--
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