Windows XP giving me a problem

[Charles W Davis]

Compuer Club member's Dell computer running Windows XP, SP3. Wouldn't start
past the first three lines of text, then said that a previous error had not
been corrected, or some such. The member called Dell and they requested that
he replace the CMOS battery. I entered the situation at that point. I had a
couple of new batteries at home.

I installed the new battery, the system started up and I applied a couple of
updates, including IE8. Installed one additional update.

I took it back to his place and set it up. We were back to square 1. I
removed the battery and reinstalled it. On restart, it got as far as the
DELL screen and stopped. After 3 or 4 minutes, I shut it down and brought it
home again. Works fine here.

Microsoft Update now shows no updates available, including optional.

Any thoughts will be appreciated.

 

[Randem]

If you are saying that the computer work in one place but not the other I
would check the power source. There may be something wrong there.

--
Randem Systems
Your Installation Specialist
The Top Inno Setup Script Generator
http://www.randem.com/innoscript.html
Disk Read Error Press Ctl+Alt+Del to Restart
http://www.randem.com/discus/messages/9402/9406.html?1236319938

 

[Twayne]

Compuer Club member's Dell computer running Windows XP, SP3. Wouldn't
start past the first three lines of text, then said that a previous
error had not been corrected, or some such. The member called Dell
and they requested that he replace the CMOS battery. I entered the
situation at that point. I had a couple of new batteries at home.

I installed the new battery, the system started up and I applied a
couple of updates, including IE8. Installed one additional update.

I took it back to his place and set it up. We were back to square 1. I
removed the battery and reinstalled it. On restart, it got as far as
the DELL screen and stopped. After 3 or 4 minutes, I shut it down and
brought it home again. Works fine here.

Microsoft Update now shows no updates available, including optional.

Any thoughts will be appreciated.

That's a strange one. What's chances he's plugged into an ungrounded
outlet? About the only thing common between your place and his will be
the power source, right?


HTH,

Twayne`

 

[Charles W Davis]

That's a strange one. What's chances he's plugged into an ungrounded
outlet? About the only thing common between your place and his will be
the power source, right?


HTH,

Twayne`

I had the computer overnight. No problems.

I returned this afternoon, with a new surge protector and used a different
wall outlet. Now it stops with a checkpoint A20 error. (Same place but the
checkpoint error number only occurs the first time).

Any further thoughts.

 

[Johnw]

Charles W Davis laid this down on his screen :

I had the computer overnight. No problems.

I returned this afternoon, with a new surge protector and used a different
wall outlet. Now it stops with a checkpoint A20 error. (Same place but the
checkpoint error number only occurs the first time).

Any further thoughts.

If that is the EXACT error message, put into google.

checkpoint A20 error

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=checkpoint+A20+error&btnG=Google+Search&meta=&aq=f&oq=

 

[Luan Pham]

I took it back to his place and set it up. We were back to square 1. I
removed the battery and reinstalled it. On restart, it got as far as the
DELL screen and stopped. After 3 or 4 minutes, I shut it down and brought it
home again. Works fine here.

Try to look at how his PC plug-in. This could be he overload the
circuit.

 

[Richard]

I had the computer overnight. No problems.

I returned this afternoon, with a new surge protector and used a different
wall outlet. Now it stops with a checkpoint A20 error. (Same place but the
checkpoint error number only occurs the first time).

Any further thoughts.

You said you had a "couple" of new batteries, did you try the other?
Loose plugs? Loose chips? Loose dust? (Twilight Zone fog?

At the location where it worked, did you use the same monitor, keyboard,
mouse, etc.? Have you tried booting without other devices like USB stuff
plugged in?

Could your problem be this:
Boot failure with my Dell
http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/archive/index.php/t-37247.html
"Alert! Previous attempts at booting this system have failed at checkpoint
[A20] . For help in resolving this problem, please note this checkpoint and
contact Dell Technical Support."

This may not apply, but I found it interesting:
Dell Documentation
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ws670/en/ug_en/advtrbl.htm#wp1057482

Dell Windows XP Center
http://support.dell.com/support/top...rt/reinstall/reinstall_center?c=us&l=en&s=gen

FWIW. --Richard