Laptop / Bios

here is my problem, i dont know if i am in the right section. i have a Inspiron 8200 laptop. when i boot up i am getting a #M1004 error, now all the forums that i have read told me to upgrade the bios, but how do i upgrade the bios to the correct version if i cant find what version it is at now, when it boots that is all i get it wouldn't let the computer boot up all the way i dont even get the WinXP logo. and i dont want to distroy anything on the hard drive. they were saying something about hard drive formating, i DONT want to format the hard drive. can someone help me. :confused:

thanks.

Wobbles :o

What's the service tag number?

ok, i dont have the service tag number right now, and i dont think this machine has a floppy drive either, will it work with a USB floppy drive?? or how would i make a CD rom to do this?

It should work on a usb floppy fine... but you may have to set the bios to boot from the usb floppy first.

great thanks, i will try that.

And...?

ok here is what i am getting now, i went to update the bios and it told me that i was already at A06. now it is giving me errors at a command promt "Windows could not start becasue the following file is missing or corrupt: <Windows root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe. Please re-install a copy of the above file" now this was on the second boot the first boot it said the same thing but different file. i need to get stuff off this hard drive. before i can reformat if that is what i have to do!! I know Win XP was on this machine but i dont know what version. weather is be Home or Pro. so what do you think is the next step i should do ??

You could try a repair install of XP - that usually leaves the data and programs alone but resets XP.
This is how to do it However, you mentioned you don't know which version of Windows is on there... What does the COA say on the bottom of the laptop?

Dell provide a system disk for just this sort of problem - what disks do you have with the laptop?

That is what i was gonna do that next is reinstall XP, Looking at your list on how to repaire the OS, if i dont have the CD that came with the computer and have a disk that has the correct win XP, will it still come up the same way and give me a chance to install XP. when i press to contiune with the istallation i never ever see where you can repair it without going thru the Recovery concel, i will try this way.

thanks

The computer is up to date. now i am getting a cand find device error, i think i have to retake out the hd and place it back in again