Bsod

**batgammon** · January 10th, 2011, 09:41 AM

I own a Dell Dimension 4550 running windows 7. I recently upgraded the memory only to be confronted with a black screen with blinking cursor once past POST. The only way i can actually boot into windows is by pressing F12 and choosing boout to utility partition. The bios boot sequence only contains floppy disk, there is no mention of hard drives or CDROM drives. Consequently I cannot boot to the C Drive or the CDROM drive from the F12 menu. I have taken out the battery and reset the CMOS jumpers to no effect. I have tried to boot from a floppy into the CDROM drive so that I can use recovery console- again DOS does not see the CDROM drive. Once in windows though (accessed as i mentioned from the utility partition) all drives work and interestingly in the Phoenix BIOS (which I have also reflashed from dos using a floppy) the hard drives and CD roms are present but as I said not in the boot sequence. I have replaced the cable to the hard drive also and unplugged and non vital USB connectors. Any thoughts?

**MobilePCPhysician** · January 10th, 2011, 12:38 PM

If you remove the upgraded memory, does it work correctly??

**NooNoo** · January 10th, 2011, 03:03 PM

Welcome to Windrivers BatGammon

Dells are very picky about memory - what is the make of memory? Crucial, Kingston?

**Ferrit** · January 10th, 2011, 11:49 PM

I would say very very unusual that it should affect the boot order but then its a Dell so anything is possible. As they said remove the memory and reset the boot order in the bios.
And by the way that system is really really borderline for windows 7.

**batgammon** · January 11th, 2011, 04:34 AM

Yes I have tried swapping the original memory back and it made no difference. I was actually running Windows XP on the system but thought as a last resort i would try installing Windows 7 as a fresh install and seeing whether this kicked start the boot sequence, but to no avail. I cant actually reinstore Windows XP now because as ive said preiously i cant boot to the CD Rom drive and I cant roll back from within windows. The fact remains though that only the floppy is shown in the boot sequence notwithstanding that the bios sees the hard drives in the drives section. This is driving me nuts and in on the point of shelving the whole system!

**batgammon** · January 11th, 2011, 04:37 AM

By the way it is Crucial memory. Ferrit you mention resetting the boot sequence in the bios- how would you go about this?

**batgammon** · January 11th, 2011, 04:39 AM

Note i have also re-installed the latest chipset from dell's website and that made no difference either

**CCT** · January 11th, 2011, 06:54 AM

"The fact remains though that only the floppy is shown in the boot sequence notwithstanding that the bios sees the hard drives in the drives section."

Sounds like the win7 boot isn't recognizing the drive because bios hasn't been adjusted to see the drive type you are using.

Is it sata ? IDE ?

The ram install may have borked the bios and of course you reset it a couple of times.

**batgammon** · January 11th, 2011, 07:17 AM

Thanks for your reply I am using an IDE Drive. This problem was occuring before i upgraded to windows 7 in XP Pro as well so i dont believe the issue is to do with the OS more a bios issue- as mentioned the bios does see the drives but not in the boot sequence.

**MobilePCPhysician** · January 11th, 2011, 09:34 AM

I think it's a cabling issue. Check the ide cable and the power connections to the hard drive and cd rom. If the bios is not seeing either components, then they are either not powered up, or the ide ribbon cable is not connected correctly.

**CCT** · January 11th, 2011, 09:34 AM

The A06 bios update apparently fixed an IDE cable detect issue -> http://support.dell.com/support/down...3&fileid=73419

You could disconnect the Bios battery, disconnect the hard drive IDE cable, replace the Bios battery, boot up, shut down, and reconnect the IDE cable.

**NooNoo** · January 11th, 2011, 09:45 AM

Turn off quick boot and let the machine run a full POST - takes forever if you have a lot of RAM, but it can clear problems if you let it run.

**batgammon** · January 11th, 2011, 09:48 AM

Thanks for the comments. On the cable issue I have checked them all a million times- i even went out and bought a new IDE cable. Its running a08 bios but i cant roll back because it senses that the installed version is newer than the old and i hvae reflashed from DOS already from a floppy disk. As i say the bios does recognise the drives but not in the boot sequence. NooNoo how do i turn off quick boot?

**Niclo Iste** · January 11th, 2011, 10:06 AM

Have you made sure the power supply isn't fluctuating on its voltages? A power supply that has too low an output can make devices not show up. In my opinion it sounds more like a shorted out board. Check to see if you have any leaky capacitors as well.

**batgammon** · January 11th, 2011, 10:13 AM

leaky capacitors? Now we are well above my knowledge level. If this is the case im thinking of dumping the system! Interestingly though the computer does work properly if i boot to utility partition so what does that tell us?