Reboot/Restart problem

[lemurexplosion]

thsi si my 2nd psot and yet again is another askin for help .(thou this oen isnt as un-serious as the former one) but yeah

this problem as bene happening for what 6 months? but basically its this..:
everytime the computer boots up form being turned of or restart w/e..it always goes to a balck screen wiht the flashing cursor such as in DOS mode....imgine this::

_

and it stays at that for about usually 15 mins thou i can occasiaonly range from 5 mins to 25 mins....
a couple firneds fo mine tell me that its probably a meory problem which is all fine and stuff..cept they dont know wat wuld correct it..
plz help....again....:?:? thanks...

[MidiMagic]

First, learn to spell. I had to run that through my Chi decoder to understand it.

It's either BIOS settings or a hardware problem. It might be that your hard disk is not rotating.

[lemurexplosion]

First, learn to spell. I had to run that through my Chi decoder to understand it.

It's either BIOS settings or a hardware problem. It might be that your hard disk is not rotating.

lol yeah not that i cant spell its i cant type to save my life i know it my major fault one whcih i am yet to rectify and believe it or not that was a good post considerin for me and im much better at typing than i was 2 yrs ago..so yeah...and yeah after nosing bout on the site for loong time i found one other post which said something abotut he BIOs needing to be reset by removin the CMOS battery from mother baord.( unplug computer of ocusrse..) so i mite try that...more on this later

[lemurexplosion]

UPDATE ..ok i found the REAL casue of my problem..after some thiniking and soem erro mesages..i released that the start up problem was caused by a simple thing...hardware..mroe precisly a Hp photosmart C3100 series printer/scanner / photocopier..so yes thats all great and dandy ..i unpluged and it restarted:D...but now wat....i reinstalled it and its not restarting properly whiel the printer is plugged in..but unplug it and it wokrs as if all is right inthe world...so help plz??

[jbennet]

is the printer USB or paralell?

[lemurexplosion]

is the printer USB or paralell?

USB... which is how i found the error..but now im stumped...-_-*..

[jbennet]

if you unplug all other USB devices and have just the USB printer then does it boot up fine? (im wondering if maybe having loads of usb devices at startup draws too much juice?)

[lemurexplosion]

if you unplug all other USB devices and have just the USB printer then does it boot up fine? (im wondering if maybe having loads of usb devices at startup draws too much juice?)

dont believe so ...only got 3 USB plugins incldin that printer (the 3rd only added this past month this problem has been goin on..for about 4+ months )...and as soon i as i unplgu it it takes a couple mins to load up..vs wiht ti in...whcih is...15-20 mins?....soo...i highly doubt itd varry that much for one device unless asaid device has soemthign messed....o.0....which is my guessing...any suggesstions?

[jbennet]

maybe it takes ages searching for USB devices. My dell took around 10 seconds looking for bootable USB keys which annoyed me so i turned it off in the BIOS. Maybe you have a similar issue?

[lemurexplosion]

maybe it takes ages searching for USB devices. My dell took around 10 seconds looking for bootable USB keys which annoyed me so i turned it off in the BIOS. Maybe you have a similar issue?

perhaps..seems likly....how do i switch it?......
after entering settings that is...

[jbennet]

Look at the boot order in the BIOS

for a fast boot make it

HDD
CDROM
FLOPPY (Put this at the bottom if you dont have one)
REMOVABLE DEVICE (USB)
NETWORK

this will make it faster booting as it wont bother checking any other drives if the hdd is plugged in. If you ever want to boot from a flopp/cd e.g to install a new operating system tjhen just change it back so that those devices are at the front.

[lemurexplosion]

Look at the boot order in the BIOS

for a fast boot make it

HDD
CDROM
FLOPPY (Put this at the bottom if you dont have one)
REMOVABLE DEVICE (USB)
NETWORK

this will make it faster booting as it wont bother checking any other drives if the hdd is plugged in. If you ever want to boot from a flopp/cd e.g to install a new operating system tjhen just change it back so that those devices are at the front.

thansk will tyr but rite nwo i cant..cus my sister is at the computer..joys of joys...

[lemurexplosion]

Look at the boot order in the BIOS

for a fast boot make it

HDD
CDROM
FLOPPY (Put this at the bottom if you dont have one)
REMOVABLE DEVICE (USB)
NETWORK

this will make it faster booting as it wont bother checking any other drives if the hdd is plugged in. If you ever want to boot from a flopp/cd e.g to install a new operating system tjhen just change it back so that those devices are at the front.

ok so i enter the system senttign and go int boot sequnece and see:
hard dsik drive C
IDE CD-ROM device
Diskette drive

so im thinking sum hwo im lloookin inthe wong part of the computer sum how..o.0...?

and harddrive sequence is riught above and has has system bios and boot devices first faollwed by USBdevice..(not installed)

??

[jbennet]

your pc mustnt be able to boot from usb then. that means it must be some other problem instead that is causing it to lag when the printer is plugged in.

[lemurexplosion]

your pc mustnt be able to boot from usb then. that means it must be some other problem instead that is causing it to lag when the printer is plugged in.

o.0...oh bother.......i doubt it relvent tot he USB d slot in paricular...nor anythgin to do with the order...so...im..yet again..stumped....baa,...

[Chaky]

Helpful thing here would be posting your mobo model (and manufacturer). That is, if the problem still occurs.

[lemurexplosion]

well the printer is HP C3180.. the computer is a DELL and cant see model cus its beign used right nwo but yeah according to another friend fo mine they think that it coudl be caused by the USB cable not tranferin info properly but unitl then ill just have to shut off the printer to restart

[jbennet]

When u start up your dell (as soon as it powers on) it should say the model and BIOS version.

On my dimension 5150 its a black screen. with Hit F2 for BIOS, Hit F12 for boot device etc...

Theres a dell logo with a progress bar under it. Above the progress bar is my model and below it is the bios revision (should be something like A07)

[lemurexplosion]

yeah i believe your right about bios version..(will chekc and post back latteri gotta go and do something now..) and F2 is the bios....and i gotta go..so bakc to this thread later..

[lemurexplosion]

ok back now the screen says opyiplex Gx270 series

and the BIOS Revision AO1 so yeah..(i took a pic to get all that down..:P..)..so yeah..

[lemurexplosion]

make that optPlex GX270(messed up the T...:/.)

[jbennet]

A01 is the original BIOS version. You can get the newest flash from Dell Support's website.

Bear in mind though, if it flashes wrong, it can break your system badly so only flash it if you desperately need a fix or feature (e.g i had to upgrade my 5150 in order to get vista and linxu to work with the inbuilt sound card)

[lemurexplosion]

sooo at the risk of damaging my system..ic an remove a minor problem.....hmm....minor problem it is.(as i do share this computer and my sister would have my head i fi hurt it or her files in anyway...:/.)..siblings are such..fun?..

[jbennet]

Optiplex GX270 yeah?

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R128823&SystemID=PLX_PNT_CEL_GX270&servicetag=&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=162&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=4&catid=1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=1&fileid=171479

Fixes and Enhancements:

1. Add support for newer processors
2. Added keypad number key checking for flash password
3. Improve 16-bit flash code
4. Improve USB keyboard detection
5. Improve USB enumeration for multiple USB devices
6. Correct problems seen when CD-ROM boot is the first bootable device in boot sequence.
7. Add support for Force PXE on Next Boot Token

Download and run it. Once its done it will ask you to reboot (check all drives are empty!!!!!)

Upon reboot it will update the BIOS. DO NOT turn off your pc or do anything while it is updating.

[lemurexplosion]

so ..i best run it when my sister isnt home then...and ..hmm...ok will try this some time this week ( think i shoudl unplug USB devices too? )

[jbennet]

it should be fine.

[lemurexplosion]

k will try that nx weekend..( i have to study this week bla..and nx week ....and then finally week after....so saturdays are my best bet when i dont work.)..so yeah

[chukeej]

Lemurexplosion: just some friendly advice...you said you can't type and it is really confusing and laughable to see all your typographical errors. How about looking down on the keyboard while you're typing and then since you said you can "spell" how about then "previewing" your typed messages before posting them. Maybe that'll help all of us here trying to make sense of your nonsensical typo errors. Give it a try!

[jbennet]

I usually post and then click edit about 4 times :)

[Chaky]

I usually read what I wrote. Then I edit and edit and edit....