Installed Vista on Dell Vostro 1000 Laptop now won't boot....
peterfoster
Posts: 781 Forum Member
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I've got a Dell Vostro 1000 laptop running XP and decided to install Vista from disks. The install went well, the pc rebooted itself and it went into the set up screen where you choose your picture and so on. Unfortunately, I had to go out at this point and when I returned some hours later the laptop was asleep so I woke it but the screen had changed to a green colour with wobbly horizontal lines. I rebooted and the pc starts to boot up (the red line at the bottom of the screen becomes longer) and then it freezes. A message at the bottom of the screen states "F2 to enter setup" and "F12 to enter multiboot selection menu." I've tried both of these options but although I see the messages "Entering setup" or "Entering bootmenu" the screen freezes again. I'd be grateful if someone could suggest a way of booting up the pc, please. I have a "mirror image" backup of the pc on an external drive in XP (via Acronis - I have an Acronis bootable cd which doesn't work because of the failure to boot up.) Thanks.
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Did you activate it, before it crashed?
Did you "Press any key to boot from CD" with it in the drive and power on?
Does it work on another computer?
Make another Acronis Boot CD on another computer if not.Test that on another computer to see it works.
I also tried reinstalling Vista tonight on a new/old spare laptop. It failed. Missing files? No Abort/Retry/Fail just goes back to the start of Installation.
I'l swap my faulty DVD for yours? :-)
Not as easy on a laptop.
I've inserted the Vista disk into the drive and tried to reboot. I can hear noises from the drive as the disk spins but the screen freezes in the same way as before. I don't believe I did activate the Vista install in that I have a licence key but I wasn't asked to enter it anywhere. The disks are from a defunct pc.
All the Acronis bootable cds I have work fine on other pcs. I've slid each of them in turn into the cd drive of the Vostro and tried to reboot but the cds don't run and the screen freezes as before.
I removed the battery, opened up the memory compartment, clicked and unscrewed the white memory module and disconnected the wire which connects the memory module to the board for a minute. I then reconnected everything and the pc booted up first time! And Vista HAS installed and is activated notwithstanding I was not asked to enter a licence key. Many thanks to everyone for kindly responding to my request for help.
I don't think that was a memory module you removed.
The memory modules for a kick off are black IC chips on a green PCB in the main. And they do not have screws or wires attaching themselves to the laptop. They clip into brackets attached to the connector.
There is however a white modem module which has a securing screw and a wire attached under the same cover as the memory modules.
See the relevant sections of the service manual
ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_laptop/esuprt_vostro_notebook/vostro-1000_Service%20Manual_en-us.pdf