Turning On The Computer

[Margaret]

Every third or fourth time after I hit the power button
on my brand new laptop, the Dell screen comes on,
followed by Windows XP loading, then a greyish blank
screen followed by a black screen which stays blank. I
lose patience and turn the laptop off. I then rehit the
power button and will get a MSDOS screen telling me to
choose the last normal start config or safet mode, etc.

Why is this happening???
Thanks.
Margaret

 

[Jack]

did you contact Dell...take some blood pressure meds first...thats why they
tell ya...your in hell with Dell...just wait...let us know...

 

[MAP]

-----Original Message-----
Every third or fourth time after I hit the power button
on my brand new laptop, the Dell screen comes on,
followed by Windows XP loading, then a greyish blank
screen followed by a black screen which stays blank. I
lose patience and turn the laptop off. I then rehit the
power button and will get a MSDOS screen telling me to
choose the last normal start config or safet mode, etc.

Why is this happening???
Thanks.
Margaret
.
Return the laptop

"on my brand new laptop"

 

[Papa]

That should not happen. Sounds like you may have a problem with the graphics
circuit and/or the boot-up process. Take it back to the dealer for repairs.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

You'll have to ask Dell for the specific reason, of course, but it
sounds like they sound you a "lemon."

Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH

 

[Sharon F]

Every third or fourth time after I hit the power button
on my brand new laptop, the Dell screen comes on,
followed by Windows XP loading, then a greyish blank
screen followed by a black screen which stays blank. I
lose patience and turn the laptop off. I then rehit the
power button and will get a MSDOS screen telling me to
choose the last normal start config or safet mode, etc.

Why is this happening???
Thanks.
Margaret

Windows XP on laptops often use Hibernate to conserve battery power. Also
Power Options can be configured to automatically hibernate when you press a
certain button or close the lid.

Later when you restart the system, the load from hibernate proceeds a
little bit differently than a normal startup. The screen may go blank for a
little bit while XP digs up the hiberfil.sys file and loads it.

You need to find out how your system is starting: normally or restoring
from a hibernate state. You need to find out if it has a hardware problem
or not. If hardware related, you will want Dell tech support in on what's
going on so that the necessary paperwork for replacement/repair takes
place.

Try to avoid the forced shutdowns. Your system isn't handling them well
and in the long run, these can cause file and registry corruption.

The system knows that it has been shutdown improperly but it doesn't know
why. It offers you "Last known good configuration" or a "Safe Mode" start
to deal with any problems that you suspect may be causing the trouble -
usually drivers or software that runs amuck but could be hardware problems
too.