"cold" boot delay
Could use some ideas to help me eliminate what I think is a temperature related hardware problem.
hardware- Dell Inspiron 7500
original O.S.-win98
Laptop returned to me for repair with dead motherboard and broken hinges. Sent in for repair.
Before shipping for repair- removed all Ram,H.D., DVD/floppy module, and battery.
Unit returned with new hardware in place. Replaced Ram, H.D. etc- booted up, received usuall "save to ram file missing" then IRQ conflicts "IRQ not configured- PCI Serial Bus Controller on motherboard Bus:00, Device:07,Function:00
followed by device:8 and Device:10
Changing IRQ assignments resolved above but it still hangs on boot up when used with win98 and also after a fresh install of Win2000.
-
After many weekends of trial and error, changing out hardware, and a several O.S. installs later...
It appears that after a 25 minute warm up period it will warm boot/ cold boot all day long after intial operating temperature of computer has got warm to the touch.
I have tried the following-
switched ram, H.D. from a identical unit and reinstalled win98, then win2000(formatted drive). reacts the same after numerous Bios changes including reset defaults, diasabling many ports, controllers, APCI, etc with either O.S.
unit works fine if you leave it running 24 hours a day- give it a few hours to cool off and it will need 25 minutes to warm up- then it boots fine.
any ideas on how to check motherboard or connections inside? I have never disassembled a laptop- should I?
I don't see much point in sending back to Dell- 25 minutes of testing and it will "test ok"- ship back, start all over. Took 1 hour to convince them that my "no post" laptop needed a motherboard in the first place, etc, etc.
signed,
I wanna be sedated....
hardware- Dell Inspiron 7500
original O.S.-win98
Laptop returned to me for repair with dead motherboard and broken hinges. Sent in for repair.
Before shipping for repair- removed all Ram,H.D., DVD/floppy module, and battery.
Unit returned with new hardware in place. Replaced Ram, H.D. etc- booted up, received usuall "save to ram file missing" then IRQ conflicts "IRQ not configured- PCI Serial Bus Controller on motherboard Bus:00, Device:07,Function:00
followed by device:8 and Device:10
Changing IRQ assignments resolved above but it still hangs on boot up when used with win98 and also after a fresh install of Win2000.
-
After many weekends of trial and error, changing out hardware, and a several O.S. installs later...
It appears that after a 25 minute warm up period it will warm boot/ cold boot all day long after intial operating temperature of computer has got warm to the touch.
I have tried the following-
switched ram, H.D. from a identical unit and reinstalled win98, then win2000(formatted drive). reacts the same after numerous Bios changes including reset defaults, diasabling many ports, controllers, APCI, etc with either O.S.
unit works fine if you leave it running 24 hours a day- give it a few hours to cool off and it will need 25 minutes to warm up- then it boots fine.
any ideas on how to check motherboard or connections inside? I have never disassembled a laptop- should I?
I don't see much point in sending back to Dell- 25 minutes of testing and it will "test ok"- ship back, start all over. Took 1 hour to convince them that my "no post" laptop needed a motherboard in the first place, etc, etc.
signed,
I wanna be sedated....
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
TRY LISTENING TO THE BEEP AFTER SWITCHING ON THE COMPUTER AND GO TO THE SITE OF UR BIOS CHIP MANUFACTURE. THEREAFTER CORELATE THE PROBLEM WITH UR BOOT FAILURE.
ASKER
UPDATE,
Replaced video card as well as ram and hard drive from a identicle model.
The substitute drive I put in is a dual boot win98 & nt4 server setup.
Booting to win98 encounters 25 minute warm up delay.
Booting to NT4 server does not encounter this warm up delay.
but- original drive with nt4 based win2000 does encounter warm up delay and when it was a win98 drive it was delayed also.
why would nt4 server not be affected???
Replaced video card as well as ram and hard drive from a identicle model.
The substitute drive I put in is a dual boot win98 & nt4 server setup.
Booting to win98 encounters 25 minute warm up delay.
Booting to NT4 server does not encounter this warm up delay.
but- original drive with nt4 based win2000 does encounter warm up delay and when it was a win98 drive it was delayed also.
why would nt4 server not be affected???
ASKER
UPDATE
just installed a new hard drive, reset bios to factory defaults, yes it's the latest bios version available.
tried fresh install of win2000- locks up, will not install.
disabled power managment in bios, installed with no problems.
Rebooted several times, shut off and starts fine while warm.
shut down and let cool off for 1 hour. restart, same old hangup, when it gets to second (GUI) windows is starting up screen - it freezes at the half way point on progress bar about at the end of 1999.( this drive works fine in another laptop)
shutdown, cool for 1 hour- install a dual boot win98/NT4server drive.
Boots up NT4 server with no delays. will not boot up to win98 on same drive- must warm up 1st
Maybe I will set it up as a NT4 workstation or leave it as is with a NT4 server O.S.
to recap-
1. I have narrowed this down to a temperature related problem for the Win98 or Win2000 O.S. but it's ok on a NT4 server O.S.
2. victor2001prince-There is no "post beep" problem
3. Jimbo99-Dell is out of the question- have you had to deal with them on a technical repair problem over the last 12 months? I have logged over 24 hours on the phone with them in the last 12 months over just a few computers to convince them they screwed up- which they agree to, only to cancel any repairs or parts and start over again etc etc..
4. may flash the bios witth the same version again- maybe Dell messed it up when they installed the new M.B.
5. noticed I have boosted the points to 500 for someone that can solve this for me.
just installed a new hard drive, reset bios to factory defaults, yes it's the latest bios version available.
tried fresh install of win2000- locks up, will not install.
disabled power managment in bios, installed with no problems.
Rebooted several times, shut off and starts fine while warm.
shut down and let cool off for 1 hour. restart, same old hangup, when it gets to second (GUI) windows is starting up screen - it freezes at the half way point on progress bar about at the end of 1999.( this drive works fine in another laptop)
shutdown, cool for 1 hour- install a dual boot win98/NT4server drive.
Boots up NT4 server with no delays. will not boot up to win98 on same drive- must warm up 1st
Maybe I will set it up as a NT4 workstation or leave it as is with a NT4 server O.S.
to recap-
1. I have narrowed this down to a temperature related problem for the Win98 or Win2000 O.S. but it's ok on a NT4 server O.S.
2. victor2001prince-There is no "post beep" problem
3. Jimbo99-Dell is out of the question- have you had to deal with them on a technical repair problem over the last 12 months? I have logged over 24 hours on the phone with them in the last 12 months over just a few computers to convince them they screwed up- which they agree to, only to cancel any repairs or parts and start over again etc etc..
4. may flash the bios witth the same version again- maybe Dell messed it up when they installed the new M.B.
5. noticed I have boosted the points to 500 for someone that can solve this for me.
ASKER
UPDATE 7/18/03
running fine 24/7 for many months now until recently. Power cord was accidently pulled out- battery ran down. Now it will not fully boot up- gets to the gui "windows is starting" and it hangs.
what ever the temperature related component was, it appears to have failed now.
but of course... I had to put the WinNT4 server drive back in just to see.
of course it boots right up on NT4 server O.S.
So- hardware experts- why will this laptop run on NT4 server- but not on win 98 or Win2000?
running fine 24/7 for many months now until recently. Power cord was accidently pulled out- battery ran down. Now it will not fully boot up- gets to the gui "windows is starting" and it hangs.
what ever the temperature related component was, it appears to have failed now.
but of course... I had to put the WinNT4 server drive back in just to see.
of course it boots right up on NT4 server O.S.
So- hardware experts- why will this laptop run on NT4 server- but not on win 98 or Win2000?
ASKER
Jimbo99
I gave up- spent several more hours with Dell to convince them motherboard was bad. Sent in for repairs, end of story.
points go to you Jimbo99 for the best answer- warranty repair.
never did figure out why NT4 server OS worked though.
I gave up- spent several more hours with Dell to convince them motherboard was bad. Sent in for repairs, end of story.
points go to you Jimbo99 for the best answer- warranty repair.
never did figure out why NT4 server OS worked though.