My laptop hangs on the first screen after I press the power button, it says "Change System Settings, press DEL". When I hit DEL it takes me to another screen that says entering SETUP... and it doesn't do anything after that. When I try using the recovery disk that came with my PC, nothing different happens. Sometimes the first screen never shows up at all. What's wrong with my laptop?
126638
With the Symptoms suggested I think your hard drive failed in your notebook.
22890
Check the BOOT.INI tab if anything else is checked off there it won't do a normal boot.  Also, if you have disabled a critical service or part of Windows, it won't boot normally either.  To see if you can actually disable something Google the item name before you do and usually the first or second result will be a process library telling you what it is.
489952
When you start your computer ...very important as it powers up before you get a full screen, tap on the f2 key....this brings up another way to view a screen that could help.\n\nWhen you see the screen, and if you don't repeat the above process until you do, then it says to press the escape (esc) key to move on....so do that...and see if you get to a windows regular screen....\n\nWindows has many ways to help you, and you are right you have to get to a open screen to use them.\n\nDid you try control, alt and delete key at the same time to get to the task manager?\n\nDid you try clicking in the left corner....to try to bring up the start for your screen?\nIf not go to a computer supply place, and ask them for help....they may.\n\nI've had this problem, and if you slowly work with the above, you will get your screen back....sometimes it's a power surge, and I hope you have your computer plugged into a surge protector strip.
76336
I got a blank screen too. I also tried taking off everything after the nj, but still was blank.
372287
Okay.  Don't panic, but you may have deleted your Windows software. If this is what you were trying to do Congrats, if not lets help you put this thing back together.\n\nYour boot disk isn't working. There are a number of reasons this may be so let me walk you through them.\n\nFirst your bios might not be setup to boot from the floppy (or the cd-rom)  This is how you fix this. Reboot your computer. As it starts up hit the delete key. This should get you into the bios setup screen. You need to set the computer to boot from:     floppy   then   CD-rom  then  hard drive.\nAll bios'es are a little different so your configuration will vary but look for  "Boot"   and  "Boot Device Priority"\n\nSecond your boot disk might not be good.  You should use the install disk of the operating system you want.  (Probably Windows XP)  After you've done the first step (above) you should be able to boot from a CD-rom. So place the install disk into the CD-rom drive and reboot the computer.  After it checks memory and does the "bios stuff" your CD-rom light will blink and the screen will say "press any key to boot from CD..."  When that happens put your hand on the keyboard and press down, or just hit a key. The rest should be a matter of following on-screen directions.  If you need more help  yim me.
173089
If it is a new laptop, bring it back to the store, contact the manufacturer site for help.\nIf it is old, bring it to the store for repair, cause it is a hardware problem, more fix on your end only cause more trouble.\nKeyboard is a very robust device, so if it doesnt function as expected, it got to be hardware.
232789
it should reboot into "normal" mode when you reboot.  It may have a problem still and not want to boot normally.\nIf you press the F8 key when it is booting you should have an option to start normally.\n\nIt can also be set in msconfig. Someone may have set it for safeboot\nsee the symatec link
349260
Try a weird startup key thing- hit F8 as the OS is loading- it will bring you to SafeMode- that shuts down a lot of functions that are not really vital, and you can usually boot up.  First things first, run virus- then run anti-spyware.  Then try start&#92; run type chkdsk it is a hard disk utility.and should help. If you can find nothing wrong, Windows sometimes can right itself once you get it to boot up.  Also look for error logs.  Unless you set it up ahead of time, you will not have internet in SafeMode, so take screenshots of any errors you do not understand (hit printscreen, then open paint and hit Ctrl + V to paste the image in paint.  save it to lookk up on the net later.  After that, restart normally.
552018
First go to control panel > Power Options > Power Schemes > Settings for Home/Office Desk Schemes  and check whether you have activated any auto turn off for HDD or Monitior (say after 10 minutes). \n\nCheck whether you have activated any screen server which gives you a blank screen after certain amount of time.\n\nIf it is not this please make sure your data cable, mouse cable and keyboard cables are properly connected to your system. \n\nMake sure that no automatic shutdown tasks is created earlier.\n\nAlso run a virus scan so as to make sure that there is timer based viruses which activate them selves in a sp. time.
364904
YOU have discovered the problem with buying a pre-loaded system.  If you change the hardware, your OS won't load.\n\nThey got a special price on the OS, BUT it HAS to be used on THEIR system. (SOMETIMES even a minor upgrade, an additional PCI board, etc., is enough to cause it to stop working.  THEY wantyou to buy a NEW one, NOT upgrade the existing machine!!) \n\nThe ONLY solution is to either reinstall ALL the original parts; or buy, or download a new OS for your "upgraded" system, depending on the OS you decide to use.
326389
Your problem sounds like a fried CPU and or motherboard.\n\nMy first guess would have been the power supply, but you say you already tried another one. Was this other one brand new? Maybe you have two bad power supplies?\n\nIt may also be another piece of malfunctioning hardware; such as your RAM or expansion cards. Try pulling them out one by one, attempting power up each time. \n\nIf you want to bypass the power button, follow the wire that comes off the back of the button and see where it plugs into your motherboard. Unplug the wire from the board and and stick a flat head screw driver between the two metal pins where you removed the plug. Try not to touch ANY OTHER PARTS except the two pins. The screwdriver must be touching both pins at the same time. It usually turns right on, so if no response after a few seconds, I'd guess no luck with bypassing the power button.\n\nAny questions, email me \ncjmclellen@yahoo.com\n\nBe sure to try my new registry cleaning software, PCWindex, on download.com or pcwindex.com....
502147
2 hours make it seem to me that some piece of Hardware is faulty. I have use this method several times.\n\nRemove an item of hardware you don't need. ie Sound card, or Network card, USB Devices. Graphics card, if it has on board Graphics.\n\nIf it hangs, remove something else. It works you've found your problem.\n\nOf course replace anything which isn't considered problematic
607828
Run msconfig and see if it is in the startup. If so you can tell it not to run.  If it is not there then scan the regustry (regedit - find).  this is more dangerous as you can trash your system if you delete the wrong thing.
198609
reboot and keep pressing F8    Till you get to the screen which will ask you waht to do and start in normal mode.  Try this. usually, you press delete to skip when you start   its written at the bottom of the screen when you start.
216206
your hard drive or master boot record may be corrupt or failed.  try resolving the bios boot.  when your Dell starts up go to the start up menu. it's either F2 or F12 it will show the option when you start the laptop.  once you are at the startup menu, do the following: turn on caps lock, scroll lock, and number lock. hold down the Alt key press the f key, then the e key, then the b key.  this will force your Dell to perform an automatic IDE configuration search.  It's a little secret I learned from the Dell enterprise support team.  I work with Dell computers in the business world.  If this doesn't find the hard drive, you will need to call Dell support.
36334
your pc may be having a problem with 'standby' or 'hybernation' mode.  Just power-off the PC.  If this problem reoccurs, then you can dis-able standby and/or hybernation mode.\n\nthe control is located in start---control panel--power settings.
2018
1) check for ventilation problems; CPUs (the core of your PC system) tend to get a lot of heat.\n2) if you have recently added new hardware (supposing you use Windows) go to "My PC(Right Mouse Click)Properties|Hardware|Device Manager", look for the new device, select its properties (again right button click, then Properties) and Disable it (there's a button just for that).\n\nIf those didn't work, then repost your question but explain you have checked for CPU temperature and new devices.\n\nHave a nice day without computer hangs!