My Dell shat itself again..

[theVOID]

Windows will not open. I get a blue stop screen.

I CAN get the menu screen (PF8) BUT it will not start in safe mode nor restore to to the last configuration which worked.

This is a worry.Thoughtst of bad hard drive are dancing though my head. I obtained an XP install disc. It's not kosher,but I have the product key.

Question: Can I use that to start in DOS mode,and do a disc check? If so,how.

1) Boot from the Windows XP CD

2) During installation you should be presented with the option to enter the recovery console "R"

3) Select the Operating system to repair (Will almost always be "1") and Log into the OS

4) Run Chkdsk for the disk check, if the scan fails you can repair sector by sector with chkdsk volume:/f

5) It sounds like you may have a boot error, try running Fixboot also.

PART TWO (different problem)

Yes,Joyce,this a different PC. I went out and bought a second hand Pentium 4 yesterday (an HP) Yes, I probably paid too much, ($195 box only) AND seem to have been ripped off: It was sold to me as having 512 meg of RAM,it has 256. (248 to be precise) I would not have bought it with only 256. It works but is a little slow .I dont really mind, I'm just annoyed about apparently being cheated. I had a look at the receipt; it doesn't actually say 513meg ,so I may be stuffed. I'll take it back once my Dell is fixed and play nice. I will not argue if he is difficult. I will simply take him to the small claims court. As it turns out,my best mate is a barrister and will advise me.

QUESTION: I'm assuming I cannot cannibalise the RAM from my old Pentium3? (it has 750meg) Its RAM is; DDR SDRAM PC2700 ( voltage SSTL 2-5 (166mgz) The HP uses PC 2700 (300 or 400 mgz) I'm assumimg the two are incompatible?

I'm thinking of formating this machine and installing Linux, probably ubuntu.

The P4 could either take DDR SDRAM or RDRAM, if it is the former then the only problem may be the speed (i.e it's somewhat likely that the speed of the RAM in the P4 is faster than the P3, this means that the faster ram, pc3200 for example, will be clocked down to the PC2700 speed).

More Ram > Fast ram when you're dealing in <1GB.

If it's RDRAM then you can't do jack.

Oh, and try out Suse Linux

I'm not happy.The PC is only 2 years old and this the third time it has needed repairs. I can afford to buy a new one ,but that's not the point. I will spend a couple of hundred to fix it. I suspect it may need a new hardrive. That will be about $120,plus about another $200 fo the techie. I think I'd like to kill something.

I owned a dell once, the best experience i ever had with it was when it was stolen I will never buy one again, they're junk.