ElGuapodeColorado wrote:
Inspiron 8100, running WinXP Pro, hangs immediately after diplaying
the blue Dell intro screen, at which point, it displays a blank
screen and a blinking cursor and goes no further.

I reset both the HDD and the CDR/DVD with no success. I tried starting
it by simutaneously pressing Fn and the Start button. This, produced
a different screen with the same results; however, I was able to enter
the BIOS via F2, which I could not do by just pressing the start
button. I did get one complete boot to OS via this method; however, it
hung on the next attempt to start it. Now, I can't even get into setup
via this start method.

I removed the CDR and the system booted to the OS after a 'no optical
drive found' message. I then replaced the CDR and the system
successfully booted to the OS several times over the next couple of
days. This success was short-lived as the it is back to hanging
mid-boot after I left it running for awhile.

I swapped HD and CDR with a Latitude 840C. The 840C recognized the
Inspiron drives, but the Inspiron continued to hang on boot with the
840C drives installed.

Bottom line: the system hangs mid-boot, won't access the BIOS, the CDR
and HDD appear to be operational when tried in another laptop,
swapping out the HD and CDR did not solve the issue, it boots to the
OS every so often. At present, it will not complete the boot process.

I have one of these and it does rhis once in a while. It's a known Dell
issue.
When the system hangs,
1) Remove the AC adapter from the back of the computer.
2) Remove the battery - pull it out enough to disengage it.
3) The thing should now be off.
4) Plug the battery pack back in and power up the computer.
5) Shut down.
6) Plug the AC adapter back in and power on again.

The battery has a chip in it that causes a conflict and halts the boot
process for some reason.

This works for me but YMMV.

--
John R. Carroll
Machining Solution Software, Inc.
Los Angeles San Francisco
www.machiningsolution.com