For what my opinion is worth, if price is an issue, DELL laptops (other than the very cheapest) do not suffer the quality issues of HP.

The information in the link mayhelp you to understand the codes and proceed further with your investigations.

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/psg/board/message?board.id=General&message.id=2310

4...

One to store for reference.

It would be nice if the solder whizzos here could also come in and share what they've found on repaired laptop mobos.

google "how do i go back to last known good configuration".

Also google "How to restore my windows system".

Also Search this forum. It's all here including the IRQL_NOT stop code.

Well, the starting point is the inside power connector and avenues off that might flex when you wiggle the connector. I suspect you've either got a naff power socket in the laptop or some dry joint...

The additional info you've now provided (wrt your other thread) is key information. If you have to jiggle the power input, there's an internal hardware condition that needs fixing.

That's the end...

Good news. Do please mark this thread as SOLVED.

Not quite. You disconnect the AC and short the CMOS via pins 1 & 2. The CMOS at that stage is on battery. You don't power on at this time.

You then unshort the CMOS by returning the pins to 2...

You haven't mentioned your mobo but then you can Google it as well as I.

There are a number of accessible jumpers on the mobo. You can look at any mobo schematic and you'll find them as a guide...

The only thing you didn't say you did was to short the CMOS where the expected POST configuration is stored. That could explain your first problem. I know you had the CMOS battery out but I only...

"A few beeps" is the message telling you the problem. The Dell service manual tells you what the beep sequence means. It also tells you what the LEDs mean. You can also find this stuff on:
...

Ok - a misunderstanding then.

If your computer case has only one fan, it should blow OUT. So should the CPU fan (the one over the CPU).

Are we getting close? Although I'm worried about why...

I'm surprised to learn that there is no heat sink on your CPU and no fan blowing air away from the CPU. I thought the Pentium 820D required this rig?

Anyone else confirm this?

Other thoughts:

Is the CPU new or transferred from the old mobo? I'm thinking about the plastic (transparent) protector they put over the CPU and which has to be removed otherwise it will...

A heat probe is like a volt meter but it displays temperature. Just Google it. The idea is to verify your temperature. If all the fans etc are working properly, then it might not be temperature. ...

As a temporary lash up to have the system running for long enough to investigate stuff, you could have an external fan bearing down on the CPU. It's a method I've used once before.

If you changed motherboards but used the same CPU & RAM as before, isn't it likely that there's a problem here? Most likely the CPU which glitched when you powered off ungracefully.

Or have I...

I see what you mean. RIP.

Based on what you've said, the next step after opening the laptop and you see the Ctrl+Alt+Del message, press and hold for about 3 seconds your power switch to force the laptop off.

Then turn on...

Shorthand for motherboard.

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/mbsys/bios/bootSequence-c.html

The above link is a very useful explanation of the boot sequence.

I don't see a bad processor here because it is executing to the 75%...

When this happened to me:

1. I had to have the mobo, RAM, PSU and 1 HDD replaced

2. I installed an APC Uninterruptible PSU!

A power outage can glitch and destroy just about anything on an...

When you boot, POST checks everything and compares with the CMOS. A checksum error usually means that CMOS is not in a state of grace and it should be shirted to clear it and then BIOS can...

This usually means that there is a read error or bad sector in the MBR (Master Boot Record). Booting from the Windows CD/DVD into the Repair Console and running FIXMBR should cure the problem if...

I've had something similar once after a power glitch. (That won't happen again!).

The RAM, motherboard and hard drive needed to be replaced (on a PC).

On a laptop, I'd still guess that...

So, reigningscorpio is recommending that we advise in such cases:

On an even date, leave the PC for three days then try turning it on again. On an odd date, do likewise but for two days. Should...

Did your C++ program perform any low level function, overwriting an unfortunate disk sector?

When the old PSU went to Ludwig it could have glitched parts of the motherboard or RAM or the Video card. We don't know anything about your configutration (including the power capacity of your old &...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060

Any use?

If you search on dv9000 you'll find this to be the most problematic laptop in terms of going dead or not booting.

It's probably not what you want to hear, but you're lucky it's lasted 2 years. ...

You've got no replies because nobody can set out such intricate step by step instructions - never mind the time it takes to write this out.

Simply, I feel you're asking too much from us. Just...

If shorting the CMOS to clear it fails, then it's your motherboard.

I had this once and there had been a mains glitch that damaged a number of mobo items and got the same message.

The XP install obviously failed on a driver problem since its origin was a different system.

The Vista install was correctly executed so far as I could see, especially because you reformatted the...

What would I do if I heard a pop from the mobo?

I would assume that this is now an ex-mobo. A pop means that an electrical function has died - maybe a capacitor or even a transistor and mobo...

... and in any case, a smell of anything is a pre-warning of fire risk. So please stop using the laptop and I think you'll find it's coming from the laptop and it's likely to be power ducting wires...

As mentioned by sparkax, a very swift shut down of the PC can be attributed to a short. This causes the PSU to detect an over amperage and it immediately shuts off.

Other causes might be the main...

Booting should be in default VGA mode (640 x 480) @ 60Hz; I wouldn't have expected Windows/'DOS' to kick up to anything higher in vertical refresh terms when booting from CD. Other brainios here...

Apart from worrying about anyone whose website contains the name "Backroads" and who is promoting "custom choppers" this is what I now think.

If there is a power glitch (or indeed a defect in the...

You haven't said whether or not you told the BIOS to boot from CD.

As you have another PC (it seems)), buy a USB external enclosure for your 2½" disk drive. Remove it from the Tosh, place it in the enclosure, put in into the USB slot of the other PC and get your...