# Screen freezes at dell logo



## mr fied (Oct 31, 2008)

*Hi,
I have a dell dimension 5150 (Vista Home Premium) and my screen freezes when i boot up my pc. This happens occasionally. Dell said it was not a hardware problem but they did not spend a lot of time checking into the matter. On their advise i reinstalled Vista after backing up my files but the problem persists. I know it is only occasional but i am worried it may crash. Please can someone help as i am not at all technically minded.*


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## Stu_computer (Jul 7, 2005)

> my screen freezes when i boot up my pc


hello mr fied, welcome to tsf.

what was displayed prior to the freeze and what is displayed when frozen?
how long do you wait before resetting/restarting?

why did dell say it wasn't hardware related?

if you know someone with a CD burner then download and burn one of the puppy linux live CD and boot the pc with it to see if it freezes when using a different OS.


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## mr fied (Oct 31, 2008)

Hi Stu,
Been away for a few days. The screen freezes on bootup. So there is nothing before. I have waited up to 5 mins. but now that i know it won't start, i reboot within secs. and 99% of times it works. This logo screen has a bar which loads up three quaters of the way and stops in 1 out of about ten attempts. Dell said it was not a hardware problem after doing a single test on my pc. I don,t believe them as i wiped out my pc and reinstalled the programs on their advise. Problem is still there. Their tech guys try and get rid of people as soon as possible in my experience. Very bad rep. from other dell users as well.


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## Stu_computer (Jul 7, 2005)

> but now that i know it won't start, i reboot within secs. and 99% of times it works


typical of an aging power supply getting too weak to power the initial load of startup.


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## mr fied (Oct 31, 2008)

Hi Stu,
If that is the case, then what should Dell replace. The pc is guaranteed for all hardware problems for another 6 months and how can i get them to replace the hardware which is at fault?


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Call them back and if you have the case number give it to them if not they can find it from your account tell them it won't boot past the Dell logo screen so how could it be software related because the boot process won't go far enough to start loading windows and you feel it's a power supply issue, it may take some time to get to the 2nd or 3rd support level. Do you have in home service?


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## Stu_computer (Jul 7, 2005)

make a reasonable effort to prove that it is hardware problem.

-remove all usb devices (5150's have problems with front panel usb ports).

-unplug ac power and remove cmos battery, press startup button for 30 seconds to reset psu and drain residual power, leave battery out and let pc set for 30 minutes. do visual inspection and lightly press on cables, ram, and cards to verify no loose connections.

-*leave battery out* and put a win98 startup disk in floppy drive and/or a bootable CD in CD drive (a windows installer or linux CD) then powerup and see if it starts normally-without resetting.

if it does not boot with the floppy or CD then it is not software problem, and you have made a reasonable effort to prove it.


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