Need help!

[teaster]

I'm sorry but I really don't know what I"m doing at all. I'm a nurse....and no where near computer savy.

BUT

I have an old computer that I was given. and it was full of 'stuff' so i wasn't able to download any programs I wanted. it kept saying....not enough disc space. so I found something in 'C' that asked if I wanted to restore to factory settings...so I said yes....it said everything that's been added will be deleted....which was fine with me...because I didn't have anything personal on it. soooooooooo, it starts some kind of set up....then gets to a point that says clone finished. contr alt del to restart...which I did. and now all I get is the regular start up that tells you what system you have and at the bottom it says to enter <del> for start up mode (maybe??) and then it goes to a blinking cursor and stops.

It is OLD. A Dell. Pent 2. Wind NT and 95 it says on the front. I Have a windows xp disc I was going to use to install after I restored it...but I somehow messed it all up. I tried putting the windows xp disc in hoping it would start up....but nothing....just the darned blinking cursor.

did I completely destroy it? or is there hope?

any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Tracy

 

[macdude425]

OK, did you set BIOS to boot of a CD? You should be able to hold F2 right after turning it on, and it will bring you to BIOS. Snoop around for a setting for "First Boot Device", or something similar. Set it to CD-ROM, hit F10, and tell it to save the settings.

 

[teaster]

thanks

I'll go try that now.....thanks for replying!

 

[teaster]

ok...holding the F2 button while starting resulted in a beeping and then the blank screen with the blinking cursor.

Am I out of luck?

 

[teaster]

I am able to get into the "set up" by pressing (del) and when I hit F1 for help once I'm in set up....it says the setup changes the system behavior by modifying the BIOS config. can I do anything from there? I can't get anywhere by hitting the F2 or anything else for that matter.

power on....

shows....ram pent 2...all that info....press <del> for set up....then...blinking cursor. if I try anything on the keyboard other than del....I get nothing.

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

From BIOS you should see a boot order, set it to CD first

 

[teaster]

I can't get to bios. when I try to use F8 (I even tried F2 like the previous post suggested) it just doesn't do anything but beep. when I let up it says to see event log in set up. when I go there....and look up the event log..it says keyboard nonfunctional but then I can press F10 to save and exit.........so I don't understand.......

 

[amdrocks]

set up means Bios in Dell's comp.
have you find anything says boot order or something like that?

 

[amdrocks]

Also, F8 has nothing relates to start Bios set up.
I think for Dell it's either Del or F2

 

[joshd]

is there anything else when you have the flashing cursor? one on my old win98 beast of a computer it said it could not find win.com, and gave me a cursor to type where it was, i did not have a clue where it was, and was a complete newb at the time, so i formatted it. i have since learned that win.com was the thing that loads the GUI