Other dell dimension 5150 fails to start

bzgti

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I have a dell dimension 5150 that attempts to start for about 5-10 seconds, fails, then retries to start again and is stuck in this loop. I have seen many reports of psu, motherboards and other components being replaced. Anyone have suggestions for a more definitive answer? As its an old desktop i dont want to end up firing in different components.
 
Sounds like it's caught in a boot loop? Hit F8 on boot and disable automatic restart, this should produce a bluescreen and a code you can research.
 
More simply..5150 normally shipped with Windows XP. Grab a copy on CD of something that is bootable (Hirens, Ubuntu, etc). Restart the system, select boot options, choose from CD. If it boots and is stable you can forget hardware.

Assuming it boots try repeatedly pressing F8 on the next restart to see if Safe Mode is accessible. Let us know the results.
 
If it was memory it would present a black screen without any audible beeps.
If it was HDD you would still see post boot screen text and a warning of the computer being unable to find the HDD.
It's possible that there is a memory problem but to me it's pointing most likely to software issue (OS).

Do what Him Her said, grab yourself a copy of Hirens Boot CD, burn via your preferred software of choice. Hit F2/Del/F10 several times after pushing the power on button to enter BIOS, scroll over to Advanced/Boot Sequence and change the CD/DVD to be first boot device. Once you've done that hit F10 to exit then press Y followed by Enter to save changes. Now with the boot cd in your disk drive you should automatically be prompted with the hirens menu. Select mini xp and see if it boots. If it does you can surely rule out hardware as an issue. From here you can just re-install windows and be happy again :D.
 
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