Strike f1 to retry boot f2 for setup utility at booting

[cherri]

what do i do when the computer says the above?

 

[Raiddinn]

First, it would be nice if you could start with the basics.

Nice bullet point list with one hardware item per line and the maker/model/approximate age of each part. Specific part numbers would be even better, especially for the RAM.

Processor
Motherboard
RAM
Video Card
PSU
Case
CD Drive
Anything else

Then, answer a couple basic questions:

1) Was the computer ever working? If so, for how long did it work?

2) If it was working, do you know anything that happened immediately before it quit working? Did it say it was doing an update? Did the power go out in your house? Anything at all.

3) How much money, if any, are you willing to devote to fixing this problem if it is from bad hardware?

4) If it ever worked, how much important data is on the hard drive with the boot information on it (usually c:\)

The more you give us, the easier it will be for us to diagnose and fix the problem.

 

[cherri]

I think my son's friend downloaded a virus onto it. I don't have anything stored on it. I was thinking, replace the battery and install windows start-up cd. My kid says I probably need new ram. I don't really want to pay more than 100$. Please advise.

 

[tsnor]

Hi Cheri. At a guess, you will get a ton of help if you just
(1) tell us what computer you have
(2) tell us why you think it's broken.

There are very very few problems that are fixed by "replace the battery and install windows start-up cd". I can think of problems that would be helped by one or the other but not both.

 

[tsnor]

re "Strike f1 to retry boot f2 for setup utility at booting" This usually means the PC is having trouble finding the had drive.

A good starting action would be to press the F2 button. This will take you to the BIOS. Then press the F? key that says 'reset to factory defaults' or similar. Then press the F? key that says 'SAVE and restart'. If we knew what computer you had then we woudl be able to tell you exactly what message you'd see and what to do about it.

There are many failures we can help you with that are not helped with the above procedure. POST what happens when you try the above.

 

[cherri]

K yeah, thanks... It's a dell, but my son has the monitor elsewhere, currently, so I'll have to check the advice given later.

 

[erosas]

re "Strike f1 to retry boot f2 for setup utility at booting" This usually means the PC is having trouble finding the had drive.

A good starting action would be to press the F2 button. This will take you to the BIOS. Then press the F? key that says 'reset to factory defaults' or similar. Then press the F? key that says 'SAVE and restart'. If we knew what computer you had then we woudl be able to tell you exactly what message you'd see and what to do about it.

There are many failures we can help you with that are not helped with the above procedure. POST what happens when you try the above.

I'm having the same problem my computer is a Dell and I need it fixed, you have any idea how to help me fix it

 

[cat1092]

I'm having the same issue with a Dell Dimension 2400, same warning. The OS (XP Home) has been reinstalled once, using the recovery partition, & despite the fact that I increased the RAM from 768MB to 2GB, it runs no faster (that is, when it's running).

I've been told that part of the issue (the slowness) is due to the 2.4GHz Celeron CPU, I intend on replacing it with a compatible Pentium ($10 on eBay). But I need to get this BIOS issue fixed before spending more money on it.

At first, I thought it was the factory keyboard (has a blue/purple connector), as there was a warning about no keyboard detected, but a USB one didn't change anything. 40GB IDE HDD has been cloned to a known working one of 80GB.

If I can get this BIOS issue right, then I can hopefully get the OS right, or make a Linux PC out of it.

Cat