I had a virus on my computer so I performed a PC restore by holding Ctrl + F11 during start up on my Dell PC. The restore was performed successfully but during startup it gets stuck and displays the following:

"Loading PBR for descriptor 1... done
Starting Windows 95..."

It stays in this state and I don't know what to do about it.

I have the ability to press F12 during start up and select certain start up options but I am not familiar with this.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Moonman,

Good to see you have found this great and helpful forum.

Did you get help with it on another forum to clean your computer by a Malware Expert, or are you telling us you only used System Restore?

You have not given us what the "certain startup options" were, but choose "Last known working configuration" if it is offered to you.

If you can boot up, please go here and follow this link for New Members

Keep us posted,

kind regards,

Thanks for the response Tallin.

I did not seek assistance from a Malware expert for the virus prior to performing the PC restore. My PC has been performing poorly for quite some time so I wanted to start from scratch. To clarify, I did not perform a "system restore" through Windows, I performed a "PC restore" by pressing Ctrl + F11 at start up which brings up a Symentac utility installed by Dell that restores the PC to it's original state when shipped.

The start up options I am given after powering the PC is F2 = Set up and F12 = Boot Menu.

If I do not hit a key, a black screen with "www.dell.com" at the top displays "Loading PBR for descriptor 1... done, Starting Windows 95..." and stays there.

Windows never starts.

Any thoughts?

Moonman,

I see, I am sorry I misunderstood your first post. Two things come to mind:

• Has your computer got a warranty on it? Whether it has or not
• I would contact Dell for assistance

It seems to me you need to choose one or the other of the two options you have, but I have no experience with Dell with these options, so hopefully another volunteer will come by who has.

My advice however would be to phone Dell as I am sure you have a tehnical contact number to receive help when purchasing a Dell system.

kind regards,

My PC is over 5 years old so there is no warranty.

Any other advice from someone would be greatly appreciated.

Hi
Here's the link that will tell you all you want to know about the Dell DSR utility (and probably a lot more you didn't really want to know!)
http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/fixes.htm
Good luck
Regards
paws

Thanks Paws.

The document you provided deals with fixing the PC restore feature (Ctrl + F11). The PC restore feature worked properly from what I can gather. I just can't load Windows now. Witht hat said I went ahead and downloaded the fix program as suggested in the document and performed the recommendations, but the utility did not find any errors with the utility so there was nothing for it to fix.

Im not certain, but I am thinking that I need to reinstall Windows. The problem is that Dell didn't supply a Windows OS disc, stating that the PC restore feature takes its place, which is a bit ironic since it seems that the PC restore feature is what prevented Windows from starting??!!!??

I am trying to get help from Dell but it is a slow process.

Any other ideas out there?

Hi,
Thats the point.... the Dell DSR procedure didn't work correctly......that's why the machine won't start Windows.
The link will help you find the cause and gives details of how to proceed.
regards
paws

But the utility I downloaded and ran didn't find any problems to fix. Everything came back as "good".

Ok Moonman, here we go...
Contact Dell Customer Service @ 1-800-433-9014, as them to send you a "Factory Restore disk". Even though your warranty is expired they might hook you up for cheap, or free. Another option is get a copy of WindowsXP and a "Dell Driver" disk. Most cmpanies offer these items at request. Just be prepared to pay a few bucks ($20?) for the disks, because of the age of the PC.

There is always the EXPENSIVE easy option of buying a new PC/notebook. Decent PC's are available for $400+ (at least in Souther California). This might not be a bad idea, because i just stripped a bunch of useless files of of a 4 year old Dell, and I noticed that it only had 32MB RAM. I dont know the specifics or Mod's or your system. But, if you havent installed any additional hardware/ memory on the Dell, then you are probably hovering around there too.


If you wanna salvage your PC try this...

• Get to another PC and download and burn to a disk, the Dell drivers you need from this link. And you can download Dell Supported Operating system drivers from here. And JIC, the Dell Enterprise BIOS & firmware at THIS LINK
• Purchase and install more RAM. Check THIS LINK out for RAM for Dell info. Installing RAM is fairly easy after you get the TOWER case off.

To check your computers memory AFTER you install the replacement drivers:

• 1 Open the System Profiler by clicking here.
  
  
• 2 Click Yes, I do agree to start the tool.
  
  
  
• 3 Write down the Service Tag under General Information.
  
  
• 4 Click Memory on the left side of the profiler window.
  
  
• 5 Count the memory slots listed (such as Memory Slot 1, Memory Slot 2). The number of entries tells you how many slots are being used.
  
  
• 6 Write down the amount of memory in each slot then add the memory amounts together to get the total amount of memory in the system.
  
  The number of slots being used and the amount of memory in each slot, is your memory configuration.

Note:
Generally, Dell ships computers with a single memory module in one slot or two memory modules of equal size in two slots of the computer.

To check your Dell's memory capability click HERE, and follow the directions.


Hope this helps..

-nocturnal-001

Hi Nocturnal-001,

Great post, but can you link to the quote below for the OP please?

• Open the System Profiler by clicking here.

Another suggestion would be for Moonman to download SIW.exe which will give Ram running/amount and type along with all specification for the system that are required.

Hope this helps.

kind regards,

Tallin,

The link you requested is HERE.

n-001

Nocturnal-001,

Great, the OP thanks you.

kind regards,

Nocturnal-001 and Tallin thank you both for your help.

In reagards to the following:

"Get to another PC and download and burn to a disk, the Dell drivers you need from this link."
My PC is not listed on this page

"And you can download Dell Supported Operating system drivers from here."
I entered my service tag and saved the following files to my desktop of a different PC:

Application: Dell Driver Reset Tool
Application: Sonic Solutions Record Now 7.0
Audio: Analog Devices ADI 198x
BIOS: Dell Dimension System BIOS A03
Removable Storage: Philips DVD8631 HH 16X DVD +/-RW
Chip Set: Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility v.5.0
Communications: Intel 537E, v.9X, PCI Modem v.2.28
Communications: Intel 537E, v.9x, PCI Modem v.2.15
Communications: Intel 537E, v.9x, PCI Modem v.2.0
Communications: Intel 537E, v.9x, PCI Modem v.1.12
Diagnostics: Dell 32 Bit Diagnostics GUI Version
Network: Intel ® PRO/100 VE Network Connection v.8.4
Network: Intel ® PRO/100 VE Network Connection v.7.1
System Utilities: Dell Desktop System Software
Video: Intel 82865G Graphics Controller

Currently the above files are saved as a zip file with 13 .exe files and two more zip files inside:

"And JIC, the Dell Enterprise BIOS & firmware at THIS LINK"
There are no download options on this page.

"Purchase and install more RAM. Check THIS LINK out for RAM for Dell info. Installing RAM is fairly easy after you get the TOWER case off."
I have already purchased and installed the maximum amount of 2GB RAM

I was only able to download files from 1 of the 3 links but it looks like I may have all the files I need. Could someone confirm if the files listed above are all that I need? If so, is there a certain way I need to burn these files on to a disk and then load on my PC? As mentioned, currently the files are saved in a zip file on my desktop of another computer. Im not sure if I need to load these files individually on the disk or if they need to be burned as an image file or what, so please advise. Any detailed steps you can provide to download these files would be great.

From what I understand, I need to download the drivers first and then download Windows. Is that correct?

Dell is sending me the Windows XP OS disk.

Thanks again.

Anytime