Dell computer will not boot

Basically every time i try and boot up my dell laptop, it gets to the first screen (which you can press F2 or F12 to see different options/settings) and then will go no further. I have tried booting it with the Windows disc in the cd rom drive and that got me to the windows loading screen, but then still resulted in a blank screen. I've run diagnostic tests on it, but nothing has seemed to work

Hi sorry to hear of the boot up problem.
The first step is usually to try booting into S"afe Mode "and selecting "last known good configuration…"
Details from here:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/safemodevista.html
Let us know what happens when you try this.
Regards
paws

i can't even manage to get into the Advanced Options Menu. no matter how many times i tap F8. I've tried tapping it from the moment i turn it on, and tapping it as soon as the BIOS post is done. Nothing is working.

Try F5 instead of F8. Sometimes the BIOS or hardware vendors usurp F8 but F5 has always worked for me.

Nope, that doesn't work either. F8 has worked for me in the past, but it's not now. It's like there is nothing after the BIOS runs. Like the boot just stops.

I should probably also add the circumstances of what happened. I had the laptop on, and it was working fine, as usual. I went to go plug in the charger and the screen went black, and it hasn't worked since.

Hi, This could be a tough one to diagnose by long range correspondence… Here's some suggestions for you. 1 Make sure that the computer has no CD discs, thumbdrives, accessories, peripherals connected to it..disconnect everything, ( printers scanners, Ipods, camera cards, etc.check drive trays and remove any discs CD's etc. Make sure that the Internet connecting wire is disconnected (physically pull the plug) from your computer. 2 Disconnect the battery..remove it to somewhere safe. 3 Reconnect only the mains power supply cable (through the correct power supply adapter ) if appropriate. 4 Now try the machine again..try to boot into both normal and if no joy into safe mode…. 5 If your machine remains "dead" then we will need you to run some further tests…. please advise the following: 6 Make and model number of your computer 7 Operating System (Win 7, or Vista SP1 or 2 or XP SP 1, 2 or 3 etc. etc) 8 If there are any LEDs or other lights visible anywhere indicating signs of life. 9 Any movement or sound from the CPU fan (Look underneath the machine) 10 Any sounds or vibration from the (hopefully) spinning hard drive…… (you'll need to feel for this) Finally do you have a bootable Linux disc Puppy or Ubuntu (or do you know how to make one? When you post back let us know the answers to the above please and we will advise the next steps Regards paws