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F1 To Retry Boot F2 To Setup Utility

7 min read

This thread's last reply is from . Advice, software, and links below may be out of date — treat specific steps and download links with caution.

Post #1 last edited
This one hit me out of the blue. I come home from work to a sluggish computer (niece had it on all day– claims ONLY went to mail, and did som AIMing). Decide to reboot and refresh it. On reboot I received the following message on a pitch black screen: "Press F1 to retry boot, Press F2 to enter setup utility". Has anyone heard of this? Hitting f1 does absolutely nothing and f2 brings me to the bios where it looks as if nothing is identified. After letting the computer sit off for a few hours, the comp did "seem" to boot. It them of course went into a scandisk, which I let run through and after resetting me active desktop, I thought I was back in business. I tried to do a system restore (I had just made a restore point over the weekend) and the restore point did not exist (but that is another issue). So I tried to run a full virus scan. Program stuck and did not respond. Tried to pull up a browser page. Nothing. So I thought I would reboot again. Well that damnable message came back. So I shut down and went to bed. Hoping for inspiration to hit me in the night. Well, this morning I was able to get the boot back, but stil cannot bring anything (Browser page) up. My virus program did start this time but had to leave for work before completion. Someone suggested it maybe my battery. Has anyone ever heard of such a thing happening and could it in fact be as simple as replacing the onboard battery? Or am I amd my computer totally FUBAR? Thanks for ANY SUGGESTIONS OR HELP that can be given. mickey7
Post #2
Well. its possible the battery may need replacing but normally you would see some thing like "CMOS Failure" or if not BIOS would be set to default each time you reboot. The way of course to check that is change a setting or two then reboot back to BIOS and see if they changed back. It sounds as if your using Windows 98..is that correct? If not could you tell us what OS.. CPU.. ram… etc.
Post #3
Sorry about that should have put that all in to start. I am using a Dell Dimension 8100 1.3G processor with Me and 256RDRam. 40G harddrive. I think I need to purge the NVRAM. Is that what the options seem to be? Also, any clue as to why I keep losing restore points in my system restore. They show up after I create them and all but whenever I go to actually use one – they aren't there, none are. I have over half my drive free as well so I don't think that my space is an issue with this. Thanks again
Post #4
Well you need to remember that system restore is not a utility. Its ment for a "last resort". I take it you can get it to boot up to Windows correct..? Also how many icons do you have in your system tray ..? I have a few pointers I can give you on helping preformance, although thats not going to help the boot problem. It is possible that the MBR corrupt, in which case you can repair it by using your startup floppy disk. But you need careful using fdisk /mbr - fixboot commands. Those commands do not support dynamic disks and if you accidentally erase MBR then your basically sol. Lets try cleaning up startup menu and a few other things and see if that might help straighten things out some. Post back and let us know this: How many icons are in your system tray, and can you get it to boot to Windows. (system tray is where the clock is)
Post #5
well I tried the NVRAM reset procedure and that seemed to fix the boot prblem. I then proceeded to run spyware programs etc… to make sure my system was clean. This seemed to be a good thing and after I "fixed" or "cleaned' the spyware out – it stated that it could not get rid of 2 because of possibly being in use yada yada yada. Anyway it said it sould rid them on reboot if I wanted to run the program on start up – so I clicked yes and closed out of the program and attempted to reboot. Program hung on closing and locked system up. On reset of system what happens, that wonderful black screen and F1……. message again. I shut down and went to bed.. LOL At any rate I also heard that that problem may also have something to do with hard drive failure and to shut the system down and make sure all cables plugs etc are securely in place. Do you recommed this as well? Thanks again for all your help and by the way, excuse my ignorance, but what is MBR?
Post #7
Ok this is what happened last night: Ok I am totally perplexed. I am not sure what to do with a Dell diagnostic disk. Should I download that? I checked all cabling on outside at leaset because I had four green lights. I then booted up – it ran scan disk due to the previous improper shut down and all was well again. I could surf and had total access to my system. I closed out of all browsers and double checked for any viruses. This time it found 3 variations of the Trojan.ByteVerify virus. I quarantined then deleted all instances of this. It was suggested to then boot up in safe mode an run another full scan. I did this with no resulting viruses. I go to bring the system back up in regular mode and I get that stupid F1 to retry boot error again. I then redid the NVRAM process and that did not work. I checked the lights on the back and have 3 green and one yellow/amber. ABC are green and D is not. I looked on the Dell site at the 8100 chart and it says:

"Other failure. See "Contacting Dell" in the Solutions Guide for instructions on obtaining technical assistance.

Does anyone know how I can correct this or am I doomed to a cycle of partially working system or am I out of luck? Thanks for any assistance.

With that said, the system booted up normally again this morning – I am confused if my system is FUBAR, messed up or driving my crazy. Well, I got on and ran the hijack log, I can see somethings in there that should go away but would really appreciate a more knowledgable analysis, so here it is:

Logfile of HijackThis v1.98.2
Scan saved at 10:27:15 AM, on 9/17/2004
Platform: Windows ME (Win9x 4.90.3000)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP1 (6.00.2800.1106)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KERNEL32.DLL
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSGSRV32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\mmtask.tsk
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MPREXE.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSTASK.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DEVLDR16.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\TASKMON.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SYSTRAY.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\MOTIVE\MOTMON.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\NORTON ANTIVIRUS\NAVAPW32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WMIEXE.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\QTTASK.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\HICTVOXA.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\180AX.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\AKUTNIBCF.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\NAVISEARCH\BIN\NLS.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\AWS\WEATHERBUG\WEATHER.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\TAPISRV.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DDHELP.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\ANALOGX\POW\POW.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\DESKTOP\HIJACKTHIS.EXE

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.my.yahoo.com/
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings,ProxyOverride = 127.0.0.1
R3 - URLSearchHook: (no name) - {20EC3D2D-33C1-4C9D-BC37-C2D500688DA2} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: AcroIEHlprObj Class - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\ADOBE\ACROBAT 5.0\READER\ACTIVEX\ACROIEHELPER.OCX
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {AC109D01-32D6-4EB5-8300-D3C5EBAC7C83} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: NAV Helper - {BDF3E430-B101-42AD-A544-FADC6B084872} - C:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\NavShExt.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\SDHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: My Search BHO - {014DA6C1-189F-421a-88CD-07CFE51CFF10} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\MYSEARCH\BAR\1.BIN\S4BAR.DLL
O2 - BHO: CControl Object - {3643ABC2-21BF-46B9-B230-F247DB0C6FD6} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\E2G\IEBHOS.DLL
O2 - BHO: Url Catcher - {CE31A1F7-3D90-4874-8FBE-A5D97F8BC8F1} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\BARGAIN BUDDY\BIN\APUC.DLL (file missing)
O2 - BHO: ADP UrlCatcher Class - {F4E04583-354E-4076-BE7D-ED6A80FD66DA} - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSBE.DLL
O2 - BHO: NLS UrlCatcher Class - {AEECBFDA-12FA-4881-BDCE-8C3E1CE4B344} - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\NVMS.DLL
O2 - BHO: CB UrlCatcher Class - {CE188402-6EE7-4022-8868-AB25173A3E14} - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSCB.DLL
O3 - Toolbar: &Radio - {8E718888-423F-11D2-876E-00A0C9082467} - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSDXM.OCX
O3 - Toolbar: (no name) - {0E1230F8-EA50-42A9-983C-D22ABC2E0099} - (no file)
O3 - Toolbar: Norton AntiVirus - {42CDD1BF-3FFB-4238-8AD1-7859DF00B1D6} - C:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\NavShExt.dll
O3 - Toolbar: My &Search Bar - {014DA6C9-189F-421a-88CD-07CFE51CFF10} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\MYSEARCH\BAR\1.BIN\S4BAR.DLL
O3 - Toolbar: (no name) - {BDF6CE3D-F5C5-4462-9814-3C8EAC330CA8} - (no file)
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ScanRegistry] C:\WINDOWS\scanregw.exe /autorun
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TaskMonitor] C:\WINDOWS\taskmon.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [PCHealth] C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\Support\PCHSchd.exe -s
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SystemTray] SysTray.Exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LoadPowerProfile] Rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MotiveMonitor] C:\Program Files\Motive\motmon.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NAV Agent] C:\PROGRA~1\NORTON~1\NAVAPW32.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Symantec NetDriver Monitor] C:\PROGRA~1\SYMNET~1\SNDMON.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\QTTASK.EXE" -atboottime
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [vhqgmcc] C:\WINDOWS\hictvoxa.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [180ax] c:\windows\180ax.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [OSS] C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\OSSPROXY.EXE -boot
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TV Media] C:\PROGRAM FILES\TV MEDIA\Tvm.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [lmp] C:\WINDOWS\lmp.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [xvpbqp] C:\WINDOWS\akutnibcf.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NaviSearch] C:\Program Files\NaviSearch\bin\nls.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [BullsEye Network] C:\Program Files\BullsEye Network\bin\bargains.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [devldr16.exe] C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\devldr16.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [LoadPowerProfile] Rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [SchedulingAgent] mstask.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [ScriptBlocking] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\Script Blocking\SBServ.exe" -reg
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Weather] C:\PROGRAM FILES\AWS\WEATHERBUG\WEATHER.EXE 1
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Microsoft Works Update Detection] C:\Program Files\Microsoft Works\WkDetect.exe
O4 - Startup: PowerReg SchedulerV2.exe
O4 - Startup: Adobe Gamma Loader.lnk = C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Calibration\Adobe Gamma Loader.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: &Define - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Reference 2001\A\ERS_DEF.HTM
O8 - Extra context menu item: Look Up in &Encyclopedia - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Reference 2001\A\ERS_ENC.HTM
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\PROGRA~1\MESSEN~1\MSMSGS.EXE
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: MSN Messenger Service - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\PROGRA~1\MESSEN~1\MSMSGS.EXE
O9 - Extra button: Encarta Encyclopedia - {2FDEF853-0759-11D4-A92E-006097DBED37} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Reference 2001\A\ERS_ENC.HTM
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Encarta Encyclopedia - {2FDEF853-0759-11D4-A92E-006097DBED37} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Reference 2001\A\ERS_ENC.HTM
O9 - Extra button: Define - {5DA9DE80-097A-11D4-A92E-006097DBED37} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Reference 2001\A\ERS_DEF.HTM
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Define - {5DA9DE80-097A-11D4-A92E-006097DBED37} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Reference 2001\A\ERS_DEF.HTM
O9 - Extra button: AIM - {AC9E2541-2814-11d5-BC6D-00B0D0A1DE45} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\AIM95\AIM.EXE
O9 - Extra button: Net2Phone - {4B30061A-5B39-11D3-80F8-0090276F843F} - C:\Program Files\Net2Phone\Net2fone.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Net2Phone - {4B30061A-5B39-11D3-80F8-0090276F843F} - C:\Program Files\Net2Phone\Net2fone.exe
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSJAVA.DLL
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSJAVA.DLL
O9 - Extra button: Dell Home - {08DCFC6C-B6E4-480C-95A4-FC64F37B787E} - http://www.dellnet.com (file missing) (HKCU)
O9 - Extra button: WeatherBug - {AF6CABAB-61F9-4f12-A198-B7D41EF1CB52} - C:\PROGRA~1\AWS\WEATHE~1\Weather.exe (HKCU)
O14 - IERESET.INF: START_PAGE_URL=http://www.dellnet.com
O16 - DPF: {5F03EAB4-1AD5-11D4-AE99-0050DAC24E8F} - http://www.iwon.com/ct/in_wn/iwonslot1,0,1,5.cab
O16 - DPF: {90B7E2B3-2E56-4571-9E54-823E33C4B4B4} (TracMan Control) - http://mirror.worldwinner.com/games/v45/tracman/tracman.cab
O16 - DPF: {BA94245D-2AA0-4953-9D9F-B0EE4CC02C43} (Tilecity Control) - http://mirror.worldwinner.com/games/v40/ti…ty/tilecity.cab
O16 - DPF: {9903F4ED-B673-456A-A15F-ED90C7DE9EF5} (Sol Control) - http://mirror.worldwinner.com/games/v40/sol/sol.cab
O16 - DPF: {9DBAFCCF-592F-FFFF-FFFF-00608CEC297C} - http://download.weatherbug.com/minibug/tri…uginstaller.cab
O16 - DPF: {6B4788E2-BAE8-11D2-A1B4-00400512739B} (PWMediaSendControl Class) - http://216.249.25.152/code/PWActiveXImgCtl.CAB
O16 - DPF: {CD17FAAA-17B4-4736-AAEF-436EDC304C8C} (ContentAuditX Control) - http://a840.g.akamai.net/7/840/5805/v1503/…uditControl.cab
O16 - DPF: {2B96D5CC-C5B5-49A5-A69D-CC0A30F9028C} (MiniBugTransporterX Class) - http://download.weatherbug.com/minibug/tri…Transporter.cab?
O16 - DPF: {205FF73B-CA67-11D5-99DD-444553540002} (CInstall Class) - http://www.wildtangent.com/webdrivers/webi…ave/Install.cab
O16 - DPF: {EB387D2F-E27B-4D36-979E-847D1036C65D} (QDiagHUpdateObj Class) - http://h30043.www3.hp.com/hpdj/en/check/qdiagh.cab?315
O16 - DPF: {DF780F87-FF2B-4DF8-92D0-73DB16A1543A} (PopCapLoader Object) - http://www.shockwave.com/content/zuma/popcaploader_v5.cab
O16 - DPF: {62969CF2-0F7A-433B-A221-FD8818C06C2F} (Blockwerx Control) - http://mirror.worldwinner.com/games/v45/bl…x/blockwerx.cab
O16 - DPF: {90A29DA5-D020-4B18-8660-6689520C7CD7} (DmiReader Class) - http://support.us.dell.com/us/en/systempro…/SysProfLCD.CAB
O16 - DPF: {8522F9B3-0000-0000-0000-000000000000} - http://38.144.58.87/sex/xxxmovies.cab
O16 - DPF: {0B72CCA4-5F11-11D0-9CB5-0000C0EC9FDB} (Street Technologies ActiveX Control Object) - http://partners.netgear.com/education/ment…ic/streetno.cab
O16 - DPF: {87067F04-DE4C-4688-BC3C-4FCF39D609E7} - http://download.websearch.com/Dnl/T_50038/QDow_AS2.cab
O16 - DPF: ConferenceRoom Java Client - http://nsw-chat.bigpond.com/java/cr.cab
O16 - DPF: {ABD45F35-2E4C-44C0-A075-6EF1DE75398E} - http://cdn.riversoftware.net/x0ff.cab
O16 - DPF: {EDFCDAF5-95D9-40E9-BBE6-10C33190C3EF} (cGameControl Class) - http://zone.msn.com/bingame/rmcb/default/RumbleCube.cab
O16 - DPF: {E0CE16CB-741C-4B24-8D04-A817856E07F4} (IObjSafety.DemoCtl) - http://cabs.media-motor.net/cabs/awaybox.cab

Again thanks for your help.
Post #8
Ok got the hijack log assessed and corrected (see hijack forum) and this is where I am at: Sorry for the long delay, but I lost power (thanks Ivan) when I wanted to run the Dell diagnostic. Once I got that back I ran the diagnostic with no errors or failures to report. I also posted a hijack log on another board and cleared all that out. But here is my problem, the error again came back. It seems that my system will run fine, I can even reboot it a few times and no problems, but after a few hours I shut down or reboot and get the error again. It I let it sit for a few hours or overnight, it will boot normally and allow me access to everything. Then boom the error again. Eventhough the time and everything is still very accurate, could there be a simple battery problem and that needs to be replaced? Would it hurt my system further to just go ahead and replace it anyway? I have to go into the system and give everything a good reseating and cleaning as a last resort besides the battery. HELP PLEASE!!! Ok I am at a complete loss now. I have replaced the battery, made sure all connections were tight on the interior and exterior. I reconnected and voila, booted up normally and again I was able to go and do anything. So I thought let's just see. So I shut down, and waited a few minutes and turned it on again. And WHAM! that dang nabbit f1 message again. Any further advice? I really have way to much on there at this point to wipe it and start again. (I really hate to do that too. ) And system restore is no help – it creates points but then when you go to use them they are gone.
Post #9
Mickey7, it seems you have tried many things and nothing has worked! I believe the problem could be hardware rather than software. I recommend to carefully look at the summary displayed after the pc use the scan disk utility and see if there are any BAD SECTORS found on the hard drive. If so, this could be the problem. Sometimes malicious codes target your MBR, damaging this part of the disk. This does not mean the drive is no longer useable, you may even be able to fix this drive by reformatting it, but in some cases this does not work (plus you should be very familiar with the commands needed for the formatting process or have a good software that can do the work for you). So, if you have exhausted every other measure without much luck, and find bad sectors on your hard drive, you could go and reformat it. Remember, you will need to save your files—they will be deleted. And make sure you have all the drivers currently installed on your pc on a disk. When you enter BIOS and cannot see your drive(s) listed, even though they are connected properly on the board, I’d be willing to say with quite certainty that the problem is hardware. I had the same problem before and it was due to a bad Hard Drive. Also, my friend had the same problem and it was due to a bad memory module. So, this problem can be caused by a number of reasons, ultimately, hardware related. Other reasons: Bad IDE controllers (rare, but could happen) IDE channel conflicts Bad Memory Modules Damaged Hard Drive Bad Motherboard (very rare, but could also happen)
Post #10
Yes, may be a failing Hard Drive. Dell used a lot of the 40 G IBM DeskStar disk drives. These drives got the nickname DeathStar drives for a reason. Hard Drives are rather cheap. Get yourself a new one and transfer all the data from the old one to the new one while you still can.
Post #11
Thanks all for the input – I think that is my assessment as well. Because no longer am I getting just the F1 error no it has the line "primary 0 hard drive failure before it. So I am going to try once more to reseat everything and boot up normal a last time and burn backups then see what's what. Do you think if I slave a hard drive on another computer set up the OS then bring it to mine and slave my old drive to it I can work that way?
Post #12 last edited
Also any suggestions on a decent drive that is not too costly. Because I was thinking that for the cost of a couple of drives I could probably get another computer (w/o monitor of course)
Post #13

well I tried the NVRAM reset procedure and that seemed to fix the boot prblem.

For me too. THANK YOU (boot problem, press F1 to retry blah blah)

Installing windows… :D