Recently my Dell laptop (SmartStep 250N) powered off during its Windows update.

(I've had some problems with this computer in the past; it hasn't recognized its battery in years. Also, this is the model with the bad heat sync, so when it is processing really really hard, it overheats and can power off.)

Anyway, when I tried rebooting, I got the main Dell splash screen.

That's it.

Nothing else.

So I hit "F2" and got the "Setup Utility Loading, Please Wait....." message.

That's it.

Nothing else.

=====

I tried booting with a Linux LiveCD, but nothing. Also tried the OEM Windows CD.



I was thinking it may have overheated and crashed while Windows update was writing to the boot record... But then why wouldn't it boot off a CD?



THOUGHTS?You appear to be back to the overheating issue,or your
hard drive failed.Um, thanks.

Is there anything to do?See, 'coz I'm wondering - if it's a hard drive failure, wouldn't I be able to load off a CD?

I don't want to put in a new HD if there's something inside the machine that won't even boot up in the first place...

Like when I hit F2, regardless of whether or not the HD is working, it should still do SOMETHING, right?!?F2 should still get you into the BIOS, where you could see if the hard drive is being recognized in a functioning machine.It just hangs on the "Setup Utility Loading, Please Wait" message.... I LET it hang for about ten MINUTES and gave up.

I have a total backup, so I am not against putting in a new HD (though I suspect I won't ever find the right one!), but before I put in the effort, I'd like to TROUBLESHOOT a bit.