I can not access Dell bios

[SAWYER]

It is an older Inspirion XP machine. It says to hit F2 but no go. It then goes to a black screen that says Darwin/x86 boot v5.0.132 Chameleon v1.0.12 down below it has boot: then a flashing cursor

 

[mpilchfamily]

Have you tried to clear the CMOS?

 

[SAWYER]

yes

 

[RebateMonger]

It appears it's a "Hackintosh", modified to boot Mac OSX.

 

[SAWYER]

I guess the hard drive was< I bought it used. I put it in my pc and reformatted it but I still can't get it to load. I get diskette errors or missing drives etc

 

[brblx]

it's trying to boot from the new drive, which apparently still contains files. the fix would be in the bios, seems odd that you can't access it. there's not some kind of toggle for your f keys is there?

 

[RebateMonger]

If you remove the hard drive, do you still get the bootloader stuff? No memory stick/CF/etc. hidden away somewhere on that PC?

Many Dells also have a built-in diagnostics partition on their hard drives that use some kind of Linux boot, but I doubt it's what you are seeing.

 

[piasabird]

Why not ask Dell? Maybe they have some software for setting it up. Write down the model number and go to their website to see if they have special instructions for installing a hard drive.

 

[bamacre]

Can you boot using an XP/Vista install disk? Hit F12 on boot for boot options.

If you can get it into Windows, you should be able to download/install new BIOS to reset it.

What model is this exactly?

 

[bendixG15]

Suggest that you go to the drives web site and get the program that writes all zeros to the drive. That will wipe the drive clean, then you can format it in windows.

 

[Spikesoldier]

remove the hard drive

then try F2 to get in the bios

sometimes a bad hdd can cause hangs at the splash screen upon post.

then set the bios to boot to cd and insert new hdd so you can install windows.

edit: if that doesnt work, then you might want to hook up a USB keyboard to the unit. maybe that F2 key does not register anymore.