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General discussion

Inspiron 510m Advanced Options Menu problem

by bobbloke Jan 7, 2010 9:16PM PST

Hi When I startup or restart my Inspiron 510m it gives out three quick loud beeps and the Windows Advanced Options Menu appears highlighting Start Windows Normally.When I hit enter it starts normally. That would only happen normally if Windows wasn't shut correctly eg:pulling the plug, hitting power button.

Any ideas

Regards
Bob

Discussion is locked

2 Posts

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Not a good sign.

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jan 7, 2010 11:26PM PST

So start with your usual backup. The one you do where if the hard drive fails you don't lose anything.

The Dell docs I read say there is a memory issue. Did anyone add RAM to this machine? If so, remove that or "go back to what it was stock" and re-test.
Bob

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The obvious

by bobbloke Jan 8, 2010 8:17AM PST

Hi Bob I had already checked the memory with new memory and the problem was still there, but by you saying this it made me think of the obvious. Check the f8 key, but it looked ok, assembled correctly as I thought. The next step was shut down correctly, remove the keyboard then startup, no more beeps straight to windows. Then I removed the f8 key and there was a tiny piece of flash (plastic) on one of the key arms, that was causing the key to depress ever so lightly, but enough to open the Advanced Options Menu every time it booted.

Regards
Bob

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