Dell Inspiron 9300 laptop does not boot up (Windows XP Pro S3)

[bbarrington]

I came from the malware removal forum and have completed that process.

 

https://forums.malwarebytes.org/index.php?showtopic=142213

 

I now think it maybe a windows issue. A few days before my laptop crashed, I got into some kind of continues loop flashing message boxes that I don't recall what they said. After more than a hundred of these things popping up and unable to stop them, I shut it down. Rebooted and it continued to work alright. Then after a few days I noticed my web browser was being redirected and not working right. That is when I began my search for malware and used the malwarebytes free malware removal software. After running this program and disinfecting 11 files, I tried to reboot and that is when my current problems began.

 

Laptop does not boot up. I described the symptoms in the thread link I listed above.

 

I bought this laptop from ebay and it did not come with any Windows disks. There is a product key listed on the label on the back of the laptop.

 

I hope someone can help me get it running again.

 

[David H. Lipman]

So you bought a USED laptop off eBay, it did not come with the Dell WinXP Installation disks and you ACCEPTED the system as-is.

 

That's the first mistake.  Whenever one gets a used computer the very first thing to do is WIPE the platform and re-install the OS from scratch before you use it.

 

Problem #1.  This Inspiron laptop is designed only for Windows XP/32 with a maximum RAM of 2GB

Problem #2.  Windows XP goes End of Life (EoL) in ~ 6 weeks.

 

With the above in mind, I have a few questions. 

 

How much memory is in this Inspiron 9300 laptop ?

How long have you had this laptop ?

Do you have data on this laptop ?

[bbarrington]

The reason I bought the old Inspiron 9300 is because I have another original 9300 (bought in 2005 I believe) that I use for work. So I have 2 of the same laptops. I also use an investment program for work that is windows based and no longer is supported by its developer (several years old). Unfortunately the software will not work on a 64 bit machine and that is why I have stuck with Windows XP (32bit). The reason I wanted another 9300 is because I pretty much synch and mirror the 2 laptops with all the same softwares I use and have also made macros to make a lot of my tasks much easier and quicker. It took me a long time to get all that working as I'm not a programmer, just determined enough to find a way. Didn't really want to try and redevelop everything from scratch again. So it was a lot easier to just make things identical.

 

Yes I know Win XP will not be supported anymore soon and at some point I will have to bite the bullet when all else fails. Hopefully that will be some more years yet. Is there a reason to be concerned in 6 weeks?

 

The guy on ebay  I bought the now sick 9300 pretty much specializes in this model and is still active refurbishing and selling them. I haven't contacted him yet, but he may be able to help as well.

 

The laptop has 2G Ram and I bought it from him in May 2012.

 

I do have data on the laptop, but pretty much backuped on the cloud or mirrored on the clone 9300 I'm using right now.

[David H. Lipman]

I suggest contacting Dell Spare Parts [ 1-800-357-3355 ] and see if you can obtain WinXP media for this platform.

 

I don't suggest trying to revive it as-is but to wipe the laptop and reinstall WinXP SP3 from scratch.

 

Dell Inspiron 9300 WinXP Drivers

 

As for concerns over WinXP EoL - yes.  There are new Zero Day exploits coming out all the time.  If this laptop is to NOT be connected to a LAN or the Internet and will stand alone then the issue is mitigated.  However if the laptop is connected to a LAN or LAN and Internet then after April 8th if there is a Zero Day Exploit Microsoft will NOT create a patch/HotFix for Windows XP leaving that system and your data "At Risk".

[bbarrington]

Ok thanks for the info!

 

Perhaps I need to try and figure out a way to make my old 32 bit investment program work on a newer 64 bit machine. Is there some info on how this can be done here also?

 

There is no good alternative to this piece of software (Captool) available. Other alternatives are not as capable and unsophisticated.

[David H. Lipman]

Perhaps you should just find a system with Win7/32 or Win8.x/32 and run Captool in a WinXP Compatibility Mode.

 

Why not upgrade to Captools/net since Captool was discontinued '07 ?

[bbarrington]

That makes sense. I was just thinking 32 bit machines would be going extinct soon also. I'll look into that angle and see if the program works.

 

The Captools/net stuff is huge overkill for my situation (quite expensive to rent the service). Captools Global, which I use, is stand alone on my machine and gives me a lot of freedom and control of how I want to use it. I paid $300 for it several years ago and it does everything that I need and want. The online stuff is geared more for large financial institutions and costs several thousand a year, depending on which service you use. I'm sure it was a big boost to the developer and he is now targeting the right (big money) market.

[CWB]

david has the right idea with trying the compatibility mode with W7 or (grudgingly) W8.1 (with classic shell) .

the graphics may not look exactly correct nor what you seen with an XP machine but will be quite workable/acceptable .

(note : not all programs will "translate/port" to W7/8.1)

i am in the same boat as you ... i have photoshop7 and i run it in the compatibility mode on W7 .

(ps ... for the average user , i would strongly suggest W7 over W8.1) .

 

yep ... trying to revive an *old* machine at this stage of the EOL of XP is pretty much throwing good money after bad .

on the up side , you can wipe the drive of the machine you just bought and install a linux operating system on it ... learn a new operating system !

there are some financial programs available for 'nix ... open source (aka : free) .

just a thought .

[bbarrington]

Thanks for the suggestions! One of these days I would like to learn more about using linux.

 

I talked to the ebay guy, who sold me the Win XP Pro Inspiron 9300, last night and told him about my situation with Captool and Win XP. He offered to swap me out drives for one with Win 7 on it to see if it will work. if not, he can reformat it with Win XP. I figured I may as well give it a go. He suggested that when i install Captool on the Win 7 system, to right click on the Captool setup file and under "compatibility" check off Win XP before installing it.

 

I also talked with the company I work for and here is what he wrote as a solution. This would be after getting a new 64bit machine with Win 7 installed. They don't buy 32 bit machines anymore.

 

 

"To answer your question, I am going to recommend a “virtual image” as a solution.

 

What this entails is converting your physical Windows XP PC with Captool installed and working, into a software image that you could then run from within the VMWare client that we install on any newer version of Windows.

 

We would schedule the upgrade to a newer PC and version of Windows.

 

When you leave, you will have Windows 7 on a newer PC, with a VM client installed that will load an image of your old Windows XP PC with Captool present."

[CWB]

"He offered to swap me out drives for one with Win 7 on it to see if it will work. if not, he can reformat it with Win XP."

 

hmmm ... as i read this and as described , without knowing further details ... i don't believe this will work or is legal .

laptops are built with "one OS registered to a specific machine" in mind .

a simple drive swap will not work .

then there is the drivers and such that are needed that are specific to the laptop model .

however , the guy may be using "bulk licensing" as you said he refurbishes these machines as a business .

 

unless the guy sends you an OS disk with a legit activation code i would be leery of this "solution" .

still , with the age of the machine i doubt whether W7 would work on it .

 

 

as for running a new machine with a virtual machine in order to run your old 32 bit program ...

yeah , that can work but the machine may be slower in response .

do you have access to a 64 bit W7 machine so that you can try out your 32 bit program (say a friend or co-worker) ?

[David H. Lipman]

Vendors off eBay can NOT be trusted.  You can NOT accept an OS from an non-vetted source on eBay.  You do not know what they *may* have installed on the PC.