this has got me confused.... OS INSTALL MODE IN SYSTEM SETUP? I cant darn see it!

[Alex.]

👍 I have a DELL 5150 PC with moderatley good performance (3.2 processor etc.)
and the last few times ive turned it on, i get a black screen with some writing in a simple white font. like the PC has struggled to load up. the writing says somthing along the lines of:

something about using much reduced memory, strike F1 to continue, strike F2 to run the setup menu.

my computer has been running exceptionally slow.

I am currently running my 2nd virus scan in 3 days and Ive had no detected files. a few days before my freind was navigating a website (I was supervising) and i had THREE alerts come up to say a trojan had been detected each time. i got rid of the three trojans and everything was ok. there may have been a few days gap between the trojans and the slow performance.



can anyone shed light on the subject? 👍

 

[Pako]

Download
http://www.memtest86.com/

Run this test from a floppy. Make sure you have your computer set to 'boot from floppy' as a boot priority before your HD.

This test will verify that your ram is in working order. Based on the test results, you should be able to determine if you have some bad ram and if so, what dimm or dimms are bad.

Good luck.

 

[Alex.]

erm. I'm afraid i dont have a floppy drive

D'OH!

 

[Pako]

A common problem when diagnosing pre-OS conflicts. I've never done it, but you might be able to "Boot from USB" and have memtest installed on a little USB flash drive.

 

[Alex.]

ill give it a go

 

[wfooshee]

This looks like a malware problem more than a virus or trojan. Try Ad-Aware or Spybot, two good, free scanners.

I suspect that the message about a Trojan didn't identify a Trojan, just said you had one with a button to fix it. The button downloads the adware or whatever, which is what's slowing the computer down.

NEVER use a popup that doesn't identify itself as coming from something you installed (i.e. McAfee or Norton AV), nor the threat it claims to have found. The generic "Your PC is infected!" is a spyware hook to get you to click it and download their stuff.

 

[Alex.]

thanks it was my macafee pop up

 

[Alex.]

ok. the exact message IS: Alert! OS install mode enabled. Amount of memory limited to 256MB.?


please can anyone help me?

 

[Pako]

Ahh...that helps. Here's what Google found.

Seems like a pretty common issue with Dell. I would also check out Dell's website knowledge base for specific answers as this seems to be a Dell related issue. Also, if it's still under warranty, consider calling Dell's tech support.

 

[TB]

From Dell's site:

After the operating system is installed, enter the System Setup program and set the OS Install Mode option to Off. See your User's Guide for details.

 

[Alex.]

will this be on a CD?

and thanks 👍

 

[daan]

will this be on a CD?

and thanks 👍

Did you look at the yahoo answers link from Pako's search?

No? Go and do it now.

 

[Pako]

Did you look at the yahoo answers link from Pako's search?

No? Go and do it now.

How does the ole saying go....."You can lead cattle to the water but you can't lead water to the cattle....". I think this saying applies here.

 

[Alex.]

yeah I did check out the yahoo answers link, and whem i press F12 or F2 on the loading screen it takes me to a menu. and anything to do with OS install mode is nowhere to be found.