View Full Version : Major problem -- Dell loading White Screen of Death
Hey, right off the bat, I apologize if this has come up before . . . you try searching for White Screen of Death and see how many results you get. Anyway, I was using my Dell in school, no big deal, playing Baseball Stars on YAME since there was about ten minutes left in the day. Probably had a few other apps open, I can't really remember. Anyway, someone said it was time to go, and I stood up and shut the device off without first exiting the program. Well, later this afternoon I went to add a book to my list of books to read, and upon turning the device on found myself confronted YANE it its cranky, not responding screen. No panic, I simply attempted to switch to another program and close it from there. No go. Next, I tried some of the hardware buttons to switch programs, but still nothing doing. No panic, I tried turning the device off and then back on, still nothing worked, except when I turned my prize back on, I was greeted with the White Screen of Death. At this point, I was getting annoyed. So, I hit the soft-reset button. Relieved, I saw the device reset and the familiar Dell logo pop up. Except, now after the Dell logo, came a temporary black screen (nothing unusual) followed by the . . . White Screen of Death. Since that time, I have soft-reset several times and even plugged the device into my cradle, hoping activesync would knock it off its White Screen of Death fritz. Well, that's where I am now. As I see it, I have two options remaining:
a) Plug it into a power source and see what happens (my cradle is at my comp, my adapter is in my room)
b) Hard reset
Help.
Steven Cedrone
01-09-2003, 10:16 PM
Sync to your computer.
See if you can browse the device.
If you can, do a complete backup.
Hard reset.
Do a restore.
See what happens... :wink:
Steve
Sorry, Steve, no go. I thought I mentioned the fact that I couldn't access it from the desktop. My PC won't recognize a conncection. That was my first thought too. The PC makes the connection sound, but the device stills displays as unconnected.
Rirath
01-09-2003, 10:21 PM
Hmm... don't think what you did caused it... I've shut the device off with YAME running many times without any problems at all. Probably just a fluke. In any case, when you get it back up again I wouldn't burn YAME or anything... I've used it for quite some time and have never had a problem.
If soft resets do nothing then yeah, you're probably stuck hard resetting. Dell would tell ya the same thing or that it's a software problem they don't support I imagine. If you haven't already, start routinely backing up to the desktop.
Steven Cedrone
01-09-2003, 10:24 PM
Well, you know where that leaves you then... :cry:
You can see if any others can think of another way around this, but I think you're screwed. I am sure contacting Dell will result in a Hard Reset as well...
No recent backups?
Steve
Rirath: Yeah, that is probably what I will have to do. As you may have noticed, I'm not ticked off at YAME, or I would have made "burn YAME" an option in the poll. Anyway, a hard reset won't kill me. The only things on my PPC that are essential are files that are already on the desktop anyway. Might as well cleanse the hard drive . . .
Rirath
01-09-2003, 10:51 PM
Just making sure... I seem to be fighting a small but growing battle for YAME here. :) I need not an enemy who ought to be friend. :wink: In any case, let us know if it works.
Steve: Don't know how you get that post in before me. No, no recent backups (read: hasn't backed-up the device since he bought it).
Well, since I have no options . . . hard reset here we come!
:evil: 8O :!:
You are not going to believe this . . . frankly, I am at a loss of words, hence the emoticons.
Upon hard resetting my device, everything went normally. I hard reset, the annoying screen comes up showing me how to "run" my PPC -- I think I am past that stage. Then things started to get weird . . .
I began putting my Dell into the cradle, and at the exact moment that the prongs touched, my entire system reset. If that wasn't enough, when it began to reboot, the following screen (more or less, I didn't write it down) was displayed: Windows cannot restart until windows/root/system32/kerneldtos.dll file is reinstalled. The file is missing or corrupt. Ok, I may not know much about computer programming, but missing or corrupt .dll files are NOT GOOD. At this point, my thinking is, well, so much for all my programs . . . I am going to have to live for the next few days (weeks, months?) with only Windows Media Player. Well, here I am, so apparently somehow my computer fixed itself. When I click the power strip off, waited, and turned it back on, the computer booted up as normal and informed me that "your system has just recovered from a serious error." Well, gee, ya think? So, it attempts to report this "serious error," well, it can't even do that right. It just told me that there was an error reporting. I dunno what happened, but I am definitely afraid to put my device in the cradle. Who knows what may happen . . . I guess the only way to find out is to try though. So, if you don't hear from me for a long time, I enjoyed the site and hope to return some day . . . (morbid chuckle).
Rirath
01-09-2003, 11:56 PM
Lol... now that's freaky. Erm... wow. I can't image what to really suggest short of programs like Roxio Goback.
(Much love for that program.)
Rirath: Well, glad someone got a kick out of my predicament. I am really not concerned about the hard reset, but the PC could potentially be a major problem. I have yet to attempt to sync, kind of waiting to see if Steve has anything to say before I do. Like, "STOP -- do not sync, you could ruin your entire hard drive . . . I have seen it happen!"
Steven Cedrone
01-10-2003, 12:15 AM
STOP -- do not sync, you could ruin your entire hard drive . . . I have seen it happen! :wink:
Only kidding! I would say for you to try to sync. Do you have alot of contacts etc., if so make a copy of your .pst file before you do.
Steve
Rirath
01-10-2003, 01:04 AM
Honestly man I think you're just trying to steal the title of Captain Defective from me. Perhaps I can offer you a sidekick deal instead... Fluke Man or something.
I find this kinda thing rather interesting myself. Almost wish I could see it for myself. :)
Sslixtis
01-10-2003, 03:32 AM
Sounds like it might be time to call Dell and have 'em ship a replacement! :wink:
A friend at work got a defective unit that was running hot and burning through batteries really fast but nothing close to this bad. 8O
Goodluck!
Quick Update: Everything seems to be alright; however, I have yet to reinstall my apps since, as the poll indicates, I have finals on which to concentrate. Thanks for all the assistance.
BTW, has anyone heard of an email worm making its rounds that deletes .dll files? Someone mentioned that could be a possibility, but I do not remember opening any foreign emails.
theonegod
01-10-2003, 06:25 PM
Not sure. i run my own mail server and all email is filtered for virus' befoe it is even sent to my pc. sounds to me though like something happened to your device between the time you "turned it off" (cant really turn a ppc off) and went to use it again. I mean something like a bending of the unit or pressure to the case that may have caused a hardware issue temporarily.
Hmm, intesting thought but not likely IMO.
Sslixtis
01-10-2003, 09:09 PM
VooDoo? Evil spell? Sabotage? Gremlins? A good old fashioned curse? :twisted:
Have you upset anyone lately?? :wink:
There was the one frightening looking individual that was making curious gestures at me the other day . . . no, wait, that was when I was driving to work and cut him off . . .
Steven Cedrone
01-10-2003, 09:31 PM
There was the one frightening looking individual that was making curious gestures at me the other day . . . no, wait, that was when I was driving to work and cut him off . . .
Had the same thing happen to me...Turns out it was just my reflection while shaving :wink:
Steve
It may be me, but did you changer your username from Steve to Steven?
Steven Cedrone
01-10-2003, 10:13 PM
It may be me, but did you changer your username from Steve to Steven?
No, why?
Steve
BryGuy
01-10-2003, 11:40 PM
I began putting my Dell into the cradle, and at the exact moment that the prongs touched, my entire system reset. If that wasn't enough, when it began to reboot, the following screen (more or less, I didn't write it down) was displayed: Windows cannot restart until windows/root/system32/kerneldtos.dll file is reinstalled. The file is missing or corrupt. Ok, I may not know much about computer programming, but missing or corrupt .dll files are NOT GOOD. At this point, my thinking is, well, so much for all my programs . . .
This sounds like a static electricity result. You'd be surprised how little a charge can zap the chips and scramble their data. Powerstrips mainly protect surges coming from the wall, and the cases protect the main computer boxes, but we (humans) can still generate slight charges that can and are transfered through the cables. This really sounds like you had a small static charge that passed all the way to the computer through your sync cable.
Normally no pernmanent damage is left, but can make things wierd untell everything is totally powered down for awhile.
I used to have a pair of slippers that would generate a small static charge when I walked about. I'de only know about it when touching certain things around the house. Took me awhile before I realized it was the slippers and not just normal static generation.
BryGuy
No, why?
Maybe I just got used to seeing you sign as Steve and never actually looked at your username . . . I dunno.
Hmmm, that static electricity thing seems very plausible. Well, hope that was it, and I don't have to deal with this again.
Steven Cedrone
01-11-2003, 05:06 PM
No, why?
Maybe I just got used to seeing you sign as Steve and never actually looked at your username . . . I dunno.
Hmmm, that static electricity thing seems very plausible. Well, hope that was it, and I don't have to deal with this again.
Oh O.K., here's the story:
My user name used to be CedroneS, when I became Moderator, I changed it to Steven Cedrone. As far as when I answer posts: When I want to be my normal smarta$$ self, I sign as Steve. When I am wearing my Moderator hat, I sign as Steven Cedrone Community Moderator... :wink:
That's it...
Steve
The static theory is as good as any other, hopefully it won't happen again...
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