Thread: Problems booting

Hello. I have an old Dell Dimension desktop here that a friend asked me to have a look at. It appears to have Win98 OS on it, based on the disks that came with it. However, I can't get the thing to boot up. In addition to the C: drive, I've tried booting with a Win98 CD, a Win95B CD and a Win98 diskette (drive A The computer just powers up, shows the BIOS info and goes straight to the blue DELL screen - nothing else happens.

Now, I can troubleshoot some software problems, infections, etc., and have reinstalled a few operating systems, but I don't have a clue when it comes to something like this. Evidently this computer has been sitting for a long time, unused, but it has always been plugged in. Anyone have any ideas? Could the MB have died?

Thanks.

Thanks Mike. I opened up the computer and started unplugging everything. I inadvertantly powered the computer up without attaching the mouse and keyboard - it booted! Plugged the keyboard & mouse in and it hung. Powered down, tried to reboot and had the same problem. Plugged in a USB mouse; still the same problem. Plugged in a USB keyboard and VOILA, everything works.

Thanks for your advice!