Dell Inspiron 8200 Error

[malebolgia Veteran]

Nothings better than trying to troubleshoot a Dell laptop with an out of date warranty. So I'm jump right to the problem. I have a Dell laptop that upon startup will issue this warning:

An error has been detected with your system.

Please call Dell Support with error code #M1004

Strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility

After you press the F1 key you can get into Windows XP, but the performance is ridiculous. I searched around for the error and one person recommend updating the BIOS, but before I do anything like that I'd like to hear what you guys suggest I do.

Note: Before this laptop was brought to me the user formatted the entire hard drive upon receiving this error (Yes, all the drivers where installed correctly).

[Hurmoth]

Here's what I found another forum regarding this:

"Your system automatically powered itself off because it became warmer than expected. This may have been caused by:

a) operating or storing the system in an enviroment where the ambient temp is too high or,

b) obstructing the air flow from the system fan vents.

If this problem recurs please call Dell Support with error code #M1004."

I know that isn't much help, but I'm still looking ;)

Seems to be a lot of people have this problem: http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/bo...&l=en&s=gen&cs=

What version BIOS is it on?

Edited October 15, 2004 by Hurmoth

[SMeK Veteran]

could be the power lead

i got a similar error, and because the cpu was speed stepping it ran at only 209mhz

when you get into xp look at the battery monitor and see if the battery is charged/charging

also go into the bios and check if the battery shows as unkown ac adapter

[malebolgia Veteran]

could be the power lead

i got a similar error, and because the cpu was speed stepping it ran at only 209mhz

when you get into xp look at the battery monitor and see if the battery is charged/charging

also go into the bios and check if the battery shows as unkown ac adapter

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According to the BIOS and OS the battery is fully charged.

Edit: The BIOS update fixed the problem.