Boot problem with a Dell Inspiron laptop (error within)

ok, this is the error i am getting on the laptop

when turning it on, it will go through the start of POST but when it gets to the part for loading different peices .. (mouse and such)

i get this error

Resource Conflict
Allocation error Static Node 0D

press (F1) to resume (F2) for setup

and that is it ... neither F1 or F2 will do anything ... but i can enter the bios setup by hitting F2 as soon as the laptop is turned on

also when this message comes up it beeps

one long beep followed by 4 short ones ...

i have had 0 luck finding out any information about what could be causing this ... and there is nothing in the bios that i can find which lets me configure much more then boot sequence ...

Give some more info on the machine... what model Inspiron is it? Any modifications done to it, like adding RAM, etc.? Are there any PCMCIA cards or anything plugged into it?

Also, listen closer to that beep code. Usually on Dells they go in patterns like 1-1-3 or 1-2-2 rather than just 1-4.

That's sort of an odd error to have on a laptop, so I'd venture to guess it's prolly flaky RAM, unless you've changed something in it, like a hardware upgrade or BIOS update.

it may be a 1-2-2 ... there is an odd timing between the 2nd and 3rd short beep ...

will get the exact model number when i am back at my office (left it there last night) ...

i know it has 512 meg of ram total ... it has one stick of 128 in the upgrade slot ...

other then that the rest of it is stock .. no PCMCIA cards at all plugged in ..

i have removed everything but the cd drive and hard drive to see if that makes a difference when booting up .. and it still does the same thing ...

i don't beleive the bios has ever been updated either ...

it is an Inspiron 2600 and it is 1-2-2

it is 1-2-2

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That code usually means faulty RAM. Now... I'm not entirely familiar with that model, so I'm going by documentation here, but there are apparently two RAM slots in addition to 128mb soldered onboard. One of the RAM slots is listed as being user inaccessable. However, that may or may not mean it's entirely impossible to get to.

So. Here's my advice: First pull out the 128MB stick you can see and try booting it then. It also wouldn't hurt to reset the BIOS back to factory defaults while you're at it. (The easiest way is to hit F9 while you're in setup, then Enter to confirm.)

If that doesn't work, take a close look and see if you can find the second RAM slot. I suspect it's hidden underneath the "user accessible" slot, with maybe a piece of plastic sheet concealing it. (I'm not sure on that, but there's a good chance.) If you can find the slot, try to extract the RAM module from it, then boot the machine again.

ok the second memory slot was under the keyboard ... with both of them out i am still getting the same system message ... so it might be the onboard memory?

so it might be the onboard memory?

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Well, if removing the expansion RAM and restoring BIOS defaults didn't work, then it's probably either flaky onboard RAM or a flaky IDE controller. (The beep code is for a DMA initialization error, which usually means RAM problems but can sometimes be an issue with the IDE controller itself.)

Either way, though, it's not good, since both the RAM and the IDE are integrated on the system board. If you can get it to boot from a floppy, you might try running some tests from a diagnostic disk (Dell Diagnotics, Troubleshooter, etc.), but at this point it's looking like you're prolly in for a new motherboard. I won't say that with 100% confidence, but I don't know of any other ideas.