Solved! BIOS settings

[PhaseDragon]

I own a Dell M1730 and suddenly I got a warning message and my computer shut down. Since that message I can't get it to boot up anymore. The first thing it did was go into Dell Media Connect but couldn't complete that because it said it could not access the hard drive. There was some mention of bitlocker as a possibility. I then decided that maybe I just needed to tweak my BIOS a little so like an idiot I made some changes and now the blue screen of death comes up everytime.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I also considered the possibility that my hard drive was actually dead so I bought a new one.

Anyway, after a few tries with the BIOS and no luck I finally just loaded the BIOS defaults. That did nothing since I still get the blue screen of death when I boot from CD to try and do a Windows install on the new drive.

One thing I did notice is that my battery has been getting very low and I think that it won't even hold a charge anymore. Could this be the problem with the Hard Drive access? Doesn't solve the BIOS settings problem though.

Is there any tutorial that actually explains what the settings in the BIOS do and how to determine what the settings should be. I am not looking to overclock it; I just want it to work.

 

[PhaseDragon]

I just tried to flash my BIOS with an updated version but I get a message:

Battery capacity too low.

ROM update not performed.

 

[PhaseDragon]

Another related question to the above problem. Is it possible to reset the BIOS by removing a battery somewhere? And if so do I have to completely disassemble the entire laptop to get to it? Or is the flash battery actually the whole problem and just needs to be replaced?

 

[Scott2010au]

The error might be refering to the CMOS battery, you would have to ask Dell or source the guides & manual(s) for the Dell M1730.

Most people here build their own systems.

 

[PhaseDragon]

The problem was in fact the CMOS Battery. Because my main power battery is also dead I am unable to flash my BIOS. The battery power needs to be charged to at least 10%.

This is the first time I have had to change a CMOS Battery in all the computers I have owned.

Anyway, thanks everyone for the help.