Alert! Previous attempts at booting this system have failed

[jpierce]

One of my machines has an error message flash by very quickly each time I boot it up. It goes by too fast to read the whole thing, but it starts with "Alert! Previous attempts at booting this system have failed at checkpoint..." The computer is a Dell XPS 8000 and runs Windows 7 64bit.

I'm having no problems with the computer at all. The message goes away and W7 continues to boot up just fine. I'm not sure when the message started because I usually hit the power button in the morning and walk away.

Is this message indicative of a problem or can it be safely ignored if the computer has no other symptoms? I've searched and only found issues where computers won't boot or have other problems along with the message.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Golden]

Hi,

I might be wrong, but I don't think that is a typical Windows message. Can you provide a link as to where you saw that message in your other searches?

In the meantime, could you please tell us what anti-virus software you have installed? Have you had any malware infections recently? I'm just being a bit cautious here.

Can you also do the following:

1. Click Start

2. In the search box, type cmd
3. In the list that appears, right-click on cmd.exe and choose Run as administrator
4. In the command window that opens, type sfc /scannow and hit enter.

Report the output once it finishes.

Regards,
Golden

 

[jpierce]

Thanks Golden. I ran sfc /scannow as requested and it came back clean. I use Avast anti-virus and Malwarebytes, and neither have caught anything for at least a year.

In searching for the links again, I realized this is probably a Dell message as opposed to Windows as it seems most everyone posting about the issue has a Dell machine.

I just shut the computer down and waited a few minutes, started it again, and of course the message didn't appear when I need it The message was "Alert! Previous attempts at booting this system have failed at checkpoint [ ]" but I didn't record the info in the brackets this morning because it disappeared so quickly. The Dell (XPS 8000) isn't my primary computer so it hasn't had much of a workout for the past few months. The power supply and graphics card were upgraded earlier this year (Corsair Professional Series 650-Watt & nvidia GeForce 560 Ti) by a friend who runs a computer repair business so I'm assuming things were installed correctly, but those are the only changes to the machine in quite a while.

I'm thinking this is probably something I'll have to take up with Dell, but if there's any insight you can provide, I'd be grateful for the help. Thanks again!

 

[edwar]

Could be a BIOS Alert mfrom something as simple as a Keyboard failure of some type.

Do you have a Smart phone or digital camera? Take a Movie of the screen when booting so you can see when this alert comes up, IE before the Windows Loading screen or after, and exactly what it says.

 

[gregrocker]

When you google the error you learn it is a Dell BIOS code error which requires contacting support. However further reading points toward:

Replace BIOS CMOS battery.

Reset BIOS to defaults: Clear CMOS - 3 Ways to Clear the CMOS - Reset BIOS

Test RAM - Test with Memtest86+ for 5-6 passes or overnight.

If these fail and you don't have Dell tech chat or phone support then keep working through the solutions in the many pages found by googling the error text.

 

[jpierce]

Thanks to all of you for your help, I really appreciate it! I will look into your suggestions tomorrow.

 

[gregrocker]

If this problem is solved please let us know what solved it.

If not please mark it Unsolved at top so others will contribute possible solutions, and keep us posted on what you find out.

Thanks.

 

[jpierce]

I'm sorry, I marked it solved since it didn't seem to be a Windows issue and I didn't want to bother anyone here further. I changed it back to unsolved. Can't tell you how much I appreciate the input even though this seems to be a Dell issue, you all are awesome here.

The error didn't show up on cold boot this morning, which figures. Not that I'm complaining I'm sure it will be back since it's been very persistent and I haven't made any changes to the machine yet.

Will let you know when I find out the specific "checkpoint" in the error message and if any of the suggestions solve it.

Thanks again.