Windows won't start

[xxbabygirlxx79]

I have a Dell Dimension 8200 with Windows XP. It got a virus awhile back that norton could not take care of. Now my computer has died. When I turn it on, it show's the Dell screen, then say's "Strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility". If I hit F1, it keeps saying it over and over. I don't know what the stuff in F2 is for, so I don't want to mess with it without knowing what I am doing.

I just want to reformat the computer, but can't get anything to work. I tried a MS Dos Start up disk, and it still did the same thing.

When it goes to the "Strike F1" screen, I hear 2 short beeps.

Any help would be great.

TIA

[Daniel]

Hello xxbabygirlxx79. first of all stay calm you don't have to panic hehe If you go here you can see what the beeps mean. It is DELL support page, so this should be your answer, as you can see:

There is a problem with the system’s memory. Reseat the memory DIMM or SIMM modules.

I found that, so first of all you should read that article, it's very basic, and check for noew posts here I'm sure you will solve your problem.

[xxbabygirlxx79]

Thanks, but that didn't help any. Since my last post, I found out the cd drive is not being found. I downloaded something off of Dell's site, and finally got it to run. It is testing everything, and has only had one fail so far. It was the Diskette Drive A - Diskette Drive Write Test. But it is still running. I hope I get it soon. I'm sure I will.