System freezes at "Welcome to Windows XP setup screen"  during OSRI / REPAIR / PARALLEL Installation

This problem normally occurs on systems that have 2GB or Greater RAM installed. 

Problem:

System freezes at "Welcome to Windows XP setup screen"

Description:

On Dimension 4700/2400 system some times system freezes at Welcome to Windows XP setup screen during OSRI / Repair / Parallel. Most of the times  you may consider the fast tapping of F12/F2 keys by the customer as the cause of the issue.

Solution:

Although fast tapping of F12/F2 keys can be the reason for system freezing at the welcome to setup screen  there is one more option in the BIOS which causes this. This option is - OS Install Mode On/Off. The default setting is OFF for the option and that's what causes the lockup. Try to  perform following steps in such cases:

1)    Shut down the system and release flea power.

2)    Go to the BIOS by tapping F2 / Delete key

3)    In the BIOS, make CD/DVD Drive as the first boot device.

4)    Come back to the main BIOS screen, scroll down and look for OS Install Mode and turn it to ON.

5)    Clear the event log.

6)    Save BIOS settings and restart.

7)    Now Boot from the CD

Look at following link for Dimension 4700/2400 setup options:

Dim 4700 - http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4700/sm/syssetup.htm#wp1052347

Dim 2400 - http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim2400/en/sm_en/syssetup.htm#1105422

***** CAUTION *****

Enabling the OS Install mode in the BIOS will restrict the system access to only 256 MB RAM, regardless the amount of RAM installed.  It is imperative that after the operinting system has been installed, that the OS Install Mode be reset to OFF ! If not done, Windows will report & use only 256MB RAM.