Dell Inspiron 8200 Error

[malebolgia]

Nothings better than trying to troubleshoot a Dell laptop with an out of date warranty. So I'm jump right to the problem. I have a Dell laptop that upon startup will issue this warning:

An error has been detected with your system.
Please call Dell Support with error code #M1004

Strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility

After you press the F1 key you can get into Windows XP, but the performance is ridiculous. I searched around for the error and one person recommend updating the BIOS, but before I do anything like that I'd like to hear what you guys suggest I do.

Note: Before this laptop was brought to me the user formatted the entire hard drive upon receiving this error (Yes, all the drivers where installed correctly).

 

[markt435]

Download the diagnostic software from Dell and do the full system scan. I believe it comes in a bootable cd version. It also is supposed to come with the other software. Did you get all the cds with the laptop?

 

[malebolgia]

Download the diagnostic software from Dell and do the full system scan. I believe it comes in a bootable cd version. It also is supposed to come with the other software. Did you get all the cds with the laptop?

Nope, all I got was the laptop and powersupply.

 

[markt435]

Yeah I would download the software from the site and do a full scan and see what it tells you.

 

[tiebird321]

all info found with a simple google search

indicates that one of a number of things may have caused the machine to shut down unexpectedly (usualy from overheating)
its sorta like the check engine light on a car... once it comes on it stays on until its reset even if the issue is a one time even that will never repeat

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...s=19&l=en&s=dhs&releaseid=r49833&fileid=58724

is a tool that will reset it

if it keeps comming back
it indicates the machine is haveing issues cooling itself
and the heat sink fins are likly clogged with dust