I had a client today who’s computer would not boot into Windows. They had a Dell OptiPlex when they started up the computer they would receive this error:
“Previous attempts at booting this system have failed at
checkpoint [USBd].”
Facts:
During troubleshooting I turned the printer off before and during startup and both option allowed to me to boot into Windows, with no problems. This is what lead me to believe the computer was looking at the memory card reader on the printer for a boot option.
Solution:
I asked if they had any new hardware. They said they had recently installed a printer. I took a look at the printer and it had the memory card reader built in. The BIOS had a setting called “USB emulation” and it was set to enable. I disabled the USB emulation and set the boot sequence to the local hard drive. The computer no longer looked at the printer for a boot option and booted correctly.
Same thing happened to me a while back. I had no clue what was happening until I tested all USB peripherals individually.
Same thing happened to me with an XP Operating System. After storms caused power outages, I could not boot up, got different versions of the same error messages each time I tried (the difference was in which checkpoint was noted).
I first pressed F2 to go into the BIOS, then changed the boot order to boot from my system CD. The computer booted up that way, from the system CD.
I was going to reinstall the system, but decided to try something simpler first. I started up again, pressing F2 to get to the BIOS again. This time I went to the “event log” section and cleared the last event (actually the only one showing). I saved the settings, then booted up again and this time it booted up normally, so I didn’t have to reinstall the system.
What on earth did Dell have in mind when it set things up this way??? When a simple power outage, over which the customer has not control, can make the computer inoperable??? To make matters worse, when you call them for tech support, they won’t even talk to you unless you pay up front, if your warrantee period is over! I’m sick of Dell and won’t be getting one for my next computer.
thank u so much.. i just was able to fix my computer due to ur post about the printer being the problem.. i removed the USB cable from my printer and my computer rebooted.. i was receiving that same message "previous attempts at booting this system…"… thanks again for helping with ur advice
Awesome
THANKS ME TOO. JUST UNPLUGGED THE PRINTER AND IT BOOTED UP.
Thank you kindly. I had the same problem and searched for some time before finding your post. What is interesting as well is the lights on the back of the computer were reading A-green, B-green, C-yellow, D-yellow which is not a combination that the user manual explains. So glad you shared your experience.
Thank you for posting about the printer. I just want to say that upon first getting the alert, I called Dell. I was on hold for half an hour and then transferred twice, only to be told they would not help me. So happy I found this post. Thanks.
i have same problem
someone help please
what do you have connected to the computer? maybe a printer?
Great help for a similar problem! We had a thunderstorm this morning that knocked out our power. The Dell was stuck at the opening screen. I got from F2 to the start up screen and tried the Bios page but found no event log as described above. I went into the Power Management option page and noticed something called AC recovery that was set to OFF. I changed it to ON , saved, exited and restarted and everything is working great! I hope this helps someone else… Boo on Dell for making things so difficult!