Dell c400 latitude has a 1in border around the screen after windows boot up.

If you're tryng to format the HDD on a Dell latitude C400 (or install an OS), this thing will not boot to any USB devices (flash drives, pen drives, external USB cd-rom drives, etc.) - just ain't gonna happen since the BIOS doesn't support such boot devices. The only thing it'll boot to is (1) docking station, and (2) a Media Bay optical drive.

connect to external monitor with 15pin connector. and there is one function key is there with symbol of monitor. at the time of booting presss that key external display will come

Go into the setup menu on boot (before the windows screen appears) by pressing F2 or F10.
Go to the Boot Options and check that the CD-ROM/USB Device boots before the hard disk drive. Save and Exit.

hi,
i have dell c400 laptop, its to much simple to install xp
first you just take out hdd from laptop
plug in tht hdd in desktop pc by external usb box
now u just start windows 98 setup in it
when it started first format ur drive then install it
when windows 98 setup files copies to 100%. machine need to restart
u just plug out the hdd and plug in back to laptop
now the setup will remain start in ur laptop and when the installation complete u just upgrade ur windows from 98 to xp by intalling xp from external drive on OPERATING SYSTEM OF 98 WINDOWS
NOW WAT U SAY???
ITS TO MUCH SIMPLE just try once

You can watch a bios screen load up maybe even tinker around with it, even boot something off a cd, but you still need an operating system( Like windows) To really use your computer

First try to Boot to Last Known Good Configuration.. do this by pressing F8 upon bootup...look at the prompt screen for the option mentioned OR

Attempt to boot up in Safe Mode....
Do This by pressing F8 Upon bootup, it will take you to a black Safe Mode Options screen... once there choose the first option.. boot into Safe Mode Only.. If you are able to boot into windows that way,, you can then check for problems... Like checking the device manager for errors, Check the Status of your hard drive.. etc.

Boot into BIOS and go to the Video card setting, that sould fix it

fo to bios options by pressing f2 or del soon the power button is released. thre u can find an option to enable silent boot . turn it on

I have seen this problem before, after booting to the external monitor go into the display settings and try setting the resolution to 1024 X 768 and the color settng to 16 bit or preferably 32 bit. If you can do this, then shut down the laptop remove the external monitor and try booting on the LCD display. BPCS

Go to the Dell website and download the XP video and display drivers:- http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/devices.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&SystemID=LAT_PNT_P3_C400&os=WW1&osl=EN