Dell Vostro 200 conventional tower. I press the power button, there's a beep, the screen shows the Dell splash screen with F2 = setup and F12 = and hangs there. Pressing F2, F12 or anything else does nothing. I've HD failures on other PCs and usually it gets a step or two beyond this point such as showing the Windows screen or indicating a missing or failed HD. This seems to be a failure prior to addressing the HD. What could it be?

Dell support says to check for the power light [yes, I also hear the fan surge when first turned on] then check for POST [no POST progress bar]. If no POST progress bar, disconnect all peripherals except for the monitor, keyboard and mouse [disconnected printer and 2 external HDs, still won't boot; disconnected keyboard and mouse, still won't boot]. Next suggestion is to call Dell support.

Thanks,
Sixto
87 300D