Dell Inspiron 620 HDD issue

Hi Jan2170,

It seems like a bad operating system disc or partition table is corrupt on the hard drive. You can try following steps. Please follow the steps mentioned below and then try reinstalling the operating system.

Boot into your Windows 7 or 8 install DVD

Select repair your computer, it will fail and then select the command prompt after a few windows.

Type into command prompt (NO QUOTES)

"diskpart" (enter)
"list disk" (enter)

find your HDD (in my case disk 0)

"select disk 0" (enter)
"clean" (enter)
"exit" (enter)

Note: Please backup all data from the system to perform the above steps.

Please let me know if this helps.

Hi Ravi,

Unfortunately the steps provided didn't help.

When I put my original Win 7 disc in start pc, I select the dvd drive to boot from.

It goes and load the file "Windows is loading files" and then next screen is where it stop/freezes (pic below).Below is screenshot of it frozen.

I also made a bootable usb and ran cute partition manager, it says 2 discs found but only list 1 which is the usb.

Is there someway I can format this drive in another computer and then try on this Dell machine?

Inspiron 620's do not hang this way on windows 7.

Inspiron 660's do on 32 Bit Windows 7 Discs.

UEFI windows 8 based machines REQUIRE 64 bit media and CSM Legacy Boot.

Inspiron 620's do hang this way on windows 7 64bit Home Premium.

This is my service tag number:  Service tag removed per privacy policy>

Did you try the failed hard drive out in your brother's machine, too?

It is possible to move a Windows install from one architecture to another via a third-party SATA adapter, like this Syba.

I tried the following. When I connect the Dell HDD to my brother's computer, the HDD just makes this clicking noise. I removed the Dell HDD. Connected new HDD only installed Win 7 on it. Removed this HDD and connected to the Dell pc. Computer boots to a repair or start normally screen. If I select start normally, its just a blank screen. If I select repair, it just sits on that screen and nothing happens.

To me it seems like if I try to install Win 7 on new hdd in Dell pc, its like the Dell can't see this hdd. But can pick it fine in BIOS. Generally u can see activity on front lights for hdd, but it would just make like 1 light flick and that's it, installation frozen. I tried to do DISKPART / CLEAN on new HDD in brother's pc and still same thing.

Also tried *** Small Linux, Linux Mint and they all freeze while loading. Wether 2GB ram or 4gb ram or 6gb. Beginning to think the motherboard on this is gone as well. Tried XP and Win 10 as well, all freeze while loading. Spent so much time on this. Also the BIOS has so little options, nothing about disable csm. Nothing about UEFI if it is there.

Will other brand motherboards fit in this case?

Do you have a known good working power supply you can try with the 620? I would want to eliminate the power supply as the problem before buying a new motherboard.

I think the motherboard is mATX, but mounting bosses in the chassis may force the use of a particular CPU socket type.

Spooky similar issue, Inspiron 620 desktop freezes at Win7 startup logo immediately after displaying first red pixels of the swirling fairie light emblem animation, consistently. I'm going to try PSU swap for potential power supply failure, which I have experienced can cause startup and shutdown issues on other desktops, so maybe this one, too. So far I have swapped (test parts known to be fully functional before/after but not resolving this halt at startup) all of the following in multiple combinations: HDD, RAM, graphics card, removed WiFi adapter, removed discrete graphics card, single RAM dimm, secondary DIMM skipping primary DIMM, alternate RAM, rotating order of dual channel RAM, unplugging HDD & DVDRW to attempt boot ONLY with Win7 OS Setup on DVD or on USB, and live Lubuntu-Linux on USB. All Windows 7 startup media fails with same image as was posted earlier in this thread, with or without HDD connected, and USB-UNetBootin flash drive halts upon selection of live/trial mode with/without HDD. I had run into this problem with original hardware and discovered that using 1GB single DDR3 module in DIMM-0 actually worked for clean Win7-x64-Pro running smoothly but extremely slowly for several days. Tried upgrading RAM today to get back to factory performance and now failing at the same Windows logo lockup issue as before. Very frustrating! I'll post results on whether alternate Power Supply Unit actually resolves the issue. My educated guess is that the motherboard/CPU were previously damaged & getting the machine stabilized previously was a total fluke. But I'm hopeful since I had it running temporarily before today that I can resurrect this monster once again. "Go go gadget secondhand computer!" ~Christoph

http://en.community.dell.com/cfs-file/__key/communityserver-discussions-components-files/3514/8228.winload.jpg

@Jan2170:  Thank you for snapping a photo of EXACTLY the same halt screen I'm dealing with oN this Inspiron 620 model myself. As soon as that first red spark of the animated Win7 logo appears and slightly shifts to the right (shall I call it a sprite?) then the startup screen freezes and all CPU/drive activity quits, and the system fans just spin for eternity with no further I/O signs of life.  I posted more details on my experience with this issue on the current thread (above or below this post)... ~Christoph

So... the original 300W PSU halts consistently at the first red dot appearing on screen that would begin the normal Windows 7 animated logo. An alternate 300W BesTec PSU yields exactly the same result, consistently. But a 250W BesTec PSU does something slightly different: The Windows 7 startup logo fully forms (not just a single red blip, but full color & complete shape), pulses/glows on screen 3 times, ...and THEN halts with no response, as before, just with this slightly more exciting graphic on screen.  Therefore I am leaning toward Power Supply Unit fault & will post back again after I test a brand new PSU in its place, something I apparently must have already used in a prior repair because I can't find the one I thought I had put away for this occasion. Wish me luck! Would love to bring this Core i5 back to life & make it useful for more than a doorstop. ~Christoph

new power supply = "second verse, same as the first" ):K