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XPS 410 Hard Drive
Seems like the drive is on the way out or something else is seriously wrong. This PC is 4 years old and rather than putting any money into fixing it, I'd rather put it towards a new system. But any advice would be appreciated, just in case there's something I can do.
PC locked up a couple times one day, which basically never happens on this system. The hard drive light was lit solidly but NO sound of drive activity.
Tried running Antivirus, Spyware, etc. but they freeze before completion, again with the drive light solidly lit.
Tried running check disk on boot, not knowing what I was really doing. Said there were bad sectors. Then would get to 12% complete but no further, even after hours left on. Got locked into a cycle of powering off, then check disk starting again immediately not letting me abort. Finally got around that by hitting F8 and booting to last known good configuration or something.
The PC boots strangely now, it'll load some icons and programs, LONG PAUSE, load some more stuff, LONG pause, etc. During the pauses the drive seems to be completely stopped dead.
shesagordie
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October 25th, 2010 17:00
cb007r
It sounds like a failed/failing hard drive and SATA replacement hard drives are reasonable priced
Have you tried running Dell Diagnostics extented test on the hard drive?
The instructions for using Dell's Diagnostics Utility, are HERE
Bev.
cb007r
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October 25th, 2010 18:00
I tried the extended test. After the memory, video, and mouse tests, the computer automatically restarted and booted to Windows.
I went back and selected Hard Drive Diagnostics (or whatever it's called) and got FAIL: RETURN CODE 7 which according to a google search indicates hard drive failure or unable to read drive.
shesagordie
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October 25th, 2010 21:00
cb007r
Yes, the hard drive has failed, you need to replace it, followed by reinstalling windows, loading the drivers and applications.
Any internal 3.5", 7200rpm SATA hard drive can be installed, check out the Western Digital and Seagate hard drive brands.
Bev.
dcgtls
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October 28th, 2010 19:00
You can buy a nice 500 GB hard drive for around $50 all day long online with 3 - 5 year warranty on them. Then reinstall windows and drivers and you will be fine for a while. Both of my XPS 410's are still running very strong, the only thing that has failed are the DVDRW's and hard drives. Both very easy and cheap to replace.
cb007r2
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October 29th, 2010 20:00
I thought about trying that but the issue now is that I can't find my Windows discs. I had the original XP disc and the Vista upgrade but I can't find either one. I contacted Microsoft and they said only Dell could replace them for me.
The Dell rep said they couldn't give me a new Vista disc because that wasn't the original installation and they were out of XP discs. So I guess I'm out of luck without buying Windows again, which would make this a $150+ project. I already did buy a new PC but I wanted to try to fix the old one to use as a backup.
shesagordie
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October 29th, 2010 21:00
cb007r
Look for an OEM copy of Vista, this is the full version with a product key and costs less, similar to THIS
Bev.
shesagordie
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October 30th, 2010 20:00
cb007r
Congratulations on finding the reinstallation discs. :emotion-21:
Bev.
cb007r2
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October 30th, 2010 20:00
I found my disc!
I practiced with the old hard drive to remove the drive, the blue bracket thing, and put back together again. Seems very simple. I might not get the new drive right away but when I have some free time to do the Windows installation and all the updates I'll probably buy a drive and give it a shot. Thanks for your help!
cb007r2
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November 2nd, 2010 18:00
Good news to report! I purchased a new drive for about $40 on Newegg.com and installed it today. Worked like a charm- hard drive diagnostic passed, Windows installation was super smooth and fast and the PC seems to work perfectly.
I got my new XPS 7100 today which I'm loving but I'm thrilled to have the 410 as my backup PC. I previously had to rely on a 7 year old Dimension 2400 with flashing amber light issue as my backup so I'm glad I can finally retire it!
Thanks for the encouragement to try installing the new drive!
shesagordie
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November 2nd, 2010 20:00
cb007r
Congratulations on the hard drive installation and happy to have helped. :emotion-21:
Bev.