If there's data on the drive you need that isn't backed up start here:
Buy a notebook to desktop drive cable or an external USB 2.0/firewire 2.5" drive enclosure, attach the drive to a working desktop or notebook and copy your data for backup.
DO NOT PROCEED WITHOUT A BACKUP - DOING SO COULD BE FATAL TO YOUR DATA.
Return the drive to the notebook. Boot, press F12 and run the extended diagnostics on the drive. If the drive passes, skip the next step.
If the drive fails and you're under warranty, call Dell, report the error and they'll ship you a new drive.
If the drive fails and you're out of warranty, bin it and replace it - any notebook 2.5" drive will work.
If the drive passes, you can continue to try a repair (which fails more often than it succeeds) or bite the bullet and reinstall everything from scratch.
Recovery usually fails to restore the registry; in about 70-80% of all cases, it's a hardware fault that causes the problem.
Mmmm, it sounds very much like an Inspiron 1000 that I just brought back to life: BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death), doesn't run in any Safe Mode, HDD diagnostics checks OK.
Here are the steps I used to recover a client's laptop, running XP SP1.
*** PLAN A ***
It sounds like you haven't tried to to a Recovery from a XP disk yet. If you have not and you are running XP:
1) Get a Microsoft XP CD (or the Dell XP that should have come with the laptop)
2) Reboot, press F12, choose CD, press any key when asked to do so.
3) When the menu choice includes "go to Recovery Console", just continue to the next menu, which should give you a choice that includes "R for repair installation".
4) Press R and the CD will try to rebuild your OS without losing your data and settings.
If the CD does not give you the choice to repair your installation, it's time for Plan B
*** PLAN B ***
1) Follow steps 1 & 2 of Plan A
2) When asked, select "Go to Recovery Console", to get the command prompt.
3) Type the command "CHKDSK /R". This checks and repairs the registry.
4) Do lunch. (This took over an hour for it to complete on my laptop.)
5) Exit out of the Recovey Console.
6) Restart the computer
If all works well, your computer should now boot into Windows correctly.
ejn63
9 Legend
•
87.5K Posts
0
April 29th, 2006 18:00
If there's data on the drive you need that isn't backed up start here:
Buy a notebook to desktop drive cable or an external USB 2.0/firewire 2.5" drive enclosure, attach the drive to a working desktop or notebook and copy your data for backup.
DO NOT PROCEED WITHOUT A BACKUP - DOING SO COULD BE FATAL TO YOUR DATA.
Return the drive to the notebook. Boot, press F12 and run the extended diagnostics on the drive. If the drive passes, skip the next step.
If the drive fails and you're under warranty, call Dell, report the error and they'll ship you a new drive.
If the drive fails and you're out of warranty, bin it and replace it - any notebook 2.5" drive will work.
If the drive passes, you can continue to try a repair (which fails more often than it succeeds) or bite the bullet and reinstall everything from scratch.
Recovery usually fails to restore the registry; in about 70-80% of all cases, it's a hardware fault that causes the problem.
CopB8
1 Message
1
June 9th, 2006 03:00
Here are the steps I used to recover a client's laptop, running XP SP1.
*** PLAN A ***
It sounds like you haven't tried to to a Recovery from a XP disk yet. If you have not and you are running XP:
1) Get a Microsoft XP CD (or the Dell XP that should have come with the laptop)
2) Reboot, press F12, choose CD, press any key when asked to do so.
3) When the menu choice includes "go to Recovery Console", just continue to the next menu, which should give you a choice that includes "R for repair installation".
4) Press R and the CD will try to rebuild your OS without losing your data and settings.
If the CD does not give you the choice to repair your installation, it's time for Plan B
*** PLAN B ***
1) Follow steps 1 & 2 of Plan A
2) When asked, select "Go to Recovery Console", to get the command prompt.
3) Type the command "CHKDSK /R". This checks and repairs the registry.
4) Do lunch. (This took over an hour for it to complete on my laptop.)
5) Exit out of the Recovey Console.
6) Restart the computer
If all works well, your computer should now boot into Windows correctly.
Message Edited by CopB8 on 06-08-200611:24 PM