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Inspiron 1525 - Repeated Disk Corruption
Just checking to see if others have experienced this issue.
I have a 1525 running XP, with AHCI enabled. Came that way "downgraded" from the factory. It has a Western Digital 320gb; 7200rpm drive.
For the 3rd time in 13 months I have had file corruption - 1) bootsector (no boot) , 2) Data Files, 3) SYSTEM part of registry (no boot). Each time I have run
diagnostics and found nothing wrong. This time all S.M.A.R.T. stats look fine. I ran no less than 5 diagnostics - the built-in Dell, HD Tune, WD Data Lifeguard,
GSmartcontol, and PC Check - absolutely no errors?
I am beginning to think that it's a controller issue or something up with AHCI. This system runs great, never hangs, never fails to shutdown properly or anything
that would cause corruption. The only problem ever is the corruption. I haven't found any clues on the net, yet.
I guess I will replace the hard drive and just wait and see what happens. If it's the controller then I'm toast.
I wish I could turn off AHCI without re-installing Windows. I found some scripts that are supposed to do that, so will test on the old drive after I clone it
to the new one. I figured out the various ways to get around all the issues of repairing and diagnosing an XP system with AHCI on, but I could easily
llive with it off for the sake of simplicity
If this "repeated corruption issue" sounds familiar, I like to hear your insights.
Thanks!
Chris
Terri.Fiennes
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January 7th, 2011 17:00
Have you got the answer? I have the issue which is similar to what you have faced.
cc99
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January 8th, 2011 07:00
Terri,
I do not have the answer yet.
I ended up replacing the hard drive although I didn't think that was the issue. I also tried to use the scripts to
turn off ACHI, but those didn't work. They are from Germany and I can't read the documentation.
About 6 weeks after this post, it happened again. "corrupt or missing file - Config\System.." So, it isn't the hardrive.
I intend on rebuilding the system from scratch, without ACHI enabled. Could be chasing a ghost, but I have run
days of every diagnotic I know - never any errors of any kind.
I tried to completely reinstall the system, but the Volume license key the system has will not activate. Dell
failed to put a COA tag on the bottom of the laptop, for the downgraded XP license. So, next time this
happens I will spend who knows how much time on the phone with Dell to get a key that will activate. They
could have at least sent the key with the XP PC. OR, I might just install WIndows 7.
My best guess is that this system was built with a buggy ACHI driver, however you would think a lot of
people would have this issue if that was the case. That would leave only a hardware issue of some
sort with the disk controller/or such. Unless I'm missing something.
The bright side is that I now have a black belt in system recovery from this issue.... great..
So, you say similar? Can you describee the issue(s) you have seen in a little more detail?
Chris
...the bomb keeps ticking...