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Inspiron 1545 - Win 7 Home 64 bit - BOOTMGR image is corrupt
I have a friends 1545 to look at. At boot time we get BOOTMGR image is corrupt. System will not boot.
I tried a Win 7 Recovery CD that I'd made up. I was going for a recovery console that would let me: bootrec /FixMbr bootrec /FixBoot bootrec
/RebuildBcd. The recovery CD "Loaded Windows" and after some considerable delay, gives me a black screen with just the mouse pointer. I left it there for about an hour. Is it the CD itself? Not likely as it loads and launches properly on two other laptops and a desktop on the bench. Removed the HDD and attached it to a desktop via a USB-ATA bridge adapter. It sees the drive and interacts with it. So, in an attempt to invoke the recovery console, I rebooted and attempted Ctl-F11. I get: BOOTMGR image is corrupt. System will not boot. So, let's try the Reinstallation CD that came with the 1545. That too yields a Windows is loading, nice Windows Flag graphic, then a black screen with a mouse cursor. I loaded a Knoppix LiveCD which works.
The motherboard was replaced under warrantee last Sept of 2011. It's out of warrantee at present. It also will not charge the battery which was also replaced. Checked voltage on the adapter and its at 19.6 V DC.
What more should I try? I am at a loss to determine exactly what this problem is. Looks like we have a working disk. Looks like the optical drive is functioning. But it won't Recover either from the hidden partition nor the ReInstall CD.
Opinions, guidance, crying towels appreciated.
H
DELL-Chiranjeev
185 Posts
1
June 30th, 2012 13:00
Hi Hoibie,
I have sent you a private message. Well the hard drive needs to be replaced in this case. Please reply me back via a PM and I will let you know the next course of action.
Glad to be of assistance.
Chiranjeev
Social Outreach Professional
You can reach us at http://en.community.dell.com/
DELL-Chiranjeev
185 Posts
1
June 24th, 2012 14:00
Hi Hoibie,
Welcome to the community.
The issue is either caused due to a corrupt operating system or a bad hard drive. In this case it appears to be an issue with the hard drive. However in order to isolate the issue, I would suggest you to run a test on the hardware by using the following steps-
1. Shutdown the computer.
2. Press and hold the key, then press and release the power button.
3. Release the key.
The PSA diagnostics sequence begins.
After approximately 2 minutes the system produces a number of alert tones.
After the alert tones, the system produces either a series of low beeps or error codes.
4. Note the sequence of beeps or error codes.
Let me know of the findings. Glad to be of assistance.
Chiranjeev
Social Outreach Professional
You can reach us at http://en.community.dell.com/
Hoibie
46 Posts
0
June 24th, 2012 15:00
OK Chiranjeev -
I did get this error code from PSA along with beeps of (1)(4)(6) in sequence:
Error code 0146.
Msg: Error Code 2000-0146
Msg: Hard Drive 0 - self test log contains previous error(s)
The given error code and message....
I hit (Y)es to continue testing. After about 15 minutes, PSA asked to continue mem-test. I said (N)o and PSA ended with:
PSA complete. No Diagnostic Utility Partition identified. Select OK to reboot.
So, "146" - dead drive? Or should I attempt to go back and see how to clear "self test log contains previous error(s)"?
Thanks for your help. I'll be standing by....
H
Hoibie
46 Posts
0
June 29th, 2012 13:00
Well - I guess I'm not hearing back.
Anyone else with some sense of what this entails?
H
Hoibie
46 Posts
1
July 8th, 2012 13:00
Hard drive obtained, installed, formatted, back in biz...
H