Reinstalling windows 7

Question

Hi all, I'm having trouble reinstalling windows 7 on my dell inspiron 1545. I get to the "where do you want to install windows" box and I click on the primary and then advanced options and I click format. Well it seems to be formatting but then when I click continue and it goes to the installing windows box it will get to somewhere between installing updates and completing installation it gives me an error that says "windows could not set the offline local information" error code: 0x80ff0000.

Then at another time I was trying other options and an error came up that said BOOTMGR is missing. So I tried to fix this through DOS and typed in Bootrec /RebuildBcd.

Any help would be great...thanks, Genevive

Prateek K · Accepted Answer

Hi,

Thanks for contacting the community.

It seems to be an issue with the hard drive, would suggest you to run Dell diagnostics on the system. To run diagnostics, power on the system, press at the initial Dell logo screen, and select Diagnostics from the boot menu, let me know if you receive any error code.

Please reply if you have any further questions

Thanks & Regards
Prateek K
#iworkfordell

Philip_Yip · Accepted Answer

You might need to load SATA Drivers see my wiki A Clean Install of Windows 7 but check the diagnostics for hard drive errors as Prateek mentioned. If the hard drive fails the test there is no point in proceeding until you replace it.

Philip_Yip · Accepted Answer

Error Code 0146 & Error Code 2000-0146 You need to replace your hard drive A good place to look is www.crucial.com for a Solid State Drive.

Philip_Yip · Accepted Answer

The drive is mechanical, they will all fail at some point.

If your system overheats and if the drive is at the end of the laptop and you carry it around a lot, it may fail faster.

It is always good to have a main hard drive and 1 or 2 external hard drives for continuous backups.

Hard drive, you have essentially 3 things to consider, space, storage and price.

Any 2.5" SATA laptop drives will do. WD are a good brand for these. These are generally higher in storage capacity but mechanical and cheaper. This drive is also listed on crucial http://www.crucial.com/store/modelpart.aspx?model=Inspiron%201545&imodule=WD7500BPVT It is 750 GB and $84.

Solid State drive. These are generally lower in capacity and higher in price but have faster access times and hence greatly increased performance. Also they generate less heat and battery time is increased. For example this is the recommended upgrade: http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=DD5E516FA5CA7304 it is 128 GB and $117.

There are Solid State Drives of lower capacity but I would recommend at least having a drive of 120 GB in size. There are also 256 GB and 512 GB ones available but in my opinion too high in price. Therefore I personally would recommend the Solid State Drive one mentioned above.

Philip_Yip · Accepted Answer

Yes they generally make it easy to access as its a part that fails regularly.

Here is your systems Service Manual: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1545/en/SM/index.htm

Remove AC adapter and battery. Then it is a case of removing 2 screws at the edge/base of the system. Once they are removed slide out the hard drive and its caddy. Finally there is a further 2 screws attaching the hard drive to the caddy. Attach the caddy to the new drive and screw everything back up.

Philip_Yip · Accepted Answer

I thought I gave you a link to my wiki A Clean Install of Windows its not a video but it takes you through everything.

Step 1 and 2 probably can't do as your old hard drive is knackered.

Step 3 you have the DVD. Just check is it 64 bit (I am assuming it is) and does it have Service Pack 1, I'm assuming it doesn't.

Start Step 6 on another computer and copy the SATA drivers to a USB stick i.e. download the f6flpy-x64 drivers from here: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=2101&DwnldID=21852&ProductFamily=Software+Products&ProductLine=Chipset+Software&ProductProduct=Intel%c2%ae+Rapid+Storage+Technology+(Intel%c2%ae+RST)&lang=eng

Extract them and save them to a USB stick as mentioned in Step 6 of the wiki.

Step 7 isn't necessary on a new drive (and your system isn't a Media Direct system).

Step 8 is the install of Windows, I suggest you follow it step by step and load the SATA drivers as shown.

While the setup is running on another computer carry out Step 4 and Step 5. However for Step 5 download the following from here: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/w/laptop/3705.inspiron-1545-windows-7-64-bit.aspx. It is the same drivers on Dell Drivers and Downloads but direct links and in the correct install order.

Copy all the files from Step 4 and Step 5 onto a USB stick.

genevive · Answer

OK, so far I got this error....Error Code 0146 & Error Code 2000-0146 hard drive 0 self test log contains previous errors. Now it's on Memory test activity and so far so good. I will post again if there are any more errors. Thanks for your help.

genevive · Answer

Thank you, I have a few questions. What makes the hard drive fail like that? Could it be a virus, trojan etc or something else. Also, I have no idea what to look for in a hard drive. Can you give me some tips? Thanks for all your help.

genevive · Answer

Thanks, is it hard to put a new one in yourself? I did put in more memory on my desk top b/f and had to unplug the hard drive. But never worked on a laptop.

genevive · Answer

OK, we got a new hard drive. Should we load the drivers first (disc) or the re-installation disc first? Is there a youtube video or something that can walk me through this?

genevive · Answer

Ok thank you :)

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Reinstalling windows 7

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