Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
2 Posts
0
12984
inspiron 1545 won't boot
After doing several Windows7 system updates on an Inspiron 1545 laptop, I rebooted the computer as requested and got it back to the login screen. I then turned off the computer for the night. The next day, the computer would only get as far as the Dell logo, the F2/F12 option text and then it would go to a black screen with a single blinking white cursor in the upper left corner. Nothing happens after this, even if left alone for several hours.
I can load the BIOS OK (F2) and everything looks normal there. If I choose F12, I can select between HDD, CD drive, onboard NIC, BIOS, and diagnostics. Choosing diagnostics and the full test suite reports no problems. I don't have the Dell Win7 install disc around so I can't use Microsoft's recovery tool. I do have an Ubuntu Live CD and loaded a live version of Ubuntu this way. When I look at the hard drive using it, I get this output:
ubuntu@ubuntu:~
$ sudo fdisk -lu
Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x5d633ed2
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 63 80324 40131 de Dell Utility
/dev/sda2 * 81920 30801919 15360000 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 30801920 625140399 297169240 7 HPFS/NTFS
Similarly, Ubuntu's Disk Utility shows the Hard Drive with 3 partitions (DellUtility 41MB FAT, RECOVERY 16GB NTFS , OS 304GB NTFS), but only partition 2 (RECOVERY) says bootable (notice boot column above in fdisk output). Should it be partition 3 (OS) that is bootable? Disk Utility has a button that allows other partitions to be made bootable, though I haven't tried setting that since I don't know what the implications are.
I can mount the partition OS in Ubuntu Live, and examine its contents, and it looks like all the data is there (Windows, Users, Program Files, etc), so HD failure doesn't seem to be the case.
This seems like the mbr on the hard drive was lost but I haven't been able to figure out a way to fix it and let the laptop boot to Windows 7 once again. Thanks for any help.
bobbyalex
6 Posts
0
July 22nd, 2011 06:00
Sorry for raising up an old thread. Well I am basically in the same boat with my Studio 15. Am stuck at the same single blinking cursor. F2/F12 are like you said.. and I don't have my Windows 7 DVD. Did you have any luck with this ?
ejn63
9 Legend
9 Legend
•
87.5K Posts
0
July 22nd, 2011 06:00
F12 at powerup - boot to the Dell diagnostics and run an extended (NOT just a quick) hard drive test.
bobbyalex
6 Posts
0
July 23rd, 2011 05:00
When I ran the initial tests I got an error message "dell diagnostics hard drive error 0146"
While running the extended hard disk diagnostics, I got an error message like 0F00:1332 Msg: Disk Interrupt Request didn't set in time.
Does this look like a bad disk?
ejn63
9 Legend
9 Legend
•
87.5K Posts
0
July 23rd, 2011 06:00
Yes, that's what it is - a failed hard drive.
nieder
2 Posts
0
July 23rd, 2011 06:00
Unfortunately, I don't have access to the computer for now (belongs to a coworker) and don't know when I'll be able to see it again, but in my case (as the OP) I did run the extended Dell HD diagnostics and did not get any errors.
The only obvious thing I could see was that the main OS partition was not set to bootable (as seen via Ubuntu live disc). The OS partition can be set to bootable, but I don't know what the ramifications of that would be (especially if it's the wrong thing to do.
bobbyalex
6 Posts
0
July 23rd, 2011 06:00
Will it be possible to recover the data, may be after booting it using a Ubuntu live disk? Or is the disk totally gone?
ejn63
9 Legend
9 Legend
•
87.5K Posts
0
July 23rd, 2011 08:00
Remove the disc, mount it in a 2.5" USB 2.0 external case and connect it to a working system. It may be possible to recover at least some data from the drive.