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HDD Broken?
Hello Dell Community
I think my HDD is broken! Can anyone help me please?
I have a Dell Studio XPS 16 Laptop (1640 Model) that I bought in May 09
I got a blue screen of death and on reboot the laptop went into system recovery mode.
About 20 minutes into the HDD repair process I would get another blue screen of death.
So I thought well maybe Vista is corrupt.
So I put the Dell Windows Recovery Disk in with the intention of formatting my HDD and starting afresh (everything important is backed up online)
But I can't see my HDD in the list nor can I load any drivers for it
Anyone know whats happening?
Does anyone know what HDD I would of had in my laptop? i.e. IDE or SATA and also how large a HDD can my laptop cope with e.g. 320GB or 500GB
Cheers
tgsmith
2.9K Posts
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June 22nd, 2011 13:00
Mike,
1. You need a SATA HDD
2. The maximum capacity I find available for the Studio XPS 16 (1640 Model) is 750Gb
The system shipped with 5400 or 7200rpm 160, 250, 320 or 500Gb hard drives or 3.0gb/s 64, 128 or 256Gb SSDs.
3. I prefer Western Digital drives that have a 3-year warranty.
Note that most retailers that sell laptop replacement drives such as Newegg offer bundles that include Acronis True Image software to clone the drive and/or an external USB enclosure in which to mount the old or new drive for cloning.
Hope this info helps.
Tony
tgsmith
2.9K Posts
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June 23rd, 2011 10:00
Mike,
Yes. The WD5000BPKT is compatible with your system. Note that this drive is an Advanced Format (AF) drive. If you clone your old drive, you may need to run Western Digital's WD Align utility after cloning. WD also recommends that you update the Intel Storage driver. See this: www.wdc.com/.../features
Acronis True Image WD Edition is available here: support.wdc.com/.../downloaddetail.asp
Since you are running Windows Vista, you will not need to preformat the drive with Vista or Windows 7. That is only required if you intend to run Windows XP.
Interesting that you should choose this drive. I have one sitting on the bench that I purchased last week to upgrade a client's HP tx2525nx notebook running Windows 7. I'm supposed to pick up the HP today or tomorrow.
Tony
tgsmith
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June 21st, 2011 08:00
Lord Mike,
It would help if we knew the exact message you received on the blue screen(s).
Restart your computer. Press F12 while the Dell logo is on the screen. Select and run the diagnostics. Note any messages related to the hard drive.
Tony
LordMike
17 Posts
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June 21st, 2011 11:00
Hi Tony
Thanks for the quick response.
I have broken my response down into numbered steps, hope you can follow me.
1. When I press F12 I get the following:
Windows Error Recovery
Windows Failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause:
2. If I choose Launch Startup Repair I get the following:
Startup repair is checking you system for problems.
if problems are found startup repair will fix them automatically. Your computer might restart several times during this process
No changes will be made to your personal files or imformation. this might take several minutes
(Then a blue progress bar)
Repairing Disk Errors. This might take over an hour to complete
3. Then a message appears
The system will restart in 30 seconds
4. My laptop reboots
The laptop take about 30 minutes to reboot
5. Blue Screen of Death
A problem has been detected and windows has been shutdown
to prevent damage to your computer
blah
blah
blah
Technical Information
*** STOP: 0x000000F4 (0x00000003, 0x85417168, 0x854172B4, 0x8127F330)
6. I switch off and on and the loop begins again!
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks very much
Mike
tgsmith
2.9K Posts
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June 21st, 2011 13:00
Mike,
First, disconnect all peripherals such as printers, USB external drives, etc.. Leave only the keyboard, mouse and monitor connected. Next, disconnect the power cord. Hold down the power button for about 20 seconds. Reconnect the power cord. Turn on the computer and run Dell Diagnostics as explained here: support.dell.com/.../document
Let us know what your find.
Tony
LordMike
17 Posts
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June 21st, 2011 15:00
Hi Tony
I ran the diagnostic, as you told me and the answer was:
** Hard Drive - DST Short Test
Test Results: Pass
Not what I was expecting!
Cheers
ejn63
9 Legend
9 Legend
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87.5K Posts
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June 21st, 2011 16:00
Run the extended test (the option will appear after the quick tests finish).
LordMike
17 Posts
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June 22nd, 2011 02:00
Test Results: Fail
Error Code: 0F00: 1332.
Msg: DISK - block 4185344: Interrupt Request(IRQ) did not set in time
The given error code and message can be used by Technical Support to help diagnose the problem.
Do you want to continue testing?
Is this a red herring?
LordMike
17 Posts
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June 22nd, 2011 05:00
Hi Osprey
No I never took the extended warranty :-(
What does that error message actually mean?
Cheers
Mike
osprey4
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June 22nd, 2011 05:00
Hi LordMike,
Sounds like it's time for a new drive! Hopefully, you've got an extended warranty.
tgsmith
2.9K Posts
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June 22nd, 2011 09:00
Mike,
It means that the drive failed its Confidence Test. In other words, the drive diagnostics indicates that the drive is not "confident" it can read and write data without errors.
Tony
LordMike
17 Posts
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June 22nd, 2011 10:00
If I tell it that it's handsome and witty. will it load windows for me?
ejn63
9 Legend
9 Legend
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87.5K Posts
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June 22nd, 2011 11:00
No -- you need a new hard drive.
LordMike
17 Posts
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June 22nd, 2011 11:00
"Confidence" is not a word I would associate with a computer, "Integrity" I think is more appropriate.
Anyway, so I need a new HDD for my Dell Studio XPS 16 (1640 Model) laptop!
I have three more questions then please:
1. Do I need an IDE or SATA HDD
2. How large a capacity (GB) can my laptop take? 320GB , 500GB or higher?
3. Can anyone recommend a particular make/model
Thanks in advance
Mike
LordMike
17 Posts
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June 22nd, 2011 13:00
Hi Tony
Thank you very much for all your help, you are outstanding!
Best Regards
Mike