Inspiron 1000 Lap top Note Book Computer fails to boot

CM,

 

I have the same problem with the Inspiron 1000.   My hard drive was less than a year and half old...  I am going to get some professional help at this point to see if the data can be saved...  Where are you in your saga?

 

Here is some communication exchanges I had in the McAfee forum:

 

Gustavo

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My laptop suddenly turn itself off (possibly due to low battery) while I was checking e-mails. When attempted to turn the computer back on, it would go into DOS mode and show an endless cycle with the following:

SiS900 PXE BootROM v1.09b Hook Int18
CLIENT MAC ADDR: 00 11 43 39 7F B9 GUID: 44454C4C-3700-1053-8051-C6C04F5A3531
PXE-E51: No DHCP or proxyDHCP offers were received.
PXE-MOF: Exciting INtel PXE ROM.
Intel UNIDI, PXE-2.0 (build 082)
Copyright 1997-2000 Intel Corporation

I turned the computer off. Then while restarting it, I press F8 every second for about 30 seconds. I only see some colored logos (Dell, Intel Inside and Phoenix Technologies) and at the bottom to enter F2 to enter setup or F12 to boot menu.

Then it goes into DOS mode and shows the above cycling of entries again.

When I press alt-ctrl-del the screen goes black and I start pressing F8 again. Then I am given a menu of choices in the safe mode. I have used:

- Safe Mode With Command Prompt - this gives me a a long list of directories and then it stops
- Last Known Good Configuration - goes to an attempt to start Windows XP with its logo and the progressing bar below the logo
- Debugging Mode goes to a blank (black ) screeen for a while then goes to an attempt to start Windows XP with its logo and the progressing bar below the logo

After a few minutes, each of the 3 choices gives me the following same message:

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.
UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME
IF this is your first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this appears again, follow these steps:
Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed.....

If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowoing. If you need to use Dafe MOde to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 or select Advanced Startup Options, and then select Safe Mode.

Technical information:
*** STOP: OxOOOOOOED (Ox84F80698, OxCOOOOO9C, OxOOOOOOOO, OxOOOOOOOO)

Ex_Brit

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It's possible that you have a viral infection but it's more likely that you have a corrupted operating system, severe errors on your hard drive(s), faulty memory, loose connections etc.

The best way to start is to repair your installation. To do this disconnect from the internet and remove all peripherals except your keyboard and mouse. You have a laptop so make sure nothing external is connected.

Guidelines here: http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm

All Microsoft Windows Updates will have to be reinstalled.

Another good website for troubleshooting XP: http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp.htm

If you can't do the repair insllation then a PC repair shop would be in order...my opinion anyway.

Please include the following information:

What is your XP service pack level and are you up to date with Microsoft Updates?

Please check this topic out for some basic steps for virus removal.
Announcement: **Please read this before posting in this forum!!!**

 

 

Gustavo

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I disconnected all peripherals: no improvement (response was the same as yesterday). With the hard drive out: same...

Then reading the webtree site, I realized I do not have the Windows XP CD. I bought the laptop new from DELL (a year and half ago) and would swear the CD did not come with the laptop. Any way to attempt to fix it without the CD? Meanwhile I'll see if DELL would send me an XP CD, or a reboot CD.

When starting to boot up, I chose F2 to set up - the hard drive was not recognize (0 GB), so I enabled the 32 bits under Hard Drive. After this, the HD is recognized as having 40 GB, but it doesn't go further than what happened yesterday... :-(

I have the Windows XP SP1, and yes, I had automatic MS updates.

secured2k

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The symptoms you described point to hard drive failure. This could be a hard drive that is about to die or a bad/loose connection in the laptop. If you have valuable data you can not lose on the hard drive, please stop trying to use the drive immediately and seek professional computer repair.

To explain some things you saw and described...

the SiS900 PXE.... message occurs when the system could not find any other devices to boot to. This is a message showing that the normal boot devices all failed and the system has resorted to trying to boot using a network resource (which you do not have available).

After restarting, you had the same results. This means that the hard drive was not found or did not have the instructions to start the computer.

When you restarted again, the system found the hard drive and started to boot up. We know it found the hard drive because the instructions to even show the Advanced Startup Options (Safe Mode) is on the hard drive.

When choosing Safe Mode with Command Prompt, you may need to wait. Windows can detect if the drive is failing or has the "Dirty" bit set on it. Before loading the GUI, Windows will silently (no screen output) run a CHKDSK to detect and repair file system errors. Your only clue that something is going on is the Hard Drive activity light.

Finally, choosing any option results in a STOP Error "UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME". This was mostly caused by a dying hard drive or poor connection that caused incorrect data to be written to the Hard Drive. In the case that the hard drive is fine (doesn't sound like it), running CHKDSK from a Windows Recovery Console (Windows XP CD Repair Option) may repair the NTFS Partition (Your C: Drive) to a point where you can boot to Windows again.

More information and possible fixes for this error are here: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=297185

Bottom line: It really looks like the hard drive is bad. Contact Dell to get it replaced or fixed if in warranty. Seek out professional data recovery if the data is of extremely value and no backups are available.
Dell - Toll Free: 800-WWW-DELL (999-3355)

Ex_Brit

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Thanks Secured2k - that's good advice. Gustavo, once you are sorted out please note that SP1 is about to become obsolescent. I suggest you update to SP2 as soon as possible as any future security updates will be dependent on your having that installed. (There already have been some 70 of them).

Gustavo

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Thankyou both for your help! Since I have nothing to lose at this point, I'll try the recovery console, once I get the hold of a Start Up CD. Does it have to be specific for my laptop or I can borrow anybody's Windows XP Start Up CD?

secured2k

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Any Windows XP or newer Boot CD should work.

 

Gustavo

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Now that I finally get a chance to creat a bootable CD (from somebody elses's laptop - since nobody I know seem to have bootable CD), the website www.webtree.ca "How To Create a bootable CD to access the Recovery Console" can't be accessed...

Any other sites that will give me similar info.?

secured2k

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Here is a Google search and the Official Microsoft support link for the Windows Recovery Console.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=windows+recovery+console
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058/

Please use a genuine Windows XP or newer CD to start your computer.

Hi Gustavo

 

I want to inform you that after lot of  searches in web, Dell Community forum , Dell  centres about the possible defects,

 I have finally  replaced the  bad HDD with a new Seagate 40GB HDD  last monday (16 th October).

 My set (Dell Inspiron 1000)  is working all right now.

  HDD is having 5 year warranty.

 

So , you can  possibly go in for a  new HDD.