Need diagnostics CD

The Dell Resource (aka Drivers & Utilities) CD is the diagnostics disk it is asking for.  That disk normally would have shipped with the computer when it was ordered.

Have you tried safe mode, and/or connecting an external monitor to the system, to see if it is just a video driver/configuration problem?

This was a Dell-remanufactured laptop that I traded for an old motorcycle.  I don't have that CD.  I had to replace the HD a month after I got it, but since then it has been perfect for a year... until now.

Safe mode isn't an option.  It loads the bios, I get five or ten clicks from the HD, then a blank screen with a cursor.  Its not a prompt... I can't type anything.  No amount of F1 or F8 does anything.  Its not like I can interrupt windows loading to try safe mode, there is no loading of anyting at all.  After the bios loads, there is NOTHING.  No error message telling me that there is no HD installed, no error telling me that there is no OS, just nothing.  It doesn't even start loading windows.  If it did, I could F1 into a boot menu and choose safe mode, but I can't.  There is nothing.  Its as if the computer is satisfied with just loading the bios.

Its not a video display problem because I get a blinking cursor in the upper left hand corner.

I can F12 to a boot menu with diagnostics, but that tests bios.  It gets to the HD diagnostics and says "no diagnostics partition was found; insert the dell diagnostics CD and reboot."  I don't have that CD, so I need a way of GETTING it.

What I really want is a way to download the diagnostics CD and burn it so I can pop it in the laptop and figure this out.

If you are able to complete the Transfer of Ownership form you might be able to get replacement CDs.  Otherwise Fireblade's suggestion is probably the best way to go.

From what you describe, it sounds like the hard drive has failed (the clicking you describe makes me think the read/write heads are banging against the side of the drive casing, aka the click of death).  What happens if you remove the hard drive from the system?  If you have another computer of the same type you could also try booting with its hard drive in your system to verify your hard drive is the problem.

You'll find the diagnostics utility on the Latitude D610 'Drivers & Downloads' page :emotion-55: You should be able to burn it to a CD - or copy it to a pendrive, and run it from either?

Tried that three times, no dice.  The problem is that the drivers and downloads page DOESN'T have the proper utility.  There is the GUI diagnostics which is for after windows has loaded, and there is an update for the GUI version, but nothing that will help me.

If you get the same result with the hard drive out as when it is in, then I would be inclined to agree that it is probably not the hard drive. If you have the time, another way to go about this would be to pull all the easily removable components (memory, wireless card(s), hard drive, optical drive, battery) and put them back in one at a time and testing the system until the problem comes back (D610 service manual).  This might allow you to figure out which part is causing the problem.  With all those parts removed you should get a memory error, but if it does the same thing as it does now, then its almost sure to be the motherboard.

I'm pretty sure the default Ubuntu LiveCD will allow you to mount the Windows partition so if nothing else you might be able to back up your data that way.  Pulling the drive and using it in an external enclosure on another computer is another way to try and recover your files.

Thanks so much.  I'm such a noob at diagnosis.  Thanks especially for the link to the service manual.