windows 7 startup problem

code 2000-0142 is a hard drive self test failure, back up your important data Now. Be prepared to replace the hard drive with a new one.

thanks for your advice.

2 drives, is this a raid setup, if so is it Raid 1 or 0?

yes it is and it is no 1

just one other question. my computer has 2 hard drives. do i replace both or just the primary one and  how will i know which one that is ?.

Ok, raid 1 is a mirror set, meaning the same data is written to both drives.

It sounds like the primary drive in the set is having problems, you should be able to disconnect it from the motherboard and the system will start booting from the secondary drive in the mirror set. After disconnecting the problem drive you may get a warning during the boot process that the mirror set is degraded or something to that effect, ignore it and continue to boot.

I can be a bit tricky to determine which drive is primary, it would require you to open the case on the PC and trace the hard drive data cables back to the motherboard, see what the motherboard connectors are labeled. Sata 0 connector should be the primary drive. See #26 in the diagram, these are your Sata connectors.

Your Service manual   http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xps630i/en/SM/HTML/index.htm

After disconnecting the drive, if it loads the desktop correctly and everything seems to be working correctly (except for the error it will show during boot that I spoke of earlier), then you can assume you have found the problem drive, you can replace the drive with one of equal size or larger, connect it back to the motherboard and boot the system, it should detect the new drive and may prompt you to rebuild the array during the boot process, if it does not, it can be done once you are in windows, look in your program group for "Nvidia MediaShield."

Rebuilding a RAID Configuration

If one of the hard drives in a RAID array fails, you can rebuild the array by restoring the data to a replacement drive.

NOTE: Rebuilding an array can only be performed on RAID 1 configuration

1. Launch Nvidia MediaShield.
   
2. Click to select your RAID configuration (Mirroring) in the management utility window.
   
3. Select Rebuild Array in the System Tasks pane.

The NVIDIA Rebuild Array Wizard appears.

1. Click Next.
   
2. Select the hard drive you want to rebuild by clicking the checkbox beside it.
   
3. Click Next.
   
4. Click Finish.

The MediaShield RAID management utility window appears and displays the status of the rebuild process.

NOTE: You can use your computer while the computer is rebuilding the array.

Your Owners Manual

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xps630i/en/OM/HTML/index.htm

Be sure to disconnect the power cord whenever are working inside the case.

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thanks very much again for your detailed  assistance. have a new hard drive on order will have it  in a day or 2.

Just a side note

If you install a hard drive that is larger than the one being replaced, it will work fine, but you loose the extra space, the raid rebuild process will only use the equal space compared to the other drive installed, it will be lost an unusable for anything, just so you know.

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hi back again with some more  info and questions. followed your advice, rang dell told them the problem i was having, and they sent out a tech. he installed 2 new hard drives and cable's, reset the raid config to striped. he said it was faster  and better than mirrored,  but still having the same issue with startup. im now wondering if  the windows 7 disc is faulty, how can i determine this for sure as the tech didn't know.

hi back again with some more  info and questions. followed your advice, rang dell told them the problem i was having, and they sent out a tech. he installed 2 new hard drives and cable's, reset the raid config to striped. he said it was faster  and better than mirrored,  but still having the same issue with startup. im now wondering if  the windows 7 disc is faulty, how can i determine this for sure as the tech didn't know.

I would ring Dell again, ask the tech to come back and make the raid correctly, and troubleshoot the problem, it could be a faulty raid controller on the motherboard. This could be difficult to determine though, a motherboard replacement would be needed to be sure. Dell diagnostics do not test the raid controller that I know of, so it would be a process of eliminating all other causes, then replace the motherboard,

Raid 0 (striped) is not good, if one of the 2 hard drives fail, you will lose all your data, no way to recover like you had with Raid 1.

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yeh will give them another call and get someone out again  i will tell them what you have said to me and this time they might get it right  will keep you posted thanks.

hi again called dell back told them the problem is still happening. so now they will send another tech out   he will change the  hard drives and cables again.also the motherboard , memory, reset the raid back to mirrored and anything else they think might be the cause of the problem. and if by chance that doesn't work they will replace the computer with a new one as it's still under warranty so i hope this is it, 3rd time lucky so if you don't hear from again thanks very much  for your help and take care.

Wow, thats service! 

You are welcome.

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