KERNEL DATA INPAGE ERROR ahhhhhhhhh

It sounds like you hdd is going south.  Back up your data.

I tried telling DELL this but now they are getting me to download the A10-i82.exe bios settings but I dunno how to do this!! can anyone help?? Every time I turn on the computer it just stops at the blue DELL screen and says after PRIMARY HARD DISK NOT FOUND!!! can I get around this??

Use the Downloads tab above, get the floppy version of the 8200 BIOS, make the floppy, and boot to it on the 8200.  I would first make sure the hdd is accessable just to insure a good flash of the BIOS as a failure will ruin the motherboard.

Try reseating the hdd and the fixed optical drive fully into the notebook.  When the hdd is out, lay it flat on the table, place one hand flat on the drive, pick it up with just that hand, and give the drive a few sharp horizontal twists (you wan the disks inside the drive to spin), then put it back into the notebook.

If it starts up, back up the drive, data, or however you want to save your important data.

I dont fancy the job of mucking up my hard drive like this because im bound to either drop it or ruin it!! Can I send it back to dell?

When I ran the BIOS diagnostic option it failed on the START DST SHORT TEST with error code 1000-0141

Stu