XPS Problems. Cannot Boot the OS

Question

Ok. my problems started at the beginning of this week. I recently installed WoW (World of Warcraft), I was having fun, until some very bad lag made my computer lock up. I had no choice but to reboot using the power button in the upper right corner of the tower. After that, when I was booting up Windows; I noticed everything was incredibily sluggish. I didn't think anything of it. The morning after, I booted up the computer (tried to boot it), it got to the Windows splash screen, stayed there, then the computer rebooted it's-self, with the same results. Now, it's been a few days, and the situation hasn't improved. I grabbed my XP Pro install disk, put it into the computer, and it gets to the setup screen. I go through all of the little stuff, and guess what, the disk couldn't find an HDD to install to. I get this message telling me, 'windows cannot find any hard disk drives installed on your computer. Press F3 to quit.' It was something along the lines of that. I boot up the Dell Diagnostics program and select the 'Cannot Boot the OS' option. It passes all of the other tests except the SATA Disk S/N = Y62T72ZE - Read Test. Here's the error I got,   'Test Results : Fail: Error code 0F00:0244 Msg: Block 3663743: Uncorrectable data error or media is write protected.'   Ok, what does that mean? Can I fix it?

ejn63 · Answer

The hard drive is either failing or has failed. If you are under warranty, call Dell and report the error; they'll ship you a replacement drive.

Atenhouse1 · Answer

Are you sure? Is there any way for me to recover the hard drive?

ejn63 · Answer

It may be possible to read some or even all the data from the drive, but since it won't boot, you'll need another system or a replacement drive to do that.

Once the drive had developed bad sectors, it is beyond hope - get it replaced as soon as possible.

trow55 · Answer

Knoppix: Live Boot Linux CD useful for recovering data off corrupted and failing HDD's. In your case, it can't hurt to try.   For a detailed guide on using Knoppix 3.7, Check out the User Review section on the Ultimate XPS Forums. Or Click the Banner's Below.   T.RoW

Atenhouse1 · Answer

UPDATE     Well, I got my new HDD! But, I have another problem. I switched out drives, and reconnected everything. It will not recognize the drive. Any advice on what to do?   Thanks.

TomXPS · Answer

Assuming you have a XPS gen 2,3 or 4 you have to install the RAID Pre-OS Driver from the Diskette shortly after booting from the CD.

To create the Diskette you need to execute the RAID Pre-OS driver executable from the Driver CD.

Shortly after booting off the OS CD press F6 to load Pre-OS driver. When prompted put the CD and load the RAID driver off the Diskette.

You HD should then be found. You might want to search for a Re-install guide for all the details.

You have to install other drivers after the OS install. Chip Set, Video Driver, Sound Card, Net work, etc.

After the install you should go to Windows Update to load all the current updates.

Storage, Drives & Media

XPS Problems. Cannot Boot the OS

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