Dimension E521 - Formating C drive during Repair Computer & Factory Image Restore Process

Hi

Go to the D:\tools folder and list the names of the files to this thread you may be missing some of the files .

Files in D:\tools

CmdShell.cmd, imagex.exe, intlcfg.exe, PCRestore.exe, wimfltr.inf, wimfltr.sys, wimgapi.dll, wimscript.ini

Thank you.

My apologies, I forgot to list that file...  would there be any other reasons why it would display "Reformatting hard drive", show the blue progress bar moving left to right constantly and the disk light constantly blinking?  If, I had not done diagnostics on the harddrive I would think that it was a harddrive problem...

Thank you for your time.

Hi

From what i see you are missing the {dp.sc} file you can make this file with notepad on the desktop ! Right click and select notepad name it dp.sc.exe then copy and past this into it .

sel disk 0
sel vol C
format fs=ntfs label="OS" quick

Then remove the .exe from the end it may give you an error message saying it will not work with .exe removed , move it back to D:\TOOLS then see if it will let you format the C:\ drive using F8.

Good Luck

Hi

I cant see it not working if the drive is working as it should , it sounds like the drive is not boot able ,but if you can get to the F8 screen the drive should be working right did you run a full F12 to test the drive?

Hi

You say the drive never booted after the update ? How did you get to the F8 screen if the harddrive will not boot ?

yes, F12 then the Dell Diagnostic disk. 

The problem started with a Microsoft update... never booted again.

Hello,

If there is nothing on the drive that is needed ...

You could use a disk wipe program like Boot and Nuke. Once you clear the disk you can try diagnostics or format the disk as planned.

I know they are different commands... the correlation was the effect was the same... I let it run for almost 20 hours... periodically checking and the disk light did not look like it was doing anything.   These commands are basic... there should be no problems running them nor taking so long...

Hi

Did you do the Automatically fix file system errors ?What is the outcome?This is not the same as format that i know of !!

Hi brendad.

C3PO5 if I might..

Wow I was looking for this, when you posted last. Check for disk errors but the PC does not run.:emotion-12:

See if restore works with the Vista DVD.

Hope it helps.

I should clarify chkdsk... when you get the message "The disk OS (C:) has erros.  At the bottom of the box it says "Check the disk for errors", I selected that and it pops-up with Check disk options -> Automatically fix file system errors.  This is what does the same thing as format... hard drive blinking but nothing is really happening.

you are speaking of the Dell Re-installation cd?    nothing seems to work at all.  I did to a imagex/apply d:\dell\image\Factory.wim 1 c: and it successfully imaged the C drive.  Then tried to do a Restore but we loop back on the format problem again...

I cannot imagine the format/restore image taking more than 20 hours. 

Hi

Reboot press F8 go to the recovery screen and select system restore to a earlier point in time the select a time before the update see if that works ?

And can you get into windows in safe mode ?

safe mode stops at crcdisk.sys

system restore... any selected date gives the message: The disk OS (C:) has errors.  Windows has detected file system corruption on OS (C:).  You must check the disk for errors before it can be restored.

-> I have done chkdsk and like format it just sits there.. the hard drive light keeps blinking like it is doing something but nothing happens...

I have been working on this since last Friday.  Hence, I have let it run its course for 15  to 20 hours at a time thinking it was actually doing something each time...

I really just want to re-format the disk and re-image.