System Recovery / Options

Question

I'm looking for some help with this :emotion-7:

I work at a retail business that handles customers returns. Usually we just restore returned computer to factory condition then resell at a reduced cost.

They had a Dell Computer in the Claims / Returns area that my area / department needed to check to see if we can restore it.

When I tried to go to F8 and try boot into "Windows 7 System Recovery", I hit "Repair Your Computer" the screen goes to start the "windows is loading files" for about 5-10 seconds then the monitor goes blank even when the power button is still lit up. I have also tried to get to (if it is there) "Dell's recovery partition" by tapping F8, no use.

I am wondering if its the hard drive failing ???? which is preventing me to get in ?

I am interested in purchasing this AS IS from our store, if its is worth it. They want $150 dollars for it. The Monitor (tested on another computer), mouse,keyboard seem to working fine. Tower's internal fans are working , motherboard light is on, I can access Bios, setup config screen.

I've tried booting normal, safe mode, last known good configuration, "windows error recovery" screen. I can't remember what I did :emotion-45:, but one of the attempts brought the "Windows Starting" screen but the screen was a visual mess -multi colors- but just sat there not progressing.

I was hoping its just the Hard Drive, and I could possibly replace that and reinstall Windows 7 - from the CoA sticker on the computer or get / buy recovery disks

Info about the computer

Dell Inspiron 545
MFG Date- 20091103 - not sure of original purchase date
6 gb ram
2.7 mhz intel dual core
640 HD
23" Monitor .....Dell ST2310f

I have currently have 3 Dell Desktops (b110 - e510 - xps model) & 1 laptop. I was hoping I could revive this at a good price and add another Dell to my collection.

Thanks for reading and help

Steve

DELL-Chris M · Answer

High Sticking,

I moved it over here to get further advice from the operating system gurus.

Hard Disk Drive Test
90/90 short test -
* Restart the PC, at the Dell splash screen press the Ctrl - Alt - D keys to initiate the hard disk drive diagnostic
* The test may take up to three minutes to run the diagnostics (the time is dependent upon size and speed of drive)

F12 DST (Drive Self-Test) -
* Restart the PC
* Press F12 at the very first screen
* Choose Dell Diagnostics- Extended test- Hard drive

Where can I get the Windows CD and other Dell CDs?

High Sticking · Answer

Thanks Chris M, for reading and giving some troubleshooting choices.

I'm off from work Thursday, so I'm going to try this Friday.

If I can narrow this down, I would like to decide if this is a possible purchase by Monday the 14th.

If its not worth the trouble to fix, I just buy the monitor, and will probably throw out every thing else :emotion-6:

Steve

High Sticking · Answer

Chris M or Anyone else :emotion-5: Tried the 2 suggestions you gave me. before I started anything, I opened the case and checked all wire and connections. The only thing I noticed was the sata connection was a little loose at the HD. Also I checked for dust collection around the rear fan and cpu fan/heatsink all were clear and relativity clean. Hard Disk Drive Test90/90 short test -* Restart the PC, at the Dell splash screen press the Ctrl - Alt - D keys to initiate the hard disk drive diagnostic* The test may take up to three minutes to run the diagnostics (the time is dependent upon size and speed of drive) When I do this it just keeps rebooting, when I leave it alone goes to the Windows Error Recovery Option Screen. I launch repair windows.Shows 'Starting Windows' for 10-15 seconds, goes to a blue screen (new- never had this screen before) . unmountable_boot_volume after this came up , I checked BIOS settings for 1st boot device was HD put it back to default- removable. F12 DST (Drive Self-Test)  -* Restart the PC* Press F12 at the very first screen* Choose Dell Diagnostics- Extended test- Hard drive There was no option for Dell Diagnostics-Extended test-Hard drive ????  I did pick generic diagnostic thou. Started 'Pre-boot system assesment (build 4510) screen.....I let it run System Test....Pass, Hard Drive DST Short Test...showed running, CD-ROM self test....Pass. I left and came back in a 1/2 hour, and a error message was on the screen....... Memory March SR Test:error code - 0123MSG: error code 2000-1023memory integrity test failed didn't let in continue or finish. Also pulled out & reinserted 4 sticks of ram. Didn't rerun this test. Went into 'Boot to Utility Partition'proceeded to try Symptom Tree, a lot of chosen tests passed...confidence test....device quick test....etc. Some of the longer tests didn't attempt due to time available. Didn't see any memory tests, tried some of the sata hd tests. I was hoping it could be a matter of switching to a new HD and have a OK system at a good price ($150). Do any of this point to being worth the effort ?? Thanks for all your help !!Steve

High Sticking · Answer

As a test I removed all the memory but the stick that was in slot #1 Hynex 2gb. Removed was 2 Kingston 1gb & 1 Hynex 2gb.

F12 boot into diagnostics to run Pre-Boot Assesment test completed without any errors....:emotion-1:

Proceeded to run Express Test.......came up with 2 errors :emotion-6:

Error Code 0F00:133C
Msg: DISK- No suitable disk media is present.

Error Code 4400:011A Msg: SCSI_0-000_DISK_GENERIC_SD/MMC-Target not ready

Thanks

Steve

RoHe · Answer

The first disk error probably means you didn't have a data CD in the optical drive so the drive "failed".

The second error probably means there's an internal SD card reader installed in this system but you didn't have an SD card in the slot = "failed".

Insert a data CD and an SD card and rerun the tests...

Ron

High Sticking · Answer

Funny you say that, cause when looking at the computer. The customer had left a blank CDR in the drive. Of which I did take out, Never thought of having a disk in the drive for testing ?

I'm really not overly concerned with these errors.

But I'm more concerned about trying to get past when booting "Repair recovery" screen then getting blue screen error unmountable_boot_volume. At least when I pulled out the extra ram, I was able to get through some of the diagnostics.

Another forum board thought maybe bad ram, could be the root of the errors. Going try running memtest86

When returned, no restore disks were returned. I hoping I can get restore/recovery disk's from Dell ??:emotion-11:

So I'm still stuck wondering if the Hard Drive is dead....some of the ram is bad.....etc etc..:emotion-8:

Thanks for the help !

Steve

RoHe · Answer

Yes, you always need a data disk or a SD card in the slot in order to test that component..

If you're still getting the unmountable_boot_volume error, you may have a failed hard drive. If you have a Dell Vista DVD available, you may be able to boot from it and runthe Startup Repair from the Vista DVD, assuming the drive isn't dead.

Ron

High Sticking · Answer

Ron:

I don't have a Windows 7 disk , at least that is what the CoA label on the Case says what operating system should be on it, not Vista . I'm trying to see if I can get one from Dell (That is a System Recovery Disk) :emotion-1:

I do have a HP Win 7 upgrade disk, that I booted from the DVD/CD drive to try to repair, It did put me into Startup Repair option screen . It did try to repair but ending with "Startup Repair cannot repair this computer automatically". Did use the command line and ran CHKDSK /F..../R just got "Failed to transfer logged messages to event log with status....error 50" It did seem to not find any errors....yet. I think I ran CHKDSK 2-3 times, using different switches.

When I rebooted as normal the unmountable_boot_volume showed back up

Not sure how I got this report ??? But I wrote down the message. Can't remember what I did.......:emotion-39:

Startup Repair Problem

6.1.7600.16385
6.1.7600.16385
unknown
107
external media
1
No root cause

OS Version 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1

Locale ID: 1033

I have memtest 3.4 and Western Digital Datalife Guard Tools (HD that is installed) both on bootable CD to run tests on the RAM and HD, I am going to run these Tuesday.

Any other suggestions I can try, please advise.......:emotion-2: I'm not ready to toss it to the garbage can yet !

Steve

RoHe · Answer

Run BIOS setup (reboot and press F2). See if the hard drive is correctly identified. And make sure this hard drive is set as first in the boot sequence.

Then look for SATA Mode and see how it's set. If set to RAID, change to IDE and vice-versa. Save the change and exit setup. See if it boots now.

Beginning to sound like a bum hard drive, so it will be interesting to see what the hard drive tests show.

Dell doesn't supply a "Recovery Disk". They provide a Windows Reinstallation disk which only installs Windows, no drivers and no software. After Windows is installed, the user has to install everything else. And they may not send it to you since you're not the registered owner of the system.

Ron

High Sticking · Answer

Thanks Ron for reading........

I tried first running memtest to make sure, as someone else in another forum suggested.

Results after 1 Pass were "Pass Complete No Errors" I read that it is suggested that you run at least 7 passes. I can if needed

Than I ran WD Datalife Guard Tools. Quick Tools (3m 4s) just showed "Error Status Code: 0000" which I believe is good.

Then ran the extended Test (1hr 55m 51s) , It also came up OK.

Next put in my HP Win 7 Upgrade Disk in again (already tried once befrore :emotion-6:) . >>>repair your computer>>>startup repair>>>startup repair could not detect a problem :emotion-2:.

Computer booted into the previous owner :emotion-11:, when I logged onto a admin account it showed that this computer was restored to 9-29-2010. I had ried to restore while I was running tests the day before had gotten "system restore error - unspecified error (ox800700b7).

Not sure what was done to get me this far :emotion-7:. I have a feeling that the boot up was corrupted ????

My next problem was to try to get to "Factory Installed" State computer came with Dell DataSafe Local Backup. When I try to access the restore to factory state, It states that it will go back to 1-8-2010 (Factory Image click restart, the computer justs reboots to desktop, does seem to find that recovery.

When I go into Disk Management to look at the HD .....it shows Disk 0 has a healthy 39mb oem partition.....A Recovery 14.65gb NTFS healthy.....OS (C:) 581.48 NTFS healthy. So it seems something is in that recovery part of the HD ??

I did try F8 boot process and chose repair my computer....its goes back to my previous error message "unmountable_boot_volume" I can reboot and get back into Windows like normal ???

I did contact Dell as far as getting disks, they seem to be willing to help me , so as long as I jump through some hoops :emotion-1:, been very nice so far. I hadn't heard from them yet for the information I provided them is good enough .

Thanks

Steve

RoHe · Answer

Some progress. :emotion-21:

The 39 MB partition is Dell's hardware diagnostics, accessed by pressing F12 during boot before Windows starts to load. The 14.65 GB partition is the factory image.

It sounds like there may be an issue with Dell's custom boot manager which allows access to the factory image. If it got corrupted (eg, data corruption or a boot sector virus), you won't be able to restore to the factory image.

Your best bet may be to reformat the drive and reinstall Windows, assuming you have the Dell disks, or you're willing to buy a Win 7 disk from somewhere (eBay). But keep in mind reformatting will permanently eliminate any chance to use the factory image. So the best thing would be to make your own image of the drive after you get a clean install with all the drivers and software installed. Check the Western Digital site to see if they offer a free (= limited) version of some imaging software for people who own their brand of hard drive.

Ron

High Sticking · Answer

I'm actually encouraged that I've been able to get this far :emotion-2:

I thought the best case scenario was going to replace the Hard Drive......Purchase Windows 7......maybe ram.

I haven't as yet heard back from Dell :emotion-6:

I'm still not confident with the Hard Drive. Are there more tests or diagnostics I can run to challenge this drive ??????

Would it still be a good idea to run more memtest passes...........I guess it wouldn't hurt ??

Get script errors at startup with Dell Support "Error loading DLL" I'm not sweating this message yet :emotion-5:

Last dating on files/updates/logging seems to be 8/29/2010, probably when they gave up...............or computer failure

I don't have Dell Disks yet...:emotion-13:. I hoping the come through...... I have used Win 7 image creator, on my Laptop, haven't tested the capabilities tho'. I also have Acronis for possible imaging solutions.

Thanks

Steve

RoHe · Answer

I think you should just reformat the hard drive and reinstall Windows, followed by all the hardware drivers -in their correct order.

Run with that for a while. If it doesn't give you any further problems, you've fixed it. Plus, you've saved the cost of a new hard drive. :emotion-11:

But if it continues to act up, then you have to consider replacing hardware...

Ron

RoHe · Answer

If malwarebytes found all those things, I suggest you go to the Malware Removal Forum. Read the FAQs at top of that page and follow the instructions to post a HijackThis log.

One of the experts over there will work with you to clean up the mess. Be sure to tell them the system model, version of Windows, the problems you have and how you've tried to fix it, including that you ran malwarebytes and it found all that stuff...

Ron

High Sticking · Answer

Ran Malwarebytes found 37 items -Quarantined then deleted them.

Computer is running fine, with 94% C: drive free :emotion-2: After deleting unneeded items. Boot-up time is averaging 55 - 79 seconds.

Heard back from Dell, did a change of Ownership submission. Awaiting to see if that goes through.

Best case sceanrio will be getting the disks to restore to "Factory Install" state.

Thanks for your help Ron !!!

Steve

Windows General

System Recovery / Options

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