unable to boot due to Error on disc

Did you try to enter Safe Mode or Last Good. These are 2 options you can get when you start tapping the F8 key when you restart your computer. If you can get to a desktop in Safe Mode you should try System Restore option. After that I would run this command:

chkdsk /r (note space)

Norton isn't a System boot disk like XP CD , so if you Computer it already set to try the CD ROM Drive first & you haven't removed the Norton CD it will fail.
If so remove the Norton CD & re-boot.

tried both suggestions and nothing worked.  Called Dell support number.  After repeating what I had already done:

Diagnostic on SETA

Still recieved error code 7.

Support said I had to replace drive.  I will not be able to retrieve any information off of hard drive.

Game over.

Does this sound right to anyone out there?  Is there some way to access the drive and get some information off of it?

Thanks,

Margaret

Yes, I tried that.  It got as far as 25%, then quit stating there was an error.

Doesn't sound good, does it ? chkdsk /r fixes errors it can fix. That Dell would suggest replacing pretty much means drive is toast. Sorry. 

Probably is a hardware problem. If you have important data on disk there are companies (maybe local) that can, in most cases, recover some/all data. If you can boot to the XP cd you could work your way to the Recovery Console and run this command:

chkdsk /r (note space)

Have they had you try that ?

bummer.

Thanks for the help though.

margaret

You could try running the DELL Diagnostics by boot from the DELL Drivers & Utilities (Resource) CD .

yup, tried booting from the cd.  Ran the tools and found problems, but nothing fixed.

new drive arrives tomorrow morning...