Inspiron 8000 Hard Drive Problems

Question

Hi Guys,   I have a p 3, 850 mhz inspiron 8000. When i try formatting the drive it takes a really long time, once it starts copying files i get many error messages saying it cannot copy specific files. Some of the files i seem to be having trouble with are riodrv.sys, cpqdap01.sys, diskcopy.dll, dmadmin.exe, diskpark.exe, dmconfig.dll, dog4.inf, dpvvox.dll, so far i am at 40% but a lot of files cannot be copied, does this mean my hard drive is finished? any suggestions? i would appreciate any help i can get from anyone who is familiar with this problem. If my hard drive is finished, i am interested in selling the laptop to anyone who is willing to purchase a new hard drive and fix it on their own. Anxiously awaiting a reply.   Thank you.

leduke30 · Answer

It sounds like your drive is developing bad sectors and if it is, then you should change it out. Do you by chance have a W98 Boot Disk? You could try it for fdisk and format, but if it starts hanging up during format on Allocation units saying it is trying to recover them, that is the problem from bad sectors. You can get a Samsung MP040S 40gb 5400 rpm new in AS bag from www.newegg.com for $65, and I would say the 8000 is well worth that expenditure. The machine below is the Latitude clone of your model.

Latitude C800
800mhz Pentium III
512mb PC133 RAM (1 Module)
40gb Hitachi 7200rpm-HTE726040M9AT00-UDMA5
HL-DT-ST-GCC-4240N CDRW/DVDROM in Fixed Bay
LS-120 SuperFloppy in ModularBay
Windows XP Pro SP1
FanGui 2.20
ATI M4 32mb Video Card
C/Dock II

Message Edited by leduke30 on 04-21-2005 02:00 AM

leduke30 · Answer

It certainly sounds like a sick Harddrive, but the 8000 is a good solid computer, and replacing the harddrive is feasible and not too expensive for the drive I mentioned. The drive I have is faster, but more expensive(double what the Samsung goes for). For most purposes with the exception of on- line gaming, the CPU speed is the least important, as the memory/FSB speed and the Harddrive UDMA setting/access speed/Buffer size are more significant, and determine how fast things happen on a computer. If you want a W98 Boot Disk to try on the present drive, get one here  www.bootdisk.com

Lazerman · Answer

Hi,   Thanks for your reply. I just finished formatting after spending 3 hours in front of the computer. Winxp beings to load than i get a blue error message which reads,   stop: c000021a (Fatal System Error) The session manager initialization system process terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0xc0000034 (0x00000000 0x000000000). The system has been shut down? I do not have win98 startup disk, all i have is a winxp boot disk. Does this error message indicated that my hard drive is destroyed? and its time to get a new laptop? I would appreciate any response.   Thanks, Lazer

Lazerman · Answer

Hi,   I downloaded a boot disk from the website you mentioned. However when i put it in my computer i kept getting non strike errors, remove disk, it would not boot from my floppy drive. Any other suggestions before i spend money on a new hard drive? it is complicated to re-install a new hard drive?   thanks

leduke30 · Answer

No, you remove the Drive/Caddy from the Machine by removing the single screw on the exterior, slide the Bezel portion down, and pull the Drive/caddy unit out of the machine. Remove the 4 screws from the caddy bottom which hold the drive into it, remove the drive, and pull the IDE Adapter Plug from the 44 pin interface on the old drive and install it on the new drive's interface. Then reverse the removal procedure procedure to put it back into the computer.

Now, as to why the floppy disk and drive did not work; Check in F2 BIOS setup in the boot order on page 2. Is the Diskette Drive first in the boot order and does it have an arrowhead to its left showing it to be enabled? The error mesage you are getting sounds like it is referring to the sick harddrive. If the Diskette Drive is not enabled, that would be the normal outcome. To enable it if that is needed, highlight it and press the spacebar, then reboot.

Message Edited by leduke30 on 04-21-2005 01:04 PM

Storage, Drives & Media

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