Hard disk collapse? Windows KO, Ubuntu still alive at the moment...

Question

Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Hi there, This is my first post . I am experiencing a problem somewhat serious wiyh my laptop and I don't know how to handle it. I own an Inspiron 640m, 3.5 years old (yes, guarantee expired!). Yesterday while I was working with Windows XP, the screen became black, but the system was apparently still working on the background. I forced a restart by pressing the On/Off button and since then I can not access Windows! It looks like it is going to work, I can see the Microsoft Windows logo running and right before it shows the welcome screen, I get a blue screen for less than a second and then it starts over. I have used Dell Hardware Diagnostics to see what is happening and the following errors were reported. All of these were found on the Hard Disk section of the check up: Error Codes 0F00:013E 0F00:073E 0F00:0240 0F00:123E 0F00:0D3E The list above might be incomplete, I stopped the diagnostics after 1.5 hours or so, but I think it captures the core of my problem. What is your view, then? Possible solutions? Should I contact Dell Support? I understant that I must pay now if I want to, guarantee just expired. I am quite new with this sort of problems, so no clue what to do. However, a friend installed Ubuntu in my laptop and I have the choice to choose it when I swtich on the machine. My Ubuntu is working fine, I am sending this message from my laptop, but I cannot access Windows anymore and I am affraid that some serious problem is affecting -maybe partially- my hard drive. Thanks in advance for your help! Víctor López A Coruña, Spain

ieee488 · Answer

The diagnostics is telling you that the hard drive is bad. Did your friend install Ubuntu before or after you started having problems booting into Windows?

Victor LS · Answer

Hi IEEE488, Thanks for your reply. I see that the hard drive is in bad health :( Ubuntu was installed much earlier on my PC (one year ago approx). Regards, Victor

ieee488 · Answer

Yes, it is time to buy a new hard drive. You'll need a SATA 2.5' notebook hard drive. Good luck.

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