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jackets1952
2 Posts
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May 4th, 2010 15:00
Dell E520 BSOD
Although I have read about this particular problem in the Dell FAQs, I do not seem to be able to repair it. This particular BSOD is "STOP 0x0000007b (0xF78E1524, 0xC0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000) inaccessible boot device". I am lead to believe that I should reinstall the drivers and/or firmware for the SATA controllers!! However I cannot access the HDD so I appear to be stuck. Would another Motherboard be the answer or is there an easier solution? Can anyone suggest a way round this dilemma.
ps I can only see the HDD when I boot up from a live copy of Ubuntu 10.4, A DOS screen does not help and I am unable to reinstall Windows XP or Windows 7 on a fresh HDD
Thanks Jackets1952
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Posted May 4th, 2010 16:00
Computer is a collegues, he claimed they were just switching it on. It has happened before (back in February) but resolved itself. I have reset the drives to Auto in the BIOS, however it will not complete its POST. I have tried clearing the CMOS using the jumper and removing the button battery. Would installing an update on the BIOS help? or a new motherboard? My collegue has 4 children and there are a lot of family photos on there that are the only copies. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks jackets1952
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Posted May 4th, 2010 18:00
It could be a failing hard drive, a damaged boot sector, a virus...
If you can boot from the XP CD, press R at first screen to launch Recovery Console.
At the C: prompt, type in:
chkdsk c: /r
press Enter and take a nice long nap.
When it's done, remove the XP CD and reboot normally. And if you're lucky... :emotion-11:
If not, boot from the XP CD again and launch Recovery Console again
This time, type in
fixboot c:
press Enter
When it's done, remove the XP CD and try to boot normally...
Note: Using the fixboot command will replace Dell's custom master boot file with a 'generic' master boot file. That means you will no longer have (direct) access to the PC Restore partition on the hard drive which resets the drive to exactly the way Dell shipped it (and deletes all software and personal files the user installed.)
If none of that works, can you boot from a Ubuntu CD and copy off the photos etc onto an external USB hard drive?
Ron
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Posted May 4th, 2010 20:00
Also, since you reset the NVRAM, go back to system setup and check the status of the SATA controller. I can't remember what the default is, but I know my own E520 was delivered with the controller set to RAID On. If that is the way your friend's computer was delivered, and the default setting is RAID Off, you need to go back and set it to RAID On to see if it will boot that way.
jackshack
6447 Posts
151
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Posted May 4th, 2010 15:00
What were you doing just before seeing this error? If you have changed the settings on the SATA controller in system setup, or you are attempting to access the hard drive from a boot disk that doesn't know about RAID or AHCI you will see this message if the controller is set to RAID On.