You can try booting from the Windows CD and checking the drive using the Recovery Console.  You could also boot from the Dell Resource (aka Drivers & Utilities) CD and run the Dell Diagnostics, which includes a test of the hard drive.

Hi, I have a DELL Inspiron 1720 with Windows Vista Home Edition I have the same error code diagnostic of 2000-0142. The windows CD boots but won't start. Before I got a blue crash screen with the following messages: PCIIDEX.SYS - Address F786F9DE Base at F786D000 DateStamp 41107b4c  also got: STOP: 0x0000007E and STOP: 0x0000007B the second time a tried to reboot. Will it be a virus? What can I do to save the data I have in the HDD?  Any help please!!! Thank you.

Did you ever get this fix?   I do not see a response. 

Kobracoach,

Thank you for contacting the Dell Community Forums.  The 2000-0142 error code specifically means that the hard drive self-test failed, which means the drive is no longer reliable.  You may be able to retrieve information from the drive, but to do so you would probably either need to take the drive to a data recovery provider (Ontrack can perform data recovery on hard drives without compromising the Dell factory warranty), or connect the drive to another computer using an external adapter and try to read the data from it.  If your system is still under warranty, you can obtain Dell CDs from this site.

Hi everyone,

My scenario is indentical case to many others, ie Inspiron 1545 was dropped then displayed the error code 2000-0142 - which I now know means dead or dying HDD.  But my question doesn't seem to have been asked before : I have a recovery parition on the old drive instead of CDs or DVDs ... so how can I install a new HDD using that recovery parition??

Thanks for any help someone can give.

J

although I did not drop my system I am experiencing a similar issue. Running on Vista, yesterday it started to hang and when rebooting windows did a CHDSK the system then started but hung after a couple of minutes with the error 'Logon process has failed to create the security options dialog' Failure Security Options.

After searching for some answers I discovered the F12 option on boot up and have carried out a diagnostic which came up with Error code: 0142 Msg: Error Code 2000 - 0142 Hard drive 1 self test unsuccessful Status 79

I am not sure what this means and of course my warranty ran out in October! Do I need a new hard drive? I am not sure what to do about starting from disk .. what disk would it be?

Sorry to be vague but am not very technical

Thanks

R

The disks that come with the computer are not helpful.  I have no idea what to do after it comes up.

I agree ... they only help if you know what you are doing. I tried reinstalling the operating system but with this error it isn't that simple! I discovered that my warranty didn't run out until this October and I called Dell  ref this error... they had to do a complete reset to factory settings and reinstall the operating system and all the drivers etc. It took some time to work through but it did resolve the isssue.  

Just as a side note however yesterday I got a message from windows saying it had detected a Hard Disk problem and that I need back up as the Hard Drive may fail. Called Dell and did a diagnostic run ... different error code but basically 2 parts of my hard drive are unwell ... if it reaches 10 parts they replace the Hard Drive ... apparently 2 is not a big problem!

Always include the system model in your posts! :emotion-5:

Error code 1000-0142 or 2000-0142

 If the diagnostic test reports one of the above errors, refer to Dell Troubleshooting Wizard: "Hard Drive Fails the Diagnostics" Wizard ID: 324398

Chances are you'll need a new hard drive. Sure hope your files are backed up!

Ron

I have an XPS L501X.  Bought it about 2 weeks ago and I get the 2000-0142 error code as well.  The system has never been dropped or bumped.  Fortunately, I have not saved any files to my hard drive, so there is nothing lost.  The only change I have made at all has been to remove McAffe and to add Norton.  It booted up exactly one time after that change, and has not since.  Dell Support says I will need a new hard drive.