PC will not boot; stuck in setup..

[CPitalo]

I'm back with another problem that I can't solve.. (d'oh) Let's see if anyone else can.

So, my old lady was playing the Sims 2 on my:

Dell XPS710
Intel Core2 CPU 6400 @ 2.13 Ghz
2 GB RAM

Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP3
Dual nVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS cards (driver 6.14.11.8618 - 06/10/09)
DirectX 9.0c

..when the game froze. After trying to reboot, she noticed that the PC would not boot past the Windows (progress loader bar) screen at start-up. After successfully booting into Safe Mode, the system froze shortly after. No BSOD, just old an fashioned lock-up. I rebooted again, this time a normal boot and shortly after, the system froze again. I rebooted and ran Safe Mode with command prompt. I attempted to run CHKDSK only to have it freeze just as soon as I started it.

A bit frustrated, I stuck the Recovery CD in hoping that I could correct the problem from Recovery Console. At Recovery Console, I initiated a CHKDSK /p only to have it freeze at 2%. I rebooted and ran a CHKDSK /r and it again froze at 2%. I rebooted yet again and I tried to recover from the XP installation process. The process began to hang at 37 minutes remaining and did this again and again for several attempts.

I removed the Recovery CD and each time the system would reboot thereafter, the system would restart the Windows setup. I went back into Recovery Console and tried FIXMBR and while it said the MBR was rewritten, the system does the exact same sequence each time I restart. I rebooted once more and system CHKDSK ran itself but again, froze on 2%. The one constant from all of the CHKDSK I've tried to run is that the volume is dirty.

I am absolutely stumped. Any help is appreciated!

C

[JJ 3000]

Run hard drive diagnostics
http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

[CPitalo]

I tried to boot the ES-Tool .iso from my thumb drive but for some reason, the Dell isn't recognizing it. I went ahead and ran the onboard diagnostic tool and this is the result:

Hard Drive Diagnostics running, please wait...
   Drive 0: SAMSUNG SP2504C - Fail. Return Code: 7
   Drive 1: PHILIPS DVD +/-RW DVD 8881 - Diagnostics not supported
   Drive 2: No device
   Drive 3: No device
   Drive 4: No device
   Drive 5: No device
   Drive 6: No device
   Drive 7: No device

What I don't understand is that if the hard drive is in fact failing, then why can it even get as far as XP setup or into the operating system for a limited time before freezing? Also, it seems that since I've run FIXMBR, the system has reverted to XP SP2 somehow.. when I run directory services restore mode, just before CHKDISK, I get the message indicating that fact.

The CHKDSK after selecting Directory Services Restore Mode:


Where the Safe Mode start-up now freezes:


Where CHKDSK freezes after trying to boot normally:

[Allan]

Did you try to run chkdsk /r from the recovery console? If not, please try that.

[CPitalo]

Did you try to run chkdsk /r from the recovery console? If not, please try that.

Hi, Allan.

I certainly did. But like every other iteration of CHKDSK so far, it freezes.

[Allan]

Okay. I'm guessing it is indeed your hd, but there's a slim chance it's ram related. Why not download and run memtest just to make sure?

[CPitalo]

Okay. I'm guessing it is indeed your hd, but there's a slim chance it's ram related. Why not download and run memtest just to make sure?

Here's a shot of the Recovery Console CHKDSK /r (frozen):


If the memtest can be booted from a thumb drive it shouldn't be a problem, but I couldn't boot the hard drive diagnostic tool .iso I may not be able to boot the memtest.

[Allan]

If the memtest can be booted from a thumb drive it shouldn't be a problem, but I couldn't boot the hard drive diagnostic tool .iso I may not be able to boot the memtest.

Well, let's find out, shall we?

[CPitalo]

Well, let's find out, shall we?

Is there one specifically that you had in mind, or that you could point me to?

[Allan]

I suggested Memtest above, but pick any one that sounds good to you.

[CPitalo]

I suggested Memtest above, but pick any one that sounds good to you.

Gotcha. I didn't realize that was the name rather than it's function.

Downloading..

[CPitalo]

I downloaded HG Design Memtest, hopefully the one you were referring to and I cannot boot it from the USB.

[Computer_Commando]

I tried to boot the ES-Tool .iso from my thumb drive but for some reason, the Dell isn't recognizing it. I went ahead and ran the onboard diagnostic tool...

ISO files are not bootable.  Thumb drives are not bootable unless you create them to be bootable and the BIOS supports booting from flash drives.

Also, this error code does not look good;
Drive 0: SAMSUNG SP2504C - Fail. Return Code: 7

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/products/downloads/P120SRev_1.pdf

[CPitalo]

I've booted files from it before in a previous fix, I'm not sure what format the files were though.

[Allan]

The .iso needs to be burned to cd and then boot to that cd. Why can't you boot to a cd?

And I agree, that error message indicates your drive is in trouble.