Computer Hope
Microsoft => Microsoft Windows => Windows XP => Topic started by: campnuts on March 26, 2011, 11:55:26 AM
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Hello forum,
I am trying to diagnos and fix this problem with my laptop and not have to spend obscene amounts of money or get stuck on the phone for hours.
I have a Dell Inspiron Laptop, Window XP, that I have been using for about 2 years now. Everything ok, until yesterday.
I boot the computer up, works ok for about 2 minutes, and instantly freezes. I have mouse movement, no keyboard, and have to hard shutdown every time cause everything is inactive. Started with firefox, i couldnt load a page. Now i try to load something else like iTunes, or AVG anti virus, it loads fine, then freezes.
Which direction should I go to fix this? I dont really know where to start. I trying booting in Safe Mode, and it did the same thing. (If i did safe mode correctly)
Thank you in advance for the help. I would really like to see this fixed.
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I was wondering about the safe mode thing... if you have your Xp CD's you might try booting from them, and using the "repair" option. that should fix it if it is a driver issue, or a corrupt windows problem... it is worth a try..
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What is new or different since the last time everything worked properly (ie, new hw, new sw, virus, error, etc)?
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Nothing is new, that is what is weird. I was browsing the internet and it froze, and now this is the problem.
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1) Boot to the recovery console and run chkdsk /r
2) To check the ram, download memtest (http://www.memtest.org/). Burn it to a cd using a dedicated .iso burning utility (http://www.petri.co.il/how_to_write_iso_files_to_cd.htm), make sure the cd drive is at the top of the boot order in bios, then boot to the newly created cd and run the utility.
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What is the recovery console? Sorry for the dumb questions...
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Not dumb at all. Boot to the XP CD and choose the first repair option. That will take you to the recovery console. If you don't have an XP cd, please do the following instead:
Right-click on a command prompt icon and open as administrator. In the command prompt window type:chkdsk /r (then press ENTER). You'll be told the disk is in use and asked if you want to run checkdisk on the next boot. Say yes, exit the command prompt window, and reboot.
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did the chkdsk /r
It said windows replaced bad clusters in
/WINDOWS/pchealth/helpctr/datacoll/CO2E7F~1.XML
and in
/DOCUME~1/ALLUSE~1/APPLIC~1/AVG10/log/AVGRSL~1.2
And now it seems to be stuck at 42% under verifying data after these last to actions
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Let it run to completion...
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Its stuck at 42. Been like this for over 1.5 hrs... What should I do?
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Apparently the hd has some bad sectors and checkdisk moved data out of those sectors. You are probably going to have to replace the hd.
Leave checkdisk alone for a while longer. If after another hour or so it's still stuck at 42% you'll have to force a reboot - but that's generally not a good thing to do from checkdisk.
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Run the appropriate manufacturer's diagnostic: http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287
If you're lucky, it will mark the bad sectors and reassign new ones from the few spares available.
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Well its still stuck. About 2+ hours. Can i do this check disk again? What is it actually doing? and hd you mean hard drive.....? Thats not a good thing. Will I lose all my files? How much is this going to cost? And what is a sector?
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Hold power button down until it turns off. If you can start it up again, copy your important data off on to flash drive or whatever backup you have or you may lose everything. New hard drives are about $50, but you haven't lost this one yet. Dell has diagnostics at the bootup, F12 at the Dell logo.
Dell Inspiron, probably a Western Digital (WD) or Seagate hard disk drive (HD). Download the Seagate Seatools for DOS (ISO CDROM image). Create the bootable CD on your good computer & boot to the CD on the Inspiron. Run the short & long DFT.
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Hold power button down until it turns off. If you can start it up again, copy your important data off on to flash drive or whatever backup you have or you may lose everything. New hard drives are about $50, but you haven't lost this one yet. Dell has diagnostics at the bootup, F12 at the Dell logo.
Dell Inspiron, probably a Western Digital (WD) or Seagate hard disk drive (HD). Download the Seagate Seatools for DOS (ISO CDROM image). Create the bootable CD on your good computer & boot to the CD on the Inspiron. Run the short & long DFT.
Hard shutdown, restart and let the check disk run again. Stuck at same point, except those 2 clusters arent there. Can you please explain that second paragraph, what exactly that is (sorry for rookieness). Also, what is that dell diagnostic thing, and how do I run that?
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Also, what caused all this? Virus? Random? I didnt drop it or anything, it was moved but nothing major or different that before
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Also, what caused all this? Virus? Random? I didnt drop it or anything, it was moved but nothing major or different that before
Hard drive fail, they are only mechanical devices. Spinning platters, moving heads, etc.
Hard shutdown, restart and let the check disk run again. Stuck at same point, except those 2 clusters arent there. Can you please explain that second paragraph, what exactly that is (sorry for rookieness). Also, what is that dell diagnostic thing, and how do I run that?
We're trying to repair the hard drive, before calling it toast. It sounds like it's booting to Windows. If it is, copy off all your important data off next, because you may lose everything. Then reboot again & at Dell logo tap F12 key & it should come up with Dell Diagnostic screen. Follow the on-screen instructions, do not reinstall anything. Dell Diagnostics will run basic hard drive tests, probably not much more than Windows chkdsk.
Seagatge Seatools might actually fix it.
What is your Dell Service Tag? Located on nameplate on bottom. It will provide link to everthing about the laptop.
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Service tag is: C89FVJ1
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Dell Inspiron 1545 (http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&ServiceTag=C89FVJ1&SystemID=inspiron1545&os=WLH&osl=en&catid=&impid=)
As I suspected, it's a Seagate HD: Hard Drive, 500GB, S2, 5.4K, 2.5 SGT-WYATT
Inspiron Setup Guide (http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1545/en/SG/F123HA01MR.pdf)
See p.38, Dell Diagnostics
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Ran the dell diagnostics got this message:
Error Code 0142
Msg Error Code 2000-0142
Hard Drive 0 Status 79
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Not good: error code means HD has failed.
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/p/18337048/18460350.aspx
Boot to Windows & get the data off NOW!
If it won't boot, create & run the Seagate Seatools CD. If that fails, start shopping for new HDD.
Removing the Hard Drive (http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1545/en/SM/hdd.htm#wp1109848)
EDIT: Do you have extended warranty? If so, Dell will send you new HD if you give them the Service Tag & Diagnostic error codes. Your Dell Tech support is still active, until 7/15/2010
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What would be the best and easiest way to take my old data off? I bascially have just my iTunes music files and some Word documents on there. I can just take the songs off my ipod to the computer, right?
So basically I am starting with a new computer?
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See Here... (http://www.dtidata.com/resourcecenter/2007/04/23/how-to-slave-hard-drive/)
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Well I chatted with Dell, and the 0142 is hard drive failure. Luckily my warranty covers this and they are sending me a factory hard drive and a prepaid box to send the old one back no questions asked. I cannot believe how smooth it went. I would like to thank everyone who helped me on here so far. I am sure ill be back in a few days for help with the replacement, but the Dell website has a good tutorial.
Thank you again for your time to help me.
And another quick question - Will I have to re-download Window XP? My computer came with it on it and I do not have a CD with it on...
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...And another quick question - Will I have to re-download Window XP? My computer came with it on it and I do not have a CD with it on...
Dell stopped supplying Windows CD's a long time ago. You can ask Dell if the System Restore partition will be on the new hard drive they are sending (but probably not). It may also be on the CD's that were shipped with the computer originally. This partition is accessed through the BIOS, Ctrl+F11 or F12. It's actually a compressed image of the hard drive in the "as shipped" configuration. All necessary drivers are already installed into the image.
Read more about it here: http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/
Since you have Vista, this is more specific to your laptop: http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/vista/
Your build sheet lists this:
K160T Kit, Software, Overpack, WXPPSP3 Compact Diskette W/documentation, english
See p.44 of the Setup Guide (http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1545/en/SG/F123HA01MR.pdf), Dell Factory Image Restore. It's not all that clear how it's done with a new hard drive. You still have free tech support, call & ask them when you have installed the new hard drive.
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EDIT: Do you have extended warranty? If so, Dell will send you new HD if you give them the Service Tag & Diagnostic error codes. Your Dell Tech support is still active, until 7/15/2010
Typo, your Dell Tech support is still active, until 7/15/2011
As for getting the data from the old hard drive, you may be able to slave it to your desktop, as Patio has pointed out. Since the notebook drive is a SATA interface, you may be able to just plug it into the desktop, if it has SATA ports. Desktop & notebook drives now use the same data & power interfaces.
Top drive in pic, bottom drive is IDE (or PATA).
(http://www.avforums.com/forums/attachments/hard-disk-drives-solid-state-drives/99455d1228242034-maxtor-3200-external-hdd-problem-sata.jpg)
You can see the SATA connectors on your notebook drive from the manual. Drive is upside down, so you can see the gold contacts.
(http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1545/en/SM/roberts5.jpg)