[Solved] Dell laptop boot problem

[viva1angel]

Hi all, am hoping someone can help me with this as it is driving me insane!

 

I am trying to Fix my Brothers Dell laptop which last week Froze up... wouldnt do a thing at all... Had to take the battery out to restart it.... Blue Screen of Death saying some Sort of Fatal Error... Great!!

 

So, been through all boot menus and Diagnostics it will allow me in to but nothing helps.

 

It Starts to run the OS... then goes to blue screen again.

 

Thought, OK. then... Will use The File in my Laptop from when i Downloaded Vista from microsoft last year... Hmmm... Dell laptop does not accept booting from USB... DVD's.. i dont have Any... only CD's and the File is just under 4GB so will not Fit.

 

Is there anything anyone can Suggest to Try? Anything on the Net i could Download to try and Repair? Can i split an ISO into Multiple Disks?

 

Please help

 

Thanks

 

Emma

[KenB]

Hi Emma

 

Canyou get to Advanced Startup Options ?

switch on > constantly tap F8 about once per second

 

If you can get this far try :

 

Last Known Good Configuration

 

Safe Mode

 

Repair your Computer

 

If it boots up after using Last Known Good Configuration or Safe Mode .........stop there.

Do not run Repair your Computer if it isn't necessary.

 

============

 

Is there anything on the hard drive that you need to back up ?

 

============

 

If you get the blue screen again make an note of the error and STOP code please.

[viva1angel]

hi, thanks for help.

 

I tried F8... all i got was windows error recovery with option to Start windows normally or Launch startup repair. Start up repair leads straight to the Blue Screen with the STOP code C000021a {fatal system error} the session manager failed to create protected prefixed system process terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0xc000003a

the system has been shut down

 

 

there is nothing much on the laptop i would be worried about losing. there isnt much there apart from masses of itunes stuff which is backed up. its mainly used for gaming.

 

thanks again

 

emma

[KenB]

Do you have anything to connect the hard drive to another machine ?

 

Do you have the Dell Recovery Disks ?

[viva1angel]

I dont have anything to connect the hard drive to at all. I Tried a Recovery Disk by dell but it did nothing to help... If i remember rightly (i tried the disk at my brothers house and left the disk there) it went through some kind of disk check... to which it found nothing.... Then nothing else happened

 

 

A Friend mentioned maybe Updating the Bios to be able to run the Reinstall through USB But i am not sure how to do this or whether it would help at all

[KenB]

I Tried a Recovery Disk by dell but it did nothing to help..

Was this the actual Recovery Disk that came with the machine ?

 

Friend mentioned maybe Updating the Bios

I would be reluctant to try this.

If it goes wrong you will not be able to do anything with this machine - not that you can do much with it now :)

 

Can you access this BIOS ?

Usually this is F2 or the DEL key.

Tap it once per second after switching on.

 

If you can get into the BIOS move around with the arrow keys.

Look for Boot Order or similar ( BIOS set up is different with different machines )

Check that the CDROM is the first boot device.

 

I know you said that this isn't possible ...........

Look to see if there is an option to boot from USB ........it may say "External Device"

 

It will tell you on screen how to move a device up the order ( usually + / - keys )

 

Make the CDROM the first boot device and the External USB Device as second.

 

Save and Exit ( usually F10 ........it will say on screen )

 

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[viva1angel]

i can only assume that this is the boot disk that came with the machine as it is the only Dell in the house.

 

 

I have Gone into the BIOS

 

Only three options

 

Internal HDD

CD/DVD Drive

Onboard NIC

 

I can go into Bios Set up and Diagnostics

 

Diagnostics is giving me Error 0146

 

Error Code 2000-0146

 

Cant remember what happened at end Of Pre boot system assesment....

[KenB]

Diagnostics is giving me Error 0146

This is indicating that the drive is failing or has failed.

 

Some Dell systems have a Diagnostics option.

Switch on and tap F12

 

Take a look here for more information

click here

 

If that doesn't help take a look here:

click here

 

I think your hard drive needs testing before you try installing again - which will fail if the drive is not good.

click here

 

You need the ISO version so that you can burn it to a cd which you can use to "boot" from and run a test on the drive.

The explanation is comprehensive and even explains about burning the ISO image if you need this.

[viva1angel]

thanks for the links. i will take a look at those. Managed to redo diagnostics... went on Symptom tree for Cannot Boot OS.

 

Got error code 0f00:075d

Msg: DISK_0- self test read error

 

This is the hard Drive failing then i take it?? it is only Failing the SATA test portions.

 

Hmmmm.. never fitted a new HDD on a laptop before :( could be interesting.

 

 

Will still have the issue of the ISO... it wont fit on a CD will it? i hate having to buy disks i wont use haha dont want to have to buy a pack of DVD unless i really have to

[KenB]

Hi

error code 0f00:075d

Looks like the drive is failing.

 

The Seatools DOS download ( if you didn't locate it on the other post ) is here

click here

 

This will fit on a CD. (8.5MB)

 

Burn it to CD and put it in the drive.

Switch on.

 

This will confirm.

 

Will still have the issue of the ISO... it wont fit on a CD will it?

No afraid not - 2GB or so

 

You could ask a friend to let you have a dvd or two. :)

[viva1angel]

Yup... Hard drive gone to Tech Heaven :-(

 

The SeaDOS couldnt repair the Faults Found.

 

Bit the bullet and ordered a new HDD.

 

Just got to wait for it to come, fit it and then see if i can get some DVD disks to put vista onto.

 

thanks for all of your help

 

emma

[KenB]

see if i can get some DVD disks to put vista onto.

You will need the 25 character Product Code from the sticker on the PC so that you can activate the new install.

 

Do you have anything on the drive that is needed?

It may be possible using a Hard Drive to USB Adapter to access the drive ( there are no guarantees )

[viva1angel]

Hi, thanks for all the Advice. i went out and bought a new Hard Drive which i have Fitted pretty easily... now is the Fun part... It will not Boot From anything. I have The Vista disk In the laptop and it is saying no Boot device found. I have Tried a windows 7 disk in case it was my vista Disk that was a dud. I have Tried it on a bootable USB also which Does nothing at all... Apart from a J appearing on the Screen. I have Set the BIOS to Boot from DVD.. i can hear the DVD being read but it will not do anything, Yet the CD with the SEADOS will loads no problem?

 

Any ideas on this one?

[KenB]

bought a new Hard Drive which i have Fitted

Is this SATA or IDE ?

I think you said "SATA" earlier - please confirm.

 

You have fitted both the data and the power cables ?

 

Does the drive show in the BIOS ?

[viva1angel]

I Think its Sata... All Cables are in... seaDOS is able to find and scan it, and it shows in BIOS.

[KenB]

Try taking the CMOS battery out of the motherboard > leave for 1 minute > replace

Note the + is on top

 

This will reset the BIOS to defaults.

 

try again.

[viva1angel]

It worked!! thank you so much. i now have a working Laptop

 

 

thank you so much

[KenB]

It worked!! thank you so much. i now have a working Laptop

 

 

thank you so much

 

You are welcome - Happy that it was a relatively simple fix :)