I dont know what to try next with my Dell Inspiron 6400

[mikepw78]

Hi There

 

I own a dell inspiron 6400 and my initial problem was that my laptop couldnt get past the boot screen (where the windows logo appears).

 

The first thing i tried to do was install a copy of windows 7 onto it booting straight from the cd. However, again the different windows 7 logo screen appeared and seem to crash at exactly the same point as when i tried to boot it straight from my hard drive which has Vista on it.

 

Next thing i did was run a Diagnostics test on my system and all kinds of errors appeared which basically said your hard drive is knackered. (All tests had big red crosses with failure next to them)

 

So i thought, need a new hard. So I ordered a new Samsung 320gb SATA hard dive to replace my Western Digital 80gb SATA drive.

 

My hard drive arrived today so i took the old one out and replaced it with my new one. I loaded up my BIOS and it shows up there all ok. I then ran the Diagnostics tests again and it breezed through them no problems. (Excitement slowly building) .

 

I then boot from the cd with Windows 7 in it and it again stops in exactly the same point as it did before i had replaced my hard drive.(Excitement quickly dies and is followed with a blood vessel nearly pooping in the side of my head).

 

I tried a Re installation CD with my vista home basic addition on again booting from cd. And it hangs in exactly the same place.

 

If i just leave it to boot through the hard drive it comes up with the message. No Boot Sector on internal hard drive.

 

I have made a bootable usb device with Windows 7 on it and when i boot from usb it loads and hangs at exactly the same place..

I also have a disc called ultimate boot cd this boots up ok if am booting from my cd drive ( i dont really know how to use but have been able to run more checks on my new hard drive and everything appears ok). So that tells me there is nothing wrong with my cd drive either if i can boot this up.

 

I dont know what to do next and my head is sore please help me.

[Jelly Bean]

Hello and welcome...

 

Firstly is the Vista and Windows 7 CD/DVDs full install disks or recovery disks?

 

Have you loaded defaults in BIOS then set first boot device to CD/DVD rom popped in the disk and save and exit?

[mikepw78]

Hi

Thanks For Quick Reply

Windows 7 is a new full install cd. (Ultimate)

Vista is a Reinstallation cd which came with laptop.

Have tried loading defaults and setting Bios to boot from cd, saved and still only boots to logo screen (different logo screens for vista and 7) so i know the cd drive is booting the disc.

Have even tried using the windows 7 (wintoflash) on a usb and tried booting from that and gets to exactly the same point.

[Jelly Bean]

1. Go into the BIOS Setup and check that the HDD is being seen by the BIOS and correctly identified

Also make sure that all your drives are set to "Auto" detect.

 

2. Would be a good idea to run the HDD manufacturers diagnostic utility to test th HDD to see if it's healthy.

 

3. Use fdisk to look at the partitioning. See if it looks OK and whether the 1st Primary Partition [the C: partition with Windows on it] is SET AS ACTIVE.

Set it active if it isn't.

 

A blank hard drive needs to be partitioned and formatted not just formatted.

 

Have you tried the Dell website and there support for your make and model of machine?

 

Was this computer origonaly XP?

 

Did it come pre-installed with XP,Vista or Windows 7?

 

As what I have found is the laptop origonaly came with XP and a smaller HDD of just 80 gigs....

 

Has the Vista and Windows 7 disk been used on a diffrent computer?

 

I think maybe you bought a to large a hard drive and your machine cannot power it correctly.

 

Dell says the Operating system is corrupted...As there is no operating system installed I would asume the error is the disks you try to use they are either damaged,corrupted or another issue.

[Jelly Bean]

Did you burn these disks yourself and make them bootable?

 

Or were they supplied with the laptop or another machine or did you order them from Dell?

 

If you ordered them from Dell recently I would contact Dell.

 

For USB install try this:

 

http://extremetechsupport.com/threads/10305-How-to-install-Windows-using-a-USB-Pen-Drive-and-WinToFlash.

[mikepw78]

Yeah have tried the wintoflash tool and made a bootable usb but when i try and boot from usb it just hangs at exactly the same point.

I think something else you referred to could be my problem.

I didnt know i had to format and partition it myself. I just thought put the drive in and try and boot windows 7 from disc and it would install.

I have spfdisk (Special fdisk) on ultimate boot cd. How would i go to prepare my hard drive so i can install an operating system on it?

[Jelly Bean]

Here is all the information:

 

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

 

Hard drives do not come already setup.....