My PC won't boot up into Windows

Marty999

I was installing some new software last night and the PC locked up so I had shut it down. It now starts up but won't fire up into Windows (XP Home), I get a BSOD instead. I am not able to go into safe mode. It is a Dell Dimension 5150 so I booted up into the Dell startup utility for advice and it has given me a couple of error messages:

Error Code 650F:075D
Msg: IDE device failed. The self test failed the read portion of the test.

Error Code 650F:0244
Msg: Block 65663032 uncorrectable data error or media is write protected.

The PC is nearly 3 years old and out of warranty. I have not yet rung Dell Support, but looking at the Dell support website on my office PC, I think I need either to repair Windows or re-install Windows to fix the problem. I obviously don't want to lose any data but I have been backing up to an external hard drive using Acronis True Image, although I have not tried restoring anything before. But having said that, I have just bought a brand new 500 Gb hard disk which I could fit, and then install XP on that from the original Dell CD. I was thinking of installing Windows 7 on it when I receive my pre-ordered CD in October anyway, as my PC has been running slowly of late. Then I am hoping I could drag my data over from the existing hard disk, assuming it is still accessible or else restore using Acronis.

May I ask if you experts agree this is a good plan? And if I go ahead and install Windows on the new hard disk, it is a good idea to partition disks these days? I was thinking of say allowing 20 Gb for the opeprating system and the rest for applications and data, or should I create a separate partition for the data as well?

Any advice offered will be appreciated.

macman

What do the diagnostic lights tell you? (there should be 4 green lights on front or back, check the online manual on the Dell suppport site).
Have you run the full diagnostic test (F12) at boot up, this should give a better indication of the likely fault?
Does sound like hard drive failure but a bit soon to assume it's terminal.

Marty999

macman wrote: »

What do the diagnostic lights tell you? (there should be 4 green lights on front or back, check the online manual on the Dell suppport site).
Have you run the full diagnostic test (F12) at boot up, this should give a better indication of the likely fault?
Does sound like hard drive failure but a bit soon to assume it's terminal.

Hi Macman, thanks for your reply. I haven't checked any lights as I was unaware of this until now, I will check when I get home later. And no I haven't run the full test, just the bit that says 'My PC won't boot up'.

macman

manual is on here:
http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim5150/en/index.htm
The diag lights are on the front panel, above the hard drive activity light. the manual tells you how to interpret the sequence at boot up. P47/48.
If 1 and 4 do not flash up, that indicates possible drive failure. Then run the full diagnostics via F12 at boot up.

Strider590

Unplug at the wall and have a bit of a poke around, make sure the cables are firmly in place, especially the IDE cables to the hard drive(s) and CD drive(s).
You might want to reseat them just in case there's a bad contact, but be careful and gentle and use the tabs that Dell like to fit to their cables. Don't yank on the cable itself unless you have to.

tomsutton529

Strider590 wrote: »

Unplug at the wall and have a bit of a poke around, make sure the cables are firmly in place, especially the IDE cables to the hard drive(s) and CD drive(s).
You might want to reseat them just in case there's a bad contact, but be careful and gentle and use the tabs that Dell like to fit to their cables. Don't yank on the cable itself unless you have to.

dont just poke around, you run the risk of zapping sensitive components with static, so make sure you discharge the static in your body by touching a bare metal part of the chassis. also you only need to check the IDE connection. but I doubt its going to be that.

If you sent the job to me then I would.... put in the new 500GB Hard drive, and reinstall windows, if your backup on the external hard drive is up to date then you are not going to loose any data.

as for the original hard drive, you could format that and use it as a second drive to add some more space internally or use it as a paper weight.

Strider590

Unless your "poking" around CMOS devices (ie those that run on 3.3v, like the memory/processor), your not going to do any damage, TTL is far more resilient to ESD.
But I did only suggest checking the connections on the various cables, not prodding the motherboard

inflatedcow

Sounds a lot like a dead hard drive to me...

chkdsk /f -- Might fix it if you can get into Windows, if not try and find an alternative to boot from (Floopy/Boot CD) and try a repair that way.

Best of luck!

aliEnRIK

Id be trying a REPAIR with the xp disc before doing anything else
What were you installing at the time?

Laz123

I'd second a repair install try 1st. Or you can go for a Dell debug if that doesn't work (I can talk you thro it), or try pressing Ctrl + F11 for a return to factory settings. A repair will retain data but the others won't.

Marty999

aliEnRIK wrote: »

Id be trying a REPAIR with the xp disc before doing anything else
What were you installing at the time?

I was trying to install Sumatra PDF reader. As it was installing I got a message from Kaspersky asking me to verify if I wanted to continue, I had 3 options 1) Yes 2) Yes but restricted permissions 3) No
I chose option 2 thinking I was being safe.

If I run the XP repair I am worried that I will lose my data, is it safe to do?