Urgent Help --Laptop no booting

macgyver

Many thanks.

No there is no physical damage I think and there are no noises coming when I switch it on.
Thanks again

everythingblogcast

If it is something to do with the hard drive then you may have to think about getting SpinRite 6 from http://www.grc.com costing $80 so £40 and it will try to fix any errors with a 99% chance of fixing it.

toasterman

I can't believe two things haven't been mentioned in this thread.

1. Firstly, when you get to the screen that says windows failed to start, that gives you the options like "safe mode", "safe mode with networking"..etc. Try the option that says "last known good configuration".

If that doesn't work still...
2. Do you have a windows xp cd, or just what is described as a "recovery disc"?
If I recall, modern Dells don't come with either - just a hard disk recovery system. If thats all you have, don't run that! It likely will wipe everything on the drive.
Also, don't follow Dell's support advice - they'll tell you to run the recovery partition and/or return the laptop to them if its under warranty. If you return it to them, you will likely find it comes back wiped of your data.
BUT.. if you have a windows xp disc - there is an option in the setup program which lets you try and repair the current installation (which doesn't wipe everything in the process).

I don't know what skill level you are, but I probably wouldn't recommend Linux if you've never heard of/seen it before. Find a techie who can have a look in person - paying for the service if your data is worth it.

macgyver

I did a Extended Diagnostic test on the laptop as suggested by some-one and found the following error. Error code: 0F00:0240
Message: Block 32933815: Address mark not found or media error
The given error code and the message can be used by Dell Tech support to help diagnose the problem.
Kindly suggest what to do? Unfortunately the laptop is out of warranty now.... Help plzz

toasterman

macgyver ->
see: http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=latit_harddrive&message.id=11765
Seems to be a permanent hardware fault on the hard drive.

You can maybe get some (or all) of the data off if you take the hard drive out, and plug it into a desktop pc.
You'll need one of these cables to do it -> http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=37602&criteria=2.5

Just unplug your dvdwriter/dvdrom from the desktop, and use the two connectors from that. The laptop drive will be picked up and displayed in windows on the desktop.

macgyver

Thanks but I need to recover my important data first if I could.

I haver downloaded the Ubuntu on the other PC and I need to burn the CD now.

And then I need to buy an external hard drive to which I can store the recovered data.

Any ideas where should i look for to get a external HDD.. I only need a small one may be upto 40GB. I have looked on Amazon but are doing quite big ones with 300 or 500 GB which are arround £50 - £70

Thanks

toasterman

That is to recover the data.

You take the laptop drive out, plug into your desktop pc, and copy the data onto your desktop hard drive. It's by far cheaper than buying an external drive to get the data off.

Then you can buy a replacement hard drive for the laptop -> http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/95621 £32.15 for a 60gb, reinstall windows on it, then put it back in the desktop and copy the data to it....then transfer back to your laptop and you have a working laptop, and your data.

macgyver

toasterman wrote: »

macgyver ->
see: http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=latit_harddrive&message.id=11765
Seems to be a permanent hardware fault on the hard drive.

You can maybe get some (or all) of the data off if you take the hard drive out, and plug it into a desktop pc.
You'll need one of these cables to do it -> http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=37602&criteria=2.5

Just unplug your dvdwriter/dvdrom from the desktop, and use the two connectors from that. The laptop drive will be picked up and displayed in windows on the desktop.

Many thaks. I do not have a desktop.
I was planing to buy a external USB connected Hard drive.

Would it be possible to connect the hard drive to that and secondly I have no idea how to take out the Hard drive out of my Dell Laptop.

I think I will search on the dell site.

But is it safe to do it... I mean remove the hard drive.

Thanks

Chippy_Minton

macgyver wrote: »

Many thaks. I do not have a desktop.
I was planing to buy a external USB connected Hard drive.

Would it be possible to connect the hard drive to that

No, an external USB hard drive would connect directly to a USB port on the laptop, and the Knoppix/Ubuntu CDs should see both external and internal drives. You could try a USB flash drive instead.

secondly I have no idea how to take out the Hard drive out of my Dell Laptop.

See http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins5100/en/sm/hdd.htm#1084976

Yes, it is safe to remove it. To connect it to another computer you could either put it in a USB 2.5" caddy - http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/125132/rb/0
or get a 2.5" to 3.5" drive adapter, which will allow you to connect it internally in a desktop computer - http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/124145

macgyver

Update...

I downloaded UBUNTU and burnt it on the CD using the advised software.

Now I dont know how to make the CD work on my dead laptop. When I insert the CD in the CD drive nothing happens.

I did try and pressed up F12 to give an option to boot from the CD drive but when I do that I get the same blue screen.

Then I went to the Bios set up and edited the boot sequence to CD drive as the first and only option and when I tried that, it says no bootable devices. I retried it many times but to no effect

The CD is always in the CD drive.

KIndly advice and help.

Thanks

Edit:

I checked the CD in other PC but it shows it as blank and empty n silly me was thinking that it had been copied as shown by the infra recorder.

I will try again