[malleficent]

I've had some problems lately with my Dell Inspiron 9100 shutting off. I figured out that it's loose where the power cord goes into the back of the computer. I rigged it up so that the cord would sit still and I would still be able to use the laptop while I wait for my new one to get here since it's definitely time for an upgrade. It has shut off a few times when I was doing something on it so I'm worried that something is damaged. It will run through the DELL startup screen, then onto the XP start screen but after that finished it stops at the black screen that is usually right before I get the user login screen. It sits at the screen forever, I let it go for about an hour. No error messages or anything, just will not fully boot windows xp home. I am also unable to boot up in safe mode, safe mode w/cmd prompts, and last known good config. I never received an xp disc with my laptop so I decided I'd try to use my boyfriend's XP pro SP2 disc that he has not used yet to try and boot from that. I booted from the disc and ran a diagnostic on it. The following are all errors I received running it:

*DST short status test
Error Code: 1000-0142
Message: Unit 4 Drive Self Test failed status byte=79

*Error Code 3700:011B
Expected low fan RPM of 2000 Detected RPM = 4617

* Error Code 0F00:0244
Msg: Block 22092124 Uncorrectable Data Error or media is write protected
Msg: Block 37105255 Uncorrectable Data Error or media is write protected

*Error Code 0F00:1A44
Msg: Block 22092124 Uncorrectable data error or media is write protected
Msg: Block 37105255

After a lot of research online the suggestions I found were that it was either a problem with the HD or with some Windows Registry Hive Files. I decided to try the repair in hopes of fixing the problems and maybe salvaging some of my things (I have a seperate partition, E, with all my photos, music, files) I followed the instructions to run the repair but it just hangs at the "Searching for previous versions of Microsoft Windows..." for hours on end. I actually let it go for about 3 hours when I tried that this afternoon and finally had to shut it off. Any suggestions on what I can do to fix this or at least figure out exactly what is corrupted would be much appreciated. Also if it sounds like I'm totally screwed with fixing it, how can I get my files on E from that laptop onto my new laptop since I can't even get Windows booted up fully? Thanks so much for your time and hopefully someone is able to assist because I am nearing my wits end and may just throw this thing at the wall.

Edited by malleficent, 24 September 2007 - 10:11 AM.

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Your DST status test suggests your hard drive is failing.
Unrecoverable data errors are also signs of a dying hard drive.

[Neil Jones]

Your DST status test suggests your hard drive is failing.
Unrecoverable data errors are also signs of a dying hard drive.

[malleficent]

I was worried about that being the case. Any suggestions on how I can get some of my files off of it? My boyfriend has this little case that he put his old macbook HD in so he can store stuff on it or drag things off it via a USB hookup. Do you think something like that would work for dragging files off of my HD? Any helpful hints on how I can salvage what isn't backed up would be a huge help. Thanks again!

[Neil Jones]

Normally you can just hang the drive off an existing cable or give its own cable. An alternative solution is an external caddy.
Depending on how damaged the drive is, there's no guarantee you can get anything back. If its suffering from mechanical failures, there's not much you can do.

[malleficent]

Thanks for the help/suggestions. I ordered an IDE/ATA to USB cable last night so it should be here tomorrow when my new laptop is. IF it's just corrupted Windows boot files or something else corrupted within that drive and not a total mechanical failure I'm hoping I can pull the stuff I need off the separate partition. I'm definitely investing in an xtra HD and one of those handy little cases sometime soon so that I can update and store all the files I have frequently in case this ever happens again. I'll make a post when I find out whether or not this worked. TY again for your time and help with this.