[Adamuko]

Hi there, hoping some of you may be able to help me through this problem!

I've got a Dell XPS MF1530 laptop with Windows Vista Home Premium. I was watching TV programme (Top Gear, nothing dodgy on a website (cant even remember what site it was now) when i got the BSOD (similar to this >> http://i53.tinypic.com/2nvt7j9.jpg) I hadn't updated windows since a few weeks ago.

Upon turning on again, Dell bios screen appears as normal but then am faced with a blinking cursor and nothing else. Tried repairing startup with Vista CD, same story, tried restoring the system using a system restore point and it went through the motions but once it was finished it said something akin to "system could not be restored from restore point as cannot write file which is already there" Also used the memory checker and it says everything is fine.

I've made sure nothing else has been plugged in either, nowt but the charger.


So i can see the hard drive in system restore and call up past restore points so i'm hoping it's maybe something to do with the boot data on the hard drive that's corrupt/missing and not complete hard drive failure.

Most of my programs and documents and programs are backed up on an external hd thanfully but there are a few bits and bobs that i had been working on which i'm worried i've lost. I'm a musician and was working on some new music so starting music from scratch is no fun! Even if i can retrieve those i'd be happy enough, i dont mind a fresh install but i'm also recording this weekend so need something up and running by then!

So just wondering where i could go from here?


Any help is appreciated hugely!

Edited by Adamuko, 25 January 2011 - 04:41 AM.

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I would first test the drive to get that out of way before looking elsewhere.
Drive manufacturers supply their own testing software free of charge on their website.
Ideally you should identify what brand the drive is, then download the appropriate software from that website.

The links are here: http://www.tacktech....ay.cfm?ttid=287

Alternatively, just use "Seagate SeaTools for DOS" which can test any make of drive, from here:
http://www.seagate.c...loads/seatools/

Note that there's a Windows version & a DOS version available on the download pages.
If you cannot run Windows on the Dell laptop to test the drive, be sure to download only the DOS version.
The DOS version will contain an ISO cd-image from which you can create a bootable CD
using appropriate burning software on a fully working Windows computer.

Put that CD into the Dell laptop's CD-drive and boot from it to run the test.
Choose the "long" test rather than the "short" test because it's more thorough (but takes longer to complete).
If the test returns any "Fail" messages, the drive will have to be replaced.

[phillipcorcoran]

I would first test the drive to get that out of way before looking elsewhere.
Drive manufacturers supply their own testing software free of charge on their website.
Ideally you should identify what brand the drive is, then download the appropriate software from that website.

The links are here: http://www.tacktech....ay.cfm?ttid=287

Alternatively, just use "Seagate SeaTools for DOS" which can test any make of drive, from here:
http://www.seagate.c...loads/seatools/

Note that there's a Windows version & a DOS version available on the download pages.
If you cannot run Windows on the Dell laptop to test the drive, be sure to download only the DOS version.
The DOS version will contain an ISO cd-image from which you can create a bootable CD
using appropriate burning software on a fully working Windows computer.

Put that CD into the Dell laptop's CD-drive and boot from it to run the test.
Choose the "long" test rather than the "short" test because it's more thorough (but takes longer to complete).
If the test returns any "Fail" messages, the drive will have to be replaced.

[Adamuko]

Hey there, thanks for the reply, since posting the above, i've managed to use Ubuntu and run it form the disk to open the contents of the hard drive and copy everything i need in case the hard drive went down. everything seems fine there, i can edit copy paste, delete.

I'll try the disc checker you mentioned but do you think there is something i can do within Ubuntu (replace, modify files etc) that i could do that might be quicker than messing around with command prompt?

Thanks

Adam

[Adamuko]

Ok, i've tried the seagate disk checker boot disk but i get three 'Invalid Opcode' messages. Does that just mean it wont work with my system anyway?

[Adamuko]

Another update, i found the correct disk manufacturer disk checker, it was a Hitachi drive.

No errors reported on the drive at all.


Anyone got any ideas where i can go from here?


Thanks