[seattle2005er]

Well my computer has been having some weird problems lately, and now it doesn't even seem to work . When I start it up , it shows the DELL screen and everything then it loads for a little bit and says DISK ERROR , press any key to restart. So Im using a different computer now so I can ask what I can do to fixt his problem. Thank you.

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are there any other error messages, other than disk error? that is rather all encompassing, but if that is it, then that is it. Also, can you boot into safe mode? I am assuming that you cannot get to windows at all......

[valis]

are there any other error messages, other than disk error? that is rather all encompassing, but if that is it, then that is it. Also, can you boot into safe mode? I am assuming that you cannot get to windows at all......

[seattle2005er]

no thats about the only error message. I cant get to the safe mode screen or anything either. Should I just put in the start up disk and delete partition?

[valis]

depends.....how much data do you want to lose? Have you backed it all up? do you have the OEM disk? I, personally, do not like to recover or reformat disks, unless absolutely necessary, and yes, there most certainly are times when it is necessary. Let's recap, tho.

when you turn your pc/laptop on, does it go through POST? if so, can you get into the bios screen? If so, make sure that hte boot order is correct. Also, make sure (and yes, this is painfully obvious, but I've done this countless times myself) that there are no floppys or cd's in the drives.

let us know if you can get to the bios screen. if you can, make sure that the boot order is correct.

v

[seattle2005er]

hmm. Well the thing is ...I've done deleted the partition like 3 times already in the past 3 days because the computer kept giving me problems, and I reinstalled Windows XP like 3 times also. But anywys. the BIOS screen does work, and the order is

1.IDE CD-ROM device
2. Diskette Drive
3. Hard- Disk drive C:
4. Integrated NIC

[Tyger]

Dell mostly uses Maxtor hard drives, you can go to www.maxtor.com using any computer, and make a floppy disk with Power Max diagnostic tools on it. You can boot with the floppy and run the diagnostics. Don't do the low level format, it will erase all data on the drive.

[seattle2005er]

can you tell me the exact link to those tools? Also , is my boot order correct?

[seattle2005er]

nope?

[valis]

as for the boot order, it looks fine to me....mine is floppy, then cd, then hd, but the first two are pretty much interchangeable with the demise of the floppy as a viable data xfer device. As for the link that tyger mentioned, if you go to the maxtor site, choose software downloads, and then find what you need there. Can you verify that you have a maxtor drive?

[seattle2005er]

i cannot verify that its a maxtor. But when I click on the Primary DRiver it says.... MODEL : WDC WD200BB-75CLb0

[valis]

well, that's western digital....I would either do one of 2 things:

go to the west dig website, and see where their diagnostics are; every hd mfgr has something, somewhere on their site to check out the hd's....or

wait for further advice from tyger. he/she has probably forgotten more stuff than I've learned yet.

let us know what is up.

[seattle2005er]

well I deleted partion again, and installed XP . Put in the diagnosis thing. and under SMART STATUS it said FAIL. It said RAW READ ERROR , value 164 , this was in red . I was going to do full DIagnosis check but ...it said it wouldt ake aorund 20 hours...

[seattle2005er]

wow my computer got messed up again... I was just sitting here and all of a sudden it gave me some weird BLUE screen that said something wrong with KERNEL or something. SO I deleted partition again....this is like the 6th time in 2 days. I have no clue whats up with my computer.

[seattle2005er]

well my computer got messed up again...seems each time I restart...I have to start over again, cause nothing works, so I deleted Partition AGAIN for like the 10 th time, and reinstalled XP. Please help, it seems I Have to reinstall XP everyday now

[seattle2005er]

does deleting Partition DELETE everything? like starting from scratch? if no, how do I delte hard drive so its like a new computer.....starting over, thank you