Re: Blue Screen - E520 - Best Buy

Boris <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in news:h7m125$9j9$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
september.org:

"Christopher Muto" <muto@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:YvydnWsFrc_UVwDXnZ2dnUVZ_jCdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxx:

i would not install vista if he is familiar with xp. that is just
asking for trouble.
your original dell windows xp home cd from your dimension e510 will
work just fine in his e520. it may not be sp3 but that will get
updated via windows update. i would not assume that the hard disk is
bad but rather check it out myself (yourself). first consider the
code produced by the diagnostic lights. second you can run the dell
diagnostics to test the hard disk and other hardware. thought hard
disk failures are common, it is even more common for windows xp to
simply become so corrupted that it can not start. before you wipe the
drive you could try to salvage data from the disk. once you have
salvaged any necessary data and tested the drive as good then you
could press f12 at boot and try to run the dell system restore to
reset the machine to like it was when originally shipped. otherwise
you can press f12 at boot and start from the windows xp cd to
reinstall windows from scratch followed by the drivers starting with
the 'chipset' first, then the video, audio, network, modem, etc as
appropriate. the latest drivers can be downloaded from
support.dell.com. the drivers on support.dell.com have
non-descriptive names like r123456.exe so i suggest that as you
download then you change the name to something like '1 - chipset
driver - r123456.exe' and so forth... and then burn the to a cd so
that you can easily install them on the rebuilt pc. remember to
reboot after installing each driver. then connect to the internet and
visit update.microsoft.com repeatedly until there are no more updates
available. install antivirus software and all of your desired
applications including www.java.com, www.adobe.com/downloads to get
acrobat reader, and so forth. good luck.

"Boris" <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Xns9C79B8AD17201nospamnospaminvalid@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Boris <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:Xns9C79B79A66E18nospamnospaminvalid@xxxxxxxxxxxxx:



Desktop (E520) question: Since he was already 1/2 way here, I didn't
have the heart to tell him to turn around and get his factory disks.
Since I also have an E520, running VistaHP, like his, I should be
able to use my disks to set his up. Yes? The only problems will be
drivers for his fairly new Canon Pixma AIO printer and his Samsung
22" widescreen monitor. I've always been able to do a fresh reload
on a Dell if I have Dell disks, even if they are not the ones that
came with the sick machine.




My mistake, while I have an E520 running VistaHP, his sick desktop
came with XPHome. Now, I do have an E510 with the original Dell
HPHome disks. That should be fine, if needed. Yes?



All great tips, and I will follow.

My dad showed up around 7:00 p.m. with his new laptop and the E520
desktop that he rescued from Best Buy. They charged him $79, and hadn't
completed the diagnostic, but they didn't give him a report on what they
had found. All he got was his original check in paperwork, with a
verbal, "I think it's the hard drive". He did pay them $30 to set up
his laptop, and another $29 to set up his Vista Mail on the laptop. We
specified that they configure to 'leave mail on server', and they said
they would, but they didn't. When he asked why they didn't, they told
him "because that's something we can't do, only Comcast can do that.
You have to call them to have that done". Imagine that, all this time
I've been setting this myself, when all I had to do was call Comcast and
they'd do it for me.

We spent the next 3 1/2 hours configuring the laptop so that it
'looked' as much as possible like his ailing desktop. Of course we
couldn't configure any peripherals. I did set up wireless and connected
to my home network to download what I needed. He didn't know he had
wireless.

On to the E520 desktop. I started at 10:25 p.m. and finished an
complete orderly diagnostic series of tests 3 hours later, at 1:25 p.m.
I probably didn't have to run all tests, as early on all indications
pointed at a failing hard drive. I took five pages of notes.

The diagnostic lights provided no clue. As the machine tried to start
up, the lights jumped around randomly. Sometimes in pairs, sometimes in
triplets, sometimes one at a time. I guess this was as all the hardware
tests were being performed. All POST messages were fine (found hard
drive), and I always got to the Windows XP screen. It would sit at the
Windows screen for minutes, sometimes 10 minutes, but then always showed

A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent
damage to your computer. One time, at this message, it also showed

DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

***STOP: 0X000000D1 (0XA9C3B000, 0X000000FF, 0X00000008, 0XA9C3B000)

I restarted and hit F@ to enter the BIOS. All looked fine. All
settings were at default.

I left the BIOS and the machine then tried to continue it's start up
sequence, and showed

We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start
successfully.

I tried "Last known good command". No luck.

I tried "Start Windows Normally", and got the Windows XP screen. Three
minutes later, the screen went black. Five minutes later, it showed

STOP: C0000218 {Registry File Failure}
The registry cannot load the hive (file)
\SystemRoot\System32\Config\Software
or its log or alternate
It is corrupt, absent, or not writable.

Beginning dump of physical memory...etc.

I restarted and entered the Boot Menu, and selected Hard Drive
Diagnostics. I got

Drive 0: ST3808110AS please wait
Drive 0: ST3808110AS Fail Return Code:4

I rebooted, and got "We apologize for the inconvenience..."

I entered Safe Mode again. I got "A problem has been detected..."

I shut the machine down, opened it up removed the SATA cable, reseated
it, and removed both 512K RAM sticks, and reseated them. I restarted
the machine, and hit F12 to enter the Boot Device Menu, and selected
Test Memory. All passed (both CPUs).

I then did an Express Test, and got

Error Code: 4EOF:065A
Msg: IDE Device failed. The self-test failed for an unknown reason.

I then did a Custom Test, and tested tested the Hard Drive:

S.M.A.R.T. Short
Error Code: 4EOF:065A
Msg: IDE Device failed. The self-test failed for an unknown reason.

S.M.A.R.T. Test (took 2 seconds)
All tests passed (I thought that was odd, but oh well,)

I did a Verify Test
at 59% block errors started to be reported

59%: Error Code: 4EOF:1A44,
Msg: Block 92748818: Uncorrectable data error or media is write
protected

At 73%, 78%, 78%, 78%, 79%, 79%, and 80% (Block 126449433, I kept
getting block errors, with the same Msg.

There were someting like 156000000 total blocks to be tested, but at
80%, I opted out and stopped the Verify Test.

I then went back to the 'test tree', and did ALL other tests.

Device Quick Check
Processor Tests
System Board Tests
System Management Tests
Video Tests (boring)
Cable Tests
Fan Tests
USB Tests
Keyboard Tests (cut this one short)
Pointing Device Tests
PCI Devices Tests
Audio Tests (but ended, because I had no speakers connected)


All passed.

I called it a night.

I'll next remove the hard drive and see if I can retrieve any data.
I'll get a new hard drive and install a clean OS.

The End.






(Apologies for the long description, as most of it we know by heart, but it
may help diagnosis of this 'weird' install. All seems to be working fine,
though, at this point. I still have to get chipset and all other drivers,
and do all updates, and install applications, and configure.)

By the way, this is the original BIOS, DM061 Series 2.3.2.

I purchased a new WD 3200AAKS (320GB, 8MB cache, SATA) hard drive. I
installed it in my dad's E20, with a new install of Windows XP Home. But,
the install of XPHome was 'weird'.

I put the new WD in the machine, and connected the SATA data cable and
power cable. I booted up, and POST saw the drive, and that's as far as it
went. I decided to try the "Data Lifeguard Tools" CD that came with the
new drive to partition the new drive. The CD was version 11.4, and said
for Windows VISTA/2000/XP. The CD also instructed, "If Windows is
installed, use this CD to set up your hard drive. If Windows is not
installed, boot from this CD."

I put this CD in the CD-ROM, and rebooted. POST showed this, but that's as
far as it would go.

Serial ATA AHCI BIOS, version iSrc 1.02.23 11212006
Copyright (c) 2003-2006 Intel Coporation
Controller Bus400, Device#1F, Function#02: 02 Ports, 02 Devices
Port-00: Hard Disk, WDC WD3200AAKS-00L9A0
(This drive is controlled by the RAID BIOS)
Port-01: CD-ROM, TSSTCorp CD-RW/DVD-ROM TS-H493A
AHCI BIIOS installed
Intel (R) Matrix Storage Manager option ROM v6.0.0.1022 ICH8A
Copyright(c) 2003-2006 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.

- then the dashed cursor blinked forever

I removed the WD Lifeguard Tools CD, and rebooted, and went into the BIOS
Boot Sequence. All looked fine.

1. Onboard or USB Floppy Drive (not present)
2. Onboard or USB CD-ROM Drive
3. WDC WD3200AAKS-00L9A...this is the new hard drive
4. Onboard SATA Hard Drive (not present)
5. Onboard Network Controller (not present)
6. USB Device (not present)

I bumped 3. up to 1., but no change in behavior, so I bumped it back to 3.

I didn't have my dad's original (purple colored) Windows XP Home install CD
that came with his E520 machine, so I tried my (orange colored) "Microsoft
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 DVD with Update Rollup 2", that came
with my own Dell E510.

It passed POST and then showed:

Windows Setup, in the upper left, against a blue screen.
It continued with Setup is loading files...etc
Setup is starting Windows...I thought I was in business, but no.

I got:

A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent
damage to your computer.
If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen, restart your
computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:
Check for viruses on your computer. Remove any newly installed hard drives
or hard drive controllers. Check your hard drive to make sure it is
properly configured and terminated. Run CHKDSK /F to check for hard drive
corruption, and then restart your computer.
Technical information:
*** STOP: 0x0000007B (0xF7A8A524, 0xC0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

I decided to try the (purple colored) original "Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition Service Pack 2 Reinstallation CD" that came with my Inspiron i6400
laptop from January 2007. POST was fine, same as above, and it showed the
new hard drive.

I again got the Windows Setup, in the upper left, against a blue screen.
Setup is loading loading files...etc
Setup is starting Windows...I kept my fingers crossed.

Windows XP Home Edition Setup
Welcome to setup

I accepted the license agreement, and created on large partition (305235
MB), and did a Quick NTFS format, which took only 30 seconds or so.
Setup is copying files...about 4 minutes
Setup is initializing your hard drive
It restarts. I get:

Windows Welcome Screen, and the rest of the setup went fine.

When finished I was at a newly installed desktop. I did a restart, and
then a shut down, and all went fine. I tried playing an audio CD, but
Windows Media Player told me files were missing and maybe I didn't have my
audio setup correctly. In Device Manager, all of the items under "Sound,
video and game controllers" had yellow question marks. I figure this will
be fixed with the chipset driver. (It's onboard audio.)

(By the way, there was no "IDE ATA/ATAPI controller" entry. Should there
be? I'll check my own E520 when I get home to see.)

Next I'll go to the Dell site and get all the drivers, install them, then
connect to the internet and do all the updates. I wonder if I could first
install as many updates as possible with an XP Service Pack 3 CD that I
made. It's worked wll on all my other XP machines. It may save lots of
rebooting.

My dad would like to drive down and pickup his desktop tomorrow (Saturday).
I should ask him to bring down his Canon AIO printer and driver CD so I can
install it.

Long story, all to ask this:

Anyone know why, even though POST and BIOS showed the new WD hard drive,
1. the WD Lifeguard Tools CD wouldn't load
2. when uisng my own "Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 DVD
with Update Rollup 2", that came with my own Dell E510, Windows started to
set itself up, but then I got the "A problem has occurred STOP error
(above)
3. when using my own "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2
Reinstallation CD" that came with my Inspiron i6400 laptop from January
2007, I was able to complete the Windows XP Home setup?


.

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