Hardware... need help quick.

Ok i have a Dell inspiron 5100(a few years old) laptop.

I turned on my comp today and got this messge.

Primary Hard Disk Drive 0 Not Found
No bootable devices -- Strike F1 for retry boot, F2 for setup utility

So i go into the setup utility and uder hard drive it says none.
So i do diagnostics.

And it goes through a few things and they pass
But then this..

------------
Start DST Short Test
Failed
Error Code = 1000-0146
MSG : Unit 2 log contains previous errors.
---------------

The rest pass.. just that one..

Andafter the test it says the 30GB hard drive is there again.

But when i go to boot up. it says there are Disk Read Errors and to Ctrl-Alt-Del to reboot. which just brings me right back around to the start. with it saying there is no hard drive.


Would it be possible to re-install windows and fix this or did the HDD burn out or something?

 

DST stands for drive self test. If the drive fails it's DST, it's screwed. You might be able to get some of the data from it if you have an external 2.5" enclosure, or if you put in a bootable CD and manually back things up to a thumb drive, or the netowork.
If you want an enclosure, I happen to know of a good deal.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817250002

But... to make a long story short, and a short story shorter... you need a new hard drive.

 

boot drive is done. If you slave it you might be able to pull some data from it.
Maybe try a chkdsk /r if you havn't already. (Google it if your unsure)

 

Wotson
This is correct advice but we like to provide better explanations at Major Geeks. In particular we don't like to suggest 'googling' for more advice.!

If you have the Dell recovery disk, labelled operating system you can use this to perhaps scan the hard drive and fix the errors for long enough to copy any data off.

The right course of action depends upon whether you have the recovery CD and what facilities are on the pc you are using for the internet instead.

If you don't have the Dell CD do you have a windows CD for the other pc?

You will need a replacement hard drive in any event.

 

I kinda guessed that, I was at work at the time and had to rush my answer (what with the boss looking over my shoulder and what not)

Okay.

If you have a windows CD place it into your disk tray.
When your computer starts hit F12 to get to the boot menu
Select boot from CD/DVD etc.
The windows startup manger should boot.. just let it do it's thing untill it gives you options.
Press "R" to access the recovery window.

At this point you may be prompted for your password, this is the password you used initaily to set up windows.
You may also be asked to select a partition/install. 1 or 2. I would suggest doing both. (1 first then restart and do 2)

At this point simply type "chkdsk /r" without the qoutes.
It will do it's check once it's done type "exit" and reboot.

HOPFULLY this should solve your problems.
Sorry for all the spelling mistakes I'm to lazy to spell check.

Cheers!

 

I recently (like a week or two ago) worked on one of those Dell laptops. It gave me similar if not exactly the same issues and error messages that you are having. :confused

The hard drive needed to be replaced. I attempted to slave the drive to one of my machines (note, this is the hard drive that the laptop originally came with OE) and I got nothing except the drive trying to turn and it started to act like it was 'possessed' moving all over the desk. (rolleyes

Nevertheless, I replaced the hard drive and installed a fresh new copy of XP Pro. Laptop now runs great.