ATA Error

Hello!

I have ALL ORIGINAL hardware and have done nothing consciously to change the system configuration. I left my Dell E1505 laptop (XP Home Edition ) to make lunch - when I came back I had the black screen with

PRB 4 . . . done
[XLDR] ATA Error

Ran the complete version of all the available diagnostics in BIOS set-up with no errors. Booted from a DELL OEM Windows XP Reinstallation CD. That deleted & reinstalled several files, but when it tries to start Windows, same error message.

Used the Dell CD with diagnostics & utilities without success. No problems found.

Nothing during boot-up has gone past this message. I really want to understand what this exact error message means AND save my files.

Answers, Suggestions, Advice are most appreciated.

 

I ran every scan possible from the bios settings screen. Nothing was found, every test said "PASS".

 

The [XLDR] ATA Error is specific to Dell. You might want to take a look here. Pay attention to the post by Dan Goodell (dg1261). He really knows his stuff when it comes to the Dell and it's MBR.

 

Thanks for your response!

Yea - my brains have become scrambled from using my cell phone as my computer.

I should have said the "Boot Menu" Diagnostics....

Also, I think I read Dan's recommendations earlier this week, but they were too far beyond my understanding of system hardware. Will check out the link to be sure.