Dell complaints

bootup · Journeyman Dellhater Joined: 30 Jul 2007 Posts: 25

"Drive 1-Maxtor 6Y160M0-Fail. Return Code 7" is H/D diagnostics message. Guess I may need a new hard drive however, system crashed when using RESTORE which seems strange.

I have Windows XP operating software on CD but do not know how to use it. How can I boot the disk or is there a fix to allow me to rescue the stored files??

Event log shows "Type- POST error. Data- Keyboard error". has been occuring for couple of months.

Symptom Tree gives error codes 0F00:136C, 0240, 0244 ,etc. etc

Problems started with Roxio EMC crashing and an attempt to restore to an earlier period when it was ok.

This is my first entry on a HELP site so please HHHHHHEEELLLPPP!!!!!!

bootup · Journeyman Dellhater Joined: 30 Jul 2007 Posts: 25

I can assure you that I am not a Spammer but am desperate for advice.

bootup · Journeyman Dellhater Joined: 30 Jul 2007 Posts: 25

I suppose "1 Bitch Wonder" is better than "Possible Spammer".

More info.

Blue screen states ***STOP: 0x0000007B(0xF694F528,0xC0000034, 0x00000000,0x00000000) and requests I run CHKDSK /F. I cannot run CHKDSK as I cannot get a command prompt - how do I do it?

Any help/advice will be much appreciated.

bootup · Journeyman Dellhater Joined: 30 Jul 2007 Posts: 25

Ok so I've found how to get to command prompt thru' Dell Resource CD and F12. I cannot run CHKDSK as instructed by blue screen but can run scandisk which shows no probs with drive c.

I presume that I will be able to reboot from the install disk and reinstall but am I doing the right thing?

The system will not let me reboot in Safe mode so I assume I'm going to have to reinstall.

I need confirmation mainly so I can tell the wife it was an expert who told me to reinstall and lose her work.

Desperate.

Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 11:48 am Post subject:

The HDD diag under F12 does not generate false positives. If it says 'fail' the drive's useful life is over. Reinstalling WXP on this drive is futile, it won't work more than a week, if it even manages to complete.

Replace the drive, install from the CD--good thing you've got that, Dell quit shipping them with new systems. Then install the old drive as a secondary. If the optical drive is currently D:, the old drive will become E: and to the extent it will work at all, should be accessible for copying. You can't count on it working, depends exactly what's damaged. Some files are obviously gone or you wouldn't have experienced the problems.

When you put the old drive in, you will have to F2 and inform BIOS that there is a drive there, it won't automatically look. Right now the setting is 'none', change it to 'auto'. When done, remove and discard the old drive and set that channel back to 'none' or it will warn you the drive is missing on every boot.
_________________
Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

bootup · Journeyman Dellhater Joined: 30 Jul 2007 Posts: 25

Thanks Rocke_T_Sinetist,

Off to purchase a new drive tomorrow I'll probably be back for installation advice.

Cheers

GTSL1RR · Journeyman Dellhater Joined: 22 Jan 2005 Posts: 30

I agree with rock, but you still might be able to get your drive working again.

use that F12 menu to boot to the windows xp cd, and go to the recovery console (hit r when you get prompted)

when you get to the recovery console, run chkdsk /f and you might be able to remap the bad sectors and boot to the drive again so you can get data.

when you reinstall on the new hard drive, make sure you install the drivers in the right order: desktop system software, chipset, video, audio, network

bootup · Journeyman Dellhater Joined: 30 Jul 2007 Posts: 25

Thanks GTSL1RR,

I booted the XP Home disk and tried to repair but the prog stated that I needed asms from the XP Service Pack 2. This file is actually on the XP Home installation disk I was using which includes SP2 however; it would not run despite the fact that I typed D:\1386\asms.

I therefore, gave up and tried installing XP Professional from its re-install disc. Tried CHKDSK which stated c drive probably ok but could not get CHKDSK\ p or f to work. SCANDISK could find no problems so tried to install but ended up with a cycling DELL load up screen.

Back to XP Home install disk which gives options to set up windows on existing or newly created partition. As I have no idea about partitions I chose the partition shown in the setup screen – c:Partitions1 [NTFS] 152588 MB (130582 MB free) however, the installer warns against trying to install multiple systems on a single computer – what should I do?

I feel sure I need a new hard drive – any suggestions on the best one to fit into a Dell Dimension 4700 series and is it easy to install.

You will be able to tell from this that I am not exactly an IT wizard.

Cheers.

bootup · Journeyman Dellhater Joined: 30 Jul 2007 Posts: 25

Thanks GTSL1RR,

I booted the XP Home disk and tried to repair but the prog stated that I needed asms from the XP Service Pack 2. This file is actually on the XP Home installation disk I was using which includes SP2 however; it would not run despite the fact that I typed D:\1386\asms.

I therefore, gave up and, as I have all my photos etc backed up I tried installing XP Professional from its re-install disc. Tried CHKDSK which stated c drive probably ok but could not get CHKDSK\ p or f to work. SCANDISK could find no problems so tried to install but ended up with a cycling DELL load up screen.

Back to XP Home install disk which gives options to set up windows on existing or newly created partition. As I have no idea about partitions I chose the partition shown in the setup screen – c:Partitions1 [NTFS] 152588 MB (130582 MB free) however, the installer warns against trying to install multiple systems on a single computer – what should I do?

I feel sure I need a new hard drive – any suggestions on the best one to fit into a Dell Dimension 4700 series and is it easy to install.

You will be able to tell from this that I am not exactly an IT wizard.

Cheers.

Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 2:53 pm Post subject:

"Repair" does NOT mean it can fix the drive. It can fix minor filesystem problems. Diag fail codes means the drive is broken, not that Windows is broken.

Replace the drive. GTS only meant that 'repair' MIGHT make files accessible for copying off the old drive which wouldn't otherwise be, AFTER you had a new drive with WXP installed on it.
_________________
Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

bootup · Journeyman Dellhater Joined: 30 Jul 2007 Posts: 25

Thanks,

Any advice on which hard drive to buy??

Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 4:03 pm Post subject:

Drives have all had their weaknesses, which tend to be cyclic. I don't know which brand is 'reliable' right now, I'm not sure there's a whale of a lot of difference. Your Maxtor blew up, so try Seagate. Or just go with whatever you find an attractive price on.

One thing IS important: Handle the drive very gently. Just plopping it down on a tabletop after taking it out of the box can doom it to early failure.
_________________
Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

FallenAngel · Emperor of Dellhateology Joined: 21 Feb 2006 Posts: 1606

I'm just relieved that I don't have to bust off my "Fail code means FAILURE" speech again. Rocke is right, despite Dell and Dell reps telling you or anyone else that there are false positives, and that your hard drive can be "fixed" with a CHKDSK...your drive is dead and/or dying. All CHKDSK would do, if anything, is *possibly* get the drive back to a bootable state. Long enough to get your data off the drive before using it as a hockey puck.

On a side note, to those massive amounts of brainwashed reps who spout off "false positives" and "this can happen on drives over 30GB"...answer me one question - why would Dell make a diag that would report false positives?

They wouldn't. There's no money in making a tool that reports false positives.

bootup · Journeyman Dellhater Joined: 30 Jul 2007 Posts: 25

New hard drive installed thanks to help on this site.

Couple of queries:-

New H/D is 250GB but partition was only 127.99 therefore, drive only 127.99GB. Have I done something wrong? How do I get full 250GB?

Drivers for Multimedia Audio Controller and Video Controller not found on net or Dell Resource CD. How can I identify type of hardware and required driver?

Cheers

Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 6:03 pm Post subject:

Resource CDs 'almost' always have drivers for their related models. Except when they don't, I guess.

I'm taking it this is a desktop, since portables tend to have motherboard-only audio chips and no options so their drivers ARE on the Resource CD. (IF you GET a resource CD that is. They are not standard as of mid-2005.)

Take the cover off. Look for brand or model identification on the cards themselves. Soundblaster has been the default card for Dells since 2000. Display cards are divided between nVidia and ATI.

Really, there are NO audio drivers on the Resource CD? You're letting it boot itself, right? It's supposed to come up with the most likely choices. The drivers themselves have cryptic filenames, can't be accessed except via the cumbersome Dell interface, more Dell paranoia that falls on the end user.
_________________
Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'