Dell complaints

bbeaut · one bitch wonder Joined: 20 Apr 2008 Posts: 4

Hey guys. I have a DELL Dimension E310 running Windows XP. Well, it used to.

Lately it's been going really slow and I wasn't sure what was wrong with it. So one night I ran a spyware scan and it shut off. Ever since then I've been getting the BSOD saying "UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME".

I have a friend who's a bit of a techie and he was able to help me as far as getting out the recovery CD and getting into it and telling me to run chkdsk /r...
However, once I'm able to get into that recovery sector, it asks me which Windows installation I want to log into and the ONLY selection I have is one called G:\minint.

I am guessing it is some sort of partition but I had no idea it existed until now and its listed as my FAT32 partition. All i was aware of was my C and D[backup] drives along with my 2 DVDs on the computer. SO my question is I don't know where to go from here. I read that running a chkdsk can scramble my main harddrive but I have no idea how I can get back to the C prompt and away from the FAT32 setup. I was in the setup menu poking around but that only served to further confuse me. And since my somewhat-techie friend is away for the next week, I'm kinda up the creek at the moment.

I reallly dont want to reformat it, at least not without having a chance to try and suck off my files [if they are still safe]. Oh and for the record, a harddrive diagnostic ran gave me fail error 7. I've yet to read a good thing about that one ><;

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 12:17 pm Post subject:

It's simpler than you think. Fail codes on the HDD mean fail. The drive is toast. You might be able to finagle some files off of it, but you might not.

Buy a new drive, reinstall everything, then install the old drive as a secondary and see if you can read/copy to the new C:.
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FallenAngel · Super Hater Joined: 21 Feb 2006 Posts: 1483

Yep. 0xED errors can be tricked *sometimes* with the CHKDSK /R routine, but that has a high fail rate too. You may get the drive functional, you may not. It's about 50-50.

The drive itself is kaput. Rocke's suggestion of new drive and then slaving old primary is the best way to go if you want to try and salvage some data. Again, that too is 50-50.

Though Dell will tell you the fail codes are irrelevant, and they will "misreport", a fail is a fail is a fail. Diagnostics and fail codes don't know how to cry wolf.

Good luck.

bbeaut · one bitch wonder Joined: 20 Apr 2008 Posts: 4

So i can't even change the prompt back to the C drive to -attempt- a chkdsk? I was hoping there was someway to at least give that a try.

I dont mind trying to reinstall/format it but i was really really hoping to save/move my files off first... My friend said he can sister his HD to mine and do that - but is that even still a possibility if the G prompt [which is listed as FAT32] can't be switched over?

Thanks

Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 7:58 pm Post subject:

Don't bother trying to explain a G prompt that won't change.

Replace drive, reinstall everything. From the working drive, you can chkdsk/r the old one and see if it can cleanup the file structure to where stuff is recoverable.

By the way, once a drive starts coming apart internally, the more you run it the more it comes apart. Don't even power it until you have a working system and are ready to try file recovery.

And don't 'plop' the new one down on a tabletop while installing it, or you're likely to be right back where you started within 6 months. Raw drives are VERY fragile. More Dell drive failures are attributable to sloppy handling during assembly than to any other single cause.
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bbeaut · one bitch wonder Joined: 20 Apr 2008 Posts: 4

Thanks for the additional info. I actually contacted my office' IT guy about the G\FAT32 taking over as well cuz he's quite a genius so if nothing else, I'll be out purchasing a new harddrive to have him help me do what you just suggested ^^;

bbeaut · one bitch wonder Joined: 20 Apr 2008 Posts: 4

Well as an update, I was able to get it back to the C:\ prompt by simply deleting the G partition that was created. I then ran the chkdsk /r and fixboot scans and my computer is back!! All my info is still there.

Just goes to show you dont believe everything you read on one forum. Check around a few places ^^

brutus · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 1:09 am Post subject:

Good for you that it is up and running. But an error code 7 is usually a write failure if i can remember of the top of my head. So not sure how long that drive is going to last. Good idea to back up your data.

Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 10:17 am Post subject:

Do you know how many times we've heard the "fail 7" story, and Dell had the customer chkdsk/R and reinstall Windows, and it lasted 3 days?

You were lucky to get it back 'working' so easily. But don't think for a minute it's 'fixed'. Or more than 2 weeks, anyway.
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Dipankar · Regular Hater Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 10

BTW Error Code 7 is a Read Failure and not Write