Dell complaints

metroman · Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 2:43 am Post subject: Hard Drive Failed Return Code 7

Hi,
I know that I need a SATA HDD for my 8400 system, but is there any limit within the BIOS that stops me from replacing the HDD with say, a 500GB. The existing one is a 250GB drive. Thanks.
Martin

FallenAngel · Emperor of Dellhateology Joined: 21 Feb 2006 Posts: 1604

metroman · Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 3:31 am Post subject: Hard Drive Failed Return Code 7

Hi,
Thanks for that. My present BIOS version is A09, I don`t think that there is an updated one on the Dell website, but I will go for the 500GB HDD. Thanks
Martin

dustket · Discovering Dellhate Joined: 01 Jan 2009 Posts: 3

hey guys. this fourm has led me to getting a new hard drive. my maxtor is giving me the code 7 crap...grr. I do have a problem though. i just got my seagate put it in and got the same freaking code... could it possably be my sata cable? or where it connects to the motherboard... I was really just hoping to slam in the new hdd, install the os and be off on my merry way. but no. any info would be great or if you need anymore info from me I'll try to get it posted asap. please remember im a noob though so i may be a little slow...lol thanks guys. Smile

Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 12:24 pm Post subject:

Cables can go bad. Cheap fix if that's the problem.

Controllers go bad too. More typically they stop working altogether. It's rather unusual for a controller to cause just one specific error, but not impossible.

It's also possible for new drives to be defective. Will the retailer replace it? By the way, raw drives are extremely fragile. One 'plop' on a hard surface while mounting it can destroy it.
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as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

dustket · Discovering Dellhate Joined: 01 Jan 2009 Posts: 3

ok heres what i've got so far:
maxtor 90/90 test came up with code 7.
seagate(new one) came out ok. So where do i go from here?
are the controllers on the mobo where the sata data cables connect? or are they the connections on the hdd themselfs?
i'll get a new sata data cable as soon as i can get to a store and try that just to have one more thing off my list. Other than that i don't know. any info would be great. thanks.

mkwiatkowski · Journeyman Dellhater Joined: 01 Nov 2008 Posts: 22

Maybe the hard drive crashed because the head encountered a pubic hair. Ooooooooh! Maybe it was one of Mikey's pubes. Nah! I have to assume that since he has no balls he has no pubes!

See http://consumerist.com/374402/photo-dell-breaks-your-laptop-sends-replacement-full-of-pubes

Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 12:35 am Post subject:

Not sure I'm following you. Now you say the Seagate is OK? Then what's the problem?

Yes the controller is in the biggest chip on the MB without a heatsink. It's not separately replaceable.
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dustket · Discovering Dellhate Joined: 01 Jan 2009 Posts: 3

yeah i ran the 90/90 on both the old maxtor hdd and the new seagate.
the test show that the maxtor is still giving the code 7 and the test says the seagate is ok. so i wont have to send the new hdd back for a new one. but when i still try to start the comp up with the new hdd i get this
"Floppy diskette seek failure
Alert! cpu fan failure.
strike the f1 key to continue, f2 to run the setup utility"
I've replaced the cpu fan with another companys fan and it dosent get hot at all with the new fan. anyways...
when i strike f1 i get,
"No boot device available -
strike f1 to retry boot, f2 for setup utility"
also ive tried to boot from the os cd but when i hit f12 and i get the boot device menu there is no option to select " cd-rom"
it shows *onboard sata hard drive *system setup *hard drive diagnostics *boot to utility partition.
i cant use the boot to utility partition cause its a new hdd.
so does this mean that both my dvd drive and dvd burner drive are no longer working? or is it just the wonderous world of Dell getting chuckles from my discomfort? anyhoo... i hope that was a little better explained. if not ill give it another go. thanks guys.

diashto · Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 9:02 am Post subject:

hit F2, go down to Drives, and disable the floppy drive if you dont have one.
then go to the PATA drives, and make sure they're enabled (both of them).

You're going to get the fan error if you dont have a dell fan plugged into the Dell header on the motherboard.

tompic823 · Journeyman Dellhater Joined: 26 Dec 2008 Posts: 26

I truely cant believe that no one has said this yet, but 90/90 is only used on hard drives smaller than 80gb. If the drive is larger than 80gb, which I assume your new HD is, then it is going to get an error code 7 everytime regardless of its actual health. To check HD's larger than 80gb, you must use Dell 32 bit diagnostics. It can be downloaded from the dell website and installed on either a flash drive or cd/dvd. Just google dell 32 bit diagnostics for the link.

Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 2:15 pm Post subject:

Dell diagnostics will pass a drive that is obviously failing. It's useless unless your drive has completely cratered.

This is true of both harddrives and optical drives. Dell diagnostics were a joke in our lab at Dell. They are only useful to exercise the hardware, not to test/verify it.
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as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

tompic823 · Journeyman Dellhater Joined: 26 Dec 2008 Posts: 26

I have always used dell diagnostics to diagnose my issues and it seems that it works for me. It found several hard drive sector issues on my three year old hard drive so I knew than hard drive failure was to be expected.

PYRHHUS · Discovering Dellhate Joined: 03 Jan 2009 Posts: 1

pjhobday · Discovering Dellhate Joined: 28 Jan 2009 Posts: 1

I am having the same issue. I'm hoping to get my hdd into another PC so I can grab any data I want before getting a new hdd. I'm out of warranty as this PC is now about 5 years old. How easy is it to fit a new drive and use the DELL XP disc to reinstall the OS?

I was hoping to get into XP one last time by booting from the XP disc and then using my external hdd to backup but when using the recovery console it says I didn't even have any hard drives installed, which I took to be a bad sign! This means I can't even get to try chkdsk/r. When I boot to the Dell utilities and run a read test of the hdd I get one block with a read error. Error code 0F00:0244 Uncorrectable data error. Seems hard to believe that one block being a problem cannot be worked around.

Any tips for either getting past this just for a few hours so I can back my data up without the hassle of connecting it to another PC? Failing that any tips for how easy it is to get the PC up and running again with a virgin hard drive.

Thanks guys.