Dell :: Harddrive Died
Oct 11, 2008
My Hard drive went kaput and right after I had put about 4 hours of paper research info into it.
I spent hours trying to get the information off the drive, but now have an additional issue: The external drive I borrowed from my friend was being used with Apple OS X. SO, when I plug it in to this win XP machine, it doesn't recognize the drive or show any existing files!
Does anyone know a program or a way to help me verify if my attempt to recover data might have been successful? The only other option I can think of is, after getting a new drive into the laptop, installing linux hastily and transferring to a different drive. And no, the friend that I am borrowing from is a few hours away at the moment. I need that research for Monday, and I feel the pressure!
This is the first hard drive that has ever failed on me inside of a year, and its true what they say: It happens only when you suddenly have data that is actually important.
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Nov 12, 2008
after 2 clean installs in a row, the HD is always spinning at 7200rpm... always...
the HD blips when im actually telling somethign to use it, but not on constantaly...
it is SOOO loud though....
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Mar 12, 2009
Past few months my 9300 with the 100gb 5400RPM drive has been laggin like crazy due to lots of harddrive activity. Sometimes it feels like I'm running a pentium 2. I always thought it's because I didn't have much free space (8-15gb) but I recently cleared it down to like 35GB free and have set a defragmentation every night at 4am. I use diskkeeper for that. It hasn't really gotten that much better...
I think I will do a "boot-time" defragmentation to totally defragment, but what else should I check?
Running 2gb ram with 1gb paging file, windows xp pro, up to date.
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Aug 17, 2009
I have a Dell XPS M1530 with a 320GB HDD. A few months back when I checked how much free space I had left it showed 295GB not 320GB in total.
Currently I have 224GB out of 295GB and this doesn't seem right to me because I have nothing on my HDD except for CCleaner and and a few small programs.
I figured that so much space was being taken up because when I downloaded Firefox which is 30MB, 10GB was taken off of of my HDD, same thing happens with whatever I download. I have no clue whats going on
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Nov 21, 2009
I'm trying to access a flash drive on an Old Dell computer. I cannot access the Windows folders or install paths on the harddrive. I do believe the flash drives are installed, but they will not show up when put in the computer. The computer should be around 7 years old.
I can try to get more information out of the computer, I would just need to know where to find it (as it is not mine). It is a desktop and not a laptop BTW. It has never been formatted.
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Jan 2, 2009
so i replaced the 80gb Seagate Momentus 7200.3 with a WD5000BEVT
(WD Scorpio Blue 500gb). The problem that i have is simple, its not working.
The Bios is detecting the new HD correctly and the new WD harddrive also
passed the DELL diagnostic test.
But when i try to restore a Backup or install a new OS, the menues
freeze where i have to access the harddrive.
I also tried to download the WD diagnostic tool but when i run that it is freezing at the beginning when it says "DR-DOS booting".
Can someone tell me if it is a bios or chipset related probem or do i need
a replacement for the new WD harddisk. Has someone ever tried replacing
the original hd with a 500gig one?
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Nov 7, 2009
I'm experiencing some strange problems with my XPS1340 and I think it might be related to a failing harddrive.
The computer hangs quite often during startup or if I am installing/running programs. However, it seems to handle file copying with no problems - at least for now.
When it hangs, the harddrive LED stays ON, but the computer doesn't freeze totally and no BSOD. I can still move the mouse, but I can't open any programs or browse through files. After a while I get a message that Windows is not responding and I have the option to terminate the process or wait for it to respond. I can't click on any, though.
The only thing to do is a hard reset, and then normally the computer boots with no problems. If it hangs during startup I have to do the hard reset again.
As mentioned - the problem seems to occur only when the computer is installing a program / opening a program / starting up. I have just copied about 20GB to the harddrive to test, and it did that with no problems at about 32MB/s. Also - I can do "light work" like typing (I'm typing this on the computer)
I have tried to format and do a complete reinstall AND - Windows installs just fine - the problems begin when I start to install all the programs.
So.. Is this harddrive related, or could it be something else??.. I really think it's weird...
I got the computer about six months ago and until now I haven't really had any problems. I'm running windows 7 64 bit and the harddrive is a Western Digital (WDC WD32 00BJKT-75F4T).
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Apr 29, 2009
This is my first post here and am new to this site.
Yesterday my XPS 1330 arrived with a 128 GB SSD. I was very impressed with startup, quietness, etc. I moved files from an external harddrive with pics and audio (totaled to 40 GB).
I then went to view the drive and saw that I had 12GB left...not even a day that I own a new laptop and my machine is nearly full. My old HP laptop still has 50GB left.
I removed the pics and that gave me 40GB left.
18.5GB is dedicated to "Dell DataSafe Local Backup..." I have no idea why this is so huge
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Sep 15, 2007
I know there's 2 ways to do this but I have speed concerns....basically I want to stick a Raptor into my laptop which is 99% of the time stationed. Here are the only two ways that I know.
1) Build an external USB 2.0 by buying an external exclosure etc.
2) Hooking the raptor directly up with a power source..This I remember seeing on Tom's Hardware but I cannot find it and I don't think they explain it that well...
What I am worried about is if the External Raptor would limit its power? and What do I need to hook it directly up to my laptop with a power source(wihtout screwing with laptop voltages).
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May 26, 2009
I thought this was odd, since I didn't shut it down last night, just closed the lid. I hit the power button, and the laptop looks like it trys to start up, and the harddrive spins up, but it won't boot.
I see the lights come on for about 5 sec. then it shuts down. I don't hear any of the fans spinning up at all. What could it be? I tried booting off the battery, and the power supply(which is almost brand new) nothing works.
It's not even posting. I don't see anything on the screen at all. Is my video card dead? I used it for about 3 hours last night and it was fine, I didn't have any artifacting, and the computer was running fine.
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Jan 2, 2008
My laptop died last night and i dont know where to begin a diagnostic.
I will try to explain what happened and what it is doing to the best of my ability but my sentence structure and grammar is not all that great So please bear with me.
this is my machine...
Inspiron XPS Gen 2
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 770 (2.13 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB),
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Video Card 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 6800 Ultra
2 gigs of Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz (from newegg)
I ordered this machine 7/04/05 and has worked awesome since it arrived at my door step. I have done 0 mods to it. The only thing i have swapped out is the ram.
Over the holiday weekend i had a strange graphical haze happen, everything was hazy and not very clear. So i logged on to a game and the strange haze followed. Figuring the machine was bugen out i rebooted. Doing this fixed the problem. Now fast forward 10 days with no problems. Last night i logged out of Wow for the evening, upon logging out my screen was filled with small hazy Z's that stretched the length of my monitor and my system was locked up, so i just help down the power button and shut down for the night.
Today it booted up with no problems and i was reading the news. I went to log on to Ventrlio to chat with a few friends and found it jacked all up. I had this running last night when my system crashed fyi. I got up for a few and later noticed the hazy Z's are back. Then the monitor stared to flicker on then off randomly until it went black.
Now 4 hrs later i have gotten it to boot twice for a short periods of time. The black background lights up but shows nothing. The hard drive seems to run for a moment but i cant really tell if its running. The lights come on along with the power on light. A few of the times i have turned the unit on and 5 minutes later i will hear the windows loading sound but nothing graphical happens. I opened up the unit hoping i had a loose connection, nothing was loose and everything was fairly clean.
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Feb 17, 2010
I don't know what it is, or maybe its just the way the system works...
But basically, but something is constantly on even when I just have the laptop on with a few IE windows, you can especially feel it just to the left of the touchpad. From time to time, I will also hear the the noise coming from it and it till slow down, then start up again.
I mean, its not a big issue, but is something wrong with the laptop?
This happens when the CPU load is as low as just 5%, temperatures around 42-45 degrees Celsius.
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Feb 15, 2009
Ive been dealing with windows vista on this labtop for awhile and i am tired of vista. I had previously tried putting in a XP disk and tried to reformat and got a BSOD when entering setup. So i decided to by a new harddrive for the computer because the old harddrive was small anyways. [url] I put the new harddrive in and bios recognized that the harddrive was there. I then put in the xp cd and tried to set up windows again. The same problem happened so I thought it might be the xp CD. I went to windows msdn and i downloaded windows xp professional NO SERVICE PACK(for free) and burnt the image file onto a cd. I then tried installing windows again, and another blue screen of death. My bios is A07 and there is a new bios A08 and i dont know if it will help. Ive been looking around for posts on similar problems and for dell labtops ive seen they have said to get sata drivers. There are none for the dell xps m1210 to my knowledge. If someone could show me where i can find them that would be great. Ive also read people going onto the dell bios and doing something with autodetect. My dell bios has no section about harddrive, its the worst excuse for a bios. I currently can use the old harddrive with vista, if i need to update any drivers but i cant find any drivers that would help in my situation. [url] Do i need to use a newer service pack of XP to work with newer hard drives ive read that service pack 1 supports sata harddrives larger than 137GB? The blue screen comes during windows setup.
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Jan 18, 2010
Trying to run a D620 with a new harddrive, a 320 GB WD3200BEVT.
The 620 will say "a read error occurred, press Ctrl alt del to reboot" directly after post. I doesn't not attempt to load an OS.
In the BIOS:I made sure that the harddrive password protection thing is all off
In the device list the 320 GB drive appears, so it's not a mechanical problem
The drive works on a modern AM2 desktop.
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Jan 13, 2009
I have a new M1530 and I just have a couple of minor issues.
Firstly, the harddrive always makes noises (like it is thinking) even when the computer is idle. It's not loud and just sounds like normal access sounds, but it makes a little noise every 2 seconds or so. Is this normal and can I make it stop? Like I said, the noise sounds like a normal HD noise, but it just never shuts up.
Finally, has anyone had problems connecting to wireless networks in vista? I have connected my laptop to 2 networks already and it was fine, but now when I try and connect to my main network, it asks for "additional log on information", including a username, password and domain. I don't have this info and have only ever used a WEP key...
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Aug 16, 2009
my favourite laptop choosen through reviews and suggestions just died because of faulty GPU after 1year. The most cost effective system i ever owned . i spent over $1000 to get the "Best bang for buck" system.
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Nov 15, 2009
It has finally happened, my graphics card has after 3.5 years of steady and faithful use, finally given out.
Since a picture says more than thousand words, here is two:
What happens next? I have put Arctic Silver on the GPU, more than 3 years ago, so if anything it extended the GFX's lifespan, will Dell still give me fuss about this? This is the infamous G91 series with the production fault, so i have kind of wating for this to happen.. And i have more than 1.5 year left on my NBD warranty..
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May 18, 2009
my XPS was running fine, just had the MB replaced a couple months back due to the GPU failure... all of a sudden it powered down instantly, just went dead, it was running on ac when it happened.
Now:
The power button does nothing, running on battery or ac.
If I plug it in with the ac adapter the little blue led on the adapter turns off, and won't come back on until I unplug it from the computer and re-plug it in the wall.
There is a slight smell of burnt coming from the vent, may just be mental...
My normal 1 year warranty is dead, does it sound like anything I could replace... wondering if it is the MB since I can get no power at all and the ac adapter seems to short out when plugged into the computer?
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Jan 10, 2010
I am looking for some advice as what to do/try.
I did a restart of the laptop and after the initial bios load screen I get.
"A disc read error occured"
Does not give me any options just a black screen with that message.
I have removed the hard drive and reseated it to no avail.
The warranty ran out two weeks ago
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Nov 20, 2009
My sister is using my Dell M1330 in Germany. It has the same graphics problem that it did over a year ago, and I had the motherboard replaced with a new one. She is going to ship it over to the US, and it's still under warrantee.
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Nov 25, 2007
My 9400 MB died this AM! Suck!! Was looking at replacement MB on Ebay, seems there is are a few different PNs to choose from. Anybody know the most current part number Dell produced? Prices dont seem to bad compared to a new laptop.
Actually, While Ive gotten this thing dopwn to parade rest. What is the best combo of MB Vid and CPU to make. I have look ed a nd most parts are still cheaper than a new box. I hve serched these forums and read MANY MANY ides for mods but all the configurations are too numerous to keep track of.
This is now a project and I want to upgrade my gaming capability while on thre road for my job. If you all will just give me what you think are the best options I will then reserarch rather than start from scratch.
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Apr 12, 2008
I have M1710 2GHZ, 2GB, 1000GB@7200, XP Media Center, last friday i was workind and then XP Crashed.. the mouse wont respond as well the keyword so i pressed the power button for a while to turn it off and then restart.
When i pushed the power button it died (i think), the LED of Power gets on, and the LED for NumLock gets on too, the LED's for CapsLock and ScrollLock gets blinking, and the LED of the CD/DVD drive ON.. but after some seconds (before minute) it shut down.. at this point i might say that the Screen wont turn on.. so i cant see the numbers of RAM or DELL logo or something
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Apr 17, 2009
consider me lucky I guess) Anyways, I was on it when it suddenly shut down unexpectedly. Straight up black screen, no lights on in the front, nothing. The power cord box light even went off.
After unplugging the cord and moving to another plug the green light came back on for the power supply box.
The laptop does not function whatsoever. No charging light and so on. I revoved the battery and re-inserted it .....
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Jun 30, 2009
My 15 or so month old M1530 was running fine, all of a sudden, while plugged into the A/C Adapter, it just stopped working... shut down, it appeared. I attempted to re-start it, to no avail, the power button doesn't work. I unplugged it from the A/C Adapter, still no good... I checked the surge protector, functioning fine...Â
So, I grab a couple of the power adapters, the one @ the desk and the travel one, and try them both; when connected to the outlet the nice little green light on them is illuminated, however, upon plugging either of them into the laptop, the light goes out. I ordered a replacement battery, HOPING that the battery was the problem, still nothing...
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Sep 20, 2009
I have m170 laptop which has a fried motherboard but the harddrive works, also I need my stuff from this harddrdive like my mp3's, pictures, and videos.
I also have inspiron working 9400 laptop. I wanted to know how can I get back these files and put it in the 9400 harddrive because I cant use the m170 laptop to get it back.
I have windows xp home editon installed on the m170 harddrive, I didnt get a chance to backup these files before the m170 got a fried motherboard. It got fried during when I was still using m170.
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Jan 26, 2010
I have an acer 5620z and the hard drive died. I replaced the hard drive and I have recovery cd's but I can't use them as it looks for partitions. I have read that I need to partition the hard drive first so I downloaded the DiskFormatDT_V1-1D.iso and installed it. during the process it didn't see the hard drive but it ran through with no errors (by the way the bios does see the hard drive).
After the disk format cd I tried the recovery cds and I get the 'no partition found error' so i am stuck. i know there is the PQService but I don't know what to do as I need to be able to partition the drive so i can run recovery cds. As it is a new disk Alt F10 etc wont work.
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Nov 26, 2009
Will this harderive work in a PCG-8M2L?
250.0 GB ATA/100 5400 RPM 9.5mm 12.5MS 8MB Cache
or will this one work, I like it better?
Seagate ST9500420AS 500 GB 7200 RPM it is an SATA drive...
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Mar 25, 2009
The 500GB HD in my DV7t just died. It's definitely dead, as I pulled it out and tested it in a caddy. When the computer goes to initialize the drive, it gets an error in the I/O device. I still believe I'm under my one year warranty from HP. Does it cover dead harddrives? And if so, do they require that I send in the dead drive? I work for a small business, though my boss has a rather strict data policy - all broken, dead, unused or outdated drives are to be turned into them for proper destruction prior to sale, refurbishment or replacement. Even when we send our laptops off for repairs, there are 'stock' harddrives we place in them that have never had sensitive company data on them. A bit paranoid, definitely, but it's company policy.
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Jul 27, 2009
Is it normal for my HDD to make a beeping noise after normal use? All I am doing is watching YouTube (or do anything else) and it clicks then makes a loud beep.
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Aug 7, 2009
I have a compaq nc6320 business notebook with a SeaGate Momentus 7200.4 that's done crashed 2 times what would be better than this drive with 7200 rpm's?
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