Blue Screen Trouble/Tech Support?

[T.G]

Originally Posted by RGD.

He should get a disk failed or not found error if it was that.

Not necessarily. In a total hardware failure situation, yes. In something less than that, it's still possible to lose a significant amount of data without the audible/visual hardware failure error indicator being tripped.

Like you, I'm giving some general answers, without going too far into technical specifics here - that statement was one of them.

Originally Posted by RGD.

Yeah - pretty sure it's the F2 key or secondly the DEL key.

Andy sent me the service tag, I just confirmed, it is F2 for this system.

[Starscream]

Originally Posted by RGD.

Ok. No wait! I didn't mean ok to put the disk in the drive - just okay as in good.



At the top of the screen you should see "Boot" or "Boot Sequence". Use the arrow buttons to highlight it and then press enter. Use the up and down arrows to move through the list, press the space bar to enable or disable. Disable everything except the CD/DVD drive and the hard drive. Use the + and - buttons to move the CD/DVD drive to the top of the list.

F10 to save and exit - agree with the okay to exit. The computer should reboot.

You can insert the OS disk now. Reboot. It may ask you if you want to boot from the CD. Normally press any key. Follow along the prompts to either try to repair or restore. Just don't allow it to format, i.e. reinstall the OS. So read carefully.

And oh yeah - it could take a while for the repair or restore so just let it do it's thing.


Ron

Starting to get p!ssed off with this, so I'm gonna quit on it tonight.


Ron, I didn't see any boot or boot sequence on the screen. I couldn't look through the menu screen/directory b/c now my mouse and keyboard froze on this thing. Ugghhh! I'm gonna try your and Adam's directions tomorrow again and go from there.

Thanks seriously for the help. Even though I haven't gotten anywhere, it's been a big help.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by Starscream

Screen says:

Alert! PCI Express card is operating in x1 mode.
Stike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility.

That means that it's just defaulted to a safe (performance degraded) mode right now. Don't worry about it right now, if it stays that way, it can be turned back up to the higher performance settings later.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by Starscream

Starting to get p!ssed off with this, so I'm gonna quit on it tonight.


Ron, I didn't see any boot or boot sequence on the screen. I couldn't look through the menu screen/directory b/c now my mouse and keyboard froze on this thing. Ugghhh! I'm gonna try your and Adam's directions tomorrow again and go from there.

Thanks seriously for the help. Even though I haven't gotten anywhere, it's been a big help.

Unfortunately, the manual doesn't have screen shots of the bios for that system, just descriptions, but in these descriptions, the 5th one on the list (assuming that this is like a lot of the other dell bioses where everything is on one screen that just scrolls) is boot sequence. You would use the arrow keys to highlight it, then tap enter to go into the specific screen. At which point, follow Ron's guidelines to move the CD/DVD to the top of the list -note it might not be described as "cd / dvd" it might say something like "SonyXM5462D" or whatever the model number is.

Typically, in any BIOS, what keys you can use and what they do is listed at the bottom of every screen.

[Starscream]

Originally Posted by T.G

That means that it's just defaulted to a safe (performance degraded) mode right now. Don't worry about it right now, if it stays that way, it can be turned back up to the higher performance settings later.

That's good to know.

I'm gonna unplug the thing before I go to bed. I'll plug it back in tomorrow and then try it again.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by Starscream

So if I do a repair it shouldn't erase any of my files/documents/pics, right?

In theory, the auto-repair should be safe.

It told you what it needed to do in the error - chkdsk /r (/r = repair).

The only way to get that and only that is to use the manual recovery console (there is a prompt where you decide if you want manual or automatic)

Automatic recovery/repair tends to fix many things, even if they don't need it, all at once by resetting them to defaults and original install versions/settings. This _usually_ won't lose data, but it can hose programs.

[RGD.]

Andy,

At some point here you may feel the need just to take a hammer to the thing so you can feel better -

At that time, and I think Adam will agree with me, the best option is just to replace the hard drive, reinstall the OS and call it a day. As long as your old hard drive will spin up, the information (pictures and such) can be recovered as it can be added as a slave drive (either permanently or temporarily).

It's been my experience over the years that blue screens that can't be handled by a reboot/check disk quickly will, in just a matter of time, need a hard drive replacement anyway. Note also that since Adam or I don't have the computer in front of us - other things can contribute to the cause of blue screens such as bad memory, programs, hardware or even cooling fans not working. So we are being general here and going after the most popular solution.

Hard drive replacement - it's not as daunting as it seems. Adam or I could talk you through it by either PM's or a phone call.

I have to go out and actually do some work today so will leave you in the very capable hands of Adam. I'll check in later tonight.


Ron

[T.G]

I agree fully with everything that Ron just wrote, except that "very capable hands of Adam" part. I'm really just a bouncer for Chuck E Cheese pizza.

[poker]

Replace hard drive
Install clean OS
Set original hard drive as a slave drive (D)
Access all files on original hard drive (pictures, documents, etc)

[Starscream]

Hard drive questions:

What's the difference between this hard drive -
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Western-Di...Drive/15907604


and this one-
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Hitachi-Tr...ptops/15055754

Other than price.


I wanna do this as cheap as possible, but not sacrifice too much either.

[poker]

The WD drive is for a desktop and the Hitachi is for a laptop

[poker]

Also keep in mind what type connection you currently have (IDE, SATA, etc).
If you decide to buy a replacement drive and its SATA only and you dont have a SATA port on your motherboard it wont just plug in.

[Starscream]

Originally Posted by poker

The WD drive is for a desktop and the Hitachi is for a laptop

Showing my ignorance about this.

[poker]

Its ok. I didnt know what a blue waffle was

[Starscream]

Originally Posted by poker

Also keep in mind what type connection you currently have (IDE, SATA, etc).
If you decide to buy a replacement drive and its SATA only and you dont have a SATA port on your motherboard it wont just plug in.

How can I figure out which one I have?

[Starscream]

Originally Posted by poker

Its ok. I didnt know what a blue waffle was

It's worse than a blue screen, Kelly.

[poker]

IDE left and SATA right

[poker]

You have another option as well. If you remove your hard drive and take it to a friend or relative that knows a little about computers, have then set the drive as a slave drive and copy all your files onto a DVD. If they can do this, your hard drive is not the issue and could just be software.
Then just reinstall your hard drive back in your computer and format it and install a fresh copy of your OS. When your done, just slip the DVD in and copy all files into a new folder (name the folder anything you like). You'll have a fresh install of the OS and also have all your files/pictures/etc you want to keep.

[Starscream]

Originally Posted by poker

You have another option as well. If you remove your hard drive and take it to a friend or relative that knows a little about computers, have then set the drive as a slave drive and copy all your files onto a DVD. If they can do this, your hard drive is not the issue and could just be software.
Then just reinstall your hard drive back in your computer and format it and install a fresh copy of your OS. When your done, just slip the DVD in and copy all files into a new folder (name the folder anything you like). You'll have a fresh install of the OS and also have all your files/pictures/etc you want to keep.

That sounds like a plan. Thanks, Kelly. I think I've found someone who can do that.

[poker]

Hope it helps!