Death Of A Dell

[chosenson]

My Dell died yesterday. I have tried everything I could think of, but no luck.

A few days ago, when it was running, I received a system message saying there was no space left on the hard drive. I thought this funny because a couple days before I had checked the drives. There was aproximately 17gb used from the 37gb HD. I looked into this and found a recently installed game (chicken invaders) being reported as more than 19 gb.
I uninstalled the game which fixed the hard drive size. The next day, while the pc was on, but not being used, it just beeped once and shut down. Which brings me to this point.

Booting the pc produces error - invalid system disk, replace disk touch any key to continue.
There is no floppy in it which would produce this error.

When trying to run windows xp pro setup disc at boot.
File setupdd.sys could not be loaded.
The error code is 4.

The system in question:

Dell Dimension XPS T600R (Purchased in '98 - '99)
Pheonix Bios 4.0 release 6.0
Bios Version A11
P3 600E
256mb ram (pc100)

Windows XP Pro SP1
(No internet or networking used on this machine in more than a year)

[BeastOverlordH6]

This seems like a hard drive problem; one that is helplessly corrupted and thinks a single game occupies 19Gb. Judging the problem you have with the installation CD, I'm guessing that file you're installing (setupdd.sys) is trying to implement itself in a corrupt section of the HD.

Before all is lost, I imagine you have some documents you'd wish to retain on the hard drive. If you get a new one to install your OS on, set the old one up as a slave drive (some jumper settings changes, pretty easy) and see if you can access it and save what you have onto the new. Best of luck, man.

[chosenson]

Thanks for the help.

I was thinking the same thing. I have tried setting the second HD as master to install the os, but I get the same error.

[BeastOverlordH6]

Ah, so we're messing with CD issues.
I'd probably go and get a new XP disc, whether it's storebought or an '.iso' download off some P2P software. You could even clean your disc with water and cotton, although I hear toothpaste actually does its job well as a cleansing agent. Whichever solution, make sure you wipe outwards from the center to the edge of the disc to avoid damage.

I'm confident you've got a messy disc or a corrupt disc.

[chosenson]

I don't believe it could be an issue with the disc. It works fine in my laptop. I also have a ISO I just burnt which gives the same error.

I have been looking for something that will let me format the hd from a cd (i.e. FDISK). I have no way to get anything on a floppy with my laptop.

Thanks

[BeastOverlordH6]

Alrighty, this computer is either actively resisting a reinstallation of Windows, or there is a problem with the CD drive
Looking at these:
1.) CD drive might not have power, or enough to work sufficiently. Reading a disc doesn't seem to fall in this category, though.
2.) CD drive is not powerful enough to read the disc, or specific, damaged parts of the disc newer drives may easily be able to read comparatively.

If possible, try out a different CD drive for the Windows XP installation. I'm curious, however, as to how you installed XP originally on this machine, or if you had any problems prior.

The disc included with my Seagate drive could check hard disks, format them, and partition them on boot. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find it, but I found something better, and it has this Seagate utility within it.

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

:P

[chosenson]

IT LIVES!!! IT LIVES!!!! mwah ha ha hahh!!!

I Was able to format the hd and then do a fresh install. But when I looked at my second drive, all the data was mangled. Oh well, Thats why we keep backups.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

[BeastOverlordH6]

Oh, glorious day...

So, did you...?
1.) clean the disc
2.) try new CD drive
3.) format hard drive with UltimateBootCD
4.) decide to start praising the pagan gods and "Mr. T"

4th option I save for troublesome circumstances.

I'd like to know what happens so I can know whether I helped or didn't help, therefore aiding future folk with their problems.

Reply back if you have any problems with the hard drives, or for that matter, anything having to do with your hardware.

[chosenson]

I Started by placing my secondary HD as the master HD. Then I used Bart PE to boot the system. With this I was able to start the windows install. I formatted and installed on the original drive(now set as slave). After the install I swapped the hd positions and formatted the secondary drive. Now all I have to do is replace the data from my backup.

Thanks again!

[BeastOverlordH6]

Nice job, dood.
Happy computing, I suppose you'll be a little busy playing Chicken Invaders...

[chosenson]

Thanks again!

Chicken Invaders has to wait till I have everything as it should be. Tomorrow is slaughter day! :)