Dell Hard Drive Problem

[Gadubos]

First of all, let me use someone else's pharse in a post I saw, long time browser, first time poster.

Let me get right to the problem.


I was having a problem with a friends computer. Every time the computer started it would go to a blue screen and state that it could not boot from disk. So I assumed the hard drive crashed on the computer. I went in tried different ways to see if I could go repair installs on the operating system but nothing worked. Eventually, I just had to do a clean install of Windows XP Home (Using Dell Recovery CD) which formatted the drive and reinstalled the operating system. Upon completion I got the following errror:

"Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware. Please check windows documentation about hardware disk configuration and your hardware reference manuals for additional information"

The question is now what can I try to do? Is the hard drive toast? So I attempt to reinstall XP again? Maybe pull the hard drive, install in another computer in attempt to restore data using data recovery software?

My only guess is that the hard drive is in serious trouble but I am open to any suggestions.


Greg

 

[Gadubos]

Sorry to post again but while walking back from the primary school (Where the computer is) I think I may have thought of the potential problem.

I noticed that while going through BIOS trying to fix the computer that the hard drive was set up as a slave drive with no primary drive installed. Could that be the problem? I will not be able to access the computer again until Monday but I figure that it may have to boot off the primary.

Just throwing some more ideas out there.

Thanks for any help.

Greg

 

[sandmanwn]

sounds like a bad memory module. if it completes a format and reinstall of the OS then it doesnt appear likely to be the hard drive.

I would suggest stripping down the system to its bare components.
cpu
motherboard
one cdrom
one hard drive
one stick of known good ram
then try the install again.

 

[ethel]

Yeah, memory could be the culprit in this situation. Download and run memtest86 to test your memory.

 

[blue68f100]

I like prime96 better than memory86.

And I have seen many HD have problems too. But like the other said it may be ram or ever a PS problem.

Get the mfg utility to check the HD. If its a maxtor they just like to fail. Never had a Maxtor that made it through the warranty period (1yr).

If you have a copy of SpinRite it's good for checking a hd out. I run it every 3 mo to see what kind of shape the HD is in.