Froze during an install, won't turn back on

Hello all,

I have a Dell Evo N800c.
I purchased it from a company my father works for after they upgraded to newer laptops, so it possible this thing has been screwy from the start...


I was installing the newest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader so I could view a reference manual in PDF format. About halfway through the install a blue screen with lots of random info popped up, followed by my XP completely freezing, including the mouse..everything. So i rebooted, or at least tried to. All I could get was a whir or the harddrive, but nothing would actually start up. I tried the power button multiple times until finally my laptop booted up. It seemed to work fine for 5 minutes or so, and then it froze again, but now I cannot get XP to start. I was able to get to the point where I can choose the variety of safe mode options, but every option would lead to a split second flash of a blue screen and then a reboot (before XP ever started). There was one time it displayed something about KERNEL and missing DLLs, but it was not specific about them. Now it won't even turn on again...

Any insight? I REALLY cannot afford to format, unless I can salvage the data on my HDD first. Although how can you format if the thing won't even turn on??

 

Hi seanlame.

This laptop has a hardware problem. It can probably be fixed. You will need to run diagnostics to pin it down to a particular component. Start with these:

Hardware Diagnostic Procedures

-) Run a hard drive file system check on the system drive:
In Explorer right-click on the system drive (usually C and select:
Properties > Tools tab > Error Checking: Check now button
and then check the box Automatically fix file system errors then the Start button. A message will display about having to restart to run the scan - agree to that and then restart the PC.

If you can't boot into your account or any of the Safe Mode account options from the F8 boot menu, BUT you have an XP Installation CD (not a Restore/Recovery CD) then you can boot off of the CD to start the installation program but then choose to run the Recovery Console repair utility. From this command-line program you can issue the command:
> chkdsk C: /r
Which will repair any problems with the file system on C:

With either method only the file system will be checked and repaired if necessary. Any corrupted files will remain corrupted and unusable.

-) Bad memory: Download the Memtest86 CD ISO file and burn it to CD from:
http://www.memtest86.com/
Set your BIOS so that the computer tries to boot from the CD/DVD drive
before trying to boot from the hard disk. Memtest86 will thoroughly test the RAM endlessly. Let it run for, say, 5 passes. No errors should be listed.

If multiple errors do show up and there is more than 1 RAM module, test each individually until you can isolate the bad one.

-) Failing hard disk:
Run a HDD test utility from your drive’s manufacturer to make sure the drive is functionally OK. Select the diagnostic according to what brand drive you have:

Seagate/Maxtor/Quantum http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/

Western Digital http://support.wdc.com/download/
Hitachi/IBM http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

Samsung http://www.samsung.com/in/products/harddiskdrives/utilities/hutil.htm

Fujitsu http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/computing/storage/hdd/support/utilities.html

-) Bad or Failing power supply: Download and run Everest Home V2.20 from:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html
Look in Computer > Sensor. The +3.3V, +5V and +12V should be within +/-5% of their nominal values.

3V 3.135V to 3.465
5V 4.750V to 5.25V
12V 11.400V to 12.600V

-) Overheated CPU: In Everest Home 2.2 (free) look in Computer > Sensor. The CPU temp should never be over 50 degrees Celsius. Overheating can happen as the result of a failing CPU fan (aka "cooler" fan) or excessive dust buildup there. It can also be due to an improperly mounted cooler (heatsink+fan) assembly.

Everest Home 2.2 (free) http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

These tests will go a long way to confirm whether or not your hardware is in good shape.

RAM and HDDs can be replaced, an overheating CPU can be fixed, but a failing power supply in a laptop requires a motherboard replacement which is not feasible or possible, perhaps.

 

Hello seanlame and welcome to the Board,

If that's the case, then no procedure we can give will be of any use.

I would say you have a dead machine - sounds like the power supply given what you write.

Your only recourse would be take it to the shop and see if it's worth repairing.

The shop should be able to rescue your files if the HD itself isn't damaged.

 

If it is the power supply, motherboard or some other piece of hardware, will it be worth the cost of repairs or could you put that money towards a new machine? Laptops are expensive to work on.

Suggestion, you could get a 2.5" external USB case and put the drive into that, assuming the drive can still function (if it doesn't, you could get a 2.5" HDD and you then have a new storage or backup system).

Matt
PS the HDD manufacturer's utilities that were mentioned should be able to run diagnostics on the drive when it is connected via USB.

 

seanlame,

Before jumping to ANY conclusions, check the RAM and the hard drive.

Laptop power supplies are usually well designed and rarely fail. RAM and drives are much more likely to fail.

 

Hi WinCrazy,

How's seanlame going to do that with no power?

 

seanlame, there is the possibility that your battery has died, and not the power supply and not the charging circuit in the laptop.

Anyhow, even if the PC is not salvageable you can still get your important files copied from the hard drive by removing the drive from the laptop.

The next step is to connect the 2.5 inch laptop drive to a desktop PC using a 2.5 inch laptop IDE-to-3.5 inch IDE adapter. The desktop PC will see the laptop drive as just another hard drive.

 

Hi all,

thanks for all the advice and help. Ultimately, the laptop died and I ended up buying a new one (which has its own set of problems I'll probably make a thread about...) aaaaand to top it off, the harddrive was corrupted, so few files if any will be salvageable. Hurray for laptops

 

Hi seanlame,

Thanks for letting us know the outcome, much appreciated