| Author |
Topic: Dell gone bad |
Ken Lang
From:
Simi Valley, Ca
|
Posted 22 Jul 2009 4:09 pm |
|
8300 XP. Quit all at once. Says System32\config\system is broke and an attempt can be made to fix by inserting origional setup CD-Rom. Problem- Dell was too cheap to send orig. when I bought it. No gots.
Now what?
Ken
_________________
heavily medicated for your safety |
|
|
 |
Andy Sandoval
From:
Bakersfield, California, USA
|
Posted 22 Jul 2009 5:56 pm
|
|
| Ken, a lot of newer computers don't come with all the installation disks because that info is stored on part of the hard drive that is partitioned to store it. So to reinstall your operating system all you gotta do is reboot and then When the Dell splash screen appears during the computer startup process, press and hold <Ctrl> and then press <F11>. Then, release both keys at the same time. But first I would try the system restore feature on your computer. |
|
|
|
Ken Lang
From:
Simi Valley, Ca
|
Posted 22 Jul 2009 7:00 pm
|
|
Hi Andy. CTL F11 only gave me a keyboard failure screen and then back to bad config screen, but I did find a diagnostic test area that I didn't realize was there. I be running those tests now. Have to see what happens. Hope it works. Thanks again.
_________________
heavily medicated for your safety |
|
|
|
Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
|
Posted 23 Jul 2009 2:08 am
|
|
Dell was shipping a set of CD's that included the Operating System and a Drivers and Utilities CD in the 8300's day. If you didn't get one you should have contacted Dell immediately. Dell has a free replacement procedure but it's past the cutoff date with an 8300.
Your only option, now, is to buy a Windows XP CD as you will probably have to run Windows XP "Repair" to fix the problems. If you know someone that has a Dell and has the exact same Operating System Version disc you could use that. The least expensive option is to buy an "OEM" version of XP. The "OEM" version is identical to the full Retail version except there is no free Microsoft support if you had a Windows problem. Check out www.newegg.com
You don't need the Drivers disc as they can all be downloaded from the Dell download site.
Dell's do come with the Recovery Partition (for about the last 5 years) but they also send out the Operating System and Drivers and Utilities discs with the new PC's. |
|
|
|
Wiz Feinberg
From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
|
Posted 23 Jul 2009 12:59 pm Re: Dell gone bad
|
|
| Ken Lang wrote: |
8300 XP. Quit all at once. Says System32\config\system is broke and an attempt can be made to fix by inserting origional setup CD-Rom. Problem- Dell was too cheap to send orig. when I bought it. No gots.
Now what?
Ken |
Ken;
Do you use Acronis True Image on that computer? If so, you can restore you last saved complete image to a new hard drive (go buy one of the correct type: P-IDE or SATA) and be up and running in about an hour.
Otherwise, borrow an XP CD with the same service pack level you are using and boot from it. When the options appear choose R to repair the computer using the Recovery Console. Proceed as follows:
- Login to your Windows installation by pressing the number listed onscreen for the C drive, which is typically #1.
- Type the following command at the C:\Windows> Prompt:
- CHKDSK /R
- Press the Enter key
- Go do something else for a while. This may take a long time to complete.
- After Chkdsk completes it should display a result about errors found and fixed and any bad sectors located. It may also report that it could not fix all errors found.
- If Chkdsk reports that all errors were fixed and all data in bad sectors was recovered, you may be good to go for now.
- Type EXIT to restart your computer
If the computer boots into Windows you have staved off a disaster for the time being. You should take the PC to a computer shop and have them clone the hard drive image to a new hard drive of equal or bigger capacity. Do not trust your existing hard drive if any bad sectors were found, whether the data was extracted or not.
When (not if) you have recovered your PC you should install Acronis True Image (if not already installed) and schedule regular complete backup images on whatever daily or weekly schedule meets your requirements.
_________________
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog |
|
|
|
Ken Lang
From:
Simi Valley, Ca
|
Posted 25 Jul 2009 9:36 am
|
|
Thanks for the help guys. My hard drive is 5+ years old and I guess its time to replace it. If I had known about the Dell disks I certainly would have gotten them.
I looked on newegg. There are a few choices as to which windows XP to get. I'm not sure. I will have 3 coumputers running XP so having the discs is a good thing. Any advantage to going to Vista or 2007?
My only concern is programs I have running on XP working on a new platform.
Wiz. I do have Acronis and the C drive is recently backed up. Question. If I get a new cdrive do I need to put Acronis on it before transfering the saved file? I think I saved the .exe file for loading Acronis. Will that still work?
Anyway, I've just had eye surgery and can barely see my own typing. Maybe by the time I get the windows disks, I;ll be able to see better.
Thanks again.
Ken
_________________
heavily medicated for your safety |
|
|
|
Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
|
Posted 25 Jul 2009 10:20 am
|
|
The 8300 isn't a good candidate for Vista or Windows 7. Dell does not have device drivers for the proprietary Dell motherboard and hardware devices. Stick with XP on that machine.
One issue with buying a Windows XP disc, it is only licensed for one PC. If you have three PC's you need three separate copies of XP as you must Activate(with Microsoft) when you install and you must have a separate copy (with separate Product Key) for each PC.
The "OEM" versions are the least expensive. For most home users, the XP Home is what you want. Click Here |
|
|
|
Wiz Feinberg
From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
|
Posted 25 Jul 2009 1:20 pm
|
|
| Ken Lang wrote: |
| Wiz. I do have Acronis and the C drive is recently backed up. Question. If I get a new cdrive do I need to put Acronis on it before transfering the saved file? I think I saved the .exe file for loading Acronis. Will that still work? |
Ken;
When you installed Acronis did you create the bootable recovery CD as instructed during setup? If so, did you save the backup images to a different disk than the C disk?
If you answered Yes to both questions you will be able to recover your last image file to a new C disk, by booting the computer with the Acronis recovery CD in a CD drive.
Power off the PC, unplug the AC cord and remove the C hard drive. Replace it with your new hard drive and connect it identically, noting any jumpers that may need to be set here or there. This will require better vision, so get a helper to check for jumper settings on the hard drives.
Parallel IDE disks (with 2" wide, flat signal cables and white plastic power connectors) have three jumper settings you need to know about. They are Master (MA), Slave (SL), and Cable Select (CS). If there is only one hard drive on that cable then there is no need for a jumper. You can remove the jumper from the new disk, or position it in the MA, or CS positions. If there are two disks connected to two connector blocks on the same signal cable, the C drive disk is usually jumpered as MA, or CS. If it is in CS, you must connect the new drive to the same connector block and jumper it as CS. Otherwise, set the new disk to MA, like the original drive.
If your PC uses SATA drives, with 1/2" wide signal connectors and black or red power plugs, the only jumper you may encounter on the hard drive is the SATA 1.5/3.0 setting. Older SATA drives were made for motherboards that supported the first generation of SATA, which only transfer data at 150 megabytes per second. New drives transfer at twice that rate: 300 Mbps. If your PC can only transfer at the original SATA 150 setting you should jumper the new drive to throttle it down to 150 Mbps (1.5), to avoid possible data corruption.
With the new hard drive installed and properly jumpered connect the power cable to the back of the PC. Boot the PC, pressing the Pause key as soon as you see white text onscreen. Insert the bootable Acronis recovery CD into one of the CD trays, then press Enter to resume booting from that CD. The Acronis bootable graphical user interface begins loading into RAM. This is really a Linux operating system that is Windows aware.
When the Acronis boot environment finishes loading you can use your mouse to browse all visible drive letters to find the one with the last good saved Acronis image (.tib) file. That is the "source." Next, browse to the new hard drive as the destination. Accept all default options, especially the ones to transfer the saved boot sector and all partitions to the new drive, then proceed with the restoration process. It may take a half hour or longer, depending on the amount of data to be restored and the data transfer rate (remember those jumpers I mentioned earlier?).
Restoring an image will not damage the image at all. If anything goes wrong you can start over until you get it right. Sometimes an image has become corrupted and will not work. If this happens try a different saved image. I usually keep two full images in my backup drive location, plus another full plus incrementals that are rotated after every 6 backups.
To know in advance if an image is good you can choose to "Validate" it, via the Acronis bootable interface. If it validates it will transfer a good working PC to the new drive.
All of those instructions depend on your having created the bootable recovery CD, from the Programs items for Acronis True Image, on the Start Menu. The link you want is labeled: "Bootable Rescue Media Builder."
Once you have restored the image to a new hard drive the PC will boot and operate as before, but on a new disk. If you run into any unusual behavior afterward, please ask for specific help with those anomalies. Wrong detection of Generic drives sometimes occurs after a restoration. This is simple to fix.
_________________
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog |
|
|
|
Ken Lang
From:
Simi Valley, Ca
|
Posted 25 Jul 2009 3:49 pm
|
|
Jack. OK, I'll stick with XP.
Wiz. If I did make an Acronis bootable disk I can't find it. I can open the acronis saved file to get in to where I have saved all the files. I know, that would be restorng the hard way. Maybe I'll need to talk to Acronis.
The current drive is a Maxtor Sata drive. I'll get one like it with more space.
Oh and Winston May, thanks a bunch.
_________________
heavily medicated for your safety |
|
|
|
Ken Lang
From:
Simi Valley, Ca
|
Posted 30 Jul 2009 4:24 pm
|
|
Question for Jack.
I wiped my hard drive. Got a windows XP professional disk from a friend (had XP home). The disk was..umm..Loadible, but didn't work.
These are my options as I see it.
1. Try to get a hard drive from dell, loaded with all their stuff to fit my computer.
2. Take the computer to a shop for a new hard drive and winows XP.
3. It's 5+ yers old (what else is going to break?)
Bite the bullet and buy a new HP.
Tho it hs worked OK thru the years, knowing what I know now, I'll not buy a dell ever again.
Suggestions?
_________________
heavily medicated for your safety |
|
|
|
Earnest Bovine
From:
Los Angeles CA USA
|
Posted 30 Jul 2009 5:12 pm
|
|
| Ken Lang wrote: |
Suggestions? |
I would put Ubuntu on there because Ubuntu is free and Windows is expensive, and who knows but what you might like Ubuntu better than XP? |
|
|
|
Ken Lang
From:
Simi Valley, Ca
|
Posted 30 Jul 2009 7:33 pm
|
|
Hmmm. Good thought. Worth consideration. Thanks.
_________________
heavily medicated for your safety |
|
|
|
Wiz Feinberg
From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
|
Posted 30 Jul 2009 7:48 pm
|
|
This is a heads up word of advice to any members who use Acronis True Image to back up their systems. If your C drive becomes unbootable, as was Ken's case, the saved disk images will be of no use to you without the bootable recovery media (e.g. CD) that the program offers to create while you are setting it up. You can make a recovery CD anytime, by using the Acronis True Image start menu link to build bootable rescue media. This can be a CD, DVD, thumbdrive, external USB drive, or some other memory stick. If your PC has a bootable network adapter you could even boot to a network location and run the recovery from there.
The rescue media contains a standalone Linux operating system, plus a graphic, mouse friendly user interface. You can browse for saved images, validate them and restore them from the bootable interface. You can even use it to clone your old hard disk to a new one, outside of Windows. Partitions can be managed to a degree and partial restores to a particular partition are doable. I recently restored my Windows XP partition contents after Windows 7 messed up my permissions on files I was trying to access from there. The rescue CD allowed me to just restore the saved partition where XP resides, leaving W7 as it was. I didn't even restore the boot sector. Left it as it was: triple boot (Ubuntu, XP, W 7).
_________________
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog |
|
|
|
Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
|
Posted 31 Jul 2009 2:11 am
|
|
The Dell's will load with any version of XP, you don't have to have a Dell OS. However, the OS that you do install needs to be legal (it can only be activated on one PC at a time and if that version has already been activated on another PC you can't activate it on a 2nd PC)and have it's own Product Key. The Dell product key tag on the PC is ONLY for the Dell OS version that was delivered with the PC.
The required install sequence to install is (1) Install Windows (2) Install Intel Chipset Drivers (3) Install Device Drivers such as sound, video, etc. Do not skip the chipset drivers as that is the one item that is most often overlooked and will cause an installation to fail. One of the prime things the chipset drivers do is define what devices are on or attached to the motherboard.
HERE is the Dell drivers for the 8300 and XP
If you dont' have a legal copy of XP, you can buy an "OEM" version from www.newegg.com that is the least expensive option to get a legal copy. All the drivers can be downloaded from the Dell link I provided. And, because of the Dell proprietary hardware, you need to use the Dell supplied device drivers. |
|
|
|
Ken Lang
From:
Simi Valley, Ca
|
Posted 31 Jul 2009 1:09 pm
|
|
So it would seem my path is clear. Upward and onward. Thank you, gentleman.
_________________
heavily medicated for your safety |
|
|
|
Wiz Feinberg
From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
|
|
|
|
Ken Lang
From:
Simi Valley, Ca
|
Posted 1 Aug 2009 3:29 pm
|
|
Well, my son just brought me a new computer. HP with MSI dual core board. 400GB drive. Wireless keyboard and mouse. Media center stuff, even a docking port for a media drive. XP pro. I guess I'll play with it for awhile. It's missing a network wireless card but it'll do. I guess the next computer will have to have 2007.
I'll get the Dell going eventually. One of the two will have to go with when we start spending summers on the East coast.
_________________
heavily medicated for your safety |
|
|
|
