did my laptop computer croak?

[rfuerst911sc]

Computer guys I need help. Last night I was surfing various Porsche sites and all of a sudden the computer went blue and tried to reboot. The reboot was not working so I shut it off and thought I would try again today after work. But it only comes on to the point where it asks do you want to reboot useing safe mode,safe mode with communication, past known good startup or something like that. No matter which option I choose it tries to reboot but comes back to this same screen. I tried reinstalling Windows XP but no go. Last week I received a error message stating it couldn't perform a task because there was no memory. My HD is only about a 1/3 full. I have a Spyware software that I run almost daily that generally removes 10-15 objects each time. So did my HD crash? I'm not a computer weenie so talk to me like a 10 year old. The computer is a 6 year old Dell Lattitude 600 that has been rock solid. What do I do?

[slodave]

Sounds like either a hard drive that is failing or maybe the memory (RAM). If you know what brand hard drive, you can get some diagnostic software from the company (usually free) and test the HD. You will either need to have a floppy or possible it'll allow you to create a cd, from a working computer

you can download a memory testing program here http://www.memtest.org/. Again, you can either make a floppy or CD. They are self booting.

Dave

[slodave]

Try this link. Hitachi makes a good HD tester that works with most HDs.
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#DFT

Dave

[Rot 911]

I had the same problem and posted about it on OT oh I think 6 or more months ago. Turned out to be the video card gone bad. Unfortunately for me I had an HP laptop and the video card was part of the motherboard. Ended up buying a new Toshiba laptop.

[TerryH]

Reseat your memory and video card. A clean pencil eraser will make those old contact strips shine again. Check cooling fans.

[Joeaksa]

How many beeps do you have when it boots up?

[rfuerst911sc]

Well I'm still useing the wifes laptop but I made some progress today. I pulled both memory sticks ( 128 + 256 ) and reinstalled but no difference. Then I decided to pull one out at a time to see if that did anything and after pulling out the 128 the computer booted up to the point that I got to the home page but it was SLOOOOOOOW. I don't get any " beeps " as it boots up what if anything does that mean? By how slow it's moving I'm thinking hard drive is sick and is beyond my trouble shooting ability. Before I take this in to the pro's does anything from todays diagnosis help you guys figure out what's wrong? Thanks a bunch

[KFC911]

Sounds like a bad memory stick...it's now slow 'cause you need more memory

[TerryH]

Now swap out the single stick. That can tell you whether the memory is bad or if the memory bank on the motherboard is bad.

Have you ever flashed/updated the bios?

Unfortunately, at 6 years, it's about time to chuck the whole thing anyway before investing money in a dinosaur.

[rfuerst911sc]

Originally Posted by TerryH

Now swap out the single stick. That can tell you whether the memory is bad or if the memory bank on the motherboard is bad.

Have you ever flashed/updated the bios?

Unfortunately, at 6 years, it's about time to chuck the whole thing anyway before investing money in a dinosaur.

So at 6 years old it's disposeable? I hope that's not the case. I'll take it to a shop tomorrow, supposedly 60.00 for an hour of diagnostics will tell if it can be saved for cheap or not. Thanks guys.

[TerryH]

Originally Posted by rfuerst911sc

So at 6 years old it's disposeable? I hope that's not the case. I'll take it to a shop tomorrow, supposedly 60.00 for an hour of diagnostics will tell if it can be saved for cheap or not. Thanks guys.

Hopefully it's something simple and cheap. But if you get a couple hours labor and a couple hundred in parts, you're half way to a new machine. Prices on laptops have plummeted since you bought yours. Dell is currently running a pretty nice sale on laptops.

http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspn_1501?c=us&cs=29&l=en&s=dhs

[rfuerst911sc]

Well today I took it to a local laptop computer repair/service center. It cost me 50.00 to have them analyze what the error is, I should hear by Tuesday what is wrong and cost to fix. I'll let you guys know the results and thanks for the suggestions.

[rfuerst911sc]

Well today I received the call from the repair shop and the hard drive is kaput. Estimate is 75.00 for a 40 gig hard drive and 75.00 to install. Then another 75.00 for data retreival from the old to the new. But here's the rub, when I purchased this machine used I never received the recovery disc!!! I just got off the Dell website where I received a message stating there is no media available for my model??? How do I go about getting a recovery disc? I have the service tag number of the machine, I have the Microsoft Windows XP key # but no disc...........................WTF????? Any help out there?

[slodave]

Originally Posted by rfuerst911sc

Well today I received the call from the repair shop and the hard drive is kaput. Estimate is 75.00 for a 40 gig hard drive and 75.00 to install. Then another 75.00 for data retreival from the old to the new. But here's the rub, when I purchased this machine used I never received the recovery disc!!! I just got off the Dell website where I received a message stating there is no media available for my model??? How do I go about getting a recovery disc? I have the service tag number of the machine, I have the Microsoft Windows XP key # but no disc...........................WTF????? Any help out there?

If the shop is any good, they will ghost the old HD to the new one, without loosing the current OS and data! Don't let them tell you otherwise! Hell, send the HD to me and I'll do it for the cost of postage and a new drive for you.

BTW, Dell sometimes creates a partition on the HD that contains the reinstall image.

PM me if you want to take me up on the offer.

Dave

[rfuerst911sc]

This evening I went onto Dells website and engaged in the technical chat forum. I was fortunate to connect with Justin and after a few simple questions I have recovery disc(s) on their way to arrive in 1-3 days. I think that is excellent service / support for a machine out of warranty. If all goes as planned I should be up and running early next week. Thanks everyone for the advice.

[slodave]

Originally Posted by rfuerst911sc

This evening I went onto Dells website and engaged in the technical chat forum. I was fortunate to connect with Justin and after a few simple questions I have recovery disc(s) on their way to arrive in 1-3 days. I think that is excellent service / support for a machine out of warranty. If all goes as planned I should be up and running early next week. Thanks everyone for the advice.

Good to hear Dell will send out the disks. Remember, if you give the recovery disk(s) to the laptop shop, more than likely, they will install the OS plus any software/drivers that are bundled and more than likely, copy your data to the new drive. This means that you will have to reinstall any applications that you, such as MS Office, Photoshop, Skype, etc. If you use Outlook or Outlook Express, you will need to reenter the Internet provider email info (POP settings, SMTP, settings) and move your existing (recovered) email files, contact lists, addresses, back to the correct locations.

Anyway, good luck with the laptop and if you would like to take me up on my offer, I can make things easier for you. BTW, at a minimum, I would only need your existing (failing) hard drive.

Dave

P.S. my actual computer knowledge goes back 20 yrs. It was only in the last three years that I was doing a lot of warranty laptop repair.

[stomachmonkey]

$75 for a 40 GB HD is a bit of a rip. I'll bet it's only a 4200 RPM drive as well.

I'd take Dave up on his offer.

Go to Newegg.com, you can get an 80 GB 5400 RPM for $60 shipped.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150380%204026&bop=And&Order=PRICE

[rfuerst911sc]

Guys I'm happy to report I'm typing this on my laptop not the wifes. I got the laptop back today after the hard drive replacement The good news is it's working great, the bad news is they were not able to retrieve any data from the old drive So I have to try and remember all the car sites and bookmark them but Pelican was the first Thanks everyone for the support and suggestions as it helped me make what I think was the right decision