Computer problems...can anyone help? Trying to swap HDs on a laptop...

[VDW]

I have an old Dell E1505 laptop. It's been dropped a few times, but still works. After the latest fall off the ottoman, the cord for the screen came loose. I didn't know I could just pop the frame off the top of the computer and remove the keyboard and just plug it back in, so I opened the whole case from the back. I don't know if that had anything to do with it, but when I got it all back together, it would take about 20 minutes (literally) to boot up. Prior to the fall it would take about 1 min.

It goes through the BIOS pretty quick, but once it starts to boot up Windows XP (Media Center Edition), it is really slow. Once Windows comes up (about 5 mins), it takes another 10 or so until it is done loading everything else. If you wait until it is completely done loading everything, then it runs fine.

I took it into a shop, and they thought the hard drive might have been damaged. They wanted $160 to re-install Windows (which wouldn't make a difference if the HD is damaged), or $300 to put in a new HD and re-install the OS. I thought this sounded a bit overpriced, so I found the exact same HD as it has that was actually pulled from the a Dell laptop. I thought I would be able to plug it in and it would run...nope.

I'm not a computer genius, but I'm not a complete idiot, either. The BIOS recognizes the HD as being there, but if I try to boot, I get a screen that says some sort of SATA cable error. The HD is fully seated and seems to be running.

I found the original Dell re-installation CD, but when I try to boot from it, it says some file is missing and has to quit (worthless piece of #$%@!). I don't know how a file can be missing from the original CD, which I just opened!

Anyways, I have a COA, but I can't install XP MCE from the disk, apparently. Can anyone help? I have a external HD with USB, can I somehow clone the drive onto there, put the new drive in, then clone the external drive to the new drive? I can't seem to boot from the external drive, though.

[RRD3]

Alot of BIOS can not boot from an external device.

Can you boot the laptop in "Safe Mode"?

If you can try that, and then run msconfig and diable everything with the exception of Microsoft related OS level items.


With the replacement drive that you found. Can you put it in and then in the BIOS set it to boot to cdrom first and try an install?

[VDW]

With the replacement drive that you found. Can you put it in and then in the BIOS set it to boot to cdrom first and try an install?

I tried that, that's when I got the missing file error. Or at least I got that once. Now it sounds like it's trying to load from the CD drive for about 1 min or less, then just goes idle with a black screen with a cursor in the upper left corner.

[VDW]

[quote=RRD3;127988]Alot of BIOS can not boot from an external device.

Can you boot the laptop in "Safe Mode"?

If you can try that, and then run msconfig and diable everything with the exception of Microsoft related OS level items.
quote]

What button is Safe Mode? F8? How do I know what is an OS level item?

[VDW]

OK, this is aggravating. I'm in Safe Mode, but now all of the icons are huge. The start menu is too big for the screen, and there is no scroll bar. It doesn't show the Run option, so I can't run MSCONFIG. Is there another way to do this?

BTW, I already tried to change the screen resolution, but it apparently won't let me. Also, it booted up pretty quickly, but it is running very slowly.

[RRD3]

Here's some info on msconfig

http://netsquirrel.com/msconfig/msconfig_xp.html


Should be f8 for safe mode

[VDW]

Thanks, that's how I was going to run it, but I can't access the Run tab now. I found the command prompt through accessories, but I don't know how to get it to run from DOS (I don't know if it's even possible).

Is there any way to access the Run tool?

[RRD3]

You should be able to type in msconfig in a cmd prompt and run.

[RRD3]

Resolution will be like that because it does not load the video drivers.

So with how fast it booted it sounds like a faulty application of a driver of some sort is freaking out.


Have you done any updates or system changes recently?

[RRD3]

Check your PM