Computer won't come on

Okay I ran sfc & the command prompt said it had to be restarted for any changes to take place. Important files are backed up. I rebooted, and it came back on!!!! YAY. It never asked for the cd. It is in the computer, but I did not restart from the cd. I don't really know that sfc worked because it never confirmed any changes were made after I rebooted. Is there any way to tell? Thanks! Would the drive manufacturer of my hard drive be Dell? (I have a Dell Inspiron laptop)

Hi, I think we solved your problem I don't really know when we solved it, but it is and thats all that matters. When you ran sfc, it might have fixed the files for you since the Windows CD was in the drive when you did it. There is no way to tell… I think Dell makes Hard drives, but I'm not sure. They might buy theirs made by Sony, Maxtor, ect… There is no way to check either, unless your lucky and you can open the case and see a logo on the HD. Don't feel bad to come back, if this happens again.

THANK YOU!

No problem! I'm glad I was of help to you Have a nice day now

Looking good so far. To check your hard drive manufacturer go to My Computer, right click on it and select manage when the manage console comes up, click on device manager on the right hand side click on the + by the disk drives the entry should show the name and model number of the installed drives for example mine says SAMSUNG SP1614N (manufacturer SAMSUNG model SP1614N) then you can head to the manufacturer site and look for a disk utility in the support section Usually they will have a program that will make a floppy disk you boot from which will have an option to check the health of the disk drive. Sometimes there will be a utility that will run under wndows to do the same thing.

checked the dell web site and found this info. depending on the mdel it may have the diagnostics built into the BIOS

Running the Hard Drive Diagnostics from the BIOS

For Latitude portable systems and Inspiron 7500, 5000, 5000e, 3700, 3800, 4000 and 8000 series systems, the hard drive diagnostic test is built into many versions of the BIOS. To ensure that your system has the hard drive test, you should upgrade to the latest version of the BIOS available from support.dell.com.

NOTE: All Inspiron 4000 and 8000 BIOS versions include this hard drive diagnostic tool in the BIOS; therefore, neither of these systems require a BIOS upgrade.

Please refer to Dell Knowledge Base Article: FA1033387 Title "How can I get the latest basic input-output system (BIOS) file and instructions on flashing, or updating the BIOS?" for instructions.

To Start the Diagnostics

To start the BIOS hard drive diagnostic, perform the following steps:
At the Dell BIOS splash screen, press the ++ keys at the same time.
The computer beeps once to acknowledge that the hard drive diagnostics have been initiated and the following message appears:

IDE Diagnostics running, please wait
Primary

Drive 0: (Drive Model) -



The test may take up to three minutes to run the diagnostics (the time is dependent upon the size and speed of the drive).
When the diagnostics are complete, one of the following messages appear:

IDE Diagnostics running, please wait

Primary

Drive 0: (Drive Model) - Pass
Drive 1: No IDE Device

Secondary
Drive 0: (CD-ROM Model) - Diagnostics not supported
Drive 1: No IDE Device

Test complete, Press to reboot



Press the key and restart the computer.

NOTE: A Primary Drive 0: failure message may also appear. Proceed to the If the Hard Drive Diagnostics Reports Failures section. An error code does not indicate a definite drive failure.

If the Hard Drive Diagnostics Reports Failures

If the Primary Drive 0: indicates a failure, perform the following steps:
Reseat the drive and confirm that the hard drive is recognized in the BIOS settings. For information on how to enter your system BIOS, refer to Dell Knowledge Base Article: TT1012573.
If the diagnostics continue to fail, you can communicate by e-mail with a Dell Technical Support Rpresentative for additional troubleshooting assistance. Navigate to the following link and select the option that best describes your problem: http://support.dell.com/us/en/emaildell/.

Reseating the Hard Drive

For information on reseating the hard driver refer to the removing and replacing parts information at Dell's Web site. To do so, perform the following steps:

Browse to http://support.dell.com/us/en/home.asp.
Enter your Service Tag number or choose your system type.
Click GO.
Under the Fix-It heading, click Your System Documentation.
Click Using the Computer. (The wording of the selection may vary.)
Click Storage Devices. (Again, the wording may vary.)
Follow the instructions on how to remove the hard drive, and then reverse the process to reseat the drive.

opps forgot to copy this if your model wasn't one of those listed Earlier Inspiron systems that shipped with a System Software CD will include the hard drive diagnostic on this CD. The hard drive diagnostic is also available for download from support.dell.com. Browse to support.dell.com. NOTE: You may need to change or enter your Service Tag information if you have more than one Dell system or if this is the first time you have visited your Dell Support site. For more information about your Service Tag, refer to Dell Knowledge Base Article: FA1027149. Click the link for Downloads. Search by the exact filename for HDDCTST.EXE.

Sorry, I'm a little confused - never heard of any of this before. But everything you have done is greatly appreciated, please bare with me! When you posted last, I was searching for a disk to do the fitness test. My harddrive is a: HITACHI_DK23EB-40 I looked on the Hitachi website (http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm), but I can not downoad this until I buy some more disks I guess because I think I used my last one to make the ERD. My computer is an Inspiron 8100, so it sounds like it does not need the BIOS??

No problem Sounds like you have their diagnostic program in the computer BIOS. so on startup hit ctrl-alt-D at the dell splash screen and it should run the diagnostics. hopefully it will check out fine To Start the Diagnostics To start the BIOS hard drive diagnostic, perform the following steps: At the Dell BIOS splash screen, press the ++ keys at the same time. The computer beeps once to acknowledge that the hard drive diagnostics have been initiated and the following message appears: IDE Diagnostics running, please wait Primary Drive 0: (Drive Model) -

Just got your last message. The only cds that my computer came with are: Adaptec CD createor Backup: Dell-Installed Programs Reinstallation CD (W2K + SP1) –> maybe it's this one I am on Dell's website downloading HDDCTST.EXE right now, or trying to. It might take awhile…

didn't take as long as i thought - just had to restart the download. after it downloaded this error came up: "C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\AUTOEXEC.NT. The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows application. Choose 'Close' to terminate the application." Then I can choose "Close" and "Ignore" What do I do from here? Thanks, Sorry I don't know what I'm doing!

Haha, yet another problem, this one is easy to solve though… Insert your Windows CD once again and go: Start > Run… > cmd > OK Now, type: expand D:\I386\autoexec.nt_ C:\Windows\system32\autoexec.nt If it dosen't work try this one: expand D:\I386dist\autoexec.nt_ C:\Windows\system32\autoexec.nt

with a 8100 sounds like you don't have to download or install any software. The diagnostics are built into the computer in the BIOS that runs on startup Just turn the laptop off. When you turn in back on, when you see the dell screen hit the ctrl-alt and D key at the same time, and it should run the diagnostics. it should beep once, tell you to wait and sounds like it takes about 3 minutes before it tells you if the drive passed

Okay in the process of getting ready to do all this, an old, familiar error came up. Windows - System Error "The system has detected an IP address conflict with another system on the network. Network operations onthis system may be disrupted as a result. More details are available in the system event log. Consult your network administrator immediately to resolve the conflict." I'm not sure how much you know about anything like this, but this has showed up a few times since I moved into this apartment & got a new wireless routher. Maybe it's something to do with Linksy's or a setting we have done. The only other computer that is supposed to be using the same internet is my roommate's. Just figured I'd ask since I don't think I can "consult (my) network administrator immediately" at 11:20pm on a Saturday. If you have no clue, don't worry about it. Worth a shot though!

When restarting and at the blue Dell screen, I hit Cntrl + Alt + Del (all at the same time), and it just continued to restart the computer. Nothing else. Hope I didn't do something wrong?