M1330, multiple Vista reinstalls, continued problems, need advice

I could really use some help. The short story is that I have had my 1330 (Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7500 , Vista Ultimate 32 bit, 3 GB RAM. Trend Micro PC-cillin 14 antivirus) since January 9, 2008. Since then I have had multiple system crashes requiring 3 Vista reinstalls followed by a replacement hard drive, with continued problems. Initially I thought the problems may have been related to Trend Micro, but jettisoned that early, with continued problems.

Details

Jan 9. Receive computer. Love it!

Jan 20. Hit media direct key. Shortly thereafter System crashes.
Call XPS tech support, can’t revive it, reinstall of Vista from the recovery partition.

Feb 5. System crash. Possibly related to Trend Micro? Message boards suggest incompatibility between Trend Micro and Vista. After Vista reinstall the latest version had been downloaded from the web site.

Call tech support. Vista reinstall from CD. Trend micro not reinstalled.

Feb 12. System crash. Call tech support. Vista reinstall from CD.

April 27. Major problems. Error messages on start up and multiple pop-ups from the task bar, along the lines of

LogUI.exe
The file or directory C:\programData\microsoft is corrupt and unreadable. Please run the chkdsk utility. Problem event name bluescreen.

All Office programs are not functional and cannot be accessed.

Unable to run chkdsk from command prompt (as administrator)
Chkdsk starts from Vista boot from CD but is stuck endlessly in Stage 3 or 4 and can’t be completed. Tech support orders a new hard drive.

May 1. New factory image drive installed.

June 3. System working well until….
Error messages appear after a routine restart

On login: Windows Logon: LogonUI.exe – Corrupt file
The file or directory \Program files\Common Files\microsoft shared is corrupt or unreadable. Please run the chkdsk utility.

After login various versions of that message appear on pop ups, with different headers but the same error message. The headers are things such as Sprtcmd.exe – corrupt file, Userinit.exe – corrupt file, Dsc.exe--Corrupt file, etc

Email tech support. On their recommendation ran chkdsk /r from the Vista CD.
System rebooted normally.

Called tech support and requested a refund or a replacement. Tech support replied told that for a refund I could be “referred to customer service” and for a replacement, “Dell’s policy it to issue a replacement only if there have been three major part replacements needed in a three month period” (may not be the exact wording but something to that effect). He did suggest that we do some diagnostics and troubleshooting to further evaluate the problem, which I needed to delay until after returning from a business trip.

June 20. Back from the trip. System working well, until routine restart and…

System entered the "Startup repair is checking your system for problems" loop. Cycles through that several times, ending with a message "Startup repair cannot repair this computer automatically". The problem details window for that includes "Autofailover" and "Corruptfile".

Ran chkdsk /r from the Vista CD.
The log indicates many messages, including an initial “Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Chkdsk may run if this volume is dismounted first….Do you want to do that…..Y” . (These messages were also seen on previous chkdsk /r repair.)

As chkdsk runs it displays lines such as --
Deleting index entry msdadc.dll and many similar messages
Recovery orphaned files…… and many similar messages

Chkdsk finishes.
Restart – enters "Startup repair is checking your system for problems" loop. Sigh.

So my question is, what should I do? I think at this point I'd like a refund, but don't know if that is possible. Also the XPS support really has been good throughout and so I am willing to keep working with them, but at the least think I need a replacement (new). Any ideas as to the cause of these problems?

 

i was having issues with corrupted files showing up until i formatted the disc using seagates tools from their site (you may not have a seagate hdd) you can probably use something like boot and nuke though to make sure it completely erases everything on the hdd.

 

Well, after replacing HDD and troubles with HDD continues, I will say that problem is on MBO itself.

I was have similar problem on some HP Laptop.
Wird problems related to HDD which was continued even after HDD replacement. Errors was successfully ended after replacing MBO.

Hope this will help.

 

After re-installation from recovery partition, you can try boot up from the battery NOT FROM THE POWER ADAPTER! This will probably help. When I added memory (or any other upgrades) to my M1210, all sorts of weird things happened when connected with power adapter at bootup. Only the 1st boot with the battery, then you are ok to go.

 

Run a memory test.. Use memtest86.. It could be a result of whole lot of things, ranging from a faulty mobo/sata connector/HDD/memory.. anything at all.. Try eliminating each one by one..

 

Thank you everyone. This is very helpful.

Sesshomaru, could you tell me how to run a memory test?

 

Press F12 during bootup and enter the Dell diagnostics and run the tests

 

I just started getting those "file is corrupt or unreadable" warnings a few days ago. For me, it affected the Internet Explorer and Intel/Wireless folders (I'm sure there was a lot more that got corrupted, but that's all I noticed when I tried to navigate through some of my folders).

The interesting thing is that if you can't run chkdsk from your computer then it could be that chkdsk may be corrupted as well. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe chkdsk normally runs without us knowing and repairs files at startup. If for some reason chkdsk gets corrupted (due to a unexpected power outage, failed update, etc.) then files can no longer get repaired and alerts start appearing.

At this point, the only way is to repair the orphaned files by booting from your Vista disc and running chkdsk from there.

As to why things got corrupted in the first place is something I'm still trying to figure out. I've haven't had any power outages and I always properly shut down my laptop when it's not in use for a while. Sorry that you're still having issues with your laptop.

 

Download the iso from http://www.memtest86.com/download.html . Burn it on a cd, boot from it, and run the test for a few hours.. I recommend leaving it on overnight.

 

A related question for the group. I'm current working with XPS support to run a series of diagnostics. So far, all systems have passed. If those diagnostics do not provide evidence of a problem, what does that mean? Specifically, does this mean that the hardware is fine.

Any recommendations would be appreciated. I fear that lack of evidence of a hardware problem will lessen Dell's interest in making sure that I have a machine that I can boot up. Given that I've experienced continued problems since I got it I would of course like to see another solution but I don't have the expertise to know what the source of the problems I'm experiencing might be.

 

Assuming your RAM, hard drive, etc. passed the diagnostics test, I would try reverting back to a restore point or re-installing Vista completely.

At startup, if Vista sees your hard drive as "dirty" it attempts to clean it automatically. In your case, it looks like it can't fix it completely, hence the infinite loop.

 

Yes, I imagine that is the next step. If we do a reinstall though it will be Vista reinstall #4, plus an additional hard drive replacement with a new copy of Vista, in the five months that I've had the computer. So I'm worried that a reinstall won't be a long term solution.

 

I just had something similar happen with my M1330. I've had it less than a month. I think my problem may have been caused by a bad Windows update.

Have you tried running memtest86? None of the Dell tests found a problem with mine. But I wonder if there's a problem that can happen when you start up the computer that doesn't happen at any other time. I don't think any of Dell's tests would detect something like that because they only test while the computer is already up and running.

 

Yes I believe it was a Windows Update that did it for me too. Looking at the event logs reveal that when I started getting these corrupt file errors a Windows update took place a few minutes before. Can't remember the exact update name, but it was supposed to address some compatibility issues.

 

Thanks all. Update to the saga for those who are following. All Dell diagnostics completed with no evidence of problems. Still stuck in "Startup repair is unable to....". Last call with tech support ended up with an order for new memory to see if that might be the problem.

In the meantime, I am running memtest86 (how to burn an iso file? problem solved!). 1 hr 25 min so far with no error messages.

 

Vista also has a memory diagnostic tool. Just search for "memory" in the start menu. Not sure if this is any different from the Dell test, however. Let us know how things go. Good luck!

 

Update: memtest86 has run for 12 h, pass 53%, test 43%, no errors.

Guess this means that replacing the memory probably won't do the trick...?

 

It seems doubtful at this point, but you never know. I foresee another clean install in your future!