1535 wont reinstall vista

Hi folks, you may be my last hope. My 1535 stopped and diagnostics showed HDD bust (3rd one in 4 years) so I bought and fitted new Western Digital same model number as old one. On trying to install the software from original Dell disks the Install Now stops and asks for a driver that does not seem to be on the Utilities Drivers disk. I have trawled web and cannot see a solution. Anyone out there please?

 

Hi,

You may try installing the Windows after setting the BIOS to the defaults. Restart the system and press F2 during the Dell logo. Once you are in the BIOS please check the details within the ‘System’ and ensure that the Hard Drive is detected by the system. If the Hard Drive is not detected please try re-seating it. Try to install the Windows again, if this doesn’t help please let us know the exact error message.

I hope this helps, please do write back in case you have any further questions.

Thanks and regards,
Swapnajan M C
#iworkfordell

 

Thank you. I tried as you suggested, no luck. On reinstall I got through to Where do you want to load Windows. No drives were found. Click load drivers to provide mass storage driver... I loaded Utils/Driver disk and got blank screen until Browsed to show Disks C; D: Boot X: from D: I got 82801 HEM/HBM SATA AHCI Controller (path is D:1386/R180982\iaahci.inf) tried to load but went back to No Drivers found screen.

I tried to command prompt facility to CHKDSK C: and got the normal File system is ntfs etc with o mb in bad sectors so I assume that the HDD is being interrogated to get this.

Also managed to get the Open screen when checking browse for drivers and see Hard Drive (2) 297GB free of 298 GB alongside D: and Boot X: [New WD HDD is 320GB so that is curious].

I am on the edge of my understanding with this and tried all of Dell support which suggests that another driver may be needed?
Not sure where I go now and will be looking out for any advice, thank you.

 

Hi,

This seems like an issue is with the SATA operation. Please login to BIOS>On board devices>SATA operations. If it is set as AHCI you may change it to ATA or from ATA to ACHI. Save the BIOS settings and try installing Windows again.

I hope this helps, please do write back in case you need any further assistance.

Thanks and Regards,
Swapnajan M C
#iworkfordell

 

Thank you, I tried changing to ATA sadly all I got was a blank dark screen and a mouse pointer. I reset to AHCI and got through the sequence until asked for a CD driver again but no joy. Also tried CHKDSK from the command prompt again, last part of the report says "failed to transfer logged messages to event log with status 50" if that is relevant.

I have also received the following when rebooting after exiting BIOS, "Windows BOOTMGR is missing" and once I got "Windows Boot Manager screen saying File:\Windows \System32\Drivers\elxstor.sys Status:Oxc0000221 Info:Windows failed to load because a critical driver is missing or corrupt"

There does not seem to be a consistent response each time I try so I wonder if there is a problem with the driver for the new HDD or HDD compatibility? thanks.

 

Hi,
As you have checked the BIOS and confirmed that the hard drive is detected, you may run the Pre-boot System Assessment and confirm all the hardware is fine. Since you have the Drivers and Utility CD you may run the Custom test on the hard drive using the Dell 32 bit diagnostics. Please find below the link for the dell support web site, you may use the same to read the details about Dell 32 bit diagnostics.

Pre-Boot System Assessment (PSA) Diagnostics and Error Codes For Dell Computers | Dell

How to Run the Dell 32-bit Diagnostics Utility | Dell

After ensuring that the hardware is fine, install the Windows again. If the drive is not listed again you may try the Hard Drive debugging commands from the Command prompt. Please note the below commands will delete all the partitions from the hard drive and all the data will be erased.

C:\> debug
-F 200 L1000 0 <Enter>
-A CS:100 <Enter>
xxxx:0100 MOV AX,301 <Enter>
xxxx:0103 MOV BX,200 <Enter>
xxxx:0106 MOV CX,1 <Enter>
xxxx:0109 MOV DX,80 <Enter> "80 for hd 0,"81" for hd 1
xxxx:010C INT 13 <Enter>
xxxx:010E INT 20 <Enter>
xxxx:0110 <Enter> Leave this line blank
-G <Enter>
program terminated normally
<Crtl-Alt-Del>
You may try to install the Windows again.

I hope this helps, please do write back in case you need any further assistance.

Thanks and Regards
Swapnajan M C
#iworkfordell

 

Thank you. I managed to run the full diagnostics and have found a READ error on the cd/dvd everything else was ok. Not sure where to go now.

 

Hi,

The read error could be because there was no CD/DVD present in the drive during the test. From the troubleshooting steps that we have tried so far this seems like, the issue is with the hard drive. Normally a new hard drive should not ask for a driver. If you have used the CD to run the Diagnostics then the CD drive is also confirmed as working good. If the Vista DVD is fine, you may consider contacting the HDD vendor and getting the HDD replaced.

Thanks and regards
Swapnajan M C
#iworkfordell