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    Dell Inspiron 1525 won't reinstall

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by babiesinbondage, Oct 8, 2011.

  1. babiesinbondage

    babiesinbondage Notebook Enthusiast

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    I'm trying to help out a guy I know fix his computer. He said he tried to reinstall windows 7 and it didn't finish so it won't boot up. It comes with Vista preinstalled. I tried to run the XP install disk and it starts up with the loading drivers screen then returns this error:
    the file iaStor.sys is corrupt.
    Press any key to continue
    then if you press a key it reboots.
    I tried the Vista Home Premium (what it came with) disk and it starts up, then goes to the loading screen but right before it starts the install the screen just turns black and stays like that.
    When I tried to install Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit it loads but then shuts off.
    I'm not sure what could be the problem... maybe an incorrect bios setting or something? Any help would be appreciated!
    I tried the ctrl+f11 to get to the Dell recovery manager but it didn't work.
    I tried memtest and the ram is good.
    So I can't get into the OS because it wasn't a complete install and none of the installation disks will run.
    In the words of The Beatles... Help!
     
    babiesinbondage, Oct 8, 2011
    #1
  2. qhn

    qhn Notebook User

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    Could be a bad drive, my wild guess

    cheers ...
     
    qhn, Oct 9, 2011
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  3. Full-English

    Full-English Notebook Deity

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    As above, test the drive with HDTune or similar. Test for bad sectors, that would be my hunch.
     
    Full-English, Oct 9, 2011
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  4. afhstingray

    afhstingray Notebook Prophet

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    You can also use dell diagnostics to check the hard drive. I think you press the f12 key to load it during the boot screen
     
    afhstingray, Oct 9, 2011
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  5. babiesinbondage

    babiesinbondage Notebook Enthusiast

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    The test has returned no errors,
    And i have already mentioned that I cannot acess Dell Diagnostics.
     
    babiesinbondage, Oct 9, 2011
    #5