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My sons computer has been acting up for awhile. Running slow, 5 minutes to boot up etc. the latest thing was he couldn't do anything because his windows installer wasn't working so I was trying to fix that.Yesterday his windows was hit and miss on loading up. I decided to try a non destructive repair. It didn't go thru it had the blue screen with error 0x00000024 that windows shut down so things wouldn't get ruined basically. Off the cd I did a check disk chkdsk /r and it said it repaired sectors. But windows still didn't load. I redid the non destructive and the weirdest thing came up (I copied it all) but it was a set up windows create partitions screen. Didn't know how or what that was so I quit. I re ran the non destructive and this error came up 0x000000b4 saying video driver failed to initialize. I can't get into safe mode either. The worst part of all of this is I can't get into his computer to get all his important stuff off his computer, so everything is lost. Any suggestions?
Lisa
See if you can get to the boot menu using F8. Try last known good config if safe mode doesn't work and/or VGA mode.
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I tried last known good config and I still get the blue screen. As far as vga mode I don't know what that is?
Lisa
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The message that chkdsk repaired sectors indicates to me, that the hard drive is failing. If this is correct further efforts to fix it may render the drive useless.
Do you have another desktop computer available?
If so, what version of Windows is on it.Is this Dell a desktop or a laptop?
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Then the first order of business should be to get your son's personal files backed up.
You could remove the hard drive from his tower and temporarily connect it to your computer. Or you could get an external enclosure to use for his drive. Connecting internally to yours is better and cheaper, if you feel confident enough to open both cases and do the swap.
Post back to state how you wish to proceed.
I might add you could take the tower to a professional and have them recover the important files.
If you decide to try that then we can go back to figuring out what is wrong for sure.
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I checked into a computer place and they want way to much to TRY and pull these files, not worth it for a 15 year old computer. I don't have a problem with trying to hook it to mine. My son is pretty good with computer stuff (exept when this was happening he should have backed it up) He already has the hard drive out because he said there is a way to do this. I don't know how though.
Lisa
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You connect it to your computer. Then you should be able to access the drive. You may need to take ownership of the files/folders. First link below will explain how to take ownership. You will need a place to copy any files you recover. If your computer has a burner you could copy them there. If you have space on your hard drive then you could make a folder and copy all the needed files to it.
If your son's computer is 15 years old then it isn't worth fixing.
Post back if you need help with connecting your son's HDrive to your computer. No need to fasten it in, just let it hang by the wires.
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Just wanted to let you know that we put the drive in my computer and had no problems what so ever. How could the hard drive be going if it went so good? I was able to get all his files. What I meant to say earlier was I wasn't paying all that for a 15 year old boys data, important but not.I decided to try and redo his hard drive and things were different then normal but anyway we got just the basics on there it wasn't loaded with all the dell stuff. My son is downloading from dell all the drivers etc. I bought him a new computer and he can use this one if we get it working right until his comes. Thank You for helping.
Lisa
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OK, then do this. After you get the files you need off the hard drive download the drive fitness utility for the brand of drive and burn it to CDR or if you have a floppy drive you can get the floppy version.
Run the test on that drive. If the fitness test comes back clean, re-install the drive into the original computer and re-install Windows.
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I don't understand. I already have his hard drive back in his computer. I did a reinstall of windows. He did all the updates also. What is a drive fitness utility?
Lisa
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It is a program written by the maunfacturer of the drive to test the drive. It can predict with some level of accuracy imminent hard drive failure.
It is quite possible there is nothing wrong with the drive. However, going back to your original post. You stated chkdsk repaired sectors. That could mean the drie is failing or it could mean something corrupted some sectors. Testing will give you the answer.
On another note, I hope this experience has convinced your son to back up his data.
If you know the make of the hard drive I can provide a link to the utility for your brand.
If you don't recall the brand you can get that info without opening the case. Download the stand alone version of SIW.exe and use it to find the drive make and much more. Very useful utility.
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Actually the hard disk failure date is estimated based on monitoring the S.M.A.R.T attributes of the hard disk. The estimation of a failing date is like a trend estimation on how attribute value will change based on past values and predict when it will reach the threshold value. The long time estimation it's just a statistical algorithm but if an important S.M.A.R.T attribute reaches its threshold value you should consider getting a new hard disk. It does not mean that it is going to fail tomorrow but it can not be consider reliable anymore. DiskCheckup is a free tool that can monitor the S.M.A.R.T attributes and alert you if a possible failure is close.
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serge51
I am aware of what SMART does. The drive fitness utilities from the manufacturer are a more accurate measure of the overall condition of the drive.
The difference is that SMART is a generic tool as opposed to one designed for the drive you are using.
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