hi, windows vista on dell xps M1210 laptop. all of a sudden it has black screen with message: disk read error press ctrl+alt+del to restart. It just keeps going back to that screen after it tries to restart, showing dell logo, then nothing. Any clue where I should start to try to fix?

thanks!

Dell's usually have a built in diagnostic suite that you can launch by pressing F12 as the system boots. Does this work?
If not, then I'd have to suggest downloading a bootable diagnostic utility from the manufacturer of your hard drive to check the hard drive.

thank you! i ran diagnostics. Is there anyplace I can find out what the codes mean? Otherwise, Dell will want me to pay won't they? It's the hard drive, why would this have happened, it's just over a year old too.

thanks!

What were the results of the diagnostics? What codes did you get?
Hard drives die - some do it early, some do it late, but they all die eventually.

hi, i went to the dell forums, the diag gave me codes & they meant hard drive failure. I've never had a hard drive die that fast. without any warning at all too. guess cuz its a laptop, that's ridiculous to me, its my friend's but its not even paid off yet.
thanks for your help!

If the laptop is less than one year old, chances are that it's still under the Dell warranty. Contact the place that you bought it from to see about warranty repairs.

I've known Dell to ship a formatted hard drive with Windows installed to customers for warranty repairs. The place that you bought it from may have a warranty repair center that they use - and that may save you some hassle in getting it repaired.

the warranty just expired, but thanks anyway!

Replacing the hard drive and reinstalling Windows is fairly easy (as long as you have the restore disks).

Here's how to remove the hard drive: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/syst...e.htm#wp1123687
A new hard drive can run from $50 to $120 or so - depending on what's in it right now. Be sure to remove the old hard drive to determine it's size and interface (SATA or IDE).
Reinstalling the OS is a simple as putting the restore disk in the drive and booting from it.

Thanks for site & all your help, I appreciate it. I know a hard drive is affordable, so it's not that bad.

thanks again!
m