BleepingComputer.com: My Dell Latidude D600 Laptop is stuffed

Good morning, good day or good evening people.

The other week, whilst my 11 year old was playing some online game on our Dell Latitude D600 laptop, I had a spasm at him and closed the laptop with some anger.

Later that evening I allowed him to play, though he did not mention any problems.

However, the following morning when I wanted to use it, some strange things were happening. Very slow to start up and internet browser kept on refreshing, over and over again. Error messages did show, but unfortunately I did not note it. It was something about c and system32 I think.

So, I decided to nuke it with DBAN, which I have done before without issues. Anyway, I was able to nuke it with NON FATAL ERROR message, then attempted to re-install windows XP. It went through to the format page, I choose NFTS normal format and it got stuck at 6% for over 3 hours. So I shut it down and started again, 1st DBAN which gave me NON FATAL ERROR again, then I proceeded to install XP, this time I chose the quick format NTFS.

Everything was going fine, Windows was installing then when it reached the screen with the installing messages on the left of the screen, it got stuck on the last item to install for hours.

So since, I tried a few more times with DBAN and windows, but the issues were getting worse.

DBAN will not nuke the HDD now as it dispays a message than the HDD has errors.

So, I dont know what to do. A mate suggests there may be bad sectors on the HDD and I could find disk check software, though most of the ones I found need an operating system to run it. My mate said that a disk check will either repair bad sectors or have the PC not use the bad sectors.

I dont want to buy a new HDD unless I know for sure the existing one is stuffed.

I hope some of you out there can help me.

Thank you.

A Latitude D600 tends to cook a hard drive (bad design flaw). I've replaced many in my years on that particular model. I am surprised that it has lasted this long if you haven't ever had to replace it before.

When you power on the laptop, press and hold the Mute button. That will put it into a diagnostic mode. It will do a DST (Diagnostic Self Test) on the hard drive and let you know if it is good. Any "Fail: Return Code" with a number means the drive is bad.

Oh, and future advice, anger and electronics do not mix.

Thanks for the tips.

I did what you recommended, holding the mute button while powering up and after the DST (Diagnostic Self Test)it returned the following;

Error code 1000-0142
msg unit 4:drive self test fail
status byte = 77

So, I guess I need a new HDD then to get it going again. Any suggestions or recommendations on brand, size or where I can buy a reasonably priced one online??

Buy this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136387


I'm currently using it now for over year and it is working well!

That uses an older ATA-6 standard and I believe that you are limited to less than 137GB due to the ATA controller lacking 48-bit LBA support. You can get a larger drive but nothing past 137GB will be recognized. Even a BIOS update will not fix that. Inherent of just old technology.

So, that being said I think this is your biggest option possible: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136130

JonM33, on 24 October 2010 - 02:26 AM, said:

Oh, didn't know it had a certain limit. The scorpio range are pretty good and there is a lot of good reviews.

I only know because I worked on the Dell Latitude D6XX and D8XX models extensively at one of my jobs. I know them inside and out.

The D600 also uses ATA-6 (PATA) where you priced out a drive that uses a SATA interface. The D600 used the Intel 855GM/ICH4-M chipset, which did not include support for SATA.

JonM33, on 24 October 2010 - 02:50 AM, said:

You really do know inside and out of this type of Dell.

Thanks for the link on the HDD. That site does not cater for international sales as Im in Australia.

I came across this one though,

http://www.expresspcparts.com.au/Items/hdd-360-alt-hm160hc?&caSKU=hdd-360-alt-hm160hc&caTitle=SAMSUNG%20HM160HC%20160GB%202.5%22%20IDE%20PATA%20HARD%20DRIVE%20HDD

Would like your thoughts and opinions, I know you said anything over 137GB wont be recognised, but Im finding it challenging looking for 120GB locally.

rodgerdodger, on 24 October 2010 - 11:14 PM, said:

I'm from Australia too, which state do you live in so i can help you find a local computer shop.

well, you can try it, but I believe jon is right, that computer will not recognize anything beyond 137 gigs. You can go ahead and purchase that drive, in theory it should work, but the computer will only be able to use 137 gigs of that-thats all it will see. You would be better off purchasing a smaller hard drive, if you really need more space, perhaps purchase a small say, 40-60 gig hard drive for on the computer, and get a larger external hard drive or build a external hard drive (order a hard drive and suiteable enclosure) that would give you a working laptop, more hard drive space, and you wouldn't be paying for hard drive space you can't use.

Im in Sydney, near Liverpool. Ive tried calling MSY, but phone just rings out. Ive emailed, but still waiting for response. If you would help us out, I would be most grateful.

I understand the 160GB will have approx 23GB of unusable memory, but Im finding 120GB are priced more and most sites I visited dont stock smaller drives than 160GB.

I have another question though, could partitioning the 160GB perhaps find the unused 23GB ??? just a thought.

Unlikely, since it is a hardware limitation, but, as seeing as my research suggests that 160 hard drive will work (minus the 23 gigs) it shouldn't hurt to try-most likely scenario is you still have 23 gigs of unused disc space, best case scenario it will work (however unlikely) worst case scenario, won't boot, which is why I recomend purchasing it from a reputable dealer that accepts returns-if you decide to go ahead and purchase this hard drive. I would not purchase this drive used or from anyone that will not accept the return, because I cannot garentee 100% that it will work at all-just say that in theory, it should work just minus 23 gigs of disc space, and that partitioning it may work but is most likely (I would say 99%) that paritioning it will not give you the extra 23 gigs.

rodgerdodger, on 25 October 2010 - 12:58 AM, said:

What a surprise you know MSY, but they don't sell any harddrive that is small only 320GB. So i reckon look for one on ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com.au/80Gb-Fujitsu-2-5-inch-laptop-IDE-MHV2080AH-8Mb-5400rpm-/160496012500?pt=AU_Components&hash=item255e4eccd4

I think the samsung will work, Ive checked ebay, in particular Dell latitude D600 HDD, and the Samsung HM160HC was one of the items listed thats compatible.

I had a look at the link posted re the 80GB Fujitsu, and its the same price as the samsung, also, as another poster mentioned, has to be PATA.