BleepingComputer.com: Dell Dimension E510 will no longer load up

First post so I apologize if I do something wrong.

I have a Dell Dimenson E510 which is about 4 years old. I had a problem with it about two weeks ago and I had to do a CHKDSK on it to get it back. Now the computer all of a sudden after working fine for two weeks comes up with the Dell screen and then the screen goes black and nothing happens. Not totally black like the monitor goes off, a light black and the computer just sits there.

I tried running CHKDSK again and it said it had an error. I ran it again and it said it fixed the error, but same problem upon boot up.

I tried booting in safe mode and like three drivers of the list come up and then it freezes there and does nothing else.

I am at a loss here as I can usually figure this stuff out and get it fixed. My wife will kill me if I lose this because all of our pictures are on the hard drive and just last week I was looking at a backup external drive and decided to wait until I get my tax refund. Great idea.

PLEASE HELP!

Thanks so much!!!

Quote

Welcome weathernlu -
If you can stay a bit you will not beed your life insurence just yet - -
<<- three drivers of the list come up and then it freezes there ->>
1 / Can you identify the items that come up as you start in safe mode ??
2 / Are you able to get on/into the computer at all ??
3 / Do you have an XP CD at all ??

Thank You -

This post has been edited by noknojon: 28 January 2011 - 09:31 PM

noknojon, on 28 January 2011 - 09:30 PM, said:

Thanks! Sorry for the delay.

1. I will check into it, yes I can I just have to write them down. The computer freezes and leaves them on the screen.
2. No, except I can get a DOS prompt by using the restore disk and going to the repair area.
3. Yes, see above. I can run that and get into DOS. That's how I did the CHKDSK. It said it found an error and fixed it but it is not working still.

If I knew it was the hard drive but the data was still there I would just go buy another one. I can get the files off of the old one by making it slave or whatever, right? That is of course, assuming it has not wiped itself out.

I'm not sure how you ran checkdisk, but please do the following:

Insert your XP CD in the drive. Make sure the cd drive is the first device in the boot order in bios. Then boot the system to the cd and choose the FIRST repair option. This will take you to the recovery console. Once there, run:
chkdsk /r

It will take a while to complete, let it do so. Then reboot and let us know what happens.

Allan, on 02 February 2011 - 07:45 AM, said:

Thanks for the advice, but check out my original post. I have done a CHKDSK /R and it said it fixed the error. The computer still does not load up. I was able to run it as you said I loaded from CD ROM with the Windows XP disk and got to a DOS prompt that way.

This post has been edited by weathernlu: 02 February 2011 - 08:45 AM

Okay. Just wanted to make sure you did run it from the recovery console - thanks. One quick question: before the first problem appeared, was there anything new or different (new hw, sw, virus, blue screen error, etc)? If not............

Since you have an XP CD we can try a repair install. If it's not a hardware problem (including a bad hd), it should get you back into the OS. Boot to the XP cd and this time choose the SECOND repair option. That will begin a repair installation. Done successfully, all apps and settings will remain intact. You will have to go to Windows Update and download / install all updates.

If the repair install does not fix the problem then it's almost certainly a hardware issue (hd, ram, or something else).