BleepingComputer.com: Dell Inspiron 530 won't boot

Hello.

I have a Dell Inspiron 530 with Windows Vista. Upon startup, the Dell screen hangs with the F2 and F12 options then eventually goes black with a cursor in the upper left. Windows never loads.

This problem has been occurring for about a week. The first time it happened, an option to repair it automatically came up and it worked fine for a about 2 days. Now, there is not even a repair option. I also tried unplugging the power cord for a few minutes.

I would appreciate any input. Thank you.

When you see the options for the F2 and F12 options start tapping the F12 button, until you see "loading" pop up in it's place. After that a boot menu should pop up, and when it does select Dell Diagnostic Utility.. see if that finds any bad hardware.

Thanks for your reply. It doesn't look good. I am thinking that the hard drive may be bad. I ran the diagnostic tests and came up with the following error codes, all beginning with 0F00: 0428,1228,0D28,0E28,1A28,137B,0628,1328,0244

Failed tests are as follows: device quick check, SMART long self test, SMART short self test, read test, SMART test, start unit(idle)command, stop unit(standby)command, verify test, confidence test

If the hard drive does need to be replaced, how would I go about extracting files from it before discarding?

Thank you.

You'd have to slave it to another system.
http://www.techrepublic.com/article/extracting-data-from-a-dead-laptop-with-a-laptop-hard-drive-adapter/5160538