BleepingComputer.com: Error Loading Operating System

I went to start up my computer today and I am just getting a black screen with the message " Error loading operating system." I don't know how this came about cause I have not added anything or changed anything. Any ideas....

Look at the bios and see if the hard drive is detected.

How do I go about doing that?

The only thing that comes up when I turn the computer on tells me which version of bios I have then it immediately displays that message of not being able to load the operating system.

Also, it is a Dell Inspiron 5100 laptop, if that changes anything.

Hit the {F2} key when the dell splash screen shows.

Hello,

To get to the BIOS, when you turn on the system, you will be confronted with a black screen with the dell symbol in the middle, if you look at the top left of the screen, you should see something like

Press F2 for boot options
Press F12 for setup

Keep tapping the F2 or F12 key for boot options. this will take you into the BIOS.

Hope this helps

Okay, I have done that already and my HD shows up in both the F2 and F12 menus and it shows that it is enabled... is that the same thing as being detected or something else?

Next see if you can boot the dell diagnostics partition. {F12}, then select diagnostics, once you have the diagnostics available run the memory tests and the hard drive test.

After starting the diagnostics test I came up with this error:
DST Short Test: Failed
Error Code: 1000-0146
Msg: Unit 2 : DST LOC Contains previous error(s)

after that completed I ran the HD test and came up with 2 additional errors.

READ TEST:
0F00: 0244
MSG Block: 57301297

VERIFY TEST:
0F00:1A44
MSG Block: 57301297

Do you have anything important? if you do, you will need to do a repair install of XP and get your files before the hard drive fails completely. Use the service tag to obtain full specs of the computer at dells web site. This hard drive has previous errors, and has generated new ones. It looks like it is getting ready to fail. You may be able to use a xp disk to perform an operating system repair, the dell os cd will do this also. Here is a link: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm If you follow the directions exactly, you will not lose any files. Please continue to post about this issue, and operate this computer as little as possible.

Okay, thanks for the help. I will have to wait a while before I can get access to an external HD so I can transfer everything over. But I ordered a new HD last night and hopefully I can fix this thing without anymore problems.

I tried following the directions from that install guide, but I ran into the problem of not having the repair option on the first set of steps so I had to go to Warning #2. After I tried that I came back with 'error: Failed to successfully scan disks for Windows installations. This error may be caused by a corrupt file system, which would prevent bootcfg from successfully scanning. Use chkdsk to detect any disk errors.'

Then when I do a chkdsk it comes back with 'The volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems"

So I don't know where to go from here.

this is your choice unless some else has ideas
your boot and nuke your harddrive
the reinstall windows

so download boot and nuke on floppy and when you put it in it should detect your hard drive . follow the instructions

http://dban.sourceforge.net/

your wiping everything off your harddrive
you will lose everything

This post has been edited by mme: 08 June 2007 - 04:18 PM

IMO you're looking at a dying hard drive (based on the tests that you ran in Post 8 and 11) - if that is the case, then backing up your data is now a priority!

First, I'd run a bootable diagnostic that'll be free from the website of the manufacturer of your hard drive to see if the disk is truly dying.

You may want to then try a low level reformat of your hard drive, followed by partitioning it and formatting of the drive - this "may" recover the drive (but will definitely destroy anything on it - to include the recovery partition). Make sure you've got the Dell recovery disks before doing this!

Once this is done, run the bootable diagnostic again to see if the above procedure has fixed things (I doubt that it will, but it's worth a shot!).

Either way, you'll be starting over with a blank hard drive (either a new one, or the one you've run all these tests on) - so you'll have to restore the OS with the Dell Recovery disks

BTW - I just repaired a Dell laptop hard drive by installing the one that the customer ordered from Dell. It came with everything installed already and just required setup. I've been unable to locate any info on the Dell site, but it might be worth a call to ensure that the drive that you order will have the image on it.

well I already got my new HD, but I just wanted to data off the old one. So what is the best way to go about this?

First, try the tools mentioned below on your computer to see if you can boot to them and then use your CD drive to make backups (or borrow a flash drive or external hard drive).

If not, then I'd suggest slaving the old hard drive to another computer and recovering the data with a utility such as the free BartPE ( http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ ) or the free Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD) http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ Others have used Live Linux distributions with good results also.

See if you can borrow a drive caddy to do this, if not you'll have to purchase one.