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    m15x ****ed - I think its vista though

    Discussion in 'Alienware' started by Napbree, Oct 11, 2008.

  1. Napbree

    Napbree Notebook Evangelist

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    Hey,
    My laptop has stopped working, last night at 2am I put my laptop away because I wanted steam to carry on with it's download - so I unplugged it and propped it up against the wall (Like this /| (far left is laptop, right is wall)) and went to sleep.
    I have the 320gb free fall sensor hdd (could be the prob?) and the next time I came to use it (about 3 hours ago) it had the vista after logging in problem. It wouldn't get further than a blakc screen with just a cursor - ctrl+alt+del wouldn't work, nor any other key combos and safe mode doesn't work (apart from cmd safe mode) so I'm runnign that atm and it's been on for 10mins and its still at the "The type of file system is NTFS" (running chkdsk).

    What do I do - system restore didn't work either. :(
     
    Napbree, Oct 11, 2008
    #1
  2. Charles P. Jefferies

    Charles P. Jefferies Lead Moderator Super Moderator

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    Your system POSTs, though, so that is good.

    Download a Linux live CD and try booting off of it. You may need to set the CD drive as #1 in the boot order in the BIOS. That will determine whether the hard drive is the problem or the computer itself. Something tells me it's the hard drive.
     
    Charles P. Jefferies, Oct 11, 2008
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  3. Napbree

    Napbree Notebook Evangelist

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    I think it could be the hard drive. But I will try a system restore (restore to factory - and backup to C:/Backup). Ill keep you posted
     
    Napbree, Oct 12, 2008
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  4. Napbree

    Napbree Notebook Evangelist

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    Installing XP - will see how it goes, 13mins left. No HDD errors so far. XP COME TO ME!!!!
     
    Napbree, Oct 12, 2008
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  5. Oceanus

    Oceanus Ambassador

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    If you're going to install XP, make sure you install the Alienware drivers in the correct order.

     
    Oceanus, Oct 12, 2008
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  6. nizzy1115

    nizzy1115 Notebook Prophet

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    I have never ever had an issue installing drivers in different orders...and yes ive made images for LOTS of computers.
     
    nizzy1115, Oct 12, 2008
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  7. Napbree

    Napbree Notebook Evangelist

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    I didn't do it in that order, and it's all okay.

    BTW what's the standard alienware 8800gtx driver? I think that gives best performance, link please :)
     
    Napbree, Oct 12, 2008
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  8. Oceanus

    Oceanus Ambassador

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    Oceanus, Oct 12, 2008
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