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    Hardware failure? Help =(

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by ihavenofate, Apr 9, 2009.

  1. ihavenofate

    ihavenofate Notebook Evangelist

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    Hey guys! A friend of mine has a Dell Inspiron 1521 and when she turns it on, it says there is a hardware failure, and then it asks to Launch setup or start windows normally. If you launch set up, itll go through the whole thing and just shut down; but if you choose start windows normally it will go to the green Vista loading screen, shut off, go to the Dell screen and repeat. Any ideas on any solutions?? Thanks!
     
    ihavenofate, Apr 9, 2009
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  2. Evaders99

    Evaders99 Notebook Consultant

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    There's probably a hardware failure then.. can you try reinstalling Windows?
     
    Evaders99, Apr 9, 2009
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  3. stevezachtech

    stevezachtech Notebook Evangelist

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    Sounds like a hard drive problem, try formatting it if worst comes to worst or try repairing your OS and even booting in safe mode and make sure your components are properly attached as well.
     
    stevezachtech, Apr 16, 2009
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  4. K-TRON

    K-TRON Hi, I'm Jimmy Diesel ^_^

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    Your description brings two events to mind:
    1) a memory card has failed
    or
    2) the harddrive has a problem, either corrupt sectors, or other mechanical problem

    The first is easy to check. Have her shut her laptop off. Open the memory panel, which should be on the bottom, and remove the memory card(s)
    You want to try each memory card individually in each slot.
    If the system does not boot with one of the memory cards installed, it may be defective. Continue testing all combinations and hopefully you can figure out which memory card is good and which is defective.

    If one of the memory cards is defective, you can either contact Dell for replacement, or you can contact the manufacturer of the memory card. Almost all memory cards come with a lifetime warranty, so you are covered.

    If the problem is related to the harddrive, you can try removing the harddrive and run some diagnostics on the harddrive. In order to do this, you would need a SATA to USB adaptor, or a desktop which you can plug the harddrive into. You should run hdtune on the drive to check the S.M.A.R.T. diagnostics of the harddrive.
    Here is the download link:
    http://www.hdtune.com/
    This information is located in the "health" tab of hdtune. If anything is highlighted in red or green, you should back up the data and replace the harddrive
    You should also run a error check you can do that in the "error check" tab. If any blocks come up red, you should replace the harddrive.

    If the problem is unrelated to the harddrive and memory let us know and I can give you more things to test.

    Good luck,

    K-TRON
     
    K-TRON, Apr 16, 2009
    #4